Pittsburgh Penguins Activate Erik Karlsson
According to a team announcement, the Pittsburgh Penguins have activated defenseman Erik Karlsson from the injured reserve. In a corresponding roster move, the Penguins have placed defenseman Ryan Graves on the injured reserve.
Pittsburgh will have their highest-scoring defenseman back in the lineup tonight against the Edmonton Oilers. Karlsson, 35, has been sidelined the last nine days with an undisclosed injury and has returned somewhat earlier than expected.
In a resurgent year, the former Norris Trophy winner has registered four goals and 33 points in 44 games for the Penguins this season. He’s led all defensemen in Pittsburgh in ATOI with a 23:46 mark.
He has played a crucial role in the Penguins’ surprising return to contention this season. Not only is Karlsson 20 points away from matching his point totals from last season, but he’s managed a robust 54.3% CorsiFor% at even strength. Despite his 88.6% on-ice SV% being below what most teams would expect from their top defenseman, it’s an improvement from where Karlsson was at as recently as last year.
It couldn’t have come at a better time for the player or team, either. Being the subject of trade speculation throughout Pittsburgh’s retool, a resurgent year from Karlsson has put the Penguins in a better spot regarding his future. The team may be more comfortable retaining Karlsson, given his strong play this season, or have better luck trading him now that interested parties may be more inclined to acquire him.
Meanwhile, Graves will head to the injured reserve after initially being recalled to replace Karlsson’s spot on the active roster. Assuming the rest of the defensive core can remain healthy, Graves will likely be reassigned to the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins upon his activation. He cleared waivers at the end of December and hasn’t met the requirements to need waivers again.
Infamously signed through the 2028-29 season at a $4.5MM cap hit, Graves has been scarcely used by the Penguins this season. Serving in a depth role, he’s registered one goal in 19 games while averaging 15:29 of ice time per game. Playing in the AHL for the first time since the 2018-19 season, Graves has recorded two goals and nine points in 13 contests.
Penguins Place Erik Karlsson On IR, Recall Ryan Graves
Jan. 14th: Broz’s recall will end without playing a game for Pittsburgh. The Penguins announced this morning that they’ve reassigned Broz back to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
Jan. 13th: The Pittsburgh Penguins made a series of roster moves this morning. Most notably, defenseman Erik Karlsson has landed on injured reserve due to an undisclosed injury. He will miss at least two weeks of action per Seth Rorabaugh of Tribune-Review Sports. The Penguins have recalled defenseman Ryan Graves in place of Karlsson. Pittsburgh has also recalled winger Tristan Broz and reassigned Rafael Harvey-Pinard.
This will be Karlsson’s first time missing games for the Penguins. He is riding a team-best 208-game ironman streak that dates back to Pittsburgh’s trade for the former Norris Trophy winner all the way back in 2023. Karlsson has filled a major role on the Penguins’ blue-line since joining the team but his importance has seemed to only rise this season. He leads Pittsburgh’s defense – and ranks third on the team – with 33 points in 44 games this season. He also leads the blue-line in shots on goal (94), takeaways (21), and power-play ice time (135 minutes).
That level of offense from the blue-line will be impossible for Pittsburgh to replace. Kris Letang is the blue-line’s second-highest scorer with 22 points in 44 games. He has matched a 0.5 point-per-game pace for much of the season and will certainly take on top offensive-defenseman duties in Karlsson’s absence. But who steps up for Letang is less clear. Ryan Shea has 16 points and 37 shots on goal this season, while Parker Wotherspoon has 15 points and 43 shots on goal.
Neither are known for their offense but may be called upon to fill heavy minutes with Karlsson on the shelf. Some focus will also land on Graves, who has an impressive nine points in 13 AHL games this season. That scoring hasn’t risen to the NHL level just yet – Graves has five points in his last 78 NHL games dating back to last season – but an open opportunity could be what changes that. Pittsburgh could also turn towards AHL prospect Owen Pickering, who leads the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins’ defense with 15 points in 33 games. He has only appeared in four NHL games this season – setting no scoring and a minus-three. He did manage three points and a minus-five in 25 NHL games last season.
