Olli Maatta

Salary Cap Deep Dive: Chicago Blackhawks

September 1, 2019 at 4:29 pm CDT | by Holger Stolzenberg 5 Comments

Navigating the salary cap is one of the more important tasks for any GM. Teams that can avert total cap chaos by walking the tightrope of inking players to deals that match their value (or compensate for future value without breaking the bank) remain successful. Those that don’t see struggles and front office changes.

PHR will look at every NHL team and give a thorough look at their cap situation heading into the 2019-20 season. This will focus more on those players who are integral parts of the roster versus those who may find themselves shuttling between the AHL and NHL. All cap figures are courtesy of CapFriendly.

Chicago Blackhawks

Current Cap Hit: $78,163,461 (under the $81.5MM Upper Limit)

Entry-Level Contracts

F Kirby Dach (three years, $925K)
F Dominik Kubalik (one year, $925K)
F Anton Wedin (one year, $925K)
D Adam Boqvist (three years, $894K)
F Dylan Strome (one year, $863K)
F Alexander Nylander (two years, $863K)
F Alex DeBrincat (one year, $778K)

Potential Bonuses

Dach: $2.5MM
Strome: $2.48MM
Nylander: $850K
Kubalik: $850K
Boqvist: $850K
DeBrincat: $33K

The Blackhawks have done quite a bit of work to bring in a number of top players on entry-level contracts over the past few years in hopes of taking a team that was loaded with high-priced, aging talent and getting them back into playoff contention. They have hit the jackpot with DeBrincat, who immediately stepped onto the ice and has been a phenomenal top-six player for the past two years, scoring 69 goals so far, including a key 41-goal season last year. The diminutive winger was passed up by many teams in the 2016 draft and has proven that his size isn’t an issue on the team. The only problem is that his entry-level deal will be up at the end of the season, meaning the Blackhawks will likely have to pay a high price to lock him up. Strome, in the meantime, has been a solid trade acquisition. The top prospect, who couldn’t seem be able to turn the corner in the pros, broke out once arriving in Chicago, putting up 17 goals and 51 points in 58 games. If he can produce at a similar level, the Blackhawks will have to offer pay up again, giving them two potential significant contracts the team will have to pay out one year from now.

Chicago also is banking on a number of their draft picks to make an impact. Dach, the third-overall pick in this year’s draft, could be an option for the team if he can prove he’s ready for NHL action now, but with a number of young forwards pushing for playing time on their roster, he’d have to dominate and prove he might be ready to assume a third-line center position. Boqvist, the team’s eighth-overall pick in 2018, will challenge for playing time as well, but could just as easily spend time in the AHL to get used to playing against adults for part of the season first. Regardless, the team has two core pieces that are close to joining the organization.

General manager Stan Bowman has also made an effort in bringing in talent from outside the organization as the team has brought in a pair of prospects over from Europe in Wedin and Kubalik. The 26-year-old Wedin broke out in his rookie season in the SHL with 14 goals, while Kubalik scored 25 goals and 57 points in 50 games in the NLA. The team also surprised a few people earlier this summer when it traded top defensive prospect Henri Jokiharju to Buffalo for Alexander Nylander. The team hopes to get Nylander going as the eighth-overall pick in 2016 has so far struggled with consistency in three AHL seasons.

One Year Remaining, Non-Entry-Level

G Corey Crawford ($6MM, UFA)
G Robin Lehner ($5MM, UFA)
F Drake Caggiula ($1.5MM, RFA)
D Erik Gustafsson ($1.2MM, UFA)
D Slater Koekkoek ($925K, RFA)

The team did a phenomenal job of bringing in some goaltending help by stealing away UFA goaltender Lehner with a one-year, $5MM deal. That’s a steal if Lehner can produce anything close to last year’s numbers of a 2.13 GAA and .930 save percentage in 46 games. The 2018-19 Jennings and Masterton Trophy winner last year, Lehner can stabilize the Blackhawks goaltending situation, which has struggled due to concussion issues that Crawford has sustained over the past two years. Without Crawford, the team has struggled in goal. The hope is that both will be healthy this year and can share the workload, but if Crawford has trouble getting on the ice again, Chicago can now turn to Lehner. With both players down to one year remaining before unrestricted free agency, the Blackhawks can look at how both players fare this year and offer a long-term deal to the player they feel can best help them in the future.

