The Penguins’ Evgeni Malkin Dilemma
If you’ve been checking the NHL’s Eastern Conference standings, you’ll notice a surprising team near the top of the Metropolitan Division. The Penguins, who entered the season as a first-overall pick favorite, have shocked everyone by remaining in the hunt to this point in the season.
Your eyes aren’t deceiving you; the Penguins have been that good this year, despite a disastrous stretch in December that saw them drop nine of 10 games and blow multiple three-goal third-period leads. But with every Penguins win, it becomes clearer that many of the veterans on the trading block will be sticking around for this year and perhaps beyond.
One of those veterans is 39-year-old Evgeni Malkin, who at the start of this year seemed like a potential trade candidate, or at the very least, a player who wouldn’t play in Pittsburgh beyond the 2025-26 season. With the Penguins in the hunt, young prospects turning to NHLers, the team holding onto other veterans, and Malkin turning back the clock, is it possible the Penguins offer Malkin an extension to stick around beyond this season?
The Blake Lizotte signing last week reveals a lot about where the Penguins’ general manager, Kyle Dubas, feels the team is right now. If he thought the team wasn’t a playoff team this year, he likely would’ve been working the phones to move the depth center for picks or prospects, as he has been collecting those types of pieces for the better part of two years.
But Lizotte’s extension signals a change in philosophy, sort of. Dubas has been a bargain shopper for the last two summers, and even though Lizotte received a raise in his new deal, it could turn out to be a bargain if he plays the way he has this season.
That leads us back to Malkin. When Dubas spoke about the future Hall of Famer before this season, he likely believed he would be selling off assets towards the trade deadline and overseeing the third and possibly final year of the Penguins’ retool.
But the team and Malkin have surprised everyone thus far, and as the Penguins play more hockey, it becomes increasingly clear that Malkin can still produce. Just look at the ten-game stretch in December when they couldn’t buy a win.
Who wasn’t in their lineup for that? Malkin.
Malkin returned to the Penguins lineup on Jan. 8 and made an immediate impact, scoring a power-play marker on a one-timer from Sidney Crosby. He missed over a month with a shoulder injury, and Pittsburgh badly missed him on their second line.
His return didn’t exactly spark the team, as they had won five in a row leading up to it, but he certainly didn’t hurt, and Pittsburgh has gone 4-2-2 since he’s come back.
Then there’s also the optics of signing Malkin. With Kris Letang and Crosby still in the fold, signing ‘Geno’ would mean the big three playing another season together in their record-setting run, which would surely be a feel-good story, especially if more young Penguins graduate to the NHL and make an impact.
Pittsburgh could see Rutger McGroarty, Harrison Brunicke, Sergey Murashov, and Tristan Broz all jump to the NHL next season, which would be a massive youth movement for the team.
With these young pieces mixed in with Pittsburgh’s big three, as well as Erik Karlsson, Bryan Rust, Rickard Rakell, and Thomas Novak, there is the potential to make some noise in the Eastern Conference. Especially for a team that is armed with over $50MM in available cap space and an army surplus store full of draft picks in the subsequent three drafts.
The last time the Penguins had this level of youth in their pipeline was 2015, when Rust, Matt Murray, Conor Sheary, Tom Kuhnhackl, Scott Wilson, and eventually Jake Guentzel all jumped to the NHL, and Pittsburgh won back-to-back Stanley Cups. That’s not to say Pittsburgh is on the verge of a mini-dynasty in the twilight years of Malkin’s career.
Still, if they are on the verge of being competitive at all, which it looks like they could be, Malkin deserves to stick around with his buddies, especially if he can contribute rather than just partake in a nostalgia tour.
So, what should the Penguins do with one of the most beloved Penguins ever? It feels like it’s time to sign him to an extension.
Pittsburgh has the cap space, Malkin isn’t going to ask for the moon, and there really isn’t a Malkin replacement available in free agency. He also doesn’t need to be a center at this stage of his career and is quite competent on the wing, as he showed last season playing alongside Crosby on the top line.