The Penguins will also swap out depth forwards on the roster. Broz leads Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in scoring with 11 goals and 24 points in 33 games. He is the only member of the team with double-digit goals this season. He made his NHL debut earlier in the year and recorded no scoring and a minus-one. Back on the NHL roster, Broz will offer a nice bit of skill and scoring upside while Pittsburgh faces injuries to Bryan Rust and Rutger McGroarty. Broz would likely step into the lineup over high-speed bruiser Connor Dewar, in a bottom-six role. Meanwhile, Harvey-Pinard will return to the minors where he has already posted 13 points in 32 games.
Pittsburgh will be without Karlsson for at least seven games. That’s a big window to try and keep their ship sailing straight, after curbing an eight-game losing streak in early December with a 7-3-0 record since December 21st. The Penguins have averaged 3.7 goals-per-game on that recent win-streak, a number that could quickly dwindle with a future Hall-of-Fame, offensive-defenseman on the sidelines.
Penguins Reassign Ryan Graves
Dec. 31: The Penguins announced they’ve reassigned Graves to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton after he cleared waivers today.
Dec. 30: Graves was formally waived today, per Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet.
Dec. 29: After acquiring Yegor Chinakhov earlier today, the Penguins needed to open up a spot on their active roster for him. They’ve determined how to do that, as Seth Rorabaugh of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports (Twitter link) that the team has designated defenseman Ryan Graves as a non-roster player and will place him on waivers on Tuesday when the next waiver period opens.
This will be the second time this season that the 30-year-old will land on the waiver wire. Graves also found himself on waivers during training camp as he was among Pittsburgh’s last group of training camp cuts.
Despite passing through unclaimed and starting the season with AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Graves has actually spent more time in Pittsburgh than with them. He got into 10 games at the minor league level to start the year and was productive, picking up a goal and six assists. That earned him a recall in early November and has been up since then, a stint that’s about to come to an end.
Graves has played in 17 games with Pittsburgh this season, albeit in a limited role as he’s barely averaging 15 minutes per night of ice time. In those outings, he has just one point – a goal – along with 31 blocked shots. While offense has never been his calling card, it’s fair to say that Graves isn’t living up to his $4.5MM per season contract, one that runs through the 2028-29 campaign.
Given that price tag, it’s a certainty that Graves will once again pass through unclaimed and be sent back down to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, where he’ll join Mathew Dumba on a high-priced AHL back end. From there, he’ll look to work his way back to Pittsburgh, an outcome that could happen should the Penguins move any of their pending UFA blueliners, a group that includes Connor Clifton, Brett Kulak, and Ryan Shea.
Penguins Announce Multiple Roster Moves
The Pittsburgh Penguins have shifted around their roster. Most notably, reigning AHL ‘Goalie of the Month’ Sergei Murashov has been recalled to the NHL lineup. Pittsburgh has also recalled forward Danton Heinen and defenseman Ryan Graves. To make space for those moves, the Penguins have placed forwards Noel Acciari and Justin Brazeau, and goaltender Tristan Jarry, on injured reserve. They have also assigned defenseman Owen Pickering to the minor-leagues.
These moves will most notably provide updates on the injuries to Acciari and Brazeau. Acciari left Pittsburgh’s Monday loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first period. It wasn’t exactly clear when he sustained his injury, though the team designated it as an upper-body injury. He only played in two shifts before the injury. Brazeau sustained his injury in last Thursday’s win over the Minnesota Wild. He was designated as out day-to-day with an upper-body injury, but will now be forced to miss a third-straight game on Thursday.
Despite clarity around Acciari and Brazeau, there seems to be no indication of exactly what Jarry is facing. He heads to IR with an undisclosed injury and will be forced to sit out of at least the next three games. In the interim, Arturs Silovs will serve as Pittsburgh’s starting goaltender, while Murashov steps in as backup.
That’s incredibly exciting for the red-hot Murashov, who has posted an impressive 1.67 goals-against-average across his last three games. He sits with a .931 save percentage and 1.73 goals-against-average in seven games this season – both the highest in the league among goalies with more than five starts. Murashov has truly looked the part, taking full advantage of a clear starter’s role while Joel Blomqvist recovers from injury. That performance will now earn the 21-year-old Russian his first chance at an NHL role. Murashov posted a .913 Sv% and 2.64 GAA in 16 AHL games, and a .922 Sv% and 2.40 GAA in 26 ECHL games, last season. He’s a sharp bet who Pittsburgh could be eager to test out.
