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Jeff Petry

Atlantic Notes: Petry, Bennett, Samoskevich

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Detroit Red Wings head coach Derek Lalonde told the media, including MLive’s Ansar Khan, that veteran defenseman Jeff Petry is healthy and will play in tomorrow’s game in Boston. Petry has been out with a lower-body injury and has not played since October 21st.

Petry’s return to the Red Wings lineup again puts into focus the logjam of quality defensemen the team is currently dealing with. With Petry healthy, a veteran such as Justin Holl or Olli Määtta would need to exit the lineup in order for Petry to play. Petry himself has been a healthy scratch at times this season, and it’s possible this impressive blueline depth and the ability for Lalonde to rotate his defensive lineup has helped contribute to Detroit’s stellar start to the season.

Some other notes from the Atlantic Division:

  • Florida Panthers team reporter Katie Engleson relays word from head coach Paul Maurice who says forward Sam Bennett and defenseman Dmitry Kulikov are game-time decisions for the team’s Saturday game against the Seattle Kraken. Yesterday, we covered Bennett nearing a return to play and now Maurice has clarified his status, saying he’s not guaranteed to be in the lineup on Saturday. As for Kulikov, he’s occupied an important second-pairing role next to Niko Mikkola and any injury-related absence from him would represent a significant blow to a Panthers blueline already lacking in depth.
  • Florida Hockey Now’s George Richards reports that the Panthers have returned forward Mackie Samoskevich to the team’s AHL affiliate, the Charlotte Checkers. Samoskevich, the team’s 2021 first-round pick, broke camp with the Panthers but was sent down for the Checkers’ road trip to Toronto. He was recalled on the 25th and played 8:16 in the Panthers’ last game. Now he returns to the AHL for what will be his rookie AHL campaign.

Snapshots: Carlsson, Petry, Devils

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When the Anaheim Ducks made a somewhat unexpected choice at the 2023 NHL draft to select Swedish pivot Leo Carlsson over Hobey Baker winner Adam Fantilli, many had circled today as a date to watch on the NHL calendar. That’s because Carlsson’s Ducks are set to play Fantilli’s Blue Jackets tonight, and with both players likely to be in the NHL today’s contest was viewed to be the first chance to watch the two players go head-to-head.

Fans will have to wait to get that chance, though, as Ducks team reporter Aly Lozoff confirms that Carlsson will not dress for today’s game. Carlsson began this season dealing with an injury and the Ducks have reportedly been attempting to “ease” Carlsson into the rigors of the NHL schedule. That means he’ll sit tonight, and as a result, fans will have to wait until the Blue Jackets travel to Orange County in February to get the chance to see Carlsson and Fantilli face off.

  • Detroit Red Wings defenseman Jeff Petry did not skate this morning and is day-to-day with a lower-body injury, according to Red Wings head coach Derek Lalonde. Petry, 35, was acquired from the Pittsburgh Penguins (via the Montreal Canadiens) this offseason and has thus far skated in four games for the Red Wings. The Red Wings’ defensive depth is an area of strength, so while Petry’s injury is definitely unfortunate, the Red Wings are well-equipped to survive in his absence.
  • As relayed by Devils team reporter Sam Kasan, forwards Erik Haula and Nico Hischier  “will be able to play” in tonight’s game against the Montreal Canadiens, according to head coach Lindy Ruff. Hischier, the Devils’ captain, missed the later stages of the Devils’ last game with an upper-body injury, while Haula hasn’t appeared in the lineup since October 16th. With Tomáš Nosek out with an injury, these two players returning to health is an important development in helping the Devils maintain their impressive strength at the center position.

Red Wings Healthy Scratch Jeff Petry

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It’s been a strange 14 months for Detroit Red Wings defenseman Jeff Petry. The 35-year-old defenseman was traded in July 2022 by the Montreal Canadiens to the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for a package that included defenseman Mike Matheson and forward Ryan Poehling. Petry spent one uneven season with the Penguins only to be traded back to Montreal 13 months later in a salary dump as part of the Erik Karlsson trade. Petry was then flipped to the Red Wings for a fourth-round draft pick and Gustav Lindstrom.

Now, just two games into his time with Detroit, Petry already finds himself a healthy scratch as per the Red Wings X account. Petry was in the press box during the Red Wings 4-0 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets tonight as Detroit dressed six defensemen and 12 forwards for the game.