It was reported last summer by Penguins play-by-play voice Josh Getzoff that Pittsburgh GM Kyle Dubas planned to meet with Malkin during the Olympic break, and as of right now, that appears to be the plan. But what could a Malkin deal look like?
It could be pretty straightforward. Take the framework of the Jonathan Toews contract with the Winnipeg Jets this season and perhaps double the guarantee.
Would that get it done? Hard to say, but according to Josh Yohe of The Athletic, Malkin is willing to take a pay cut and a one-year deal.
Pittsburgh gets a top-six forward, Malkin adds to his legacy, and Pittsburgh avoids painting itself into a long-term predicament, remaining fluid for future moves. Everybody wins, especially the fans in Pittsburgh and, most importantly, Malkin’s teammates, including Crosby.
Latest On Pittsburgh Penguins
Jan. 23rd: Adding more weight and credibility to LeBrun’s reporting yesterday, Penguins’ general manager Kyle Dubas put even more cold water on the recent speculation. In an interview with team broadcaster Josh Getzoff and later expanded upon by Andrew Destin of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Dubas was quoted saying, “To say that it’s a fire sale and we’re willing to retain money on very long-term deals — you know, I understand how that stuff starts to get out and take on a life of its own, but it’s not accurate. We’ve had lots of conversations. But are we telling teams that everything must go? No, we’re not.”
Jan. 22nd: Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic provided some context to the Pittsburgh Penguins’ plans leading up to the NHL Trade Deadline. Reports earlier in the week stated that the Penguins were headed for a fire sale before the deadline, but LeBrun writes that the Penguins intend to acquire young NHL players, prospects and draft picks but aren’t likely to orchestrate a massive fire sale. As LeBrun points out, Pittsburgh simply doesn’t have many pending unrestricted free agents, and trading players with term in season is quite difficult.
LeBrun notes that pending UFA Marcus Pettersson will be talked about and likely traded based on previous reports from Josh Yohe of The Athletic. But beyond that, most of the Penguins’ best trade chips have term remaining. These trades can prove difficult if you are looking to add futures because teams don’t typically have enough cap space to add the player, and as LeBrun points out in the article, it may force Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas to wait until the offseason when he will have more suitors and there will be more flexibility.
Chris Johnston of TSN clarified the Penguins’ situation further on Insider Trading, saying that they aren’t looking to retain salary on any long-term deals, which would further complicate trading a player with a term. However, he did add that there were very few untouchables in Pittsburgh outside of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, which certainly means that the Penguins are open for business and willing to move almost anyone on their active roster.
While LeBrun and Johnston poured cold water on the reports of a fire sale, LeBrun acknowledges that Dubas and Penguins management will be doing their best to get a lot done before the deadline, but reality might make those plans fall by the wayside.
Pittsburgh is certainly stuck in an unusual place as they continue to roster Crosby, who has not lost a step despite playing in his age-37 season. The Penguins likely can’t bottom out in the standings but do appear committed to re-tooling on the fly in an effort to be competitive once again before Crosby retires. While the plan makes sense, it has not been successful for many teams. Although, one could point to the Washington Capitals as an example of a team that re-tooled on the fly around a veteran core.
Dubas is certainly giving it his best shot, having taken the Penguins prospect pool from 27th in the NHL to 20th in just one year based on Scott Wheeler’s rankings in The Athletic.
Penguins Have Tough Decisions To Make In Second Half Of Season
The Pittsburgh Penguins will have some difficult choices to make as they inch towards the NHL trade deadline on March 7th, 2025. Pittsburgh has several intriguing trade possibilities, including defensemen Marcus Pettersson, Matt Grzelcyk, and forward Drew O’Connor. The Penguins have played better as of late, turning things around from an early season run of poor hockey that had fans screaming for a coaching change. This run has further complicated the direction general manager Kyle Dubas can take this team in the second half of the season.