The team may have their most challenging decision to make about Gustafsson next season. The rising defenseman put up impressive numbers in a full season last year after looking sharp in the second-half of 2017-18. The 27-year-old scored 17 goals and 60 points and if he can duplicate a season like that could find himself to be one of the most marketable UFA blueliners next year. With the Blackhawks having to hand out big contracts to DeBrincat and Strome, the team may have to move Gustafsson at the trade deadline or let him go at the end of the season for nothing.

Two Years Remaining

F Brandon Saad ($6MM, UFA)
F Zack Smith ($3.25MM, UFA)
F David Kampf ($1MM, RFA)
D Carl Dahlstrom ($850K, RFA)
F Dylan Sikura ($750K, RFA)
F John Quenneville ($750K, RFA)

The team has two contracts that they might want to see gone soon. The team re-acquired Saad back in 2017 in hopes of bringing back a big-time goal scorer. However, Saad hasn’t been nearly as dominant since returning, although he did rebound with a 23-goal campain last season. However at $6MM AAV, Saad could easily be a candidate to move on from when they need to free up some extra cash next offseason. Smith is in a similar situation. The team acquired Smith this summer in a swap of bad contracts as the team managed to unload Artem Anisimov. Smith, however, scored just nine goals last season in Ottawa and could have a hard time locking down a spot in the bottom-six with so many younger players pushing for playing time.

The team can only hope that some of their younger players like Sikura and the newly acquired Quenneville can contribute immediately, but both would have to take their game up a notch to prove themselves at the NHL level. Sikura, signed out of Northeastern University after the 2018 season, fared well in the AHL, but failed to register a goal in 33 games with the Blackhawks. The team also hopes that Kampf and Dahlstrom can prove themselves in their lineup.

Three Years Remaining

D Calvin de Haan ($4.55MM, UFA)
D Olli Maatta ($4.08MM, UFA)
D Connor Murphy ($3.85MM, UFA)
F Andrew Shaw ($3.9MM, UFA)
F Ryan Carpenter ($1MM, UFA)
G Collin Delia ($1MM, UFA)

In hopes of improving its defense, the team went out and acquired a pair of defenders in de Haan and Maatta over the summers. The Blackhawks picked up de Haan from Carolina and while he’s currently dealing with a shoulder injury and isn’t expected to start the season, he has proven to be a solid defender for years and should upgrade the team’s top-four. The team also moved some of its young forward depth by sending Dominik Kahun to Pittsburgh to get the defensive-minded Maatta. The two veteran blueliners should bolster a defense that had plenty of issues over the past few years. However, both come with significant contracts, especially if either defenseman struggles to succeed in Chicago. The team also has Murphy, who the team acquired two years ago from Arizona, who has three years remaining and has found himself a solid contributor on the team’s blueline.

The team also has acquired Shaw this summer to improve their depth in hopes of getting Chicago back in the playoffs. The former Blackhawk should add a significant presence on their bottom-six and add an element of physicality to the team. Carpenter, signed away from Vegas, should also improve the team’s bottom-six.

Four Or More Years Remaining

F Patrick Kane ($10.5MM through 2022-23)
F Jonathan Toews ($10.5MM through 2022-23)
D Brent Seabrook ($6.88MM through 2023-24)
D Duncan Keith ($5.54MM through 2022-23)

Things will likely change next season, but Chicago’s four biggest contracts haven’t changed with all of them, minus Seabrook’s, down to four more years and starting to look more and more manageable. Kane continues to amaze at age 30 as he posted 44 goals and a career-high in points with 110. His contract doesn’t even look like it’s a questionable one. The 31-year-old Toews also had a resurgent season as he tallied a career-high 35 goals and 81 points, showing that as long as he has talented players around him, he is more than capable of justifying his $10.5MM AAV.

Keith is somewhat of a different story. He’s 36 now and will be 40 when his contract ends and while there has been an evident decline, the veteran has still shown that he’s a solid defender, scoring six goals and 40 points last year and is averaging more than 23 minutes of ice time a game still. The question will be how long can Keith keep up those numbers and will his game decline even more over the next couple of years. Seabrook, however, has that extra season on his deal as he is locked up for five more years. At 34-year-old, Seabrook has seen an obvious decline that even saw his minutes drop under 20 minutes a game for the first time in his career, not a good sign when the team has him under contract until 2024. The team can only hope that he can come back and prove that he still has the skills to be a top-four defenseman.

