Penguins winger Jake Guentzel was open to beginning discussions regarding a contract extension back in the offseason, notes Josh Yohe of The Athletic (subscription required). However, GM Jim Rutherford indicated at the time that his preference was to negotiate a new deal next summer. While that may have been disappointing at the time for Guentzel, it’s fair to suggest that this worked out quite well for him. The 24-year-old has 22 points through 26 games so far this season which puts him on pace for 69, a number that would vastly surpass his previous career best of 48. Although he’s still on his entry-level deal, Guentzel is eligible for salary arbitration next summer so he is well-positioned to land a substantial raise on his current $734K cap hit and almost assuredly more than if he signed an extension last summer.
Penguins Rumors
Pittsburgh Penguins Acquire Ben Sexton, Macoy Erkamps
The Ottawa Senators and Pittsburgh Penguins have completed a trade, though it isn’t as major as some had hoped. The Penguins will be sending Stefan Elliott and Tobias Lindberg to the Senators in exchange for Ben Sexton and Macoy Erkamps.
The deal will bring Lindberg back to the team that drafted him back in 2013, after quite the tour of the NHL. Traded originally to the Toronto Maple Leafs in the Dion Phaneuf deal, Lindberg has since spent time in the Vegas Golden Knights and Penguins organizations. Despite bouncing around, the 23-year old forward still has just six NHL games under his belt, all with Toronto. Armed with good size and some keen offensive instincts, he still hasn’t been able to put it all together in the minor leagues and had just six points in 15 games for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.
Elliott meanwhile has much more professional experience, and plenty of success in the minor leagues. The 27-year old defenseman is a legitimate goal-scoring threat every time he touches the ice, and scored 19 times for the Lake Erie Monsters just a few seasons ago. After testing his skills in the KHL and SHL over the last two years, he resurfaced for the baby Penguins this season and has eight points in 20 games.
In return, the Penguins are likely mainly interested in Sexton, who can give them some more depth in the middle. The seventh-round pick from 2009 has just two NHL games under his belt, but has been a dependable two-way player in the minor leagues for several years. Erkamps on the other hand has spent this season exclusively in the ECHL, where he has six points in 21 games.
A flip of two-way contracts, neither team will add or subtract any cap hits unless one of the players is recalled. For now, all four will report to their respective minor league clubs.
Pittsburgh Penguins “Tested The Market” On Phil Kessel
Not for the first time, and certainly not for the last, the Pittsburgh Penguins apparently “tested the market” on enigmatic superstar Phil Kessel. That’s according to Elliotte Friedman’s latest 31 Thoughts column for Sportsnet, which notes that Penguins GM Jim Rutherford is still looking to make a move to upgrade his current roster. There was speculation that Kessel could be on the move earlier this year after Pittsburgh were knocked out of the postseason, though nothing came of it.
The 31-year old Kessel is still an incredible offensive talent and sits currently with 29 points through his first 26 games this season. Just last year he posted the best season of his career to-date, recording 92 points, finishing ahead of teammate Sidney Crosby and seventh in the entire league. That point-per-game production didn’t quite continue in the playoffs, and Kessel was only able to record a single goal in 12 postseason appearances.
Still, there’s no doubting that he can help any team reach the Stanley Cup. In his first two seasons with the Penguins, Kessel was a force in the playoffs with 45 points in 49 games and was a huge part of the back-to-back championships. The forward that had been figuratively run out of both Boston and Toronto seemed to find a perfect home in Pittsburgh, where he could play the part of the third musketeer behind Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.
The question now is, with the Penguins struggling out of the gate, whether Kessel is still that perfect fit. The team has turned things around of late and are now within striking distance of a playoff spot in the Metropolitan Division, but find themselves pushed right up against the cap and using long-term injured reserve to ice a competitive team. Though part of Kessel’s salary is still being paid by the Maple Leafs, he still counts for $6.8MM against the Penguins cap and has three more seasons on his current deal. That room could be used for other things, and there’s bound to be interest in a point-per-game sniper like the Wisconsin native.
There’s no reason to think that a Kessel trade is imminent—especially given that he still holds a substantial no-trade clause—but it’s hard to rule out anything when it comes to Rutherford. He’s already been one of the more active executives in the league this season, sending Carl Hagelin and Daniel Sprong out to try and shake things up in the dressing room. In came Tanner Pearson and Marcus Pettersson, but neither player is a game-changing talent like Kessel, nor as substantial an asset as he would likely return.