The Red Wings traded very little to acquire Petry, but it is difficult to understand the logic of the move given how many other NHL veterans are currently signed to play on Detroit’s blue line. The Red Wings made several moves this summer to acquire veteran defensemen with Petry coming into the organization along with Justin Holl and Shayne Gostisbehere.

Petry was a bit of a wild card as he hasn’t been overly effective since the 2020-21 season when he was with the Canadiens and has been shuffled through multiple organizations in that time. Last year in Pittsburgh he wasn’t terrible, but he wasn’t particularly good either, which prompted the Penguins to make the Karlsson move to replace Petry and add more power to their offense.

In his first two games in Detroit, Petry has really struggled posting no points and a -2 while averaging 16:44 of ice time. A dramatic decline from the 22:14 he has averaged throughout his career. While his ice time is down substantially, his play hasn’t warranted additional ice time as he has found himself on the wrong side of puck possession more often than not in the first two games.

How Detroit handles their defense going forward could make for interesting theatre. Moritz Seider and Jake Walman aren’t coming out of the lineup for Petry and given their play as of late it seems unlikely that Olli Maatta or Gostisbehere are coming out of the lineup either. The likeliest candidate is Holl, but like Petry, he was just brought in this summer, and it wouldn’t be a great look to scratch him after a handful of games.

Detroit has alternated using six or seven defensemen this season and may continue to do so with the logjam in their defensive core. However, constantly sitting newly acquired veterans is often frowned upon and could lead to some bitter feelings among veterans.

Sharks Best Positioned To Win First Overall Pick

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Harman Dayal of The Athletic writes that the San Jose Sharks are the team that is best positioned to win the draft lottery in 2024 and ultimately the first overall pick. Dayal ranked the top five teams with the best chance to do so, and in his estimation, he believes that the Chicago Blackhawks will have the second-best odds, the Philadelphia Flyers third, Anaheim Ducks fourth, and the Montreal Canadiens rounding out the top 5.

Given the offseason that the Sharks have had, the rankings are hardly a surprise. The Sharks dealt the reigning Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson to the Pittsburgh Penguins for a lot of bad roster players and several draft picks. The move to embrace a full rebuild was the correct one given where the Sharks are in their roster construction, but it is going to lead to a lot of lean years and in Dayal’s view this one could be the toughest.

After subtracting Karlsson, the Sharks added Mikael Granlund, Mike Hoffman, Jan Rutta, Filip Zadina, and Anthony Duclair. While several of those players still have something to offer a team, none of them appear likely to be with the Sharks long-term and most of the players will be asked to play this season in a roster spot that doesn’t match their current skillset. Take Rutta for example, he was a terrific sixth defenseman on the Stanley Cup winning Tampa Bay Lightning squads but struggled last season in Pittsburgh when he was asked to play in the top-4 in the absence of Kris Letang and Jeff Petry. Rutta was exposed as a liability on most nights in that role, and this year will be asked to play on San Jose’s top defensive pairing. It’s going to be a tough year for the Sharks’ defense as they likely don’t have a single defenseman on their roster that could play in the top-4 of a playoff team.

Zadina is also going to be asked to play a role that doesn’t match his skillset as he is currently pencilled in to play in the Sharks top line. He had trouble finding minutes in Detroit and was a healthy scratch at times. Now he will be asked to dress against opponents’ top units, which might make for a tough year for the 23-year-old who is trying to rebuild his stock after struggling with the Red Wings.

Outside of Duclair, every player the Sharks acquired this offseason was a lightning rod for criticism with their former clubs. Granlund in Pittsburgh was the move that probably got Ron Hextall fired as he didn’t mix with the Penguins, Hoffman wore out his welcome in Montreal and didn’t provide much besides a shot. Dayal is predicting that all these ingredients will be a recipe for disaster in San Jose, but it could also be the shot in the arm that their rebuild needs if they are in fact able to win the draft lottery and secure the first overall pick in 2024.

East Notes: Dahlin, Matheson, Levi

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TSN Hockey’s Chris Johnston said on the most recent ’Off the Post’ podcast that he fully expects Rasmus Dahlin to sign an eight-year contract extension. Johnston said that both sides have made positive strides towards finding the star’s next contract and that they may even have a deal in place before training camp. There’s no doubt that Dahlin’s next contract will likely come with a hefty cap hit – something that Johnston says Buffalo will likely try to offset by signing Owen Power to a cheap and short bridge contract when he’s an RFA next summer.