Backing this slew of moves is a shift at the bottom of Pittsburgh’s lineup. Pickering will head to the minor-leagues after posting no scoring and a minus-three in four games on his latest NHL recall. He’s been a stronger play in the minors, where he’s racked up four points and a plus-four in seven games. Replacing Pickering will be Graves, who racked up three points and 13 shots on goal in his last four AHL games. He now sits with seven points and a plus-nine in 10 games on the AHL season, and will be rwarded with a chance to fill bottom-pair minutes for Pittsburgh.
Heinen will fill an opening left by Brazeau. He leads the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in scoring with five goals and 14 points in 10 games. That includes a recent six-game scoring streak that saw him rack up 12 points. Heinen is a veteran of nine NHL seasons. He’s amassed 96 goals and 241 points in 566 career appearances, including a career-best of 16 goals and 47 points in 77 games with the 2017-18 Boston Bruins.
Waivers: 10/4/25
With a little over 48 hours remaining before season-opening rosters need to be submitted to the league, it’s expected to be a very busy weekend on the waiver wire. Not surprisingly, it’s another big list of players on waivers today as 17 players have been put there, per PuckPedia. Meanwhile, all 12 players on waivers yesterday passed through unclaimed, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman (Twitter link). Here’s today’s list of players on the wire:
Dallas Stars
F Cameron Hughes
D Vladislav Kolyachonok
Florida Panthers
D Tobias Bjornfot
G Brandon Bussi
New Jersey Devils
F Thomas Bordeleau
F Angus Crookshank
F Brian Halonen
F Zack MacEwen
D Colton White
Philadelphia Flyers
Pittsburgh Penguins
D Alexander Alexeyev
D Ryan Graves
F Rafael Harvey-Pinard
F Bokondji Imama
F Samuel Poulin
San Jose Sharks
Utah Hockey Club
Graves is the headliner in today’s class, primarily due to his contract which has four years left on it. We covered his situation in more detail earlier today.
Among the rest of the players, Bjornfot is no stranger to being in this situation but he has been claimed twice before. He spent most of last season in the minors with Florida but did get into 14 games with the Panthers and has 134 games at the top level under his belt. Alexeyev played sparingly last season with Washington not wanting to risk losing him for nothing on waivers but it appears that Pittsburgh doesn’t have that same level of hesitance. Meanwhile, Kolyachonok was claimed off waivers by the Penguins back in February before being flipped to Dallas over the summer so it’s possible another team might have their eye on him as well. Gilbert signed with the Flyers this summer after splitting last season between Ottawa and Buffalo but while the thought was that he’d at least be able to land a seventh role, that isn’t the case.
As for the forwards, San Jose’s White is by far the most experienced with 323 NHL appearances. However, he has primarily been an AHL player in recent years and it’s likely that he will clear and be assigned to the Barracuda. Poulin was a 2019 first-round pick but hasn’t seen much time with the Penguins, including just seven games last season. But at 24, he’s young enough to potentially be of interest to a team that wants to take a longer look at him. Bordeleau held his own in 27 games with the Sharks in 2023-24 but only played once for them last season before being moved in July in a swap of AHL players. But like Poulin, he’s young enough (23) to potentially draw attention.
These players will be on waivers until 1:00 PM CT on Sunday.
Penguins To Waive Ryan Graves
The Penguins announced (Twitter link) a significant list of cuts today as they work towards getting their season-opening roster in place. Among those are five waiver placements, headed up by veteran defenseman Ryan Graves who will officially hit the wire at 1 PM CT today.
It wasn’t that long ago that the 30-year-old was viewed as a key shutdown defender. Over his two seasons with New Jersey, he went from being a role player (going back to his Colorado days) to a consistent top-four player. That helped earn him a six-year, $27MM contract with Pittsburgh back in 2023 as they were hoping that he could be a defensive anchor for them for a long time.
That hasn’t happened. In the first season of the deal, his offensive numbers dipped to just three goals and 11 assists after two straight years of at least 26 points. On top of that, he struggled in Pittsburgh’s defensive system and started to see his ice time cut later in the year.
That proved to be a sign of things to come for last season. Instead of showing improvement in his second year with the team, things continued to go in the wrong direction. As a result, Graves only got into 61 games (managing just four points) while averaging less than 15 minutes per night as he was deployed as a number-six defender when he was in the lineup.
That led to some speculative talk about a buyout this summer which clearly didn’t come to fruition. However, with the acquisitions of Connor Clifton and Mathew Dumba in trades over the offseason plus a strong training camp from prospect Harrison Brunicke, there simply isn’t a spot for Graves on their opening roster.