A previous version of Friedman’s story used the term “testing the market.” It has since been updated.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Daniel Sprong Traded To Anaheim Ducks
The Pittsburgh Penguins didn’t wait long to make another move to shake up their roster, this time trading away Daniel Sprong to the Anaheim Ducks. The Ducks will send defenseman Marcus Pettersson in return, in another case of a one-for-one deal.
Like Josh Leivo, who earlier today was traded by the Toronto Maple Leafs, Sprong hasn’t been able to find a fit in Pittsburgh despite his obvious offensive potential. Selected in the second round of the 2015 draft, the sensational QMJHL scorer has just nine points in 42 NHL games and was without a goal during his 16 contests this year. Some may say that he rarely looked deserving of a bigger opportunity while in Pittsburgh, but he certainly did in the minor leagues where he recorded 65 points in 65 games last season as a rookie. Still, it was obvious that he wasn’t going to find success with the Penguins in the immediate future, something that the team is desperately chasing while Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel are still in their prime Cup-contending years.
For Anaheim, there’s little reason to believe that an opportunity won’t be there for Sprong to thrive. The team has been struggling to find consistent offensive presences since Corey Perry and Ryan Kesler started to decline, and still had depth on defense to deal from. Pettersson, while a competent player that looks destined for a long NHL career, was unlikely to supplant the Ducks other star defensemen like Cam Fowler, Hampus Lindholm, Josh Manson or Brandon Montour. With others like Jacob Larsson and Joshua Mahura pushing for playing time as well, there was an obvious fit for these two teams to try and help each other.
Penguins GM Jim Rutherford told media after the trade that Pettersson could have a Brian Dumoulin-like affect for the team in the future, and that seems to be the ceiling for the young defenseman. Selected 38th overall in 2014, Pettersson has grown into a capable defender with a long reach, but has still yet to show much offensive upside that could take him to the next level of production. That’s not to say he needs to supply any offense to be productive—especially in Pittsburgh where they already have plenty of firepower—but he was the obvious choice to send out for Anaheim if they were looking to trade from their position of strength.
That lack of offense actually will likely benefit the Penguins, given that Pettersson is up for a new contract after this season. The pending restricted free agent has just 10 points in 49 games, and almost assuredly will be an inexpensive option for Pittsburgh to plug in next season. The team already has five defensemen signed to contracts that total more than $20MM, meaning a player like Pettersson with a reasonable cap hit is necessary. Sprong meanwhile is signed for another season at just a $750K cap hit, giving Anaheim plenty of time to see if they feel he can be a core piece before having to pay him anything substantial.
Penguins Unlikely To Trade For Goaltending Help
Although the Penguins were recently noted as a potential suitor for Red Wings goaltender Jimmy Howard, Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports (citing multiple sources from within the organization) that it’s extremely unlikely that Pittsburgh opts to trade for help between the pipes.
Starter Matt Murray has struggled considerably this season and is out for the longer term with a lower-body injury. As a result, they’re running with Casey DeSmith and Tristan Jarry, a pair of players with some upside but not a lot of NHL experience. Accordingly, they could certainly use some veteran help for the time being.
However, Pittsburgh’s salary cap situation is working against them. They’re already into LTIR with defenseman Justin Schultz but since he’ll be back before the end of the season, using that space to bring in a goaltender is risky since they’d have to get back into cap compliance before Schultz could be activated. Basically, they have enough room to acquire someone making close to the league minimum.
Unfortunately for the Penguins, there aren’t any capable proven netminders available at that price tag. If they were to seriously take a run at someone like Howard or a more expensive veteran, they’d have to send out a higher-priced veteran player as part of the return and potentially need the other team to retain salary. That’s a tough sell this early in the season but could be more palatable closer to the trade deadline.
The Penguins currently sit in sixth in the Metropolitan Division and are going to need much better goaltending to get back into a playoff position. However, there isn’t likely to be help from outside the organization on the horizon so it will be up to DeSmith and Jarry to step up in Murray’s absence.
Snapshots: Nylander, Hextall, Pilut
Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Mike Babcock did nothing to curb his outspoken nature when asked about William Nylander again today, telling reporters including Jonas Siegel of The Athletic that he still believes that the young forward will be on the team but the organization won’t beg him to return. Meanwhile, Frank Seravalli of TSN tweeted this morning that the Philadelphia Flyers had been in touch with Maple Leafs GM Kyle Dubas in his recent “last call” for trade offers. TSN broadcaster Gord Miller also heard that from a source in Philadelphia, and detailed what those talks were about:
This was the previous regime that was contacted by the Leafs on the weekend, and the Leafs asked for—they wanted to tap into the Flyers’ young D. Right away the Flyers said “Ivan Provorov? Not touchable.” So Provorov, who scored 17 goals last year is not on the table. Now again, this is the old regime. So the focus turned to Shayne Gostisbehere.