Dahlin is coming off a tremendous season, where he recorded 15 goals and 73 points in 78 games. His scoring ranked seventh among all defenders in points and points-per-games and marked career-highs in goals, assists, and points. Dahlin has confidently taken control of the Sabres top defender role and is still only 23. A long-term extension will likely take him through his prime and learning what that cap hit will look like is something the Sabres are surely eager to find out.

More from the East:

Can The Pittsburgh Penguins Actually Sign Tomas Tatar?

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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.

Detroit Red Wings Acquire Jeff Petry

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The Detroit Red Wings have acquired defenseman Jeff Petry from the Montreal Canadiens just days after Montreal re-acquired him from the Pittsburgh Penguins in the three-team Erik Karlsson blockbuster, according to a team release. Montreal receives defenseman Gustav Lindström and a 2025 conditional fourth-round pick in return.

Montreal is retaining an additional 50% of Petry’s salary in the trade, bringing his cap hit with Detroit down to $2.34MM. CapFriendly reports Montreal will receive the later of Detroit’s or the Boston Bruins’ 2025 fourth-round picks, both of which Detroit currently owns.

This is an expected move, although most reporting indicated Canadiens GM Kent Hughes would wait a little longer to hit send on a deal. Sportsnet’s Eric Engels reported immediately after the Karlsson trade went through that Montreal was going to flip Petry again with salary retained but didn’t think the move would happen until closer to training camps and the start of the regular season. It also marks a return home for Petry, who was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and played college hockey at Michigan State.

Petry, 35, had a decent lone season in Pittsburgh last year but wasn’t quite worth the $6.25MM he was costing them against the cap. He finished the year with five goals, 26 assists, 31 points, and a +2 rating in 61 games, a slight rebound from the 2021-22 campaign in Montreal. He once again logged heavy minutes, averaging 22:21 per game.

However, at his age, the chances of Petry producing the 40-plus point campaigns with solid defensive metrics he was known for in Montreal are slim. $2.34MM is quite a manageable number for his services, though, and he still has the potential to challenge Justin Holl for the second-pair right defenseman slot behind undisputed number-one Moritz Seider. Detroit hopes he can at least keep up NHL-caliber play for the next two seasons until his contract expires in 2025, avoiding too sharp of an age-related decline.

Aside from their top pairing of Seider and Jake Walman, Detroit’s depth defense was quite weak last season when it came to controlling possession. While he isn’t a shutdown defender by any stretch, Petry isn’t a liability either, and he should help improve possession numbers for Detroit’s second or third pairing marginally. Adding Petry into the fold also gives Detroit the option to bench Ben Chiarot, who had a disastrous first campaign with Detroit after signing a four-year, $19MM contract with trade protection in free agency last summer – a deal that’s quickly looking like an albatross.

Some are likely questioning this move, given Detroit’s now added a trio of NHL defensemen this offseason and have blocked a potential lineup spot for 2021 sixth-overall pick Simon Edvinsson. However, the 20-year-old defender likely won’t be ready to start the season after undergoing shoulder surgery in May, and without participating in training camp, starting the season with AHL Grand Rapids again isn’t the worst idea. With Detroit evidently looking to challenge for a playoff spot in the Atlantic Division in 2023-24, Petry is a significant upgrade over Chiarot if that’s the lineup swap head coach Derek Lalonde chooses to make.

In Lindström, the Canadiens receive a young depth defenseman still trying to demonstrate he can give an NHL team reliable minutes. Detroit selected the 24-year-old 38th overall in 2017, and he’s gotten into 128 NHL games since then over the course of the past four seasons. Last season, he recorded a goal and eight points in 36 games, along with a -16 rating. The Red Wings signed him to a one-year, one-way deal worth $950K earlier this offseason, and he’s slated to be a restricted free agent with arbitration rights in the summer of 2024.

As CapFriendly notes, this was a significant step for Montreal to become cap-compliant next season without sticking netminder Carey Price’s $10.5MM cap hit on LTIR.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Latest On Jeff Petry

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The Montreal Canadiens re-acquired defenseman Jeff Petry last weekend at 75% of his $6.25MM cap hit as part of the blockbuster Erik Karlsson trade with the Pittsburgh Penguins and San Jose Sharks. However, this homecoming of sorts for Petry is likely to be short-lived, as Sportsnet’s Eric Engels reported immediately after the trade was announced that the Canadiens could be looking to move him once again. With the ability to retain an additional 50% of his cap hit, Montreal is positioning itself to facilitate a potential trade during training camp or early in the regular season.