Given his recent struggles and the fact that he has four years left on his contract, it’s safe to say that Graves will pass through unclaimed on Sunday and be assigned to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. From there, he can try to rebuild some confidence and try to work his way back to Pittsburgh. But few would have seen this coming just two years ago when he was given one of the bigger deals in free agency.
Joining Graves on the waiver wire from today’s moves are defenseman Alexander Alexeyev along with forwards Rafael Harvey-Pinard, Bokondji Imama, and Samuel Poulin.
Examining The Penguins’ Options For Ryan Graves
When Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas took over the organization just before the draft in 2023, he had little time to do an organizational assessment. But one glaring hole was on the Penguins’ top defensive pairing next to Kris Letang, where long-time fixture Brian Dumoulin was set to depart after a rocky final season in Pittsburgh. Dubas recognized the gaping hole and swiftly signed defensive defenseman Ryan Graves to a six-year contract in free agency worth $4.5MM per season.
The contract immediately became an albatross for Pittsburgh as Graves struggled on the top pairing, fell down the hierarchy to the bottom pair, and was eventually a healthy scratch on many occasions this season. The deal has been a disaster for the Penguins and will be challenging to navigate going forward.
There’s not much Dubas can realistically do to get out from under the Graves deal. Thanks to the signing bonus structure of the contract, it is essentially buyout-proof (per PuckPedia) and would offer the Penguins very little salary cap relief. The only significant reduction would come next season, a year when the Penguins probably need it the least out of the next few years, and it would tack on additional years in which the Penguins would be paying for the buyout.
The next option is probably the likeliest: to bury Graves in the minors and have him play for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the AHL. This situation wouldn’t be unprecedented, as plenty of NHLers on big-money deals have gone to the AHL before. There’s even a recent example in Pittsburgh, where netminder Tristan Jarry had two stints in the AHL this past season. Graves is no stranger to the AHL, having played four seasons in the league before beginning his NHL career with the Colorado Avalanche, but has not played there since the 2018-19 season. This option would allow Pittsburgh to save the league minimum salary plus another $375K, equaling $1.15MM in cap savings for the Penguins.
An option that is less likely to happen, but probably the most interesting, is that the Penguins could try to trade Graves and his brutal contract. That option is sure to generate an audible snicker from readers. Still, bigger contracts to lesser players have been traded before, so it is not impossible. What better time to do it than the summer? The NHL is ripe with bad contracts, and it is very possible that the Penguins could find someone to swap another undesirable contract for a player that hasn’t worked out.
After signing a massive eight-year deal, Damon Severson in Columbus has also been a bust. Pittsburgh isn’t likely to take on two extra years on a player whose numbers have fallen off recently, but this is the type of player the Penguins will have to target if they want to do a one-for-one change-of-scenery trade. There are plenty of players on much bigger cap hits that Pittsburgh could target, but those contracts are mostly more extended than the four years Graves has remaining. The risk would probably be greater for the Penguins, especially given that they could be turning the corner on their retool and still owe on massive deals. Given that Severson is a right-shot, it’s only a realistic scenario if Erik Karlsson is also moved this summer.
If the Penguins want to move Graves’ contract using a sweetener, that could get ugly. Pittsburgh received a second-round pick in exchange for taking on two years of Kevin Hayes‘ contract just last summer, and his cap hit was just $3.57MM, nearly a full million dollars less than Graves’ cap hit. Using that as a comparison, there is no doubt that the Penguins would need to use at least a first-round pick to shed Graves’ contract, which is something they simply won’t do at this time.
The Penguins could also keep Graves on their roster and hope he finds his game. It’s not impossible if Pittsburgh hires a more defensive coach who can utilize some of Graves’ strengths, as the Devils did in New Jersey before Graves joined the Penguins. The issue with that is that Graves played on a talented Devils team and was insulated from some of his shortcomings; in Pittsburgh, that is not the case, nor will it be for the foreseeable future. Graves does have a skill set, and although Penguins fans might disagree, he could be sheltered and used in situations that better suit those skills. He can shoot the puck, has good size and reach, and his transition game isn’t horrible. If the Penguins can find the strengths in his game and exploit them, they could build his trade stock up to the point that they could move him without having to retain any of his contract.