Buyouts

None

Retained Salary Transactions

None

Still To Sign

F Brendan Perlini

Chicago still has one restricted free agent and must find a number that will make the youngster happy, but considering his inconsistent season, the team may have some trouble figuring out how much to pay him. Perlini, also acquired with Strome in the Nick Schmaltz trade during the season last year, struggled at first in Chicago, but finally broke out in March with eight goals and 10 points in 13 games. A one-year or bridge deal would be the most likely course of action to see whether Perlini’s late success can be duplicated. The former first-round pick from 2014 could be a major asset if Chicago can get the most out of the team.

Best Value: Lehner
Worst Value: Seabrook

Looking Ahead

The Blackhawks have done quite a bit in the last year to improve their team with the hopes of getting their veteran core back in the playoffs once again after a two-year absence. Chicago has added a bunch of veteran players and young and cheap roster additions that should be able to turn their team around. The key, of course, is the team needs their veterans to continue to thrive, while their younger players must continue to improve. On top of that, the Blackhawks must hope that a number of their roster additions can take that next step in their development and prove to be valuable to the team’s overall depth.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Chicago Shopping Brendan Perlini

July 14, 2019 at 5:46 pm CDT | by Zach Leach 23 Comments

There’s been no shortage of turnover in Chicago this summer, with the team acquiring Olli Maatta, Calvin de Haan, Andrew Shaw, and Alexander Nylander, signing Robin Lehner, and drafting Kirby Dach, while watching Dominik Kahun, John Hayden, Gustav Forsling, Marcus Kruger, and Henri Jokiharju depart. Yet, the re-shaping of the roster may not be done yet. Blackhawks insider Jay Zawaski of the Madhouse Chicago Hockey Podcast reports that the team is actively shopping young forward Brendan Perlini.

Perlini, 23, is currently a restricted free agent looking for his first deal following the expiration of his entry-level contract. While the big winger was trending towards a nice pay day through his first two NHL seasons with the Arizona Coyotes, the status quo is much less clear since Perlini was dealt to the Blackhawks this past season alongside Dylan Strome. While Strome took off in Chicago, Perlini struggled and only began to find his game late in the season. Altogether, Perlini recorded just 15 points in more than half a season with the Blackhawks and never looked to fully gain the trust of the coaching staff. While it’s obvious that this could cause a rift between the team and player when it comes to contract negotiations, there was never any indication that it went so far as Chicago seeking to trade Perlini rather than re-sign him, at least until now.

With very little salary cap space remaining – approximately $2.04MM according to CapFriendly – and a lineup that still needs three more forwards, the Blackhawks have to be both creative and careful with how they fill out the roster. If the team is struggling to convince Perlini, a player they might not be sold on, to take a deal that fits within their cap constraints, then shopping him makes sense. On the other hand, they could be giving up too quickly on a young player who dealt with a change of scenery but has previously looked like a future 20-goal scorer. It never hurts to test the trade waters and see what the return may be for a player, but Chicago will have to make sure that they’re moving Perlini for the right reasons and for a fair return or risk ending up on the wrong side of a potential deal.

Penguins To Sign Brandon Tanev To Long-Term Contract

July 1, 2019 at 11:15 am CDT | by Zach Leach 12 Comments

The Pittsburgh Penguins were not expected to be major players in free agency, but have apparently fallen in love with one particular two-way forward. TSN’s Darren Dreger initially reported the deal, and the Penguins have now confirmed the signing of Brandon Tanev to a six-year contract with a $3.5MM AAV.

That’s a significant commitment to a player who made just $1.15MM last season and whose best season was 14 goals and 29 points, but the 27-year-old provides more than offense on the ice as Tanev finished with a career-high in hits with 278. That physicality, to go with the ability to show some offense and the fact that Tanev continues to improve every year suggests that Pittsburgh believes that his best years are still to come. The hope is that Tanev can provide the team with an energy booster in the bottom-six, but who can also help those lines add some offense.