While few teams would have interest in a 35-year-old defender making more than $6MM against the cap, Petry is certain to have plenty of market interest at a reduced price of $2.34MM until 2025, the lowest Montreal can bring him down to through retaining salary. As Chris Johnston of NorthStar Bets and SDPN noted on an episode of his podcast earlier this week, it makes sense Montreal would be willing to facilitate a deal. There’s a strong history between the player and team here – Petry played just over 500 games in a Canadiens uniform over parts of eight seasons, tallying 70 goals, 178 assists, 248 points, and averaging 22:42 per game. Montreal honored his trade request last summer, too, shipping him to a team thought to be playoff-caliber at the time.

Obviously, it didn’t quite pan out. Petry himself had an acceptable season for his role, scoring five goals, 26 assists and 31 points in 61 games and posting respectable possession metrics with a 51.5% Corsi for at even strength. Still, he was part of a quickly-aging core in Pittsburgh that sputtered last season, especially when it came to depth scoring. The Penguins missed out on postseason play for the first time since 2006 because of it, and only the second time while Sidney Crosby’s been a member of the team.

That being said, Petry is still a good second-pairing defender and an excellent third-pairing option if his next team shelters his minutes further. The right-shot can routinely produce upwards of 40 points in a full season and, while he’s far from a shutdown defender, isn’t a liability in his own zone.

Per Johnston, the Dallas Stars are likely to emerge as a fit for his services. They’ve had rumored interest in Petry at multiple points over the past couple of seasons, and they’d been reportedly looking to add on defense earlier in the offseason to no avail. Like most other teams looking to contend for the Stanley Cup next season, though, it would require a fair amount of cap gymnastics to get a deal done, even with Petry’s bargain bin price.

The Stars are currently projected at $317.8K over the $83.5MM Upper Limit for next season with a full 23-player roster, according to CapFriendly. Simply exposing veteran depth defenders Gavin Bayreuther and Joel Hanley to waivers and assigning them to the AHL would not clear the room to add Petry – they’d still need to clear about $1MM to be cap-compliant. The only waiver-exempt player on the roster who could feasibly start the season in the minors is defenseman Thomas Harley, although Dallas would love to see him take on a larger NHL role this season. Wyatt Johnston also does not require waivers, but he’ll be sticking with the team in a top-nine role in 2023-24 after scoring 24 goals and 41 points during his rookie campaign last year. With that in mind, the Stars would likely need to ship a roster player back to Montreal in any prospective Petry trade to make a deal work or make a corresponding trade with another team.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Pittsburgh Penguins Acquire Erik Karlsson In Three-Team Deal

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The Erik Karlsson trade saga is finally over. The Pittsburgh Penguins have acquired the 2023 Norris Trophy winner from the San Jose Sharks, according to Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports the Montreal Canadiens are involved in the trade to aid in salary considerations. Pittsburgh later officially announced the massive deal, which includes 12 parts and breaks down as follows:

PIT receives: D Erik Karlsson, F Rem Pitlick, F Dillion Hamaliuk, 2026 third-round pick (SJS)
SJS receives: 2024 first-round pick (PIT, top-ten protected), F Mikael Granlund, D Jan Rutta, F Mike Hoffman
MTL receives: 2025 second-round pick (PIT), D Jeff Petry, G Casey DeSmith, F Nathan Legare

San Jose is retaining $1.5MM of Karlsson’s $11.5MM cap hit through 2026-27. Montreal is retaining no salary on Karlsson in this trade, meaning the Penguins have Karlsson at a massive $10MM cap hit for four more seasons. Pittsburgh also retains $1.5625MM, or 25%, of Petry’s cap hit. Montreal will have him at a cap hit of $4.6875MM through 2025.

Sportsnet’s Eric Engels also believes Montreal is not Petry’s final destination. The Canadiens are likely to flip their former number-one defenseman before next season starts, potentially retaining up to 50 percent on his already reduced cap hit, making him cost just $2.34MM against the cap for his new team.

Pittsburgh has a net cap hit loss of $3.1MM in this trade, per CapFriendly. By doing so, they’ll likely be able to activate Jake Guentzel and his $6MM cap hit from LTIR when he’s ready to return to the ice in November without making any corresponding moves. CapFriendly projected Pittsburgh with $2.75MM in cap space, with Guentzel on LTIR to start the season.