The flip side of that coin is that Graves plays poorly next season and is part of a team that falls to the bottom of the standings, something that is very possible. The Penguins could re-evaluate a year from now and look at their options again if they want to get out of under Graves’ contract.
Misses on depth players are what tank roster construction and unfortunately for the Penguins, the Graves deal has been a massive miss. It’s far from the only miss as their roster has been littered with poor depth contracts since Ron Hextall took over GM duties from Jim Rutherford back in the 2020-21 season. The Penguins have missed on almost every mid-range contract since 2021, but they do have options going forward, and while none of them are perfect, there is a choice that exists. The Penguins will have to make the one they feel best serves the organization as they try to turn the corner and compete again.
Examining Summer Buyout Candidates
The NHL salary cap is increasing dramatically this summer, but that won’t stop teams from looking to cut inflated cap hits from their salary ledgers. The buyout remains an option that NHL teams will regularly use to move out a player who has underperformed relative to their NHL salary. Teams often swap struggling players in a change-of-scenery trade, but they will use the buyout as a last resort if they can’t find a market. Let’s examine this summer’s buyout candidates, beginning with the forwards.
Andre Burakovsky cashed in on a Stanley Cup-winning year in Colorado, signing a five-year, $27.5MM deal with the Seattle Kraken in free agency, including a modified 10-team no-trade list. Since signing the agreement in July 2022, Burakovsky’s performance has declined, particularly last season, when he had just seven goals and nine assists in 49 games. The 30-year-old has bounced back this year, but still fell below the 40-point margin for the third consecutive season. He should be a trade or buyout candidate given his injury history and declining performance.
A modified no-trade clause will limit a small trade market and might force Seattle to relinquish an asset to move Burakovsky or take back another undesirable contract. A buyout would be spread over four seasons and save Seattle $5.83MM over the next two seasons total, but leave them with a $1.458MM cap hit the two seasons after (as per PuckPedia). Given the bounceback this season, it seems likely that Seattle either hangs on to Burakovsky or tries to trade him rather than eating the cost of a four-season buyout.
Chris Kreider of the New York Rangers is another forward who could be moved this summer. While a trade is likelier, it’s not an impossibility that the veteran winger could be bought out. The 33-year-old’s play has fallen off a cliff this season as he hasn’t been able to generate the same level of shot production as in previous seasons. Kreider averaged 42 goals between 2021 and 2024, but couldn’t top 25 goals this season and finished with just eight assists.
Kreider carries a 15-team no-trade clause and has two years remaining on his contract at a cap hit of $6.5MM, which will be prohibitive regarding potential trade talks. With the trade market cut in half, the Rangers might have to eat some of the remainder on Kreider’s deal. Still, given that general manager Chris Drury has gotten out from under more undesirable contracts (Barclay Goodrow and Jacob Trouba), he may find a creative way to shed Kreider’s contract without a buyout.
Under normal circumstances, Detroit center Andrew Copp would be a buyout candidate, but given that the 30-year-old will be out well into the summer after pectoral surgery, it won’t happen. Copp posted just 10 goals and 13 assists in 56 games this season, but barring a trade, he will return to Detroit next season if he is healthy enough to play by the opening of training camp.
Shifting back to defense, Ryan Graves is a prime candidate to be bought out; however, a significant caveat exists regarding moving on from the 29-year-old. The structure of Graves’ contract makes a buyout nearly impossible (as per PuckPedia) because any buyout would only move on from Graves’ salary and not include the $8MM in signing bonuses that Graves is due in each of the last four years of his contract. If Pittsburgh wants to buy Graves out, he will remain on the books for eight more years and save them just $2.58MM total over those eight years. A Graves buyout isn’t worth it for the Penguins, and the only significant cap savings would happen in the first year of the deal, the season in which the Penguins are the least likely to contend. The Penguins will have to keep Graves, trade him, or play him in the minors for the foreseeable future.
Marc-Édouard Vlasic is another veteran whose contract has become an albatross. Vlasic was once one of the top defensive defensemen in the NHL, but has fallen on hard times as he plays on a poor San Jose Sharks team. Vlasic has one year left on his contract with a $7MM cap hit and is owed $5.5MM in actual salary. He played just 24 games last year, and while he wasn’t unplayable, he’s not a good NHL defenseman anymore. Much of Vlasic’s decision will depend on what the Sharks hope to do next season; if they intend to add around their young core, they may buy out Vlasic to give themselves as much cap space as possible. If they opt to have one more year of rebuilding before adding to their lineup, they will likely burn the final year on the deal and let Vlasic walk as a UFA next summer.