A 9-3-1 run heading into the holiday break had people wondering if Dubas should hang on to pending unrestricted free agents, however, the Penguins played a fairly uninspiring game last night against a division rival, dropping a 6-3 decision to the lowly New York Islanders. The loss kicks off an unofficial second half of the season for Pittsburgh, one in which the possibilities appear to be many. The month of January will be crucial for Pittsburgh to determine the direction in which the remainder of the season will go. If the Penguins play .500 hockey or below, it is likely that Dubas will opt to move on from Pettersson and company and keep his eyes on the future. However, if Pittsburgh is in the hunt, standing pat could be an option too.
Additions seem unlikely given that Dubas has been accumulating future assets for the past calendar year and has publicly expressed his desire to build for the future. Acquiring a young, controllable player could be a move that Dubas desires, similar to the recent trade for forward Philip Tomasino.
The other looming concern for Pittsburgh is franchise legend Sidney Crosby and the message it would send to him if Dubas were to move out veterans while the Penguins are in the thick of a playoff hunt. At 37 years old, Crosby only has a few high-level seasons left in him, and he has been on a tear as of late, rounding into mid-season form. Dubas has already said the Penguins won’t enter a full rebuild with Crosby on the roster, meaning they will continue to try and remain competitive with an eye toward the future.
The next two months in Pittsburgh should be interesting, Pettersson would fetch a solid return of futures. However, there aren’t many other players Dubas can move that will bring in anything of substance, which could be another factor in his decision before the deadline. O’Connor is an intriguing possibility for teams, but he hasn’t been able to recapture his offensive numbers from last season, which has impacted what the Penguins can get in a trade for him. The 26-year-old has just three goals and seven assists in 37 games this year.
Prospect Notes: Brodzinski, Yager, Whitelaw, Cristall
The Philadelphia Flyers aren’t expected to sign 2019 seventh-round pick Bryce Brodzinski before his rights expire on August 1st, shares Jess Myers of The Rink Live (Twitter link). Myers instead thinks Brodzinski will pursue free agency, after playing through a full five years at the University of Minnesota.
The Flyers drafted Brodzinski out of Blaine High, after he led the school to the State tournament’s semi-finals, serving as their top scorer and captain. He played in just 19 USHL games – scoring 17 points – before moving to college in the 2019-20 season. His lack of high-level experience showed through during Brodzinski’s underclassmen years, as he struggled to match pace and make plays around faster defenders. But Brodzinski improved in every single season at UMN, finding added scoring each season and working his way into a top-six role by the end of his collegiate career. He also maintained his lead-by-example work ethic, serving as Minnesota’s captain this season.
Brodzinski, 23, will now hit the open market, after totaling 119 points in 185 games with the Gophers. He’s the youngest brother of New York Rangers forward Jonny Brodzinski and should find plenty of role from a team encouraged by his growth in the Big Ten.
Other notes from across the league:
- The Pittsburgh Penguins recalled a host of prospects to the AHL, including first-round pick Owen Pickering, who’s WHL season ended on April 19th. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton could be due for even more WHL reinforcements, with the fellow first-rounder Brayden Yager also likely to sign an entry-level contract and join the team following the end of his WHL season (Twitter link). This information comes following Kyle Dubas’ sharing that he hopes both Yager and Pickering could challenge an NHL roster spot next season. Yager is currently leading the Moose Jaw Warriors through the WHL Playoffs, set to meet the Saskatoon Blades in the league’s semi-finals. The 19-year-old centerman has 14 points, split evenly, through nine postseason appearances; after posting 95 points in 57 regular-season games. His availability for the AHL postseason largely depends on when Moose Jaw’s season comes to a close, though they could be poised for a run to the Memorial Cup with a two more series-wins.
- Columbus Blue Jackets second-round pick William Whitelaw has transferred from the University of Wisconsin to the University of Michigan for his sophomore season, per an announcement on his Instagram. Whitelaw had a slow start to his collegiate career, recording just 10 goals and 17 points in 37 games and often serving in a third-line role. This came after Whitelaw served as the leading forward on the 2023 Clark Cup championship-winning Youngstown Phantoms, scoring 61 points in 62 games in his only full-year in the USHL. He’ll hope for a much bigger role with the Wolverines, who recently lost Frank Nazar, Dylan Duke, and Gavin Brindley to NHL contracts.
