Entering the season, the Penguins had a logjam on defense. Despite a couple of in-season additions already in Brett Kulak and Ilya Solovyov, it’s largely cleared out.
Caleb Jones hasn’t been a factor all season due to injury and now a PED-related suspension. The Matt Dumba experiment is over, and he’ll play out the rest of the season buried in AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. “Veteran” depth pickups Sebastian Aho and Alexander Alexeyev were waived to begin the season and haven’t seen any NHL ice. Top prospect Harrison Brunicke was returned to his junior team.
Then, in the days leading up to the Olympic break, injuries piled up. Jack St. Ivany, who’d emerged as a great bottom-pairing shutdown option over the last few months, fractured his hand and won’t be back until late March. Kris Letang is dealing with a fractured foot, too, although he’ll be back by the trade deadline.
Still, those surgeries (and apparently some nagging injury concerns with Erik Karlsson) have the Penguins in the market to add another defenseman before March 6, Josh Yohe of The Athletic reports. That body would presumably be a righty with Pittsburgh’s top three on the right side, Letang, Karlsson, and St. Ivany, comprising their current injury concerns.
It’s likely one of the first places they’d go for depth is San Jose. The Sharks have plenty of rental names available that won’t be overly expensive, namely Timothy Liljegren. A reunion with Vincent Desharnais, who the Penguins had for a 10-game run last year before flipping him to the Sharks for a fifth-round pick at the deadline, is logical as well.
With Letang and Karlsson already in the picture, it stands to reason Pittsburgh won’t be looking for an offense-oriented defender as depth. A plug-and-play, more well-rounded option like Liljegren seems preferable. Among potential rental options across the league, there’s Ottawa’s Nick Jensen and Winnipeg’s Colin Miller out there as well.
I don’t know who is out there, but I bet they find a younger, controllable player that’s on the outs with his current team. Fits their approach
I’m still looking at Bowen Byram.
His numbers look average but I still remember how good he was in the Cup Final with COL.
We have plenty of bodies. Byram (or somone like him, but I can’t name anyone else who fits the young with huge upside who would cost a lot but not a fortune LHD mold I’m looking for) would be an upgrade that moves everyone else down the depth chart, shoring up the whole thing.
Byram is LHD and Buffalo would want too much for him.
Any defensive depth the Pens may find on, Or before the deadline won’t move the needle unless they give up something, They have dressed 13 different defensemen for at least one game this season. It’s probably best to live with what they have, And hold on to assets.
Why not go big? Pens have a ton of cap space, now and in the future, with very few avenues to spend it.
Mackenzie Weegar (31yo) is having a down year, but has a long track record of success and a tolerable $6.25M cap hit.
Wotherspoon-Karlsson
Kulak-Letang
Shea-Weegar
looks pretty decent going into a cup run, just saying
The Penguins are still the Crosby show. They haven’t drafted replacements superstars yet. Trading for a rental is defendable but it makes zero sense to ‘go big’. Trying to short circuit their rebuild is the worst thing they can do
If we do anything, I wish it would be to go for a younger superstar that a team may not be able to hold on to, like a Jason Robertson type. That way we don’t need to ever hit rock bottom to get a number one pick (that may not work out anyway). We can get a core type star and build around what we have
How about Jason Dickinson And Matt Gryzclyk from the Hawks For Rutger McCroraty ,and Jack St Ivaney . Blackhawks need players for next year .And Penguins get
Two experienced players for the playoffs!
That’s just awful, from both a value and logic perspective. Pens have no need for Dickinson, they’re incredibly deep at F. They lived through the Gryz experiment last season and appropriately said no thanks to a return.
lol negative. How about Bedard for a 1st, McGroarty, and Pickering