Pittsburgh likely wouldn’t have been able to make a deal like that work, but general manager Jim Rutherford freed up quite a bit of cap room in the last week by trading off defenseman Olli Maatta as well as finding a trade partner for Phil Kessel and his $8MM salary.

The Jets were thrilled with the 27-year-old’s play, but with Tanev having received quite a bit of attention on the open market, Winnipeg realized early on that they wouldn’t have enough money to keep him in the fold considering the team would already be up against the cap once the team re-signs some of their core, including Patrik Laine, Kyle Connor and Neal Pionk.

Pittsburgh Penguins Trade Olli Maatta To Chicago

June 15, 2019 at 7:08 pm CDT | by Holger Stolzenberg 18 Comments

The Pittsburgh Penguins have traded defenseman Olli Maatta to the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for Dominik Kahun and a 2019 fifth-round pick, according to TSN’s Darren Dreger.

With a surplus of defensemen on their roster, the Penguins were going to have to make a move and unload one of their defensemen as the team already had Kris Letang, Justin Schultz, Brian Dumoulin, Erik Gudbranson, Jack Johnson, Chad Ruhwedel and Marcus Pettersson on the NHL roster. Maatta was a prime candidate to be moved after a so-so season in which the 24-year-old went from a seven-goal, 29-point season in 2017-18 to a one-goal, 14-point season this past year. Injuries have also plagued Maatta as he missed six weeks with an upper-body injury late in the season.

It looks like Pittsburgh got good value in return for Maatta, however, as they team picks up Kahun, who had an impressive rookie season for Chicago. The 23-year-old signed a two-year entry-level deal out of Germany and immediately proved his worth by making the Blackhawks’ squad out of training camp and showed off his versatility by being able to play any forward position. He contributed 13 goals and 37 points, but with the number of NHL forwards that Chicago has on its roster, the team had the luxury of trading one away to bolster its defensive core. Kahun should bolster the team’s middle-six, providing offense on whatever line the team needs. Pittsburgh general manager Jim Rutherford spoke highly of the new addition:

He is a speedy, versatile player capable of playing all three forward positions. He also saw time on Chicago’s power-play and penalty killing units. We are very excited for him to join our team.

While adding Kahun, perhaps the biggest plus to the trade was freeing up some cap space. By moving his three years and $4.08MM contract and acquiring the cheaper Kahun ($925K), the Penguins have added $3.16MM in cap space this season. The Penguins also add a coveted draft pick for this year, even if it’s in the fifth round. Pittsburgh had already traded away its second, third, fourth and sixth-round picks for this draft, so adding a second fifth-rounder helps make up for those lost picks.

For Chicago, with $19MM in projected cap space this offseason, adding Maatta’s contract wasn’t a problem and the team still is expected to have more than $17MM in cap space to make more moves this offseason. The team needed to add some experienced depth to its team and it likely was going to do it via trade. The fact that Maatta is left-handed, however, will have him battling with a group of left-handers for playing time, including Duncan Keith, Erik Gustafsson, Slater Koekkoek and Carl Dahlstrom.

Pittsburgh Penguins Extend Chad Ruhwedel

May 23, 2019 at 1:00 pm CDT | by Zach Leach 2 Comments

The Pittsburgh Penguins may have a logjam on the blue line as it is, but that won’t stop GM Jim Rutherford from keeping one of his favorite players around. The Penguins have announced a new two-year, one-way deal with defenseman Chad Ruhwedel. The contract carries a minimum $700K AAV.

Ruhwedel, 29, arrived in Pittsburgh in 2016 as a free agent and took on a surprisingly large role for the Penguins as a primary depth option in the regular season and postseason en route to a Stanley Cup title. He played even more last year, skating in a career-high 44 games and starting in the playoffs. However, his career trend went in the opposite direction this season, as Ruhwedel spent almost the whole season in the press box, playing in just 18 games with Pittsburgh and five with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

Even in a reduced role, Rutherford and head coach Mike Sullivan were consistent in their praise for Ruhwedel as a reliable depth player and positive locker room influence. In the team’s release detailing the new contract, Rutherford said the following of his extended defender:

Chad has exemplified what it means to be a team player the past two years. His work ethic and conditioning have allowed him to jump into the lineup at a moment’s notice, which is vital to a team’s success.