- The Washington Capitals have assigned 2023 second-round pick Andrew Cristall to the AHL’s Hershey Bears, following the end of his WHL season. This kicks off the pro career of one of 2023’s most divisive prospects – with Cristall’s 280 points in 191 career WHL games clearly showing his scoring ability, but skeptics pointing out his lack of explosivity and off-puck fundamentals. He recorded 111 points in 62 games this season alone, the most of any Kelowna Rocket since 1996, and will now hope to translate his flashy style into a tougher scene.
Front Office Notes: Bannister, Dubas, Hynes
The St. Louis Blues have come to a list of finalists for their vacant head coach position, and Drew Bannister is reportedly among the bunch, shares Chris Pinkert of NHL.com. Bannister is St. Louis’ most recent coach, getting promoted from the AHL following Craig Berube’s dismissal in December.
It was the first NHL gig of Bannister’s coaching career and he made good work with it, leading the Blues to a surging 30-19-5 record. He brought the best out of the team’s special teams – improving the power-play from 8.4% to 23.2%, and the penalty-kill from 78.5% to 79.4%. But the push wasn’t enough to get St. Louis over a sub-.500 start to the year, with the team ultimately falling six points outside of a playoff spot.
Bannister previously served as the head coach for the Springfield Thunderbirds, St. Louis’ AHL affiliate. He found plenty of success in the minors, leading the Thunderbirds to two playoff appearances and even making the 2022 Calder Cup Final. That track record, and his early NHL success, could be enough to land Bannister an assistant coaching job on the Blues bench, even if he does miss out on the head role.
St. Louis general manager Doug Armstrong shared with the media that the team will have a coach before June’s NHL Draft and that their list of candidates has been whittled to a, “very, very small number”. It will be just a little longer before a decision, though, with Armstrong adding that the team is still waiting on some candidates to finish their season.
Other notes from NHL management:
- Kyle Dubas has been named an associate general manager for Team Canada’s World Championship roster (Twitter link). It will be the first time that Dubas has worked with Team Canada in his six-year career as an NHL GM. The decision was made by Team Canada’s general manager, Rick Nash, with input from Scott Salmond, Doug Armstrong, and Ryan Getzlaf. It’s an exciting announcement that, among many things, could show Canada’s focus on advanced statistics, as they bring in one of the most analytic-savvy GMs in the NHL.
- Team USA general manager Bill Guerin has named John Hynes as the head coach for the World Championship (Twitter link). It’s Guerin’s second time recruiting Hynes this season, having also hired him into the head coaching role for the Minnesota Wild after the team fired Dean Evason. The duo will look to maintain their momentum with Team USA, after the Wild ranked as a top-15 team in record, goals-for, and goals-against under Hynes’ reign.
Penguins Acquire Emil Bemstrom From Blue Jackets
A day after speaking to the media, Pittsburgh Penguins president of hockey operations and general manager Kyle Dubas has swung a trade with the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Penguins have acquired forward Emil Bemstrom from Columbus in exchange for forward Alex Nylander and a conditional sixth-round pick in 2026.
From the Penguins perspective, it didn’t look as though Nylander was a fit with head coach Mike Sullivan’s style of play as he spent most of his time with the Penguins organization in the AHL. In the past two seasons, Nylander dressed in 14 NHL games and had a goal and an assist while getting several looks in the Penguins top six, something he was never able to turn into offensive production. The eighth overall pick in the 2016 NHL entry draft has never lived up to his pre-draft expectations and now finds himself with his fourth NHL franchise in eight years.
The Blue Jackets likely view the draft pick as the central piece of the deal. Although a sixth-round pick in two drafts isn’t exactly a haul, Aaron Portzline of The Athletic is reporting that the pick becomes a third-round pick if Bemstrom scores six goals the rest of this season with Pittsburgh.