When Miller references the “old regime” he is speaking about former Flyers GM Ron Hextall, who was let go this week along with assistant GM Chris Pryor. The conversation regarding a fit between the Flyers and Nylander continues, but is highly speculative at that point especially given the changes in the Philadelphia front office since this apparent negotiation happened. Still, it only lends credence to the idea that Dubas and the Maple Leafs have been doing their due diligence in preparation for the deadline tomorrow, when there will finally (hopefully) be a conclusion one way or the other regarding Nylander.
- Speaking of Hextall’s recent firing, the former Philadelphia GM spoke with the media today and expressed his shock at the entire situation. Hextall did not see his dismissal coming, and was “stunned” when team president Paul Holmgren delivered the news. Hextall is of course a legend in Philadelphia from his playing days, including being one of the rare players to ever win a Conn Smythe trophy as playoff MVP despite losing in the Stanley Cup Finals. Still, his tenure as GM had not yet resulted in any deep playoff success and upper management had grown tired of waiting.
- With all eyes still on the Buffalo Sabres as they continue their fight for the Atlantic Division crown just a year after finishing last in the NHL, a new face will be scrutinized under the lights. Lawrence Pilut will make his NHL debut according to Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News, despite the recent recall of Matt Tennyson. That gives Buffalo fans another highly anticipated Swedish defenseman to watch, and one that brings plenty of offensive upside. Pilut had 22 points in 16 games for the Rochester Americans before his call-up, and is still just 22 years old.
Calvin Pickard, Jean-Sebastien Dea Claimed Off Waivers
With the Arizona Coyotes dealing with some health concerns in net, they’ve decided to claim goaltender Calvin Pickard off waivers from the Philadelphia Flyers. The Pittsburgh Penguins meanwhile have reclaimed Jean-Sebastien Dea off waivers from the New Jersey Devils. Dea has been immediately sent to the minor leagues, meaning the Penguins were the only team who put in a claim.
Pickard is off to his fourth team since the end of the 2016-17 season, when he finished the year as the starting goaltender for the Colorado Avalanche. He was then selected in the expansion draft by the Vegas Golden Knights, only to be traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs before ever playing a regular season game for Vegas. In Toronto, he spent nearly the entire 2017-18 season in the minor leagues, winning a Calder Cup as a backup to Garret Sparks, before eventually being waived just prior to the start of this year.
In Philadelphia, his numbers have not been up to the level he showed in Colorado and was obviously not the long-term solution for the Flyers. He’s no more the solution in Arizona though, as he is an obvious short-term solution while Antti Raanta and Darcy Kuemper try to get healthy. Adin Hill will make the next start for Arizona, just his fifth of his career. That forced GM John Chayka to go out and acquire some more experience, something that Pickard brings even if there hasn’t been a lot of success lately.
Pittsburgh meanwhile will get Dea back after watching him score five points in 20 games for the Devils this year. The undrafted forward was a project of the Pittsburgh development system for the last few seasons, and will now re-enter that organization after getting his feet wet at the NHL level. Though it was obviously not planned, this was actually not the worst outcome for the Penguins if they felt they couldn’t afford to give Dea that short opportunity themselves. The 24-year old now has some additional NHL games under his belt, and can attempt to improve his game even further in the minor leagues.
Detroit’s Jimmy Howard Drawing Trade Interest
The Detroit Red Wings are in the midst of a rebuild. Whether or not they’re willing to admit that fact or continue to try and push for a playoff spot this season, it is clear that the team is not set up for Stanley Cup contention as presently constructed. They do have plenty of good young talent in the NHL and on the way, but there just aren’t enough elite players to really push them into the upper echelon of the Atlantic Division, let alone the Eastern Conference. With that in mind, the Red Wings may very well see this season’s trade deadline as an opportunity to gather more assets for the future and continue building towards an eventual competitive window. One of the players who is already drawing interest from around the league is goaltender Jimmy Howard, who is having another excellent season and is in the final year of his current contract.
Recently, Darren Dreger of TSN reported that the St. Louis Blues had shown interest in the Detroit netminder given the struggles of both Jake Allen and Chad Johnson and today Frank Seravalli of TSN writes that the Pittsburgh Penguins also have interest. Seravalli notes that the Penguins have a first -round pick to “dangle” in front of the Red Wings, something that the Blues do not have after giving it up for Ryan O’Reilly this offseason. Howard comes with a $5.3MM cap hit this season but wouldn’t represent a long-term investment for any acquiring team.