Ruhwedel was unlikely to land anything other than a minimum contract on the free agent market, so it makes sense that he chooses to return to Pittsburgh where he is comfortable and where he has found success. More likely than not, Ruhwedel will have to clear waivers at some point this season, as the Penguins are well-stocked on the back end. Barring a trade, Ruhwedel joins Kris Letang, Brian Dumoulin, Justin Schultz, Olli Maatta, Erik Gudbranson, and Jack Johnson on one-way contracts, with Marcus Pettersson and Juuso Riikola in need of a new contracts as restricted free agents. The renewal of Ruhwedal does improve the odds that a defenseman is dealt out of Pittsburgh, though.

Penguins Notes: Malkin, Kessel, Maatta

May 3, 2019 at 12:57 pm CDT | by Gavin Lee 1 Comment

Even in a year in which the Pittsburgh Penguins were swept out of the first round, they somehow are still creating headlines deep into the playoffs. As wild card teams battle for a chance at the Stanley Cup, Penguins GM Jim Rutherford is sitting back dissecting what went wrong this year and how to change things for 2019-20. This week’s 31 Thoughts podcast with Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman starts out with a discussion of the Penguins, specifically addressing the Evgeni Malkin rumors that have popped up once again. Friedman put it this way:

I did get a call last night from somebody who has heard the rumors, and he thinks that they are not media make-up. He thinks they are legit. Malkin didn’t have a great year. He wasn’t up to Malkin standards. And [this source] is wondering if they’re trying to rattle [Malkin’s] cage a little bit. Just to say, “you know Evgeni, last year wasn’t you. We want you to be you,” and maybe this is a way of doing it. Malkin has a no-movement clause, and the word is he’s at least thinking about would he agree [to waive it].

It seems that there have been Malkin trade rumors after every season that didn’t end in a Pittsburgh Stanley Cup, and this year appears to be no different. The important part to note is that no-movement clause however, as the 32-year old center controls his own destiny. Malkin is under contract for three more seasons with a $9.5MM cap hit, and and recorded 72 points in 68 games this season.

Before getting into Malkin, Friedman slips in a note on another Penguins superstar:

The Penguins are contemplating some major changes. I think it is very likely that [Phil] Kessel is traded regardless.

Kessel, 31, has strong trade protection in his contract as well. The former Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs forward submits an eight-team list that he can be traded to, limiting where the Penguins could send him without his blessing. The enigmatic winger had another outstanding offensive season recording 82 points and played in every game for the ninth consecutive year. He has three years left on his current contract, but since the Maple Leafs are still retaining $1.2MM of it he comes with a cap hit of just $6.8MM.

When the conversation turns to the Penguins blue line and the now infamous comments by Rutherford on the strength of his defense right now, the obvious center of discussion is Kris Letang. The offensive defenseman put up 56 points in 65 games this season and is under contract for three more years. Interestingly though it is another Penguins defenseman that Friedman dishes some information on:

I’ve been told that [Olli] Maatta’s trade value is very low. They’ve tried to do that for a while, and it hasn’t gone anywhere. So, we’ll see.

Maatta ended up a healthy scratch in the playoffs this season for the Penguins, and finished with just 14 points on the year. His foot speed has been questioned in the past, but the 24-year old is just a few years removed from signing a six-year, $24.5MM extension after looking like a core piece through the first part of his career. Still, he remains a likely candidate to be moved if the Penguins are really shaking things up this offseason.

Pittsburgh Penguins Will Likely Trade A Defenseman

April 22, 2019 at 3:08 pm CDT | by Gavin Lee 4 Comments

The Pittsburgh Penguins were swept out of the first round of the playoffs by the New York Islanders, opening the door to plenty of questions surrounding the roster composition moving forward. The team made a few big trades during the season to change the look of their group, sending out names like Derick Brassard, Riley Sheahan, Daniel Sprong, Carl Hagelin and Tanner Pearson at various times. While that ended up with a deep group of defense with plenty of talent, it also now may lead to more deals having to be made this summer.

Speaking with Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Penguins GM Jim Rutherford admitted that the team will likely have to trade a defenseman this summer. In fact, Rutherford told Mackey:

“But it will be difficult to keep all of our defensemen and keep them happy. I’m sure with the amount of teams who are looking for defensemen, we’ll have to move at least one.”