In Bemstrom, the Penguins are acquiring a 24-year-old with some speed who was available on waivers just a few months ago. The former fourth-round pick his five goals and six assists in 32 games this season after posting a career-high 22 points in 55 games last year. He spent eight games in the AHL this season where he was dominant with 10 goals and four assists.
The move could be the first of many for the Penguins as Dubas mentioned yesterday that getting younger would be a priority and the Penguins could also make a bigger move if they elect to move on from pending free agent Jake Guentzel.
Latest On Pittsburgh Penguins Roster
The Pittsburgh Penguins finally found a goal scorer in their bottom six forwards as Radim Zohorna lit the lamp in the final minutes of the Penguins’ 4-2 loss to the St. Louis Blues last night. Zohorna was playing in his first game of the season after being sent down to the AHL after a strong training camp and formed a unit with fellow winger Drew O’Connor and center Lars Eller.
After the game, Penguins Coach Mike Sullivan was visibly frustrated with his team’s play, and while he didn’t talk about roster decisions going forward, General Manager Kyle Dubas has been. Dubas spoke with NHL On TNT just a few nights ago and said he wanted the bottom six forwards to be tougher to play against and added that he didn’t feel the group was there yet. Dubas’ comments sparked speculation that the Penguins could be looking to make a move in the bottom six and they did by waiving Jansen Harkins and re-calling Zohorna before last night’s game. The Penguins also health-scratched defenseman P.O. Joseph in favor of Ryan Shea who made his NHL debut on the Penguins’ third pairing.
Kyle Dubas stocked up on fringe NHL talent in the offseason and has stashed many of those options in the AHL specifically for a moment like this. The Penguins AHL affiliate has so many veterans in fact that Alex Nylander and Andreas Johnsson had to be veteran scratches for last night’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins game. On top of Nylander, Johnsson, and Harkins, the Penguins also have Vinnie Hinostroza, Rem Pitlick, and Colin White as former NHLers who could be called up to shuffle the furniture in the Penguins bottom six.
Josh Yohe of The Athletic wrote in his 10 Postgame Observations piece that Sullivan typically doesn’t make major changes after a loss, but given the team’s recent record and his comments, he implies that it could happen. The Penguins third line of O’Connor, Eller and Zohorna was very good last night, however, the fourth line of Matthew Nieto, Jeff Carter and Noel Acciari has offered very little to the team and appears to be constantly chasing the play. That group is at the bottom of the Penguins lineup in almost every analytical statistic and has a combined zero points in five games together. Sullivan has been apprehensive about scratching Carter in the past and became defensive with the media last season on multiple occasions when the topic was asked about.
It might be just five games into the season but given that the Penguins are 2-3 against five teams that didn’t make the playoffs last season, there could be big changes brewing in Pittsburgh as Dubas and company try to find an identity for the bottom six forwards. A competent bottom-six has been something the Penguins have lacked since they lost Brandon Tanev (and Jared McCann via trade) in the 2021 NHL Expansion Draft and it was one of the big reasons they missed the playoffs in 2023.
Examining The Pittsburgh Penguins Bottom Six Options
The Pittsburgh Penguins saw more turnover this offseason than any other organization in the NHL. From the hiring of President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Kyle Dubas to the signing of a multitude of fourth liners, the Pittsburgh Penguins look wildly different than they did six months ago. It’s certainly a welcome change in the Steel City after the Penguins missed the playoffs for the first time since 2006.
In a recent season preview that was completed by Sean Gentille, Shayna Goldman, and Dom Luszczyszyn of The Athletic, the trio pointed out that one of the biggest issues with the Penguins last season was the lack of support from the bottom six forward group. The group was so bad that nearly half of it was put on waivers before the trade deadline. Kasperi Kapanen was claimed, Brock McGinn was traded, and many others departed in free agency or were traded away.