Interestingly, in the same piece Seravalli also lists Penguins goaltender Matt Murray as a potential trade candidate due to his growing injury concerns and struggles this season. If the Penguins were to be pursuing someone like Howard, it would make some sense that they’d need to send one of their young netminders elsewhere. Pittsburgh has Casey DeSmith and Tristan Jarry manning the crease while Murray deals with his latest injury, a tandem that certainly doesn’t have the experience someone like Howard has.
From these reports it doesn’t seem like anything is close, but the fact that the Penguins would show interest in a veteran goaltender is something to keep an eye on. GM Jim Rutherford isn’t shy with in-season moves to improve his club, and Pittsburgh still believes they can compete this year. With the return of Sidney Crosby recently, the Penguins are now 10-8-5 on the season and just three points out of a Metropolitan Division playoff spot.
The Red Wings meanwhile now have Jonathan Bernier under contract through 2020-21 and little reason to not trade Howard before the deadline, unless they plan on re-signing the veteran netminder. The two sides have definitely discussed a multi-year extension, but if Detroit is offered a big enough package in return it will be hard to turn down.
Steve Greeley Latest To Be Linked To Flyers GM Search
Paul Holmgren and the Philadelphia Flyers are underway on their search for a new GM after the team fired Ron Hextall yesterday, and early indications were that Chuck Fletcher and Ron Francis were on the list of candidates for the job. Add Steve Greeley to that list, as Frank Seravalli of TSN reports that the Buffalo Sabres assistant GM is on the Flyers’ radar. The team has not reached out to the Sabres for permission to talk to him, but it’s easy to see why they would be interested.
Greeley, 38, is a former minor pro player who spent several years with the Los Angeles Kings as a scout under then-GM Dean Lombardi, who happens to now be a senior advisor with the Flyers. He then joined David Quinn’s staff at Boston University as associate head coach, before moving to the New York Rangers’ player personnel department. Jason Botterill hired him after taking over in Buffalo, but it was easy to see that Greeley was on the fast track to run a team of his own one day. Whether that happens in Philadelphia is still obviously undecided.
At a press conference today to explain the Hextall firing, Holmgren explained that while the organization is still in a fine position going forward the upper management felt that a new voice was needed to take them “to the next level.” One has to wonder whether that will be someone without any experience in the GM role like Greeley, or a more veteran name like Fletcher or Francis. For what it’s worth, neither of those two could ever get their franchises—Minnesota and Carolina respectively—to that next level when in the GM position.
Reactions To Ron Hextall’s Firing In Philadelphia
Ron Hextall being let go as General Manager of the Flyers earlier on Monday came as a shock to many. While some expected some changes to be made, relieving a GM midseason isn’t something that happens too frequently; the last one occurred in 2013 when Columbus relieved Scott Howson of his duties. Instead, usually the head coach takes the fall or a substantial trade is made to shake up the core but that isn’t happening here, at least for now. There has been plenty of mixed reaction to this around the hockey world today, some of which are highlighted below.
- Kevin Allen of USA Today suggests that Hextall’s inability to find a long-term solution between the pipes was his biggest failing as GM. While there is certainly optimism surrounding Carter Hart, he may still be a couple of years away from being ready to make an NHL impact after a slow start in the minors. Rather than change things up this summer, he opted to stay with veterans Brian Elliott and Michal Neuvirth and the two have helped lead Philadelphia to a league-worst save percentage. (Both happen to be injured at the moment as well.)
- Sam Carchidi of the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News believes that while a change needed to be made, this wasn’t it. He notes that Hextall had finally alleviated their long-time salary cap concerns and had positioned themselves to make a trade of significance in the days to come. He also speculates that a new GM could come in and clean house behind the bench which could create another potential landing spot for former Chicago bench boss Joel Quenneville.
- Mike Sielski, also of the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News, opines that Philadelphia’s playoff berths in 2016 and 2018 were ultimately counterproductive as Hextall was still in the process of reshaping and building up their infrastructure. However, the fact that they made the postseason created a level of urgency and impatience which goes against Hextall’s patient approach.
- TSN’s Frank Seravalli notes (video link) that in Hextall’s tenure as GM, there wasn’t a single trade made to significantly bolster their talent level – they were filling holes, clearing cap space, or building for the future. As a result, his legacy will ultimately be complicated – while the team is better positioned for the long-term now compared to when he took over, his teams will largely be remembered for their mediocrity and inability to live up to expectations.