Karlsson, 33, ended an up-and-down five-year stint with the Sharks on a high note. Despite playing on a bottom-five team in the league, Karlsson’s 101 points in 82 games were the most from a defenseman in a single season since Brian Leetch in 1991-92. Once viewed as the best defenseman in the NHL during his time with the Ottawa Senators in the mid-2010s, the Sharks acquired him in a blockbuster deal in 2018 and later extended him on a massive eight-year, $92MM contract, giving him the highest cap hit in the league among defensemen.

However, it was a decision that failed to pan out the way San Jose envisioned, as Karlsson struggled with injuries during most of his time in California. To make matters worse, the team around him also crumbled as the Sharks fell out of yearly playoff contention for the first time this millennium.

Pittsburgh hopes Karlsson’s turnaround last season has given him renewed confidence heading into the latter half of his contract – assuming his recent injury history doesn’t come back to bite him. 2022-23 was the first time Karlsson had played in 70-plus games since 2017-18, his last season with the Senators.

Many will be concerned with Karlsson’s defensive misgivings, but some slightly reduced ice time in Pittsburgh should lessen his negative impact on the team’s goals-against total. Likely to slot in on the team’s second pairing behind Kris Letang, Karlsson should be paired with either Marcus Pettersson or free-agent acquisition Ryan Graves on the left side, both players with strong defensive reputations. Advanced metrics peg Pettersson near the top of the league in terms of his individual even strength defensive impact.

Pitlick could be an under-the-radar add for Pittsburgh in this deal from Montreal. While he’s far from being a long-term fixture, he is on the younger side (in Pittsburgh, at least) at 26 years old and will add some higher-upside depth scoring to a Penguins lineup that needs it, especially with Guentzel on the shelf to start the year. In 2021-22, Pitlick notched 15 goals, 22 assists and 37 points in 66 games split between the Canadiens and Minnesota Wild. He’s struggled to develop an all-around game at the NHL level, though, and he’s more of a finishing and playmaking specialist than anything else. His overall play-driving impacts are poor, and it led to Montreal stashing him in the minors for a fair bit of last season. There, he registered 22 points in 18 games with the AHL’s Laval Rocket.

Hamaliuk, 22, once had a fair bit of upside – after all, San Jose thought he warranted a second-round selection in the 2019 NHL Draft. Injuries and middling performance since turning pro have wiped out nearly all of his stock, though. He played in just six games last season, all in the ECHL with the Wichita Thunder, although he did look good in limited action with seven points. The Penguins will likely watch him closely in the minors with the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins next season to see if he can recapture some of his former potential.

For the Sharks, trading Karlsson while only retaining $1.5MM is a solid bit of work for general manager Mike Grier. However, the return is rather underwhelming – a likely mid-first-round pick and a trio of depth NHL assets that won’t amount to much value for a rebuilding team. They’ve essentially taken on two bad contracts and a depth defender to rid themselves of long-term financial pain, as despite his elite skill, Karlsson absolutely did not factor into the franchise’s long-term plans post-rebuild.

The trade does provide a fresh start for Granlund, a former top-six fixture who struggled mightily after heading to the Penguins from the Nashville Predators at last year’s trade deadline (just five points in 21 games). He is just one campaign removed from a 64-point season, however, and although his possession metrics are quite poor, he does still carry a fair amount of raw skill that could see him once again elevate into a top-six role on a weak Sharks team, potentially playing alongside Alexander Barabanov and Logan Couture. With two seasons left at a $5MM cap hit, the Sharks could look to flip him at the 2024 trade deadline if he has a strong season, likely with significant salary retention. However, as CapFriendly notes, San Jose has just one of their three salary retention slots remaining for the next two seasons after also retaining salary on Brent Burns when they traded him to the Carolina Hurricanes last summer. In total, the Sharks are left with $7.745MM in dead cap space this year after the two salary retentions, plus the buyouts of goalie Martin Jones and forward Rudolfs Balcers.

Rutta is under contract at $2.75MM for two more seasons, and he’ll likely give the Sharks a fair amount of value. The two-time Stanley Cup champion with the Tampa Bay Lightning could very well step into a top-four role for the Sharks, who will likely roll three pairings by committee this season in the absence of a clear number-one defender. Rutta recorded nine points in 56 games for the Penguins last season, his only season in the Steel City while averaging 17:07 of ice time per game. Pittsburgh signed the 33-year-old to a three-year, $8.25MM contract in free agency last summer.