Kyle Dubas completely overhauled the bottom six almost exclusively through free agency. In the early days of free agency, the Penguins signed Noel Acciari, Lars Eller, Vinnie Hinostroza, Andreas Johnsson, Joona Koppanen, Matt Nieto, and Radim Zohorna. Dubas also traded for Rem Pitlick who was a throw-in as part of the Erik Karlsson trade. These eight players now find themselves competing with the remaining Penguins’ bottom six options Jeff Carter, Alexander Nylander and Drew O’Connor, as well as Colin White who is in camp on a PTO. The group of 12 will be competing for six or seven NHL spots in the Penguins forward group.
Competition is almost always a good thing in the NHL and the Penguins training camp has seen a lot of it. Very little is set in their bottom six, except that it will likely be again void of offence. While the group doesn’t have a ton of offensive firepower, they clearly have an identity, which is something that didn’t exist in previous seasons in Pittsburgh. Dubas has targeted players who are capable defensively, can skate with pace, and won’t hand the game away by giving up backbreaking goals. The same can’t be said for the Penguins’ bottom six last season.
With all this, one must wonder which players will have the inside track to start opening night on the Penguins’ third and fourth line. Let’s look at the way Head Coach Mike Sullivan and the Penguins might utilize their options.
In a perfect world, Eller would be a perfect fourth-line center, but in Pittsburgh, he will likely see duty as a third-line pivot. At 34 years old, Eller’s best days are behind him, but he is still a very capable penalty killer and is defensively sound. Eller doesn’t offer the offensive pop he did in his last 20s, but he is just a year removed from a 31-point season.
Flanking Eller on the left side will likely be O’Connor, the Penguins love his size and speed and are hoping he can piece it all together. It goes to show how top-heavy the Penguins are when they are counting on a player who has eight goals and nine assists in 78 career games to be a key component of their third line.
When healthy, it seems very possible that the Penguins will deploy Nylander. The former eighth-overall pick has the pedigree to be a scorer in the NHL, but he has never been able to produce enough offense to stick with an NHL club. Nylander will start the season on the Penguins second line in the absence of Jake Guentzel, and depending on his production he could find himself flanking the right side of the third line, or exposed to waivers.
The Penguins’ fourth line is where it gets interesting. Nieto and Acciari were targeted by Dubas on July 1st and fit the identity that Dubas and Sullivan are building for that group. Nieto is a terrific penalty killer and will be utilized in that role a lot, while Acciari adds a physical element and is good defensively. Both players can add a bit of offense as well, Nieto is coming off a season in which he posted 12 goals and 12 assists in 81 games, while Acciari had 14 goals and 9 assists last season in 77 games.
Finally, last season’s lightning rod Carter remains under contract for one more season and is still a favorite of Coach Sullivan. Carter was never removed from the Penguins lineup last year, despite having the worst season of his professional career. Carter looked run down at times and was consistently a step behind when it came to both offense and defense. However, he was utilized in a third-line center role and probably shouldn’t have been. Carter could perform better when being deployed less often and in a more sheltered role. Given Sullivan’s affinity for Carter, it would take a lot to remove the 38-year-old from Pittsburgh’s lineup.
How the Penguins bottom six will look on opening night remains a mystery. But it should be one of the more exciting roster battles to see in the final week of training camp. The Penguins will have to expose a lot of players to waivers to trim down their roster and could lose some bodies to other teams depending on how things shake out.
Can The Pittsburgh Penguins Actually Sign Tomas Tatar?
There aren’t many impact unsigned free agents remaining at this point in the offseason, but one name of note is forward Tomas Tatar. Tatar has been linked to several teams, including the Buffalo Sabres as an inexpensive replacement for the injured Jack Quinn. One team that popped up in the rumor mill last week was the Pittsburgh Penguins. Rob Rossi of The Athletic wrote that the Penguins were keenly interested but it all came down to whether Tatar would get a guaranteed contract offer elsewhere as the Penguins appeared to be offering a PTO for training camp in Pittsburgh with the expectation of a contract after. But can the Penguins realistically fit in another contract for a player coming off a season in which he scored 20 goals and 28 assists in 82 games?