That may not come as a surprise, given the state of the blue line right now. Six players are currently under one-way contracts for next season, all of them with cap hits of at least Jack Johnson’s $3.25MM. That makes for an expensive group, especially when you consider the fact that Marcus Pettersson, a restricted free agent, deserves a substantial raise after becoming one of the team’s more reliable options.

Mackey suggests that the one skating for a new team come 2019-20 may well be Olli Maatta, who ended up a healthy scratch for three games after his -2 performance in game one. This certainly isn’t the first time that Maatta has been considered a potential trade candidate, in fact his name has surfaced on a consistent basis since signing his six-year, $24.5MM contract in 2016. While the 24-year old defenseman is not a liability, he also hasn’t taken the necessary steps to make him an untouchable on the Pittsburgh roster.

That’s not to say that there wouldn’t be interest in him even with three years and more than $12MM still left on his contract. As Rutherford says, there will be plenty of teams looking for defensive upgrades this summer and he is still a potential top-four option on many of them. His cost certainty may actually be an attractive component to any trade, given his relative youth and the soaring costs of restricted free agents.

The question then becomes whether the Penguins group of defensemen is good enough to compete for a Stanley Cup next season without any other additions. Rutherford seemed to think so when he told reporters including Josh Yohe of The Athletic that this was the best blue line the team has had since he joined them. Rutherford of course joined the Penguins before the 2014-15 season, and won back-to-back Stanley Cup championships in 2016 and 2017. Maatta, Kris Letang, Brian Dumoulin and Justin Schultz were part of both titles, while Johnson, Pettersson and Erik Gudbranson were all added in the past year.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Snapshots: Svechnikov, Maatta, Fox

March 29, 2019 at 5:00 pm CDT | by Gavin Lee Leave a Comment

The Detroit Red Wings have found some success with several young forwards this year as they try to move on from the Henrik Zetterberg era and embrace a youth movement, but one that was expected to play a big part was nowhere to be found. Evgeny Svechnikov, selected 19th overall in 2015, was forced to undergo knee surgery to reconstruct his ACL in October. He was expected to return to action near the end of the season, but Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press is now reporting that he will not play at all in 2018-19.

Interestingly, as St. James notes, that may actually be a blessing in disguise for the Red Wings. The young forward will now not be waiver eligible in the 2019-20 season as he was scheduled to be, meaning the team can start him in the AHL right out of training camp if he’s not ready to help the NHL lineup. Svechnikov wouldn’t have maintained his waiver-exempt status if he’d played in even a single professional game—NHL or AHL—this season.

Olli Maatta has been activated from injured reserve by the Pittsburgh Penguins and will return after missing 21 games with a lower-body injury. The 24-year old is coming back with just enough time to get his legs under him before the playoffs begin, a huge boost for a Penguins team that has suffered from several injuries on the back end this season. It’s tough to know exactly how much the team will push Maatta over the last few games of the regular season, but he lengthens out the team’s defense group by a considerable amount. Brian Dumoulin switched over to the right side in practice recently to accommodate Maatta’s return, though it’s not clear if that pair will stay together.
With Adam Fox and Harvard losing today in the NCAA tournament, we will soon find out what his official decision is regarding signing or returning to school next season. Fox has repeatedly said that his mind is not yet made up, something that Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic (subscription required) also reported earlier today. Though there is obviously a draw to turning pro and getting into the Carolina Hurricanes organization right away, Fox could potentially graduate next year with a Harvard degree and the chance to become an unrestricted free agent in August 2020. LeBrun also explores the idea of Carolina trading Fox’s rights this season instead of waiting for the summer, in order to get full value if they do not believe he will sign with them down the road. If Fox signs this season he would burn the first year of his entry-level deal, and would be eligible for the expansion draft if he played just a single game.

Pittsburgh Penguins Acquire Chris Wideman

February 25, 2019 at 3:03 pm CDT | by Zach Leach Leave a Comment

Defenseman Chris Wideman is on the move for the third time this season. The impending free agent has been traded by the Florida Panthers to the Pittsburgh Penguins, reports Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston. TSN’s Bob McKenzie adds that forward Jean-Sebastien Dea heads the other way to Florida.