Clearing Hoffman’s $4.5MM cap hit for this season off the books is a solid bit of business for the Canadiens, who were rumored to be considering waiving Hoffman ahead of next season and assigning him to the AHL’s Laval Rocket. There’s no guarantee he’ll be able to escape the same fate with San Jose, however. The Sharks will undoubtedly prioritize roster spots for younger wingers like William Eklund, Filip Zadina and Fabian Zetterlund, leaving Hoffman without a clear place among the Sharks’ top 12 forwards. Now 33, Hoffman did manage 14 goals and 34 points in 67 games for Montreal last year, but he ranks among the worst play-driving forwards in the league and is solely a power-play specialist at this stage in his career. Some will remember this is technically Hoffman’s second stint as a member of the Sharks organization – San Jose acquired him from Ottawa for a few hours in 2018 before flipping him to the Florida Panthers.

Now, moving on to Montreal, who became an unexpected major player in this deal. Petry may not remain with his former team, as mentioned earlier, and DeSmith may not either. He’s a puzzling addition for a team that already has Sam Montembeault and Jake Allen manning the crease, although Pittsburgh did need to move out a goalie after signing Alex Nedeljkovic in free agency, giving them three NHL goalies on their roster. However, Montreal now faces the same predicament, and DeSmith is unlikely to supersede Allen or Montembeault on the team’s depth chart. If they don’t flip him to another team looking for a backup netminder, DeSmith could be waived to start the season and end up with Laval. He started a career-high 33 games for Pittsburgh last season, and the 31-year-old recorded a 15-16-4 record, .905 save percentage, and no shutouts.

Legare is a depth addition who will suit up for Laval next season. The 22-year-old third-round pick of the Penguins in 2019 is still finding his footing in the minors. Last season, he posted eight goals, 11 assists and 19 points in 68 games with AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Poll: Will The Penguins Utilize Their Second Buyout Window?

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As a result of the pre-arbitration settlement with Drew O’Connor earlier this week, the Penguins now have a 48-hour window that began today to buy a player out.  Unlike the regular buyout window, however, there are some additional restrictions on who can be bought out during this stretch.  The player must have a cap hit of at least $4MM and must have been on the roster at the trade deadline.

There is one obvious candidate to go this route in forward Mikael Granlund, who was a speculative buyout option back in June.  The 31-year-old was acquired from Nashville at the trade deadline in somewhat of a surprising move and he struggled with his new team, notching just one goal in 21 games following the swap.  That’s not the type of return they were expecting on someone that has a $5MM cap charge for two more seasons.

It’s not that Granlund is a bad player by any stretch – he’s coming off a 44-point year and had 64 points in 2021-22 but this is not a marketplace for a team to trade a player on an expensive contract and get fair value.  If GM Kyle Dubas doesn’t want to pay future assets to get a team to take on Granlund’s deal and has an eye on completing an Erik Karlsson trade with San Jose, a buyout would be one way to create cap space.

Next season, Granlund’s cap hit would go down to just $833K, yielding more than $4MM in short-term savings.  That amount jumps to $1.833MM for the following three seasons, however.  But if making that move helps acquire Karlsson, it’s an option to consider.

There is also one other speculative candidate for a buyout and that’s Jeff Petry.  The defenseman is widely expected to be traded as part of any potential Karlsson swap but he also holds a 15-team no-trade clause which certainly is a complicating factor.  If none of the teams that aren’t on his no-trade list are interested in picking him up, Pittsburgh might be forced to buy Petry out and then use Granlund as the offsetting salary ballast in a swap.

That route doesn’t yield as much in the way of savings, however, with the veteran having signing bonus money in both remaining years of his deal, one that carries a $6.25MM AAV.  That cap charge would drop to $3MM next season with a buyout before increasing to $4.5MM in 2024-25 so the savings aren’t as significant.  (The Penguins would then carry a $1.25MM charge for 2025-26 and 2026-27.)

It’s worth noting that Pittsburgh will have some short-term flexibility at the start of next season thanks to Jake Guentzel’s ankle surgery that will keep him out for the next three months, making him LTIR-eligible.  But in order to activate him midseason, they’ll need to be cap-compliant.  Accordingly, they can’t really use any of his money to offset Karlsson’s cost, whatever portion of the $11.5MM they’d be taking on.

Dubas has been hesitant to go the buyout route in the past but this is a bit of a different situation now.  The team has 48 hours to make a decision and if going this way helps to facilitate the acquisition of Karlsson, it’s one they’ll strongly have to consider if the trade options either aren’t there or are too punitive in terms of what it would cost to get a team to take on the deal.

What will the Penguins do?  Make your prediction by voting below.

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