In most off-seasons, the answer to that question would be an emphatic no. But the summer of 2023 has been unlike any other offseason. Players like Blake Wheeler have signed for less than $1MM annually. Matt Duchene took a one-year contract for $3MM despite being a year removed from topping 80 points, and Tatar remains unsigned despite providing consistent secondary scoring.
But all of this doesn’t necessarily mean the answer is a resounding yes, the Penguins would need to do some cap gymnastics to fit Tatar into the sliver of room they have under the salary cap ceiling. Currently, the Penguins have just north of $220K, which is obviously well below the NHL minimum.
Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas has said previously that he would use waivers as a means of becoming cap compliant, and the Penguins have plenty of players who could be placed on waivers to open up room for Tatar. Alexander Nylander and Rem Pitlick are two players that could be exposed and sent to the AHL to open up the room, but would that be enough to sign Tatar? The answer is a giant unknown at this time, but as we inch closer to training camp it becomes more and more possible.
Dan Kingerski of Pittsburgh Hockey Now explored another idea in an article as he wondered if a potential Jeff Carter trade would be possible. The 38-year-old London, Ontario native is in the final year of his contract with a cap hit of $3.125MM and is coming off a season in which he scored just 13 goals and 16 assists in 79 games and looked lost at times both offensively and defensively. Kingerski provides options in the article, the most interesting of which would have the Penguins retain 50% of Carter’s contract and staple a second-round pick to him to facilitate a move. While this scenario seems possible, the biggest caveat to a potential deal would be Carter’s full no-movement clause. Given all these moving parts, it seems unlikely any contending team would have room to take on even half of Carter’s cap hit and even less likely that Carter would waive his no-move to make it happen. Kyle Dubas has worked one miracle this summer in moving out Jeff Petry and Mikael Granlund for Erik Karlsson, but can he make another one happen?
Much like the Karlsson situation it feels like the longer this drags out the likelier it becomes the player ends up with the Penguins. But to make it happen Tatar is going to have to take a massive pay cut and perhaps accept just a one-year contract. A far cry from the $3.3MM annually that Daily Faceoff projected he would get on a three-year deal when free agency opened.
Penguins Notes: Guentzel, Additional Moves, Cap Flexibility
It appears the Pittsburgh Penguins won’t be getting any long-term injured reserve relief from Jake Guentzel at the beginning of the season after all. Speaking with reporters today in the wake of yesterday’s Erik Karlsson trade, Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas said Guentzel is only expected to miss around the first five games of the season after undergoing ankle surgery last week, which wouldn’t qualify him to start the year on LTIR. LTIR requires players to miss ten games or 24 days with an injury.
After clearing $3.1MM in cap space via yesterday’s massive trade, Pittsburgh wouldn’t have needed Guentzel’s $6MM cap hit on LTIR to start the season to become cap-compliant anyways. It’s good news for Pittsburgh, who now won’t be without their top-line goal-scoring winger as long as previously thought. As they learned the hard way last season, every game will matter for the Penguins to avoid missing the postseason for a second straight campaign.
More from Dubas on the state of the Penguins today:
- The Penguins are likely done with any major moves, Dubas confirmed, saying, “I think this will be the group,” with training camp six weeks away. It’s been quite an eventful first offseason in Pittsburgh for Dubas, whose forward corps projects to have at least six new faces on opening night – Reilly Smith, Matthew Nieto, Noel Acciari, Lars Eller, Vinnie Hinostroza, and Rem Pitlick, making it a 50% turnover from last season. With virtually no financial flexibility left to exhaust, this isn’t a surprising comment.
- Dubas also gave some insight into how he’ll manage the salary cap in-season, saying he won’t be afraid to place players on waivers, something he did with frequency during his time with the Toronto Maple Leafs. He also confirmed Pittsburgh is on track to carry one player short of the maximum 23-man roster and will just have one extra forward and one extra defenseman on the roster for opening night. Nicolas Aube-Kubel, Travis Boyd, Michael Amadio, and Adam Brooks are some notable players Dubas lost on waivers recently with Toronto.