Wideman began the season with the Ottawa Senators, but was traded to the Edmonton Oilers in November for a sixth-round pick. After he wasn’t a fit in Edmonton, Wideman was sent to the Florida Panthers as part of the package for Alexander Petrovic. He now joins his fourth team of the season in Pittsburgh, but it may be his best opportunity yet at play time. Having played just six games combined since leaving Ottawa, Wideman now joins a team that is currently without Kris Letang, Brian Dumoulin, and Olli Maatta and will ask he and another new acquisition, Erik Gudbranson, to help make up for their absences. For now, Wideman will report to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton but will likely be recalled if Letang and Dumoulin remain sidelined.

Meanwhile, Dea has also been on the move frequently this year. The 25-year-old forward played 20 games with the New Jersey Devils after being claimed on waivers earlier this season, but returned to Pittsburgh via waivers afterward. Dea has spent the majority of the season in the AHL, only playing three games for the Penguins. He now heads to Florida where he will try to prove he is worthy of regular play time. Dea is currently a candidate for Group 6 free agency at the end of the season, so his time with the Panthers could be short-lived.

Penguins’ Brian Dumoulin And Kris Letang Suffer Injuries

February 24, 2019 at 10:30 am CDT | by Zach Leach 10 Comments

Ahead of last night’s Stadium Series game between the Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins at Lincoln Financial Field, there was some concern that rain – and the dangerous ice conditions it can cause – would force the Flyers to sit Wayne Simmonds, their top trade chip. With the NHL Trade Deadline only days away, an injury to Simmonds would have made him nearly immovable. Philadelphia decided to take the risk and play Simmonds and the result can only be described as ironic. Rather than Simmonds getting injured, he was the cause of another injury. A high hit by the physical winger on Penguins defenseman Brian Dumoulin forced Dumoulin out of the game late in the first period.

To make matters worse, Dumoulin’s top pair partner also left the game early. Kris Letang suffered an injury, although it was not immediately clear what happened, in the scrum following the hit on Dumoulin. With Dumoulin and Letang out, the Penguins skated with just four defenseman for much of the game, leaving Justin Schultz and Jack Johnson to each play more than 30 minutes in the game. The effort simply wasn’t enough to overcome the losses, as the Flyers stormed back from two goals down to win in overtime.

As disappointing as the result may have been, one overtime loss is nothing compared to what may happen to the Penguins if both Dumoulin and Letang are out long-term. After the game, head coach Mike Sullivan announced that Dumoulin had suffered a concussion, which was the expected result of the high hit. He also added that Letang was being evaluated for an upper-body injury, but refrained from going into detail. While a concussion is a serious matter, Letang’s injury may be of even greater concern. The All-Star blue liner missed more than a quarter of the regular season and the entire postseason in 2016-17 with a serious neck injury and the understandable worry in Pittsburgh is that it is another neck issue for Letang.

If one or both of the top defensemen are set to miss time, the Penguins are ill-suited to handle that absence. With Olli Maatta already on the injured reserve with no timeline for a return, injuries to Letang and Dumoulin leave Pittsburgh in difficult shape on the blue line. Schultz, who himself just returned from injury, should be able to fill a top-pair role if need be. However, Johnson has had a miserable season and would be a major liability if his ice time increased. Youngsters Marcus Pettersson and Juuso Riikola have played well enough, but neither is quite ready for an increased workload. Chad Ruhwedel has only played in 17 games with the Penguins this year as a frequent healthy scratch, while no defenders in the AHL have seen NHL action this year. The likes of Zach Trotman and Ethan Prow are likely the next men up in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

Just last month, Pittsburgh felt comfortable enough with their defensive depth to trade Jamie Oleksiak back to the Dallas Stars. Now, the tables have turned and GM Jim Rutherford has about 24 hours to evaluate the initial injury news on Dumoulin and Letang and decide if he needs to add another defenseman before the deadline. The rental defenseman market isn’t very encouraging and the Penguins have limited cap space, but a player like Adam McQuaid or Michael Del Zotto might make sense for Rutherford to pursue if the Penguins will be without one or both of their top defenders for an extended time. However, with the team battling for a playoff spot still – currently tied with the Carolina Hurricanes for the final wild card spot in the East – a minor trade addition may not be enough to save the season if Letang and Dumoulin are out long-term. This could be the beginning of the end for the Penguins’ season.

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