A Vlasic buyout doesn’t do much to help the Sharks, saving them $2.333MM next season while adding a cap charge of $1.167MM the following year. The Sharks seem likely to keep Vlasic in San Jose for the final year and perhaps assign him to the AHL or use him as a seventh defenseman in the NHL.
Another notable defenseman who could be bought out is Jacob Trouba of the Anaheim Ducks. Trouba became a lightning rod for criticism in New York while he was a member of the Rangers, and many people didn’t think it was possible to move him and his entire $8MM cap hit. Anaheim stepped in, taking Trouba and his whole contract, and appeared excited to do so, as Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek was happy to have Trouba as a leader for a young Ducks team. Since Anaheim placed such a high value on Trouba’s intangibles, it seems unlikely that they will buy out the last year of his contract, even though he will be vastly overpaid for his play on the ice.
The top buyout candidate in net is Philipp Grubauer of the Seattle Kraken. Grubauer has been a shell of the version he was with the Colorado Avalanche and hasn’t come close to being an average NHL goalie during his time in Seattle. At the time of his signing four years ago, Grubauer had a career save percentage over .920 in seven NHL seasons, but since then, he hasn’t produced a single season over .899, and it has fallen to .875 this year. With two years remaining at $5.9MM per season, Grubauer would be incredibly difficult to trade, even in a goaltender’s market that favors the seller. His -14.6 Goals Saved Above Expected was the third worst in the NHL among all goaltenders, and his numbers in the AHL, while better, don’t indicate that he is ready to recapture his game.
Buying out the 33-year-old would save Seattle almost $4MM in cap space next year and nearly $3MM in the 2026-27 season. They would then face a charge of $1,683,333 in each of the following seasons after that (as per Puck Pedia).
The next goalie on our list is Tristan Jarry of the Pittsburgh Penguins, and while he feels like the most obvious candidate for a buyout this summer, goalies are in short supply, and anything is possible. Jarry has been better as of late, and with no actual workhorse starters available in free agency, a team may take a flier on the two-time NHL All-Star. Teams watched Los Angeles goaltender Darcy Kuemper bounce back this season after struggling last year, and with Jarry being just 29 years old, he could do the same. Jarry has the skillset to be a starting NHL goaltender, but has struggled with mistakes and letting in bad goals at inopportune times. He has also typically struggled the deeper he gets into a season, which will scare off teams with playoff aspirations.
It’s hard to imagine Jarry back in Pittsburgh next season, but they are transitioning, and many of their prospects are still a year or two away from being NHL-ready. Someone has to play goal for the Penguins, and Josh Yohe of The Athletic believes it could be Jarry going into next season. It’s hard to get a sense of what Pittsburgh will do, but none of the potential outcomes will be shocking given how the situation has played out over the last few years with the Penguins’ starting goaltender.
Photo by Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images.
Penguins Expected To Be Sellers At Trade Deadline
Josh Yohe of The Athletic believes that the Pittsburgh Penguins will be sellers regardless of their position in the standings. Yohe wrote about the unusual position the Penguins find themselves in heading into the second half of the NHL season. Pittsburgh has fought its way back into the Wild Card conversation in the Eastern Conference, and despite being largely made up of veteran players, general manager Kyle Dubas has his eye on the future and intends to sell.
Yohe says that his league sources predict the Penguins will make multiple moves to jettison veterans and that “no one is safe” on Pittsburgh, except for the players holding full no-trade protection (Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin to name a few). Marcus Pettersson is certainly a name Pittsburgh will move on from given his contractual status, but one name that could also go is forward Rickard Rakell. The 31-year-old is having a nice bounce-back season with 22 goals in 45 games. However, Yohe pours cold water on that notion, saying that Pittsburgh is likely to hold onto him for this year unless they receive a big offer.
While all signs point to Pittsburgh packing it in for the season and missing the playoffs for a third straight year, Yohe believes that the Penguins may see the trading of veteran players as an opportunity to call up some of their prospects who are NHL-ready, most notably goaltender Joel Blomqvist who is arguably the best netminder in the Penguins entire organization and their best chance at steady goaltending. Tristan Jarry has struggled for well over a calendar year and doesn’t look like an NHL goaltender at the moment, and Alex Nedeljkovic has been wildly inconsistent this season after putting together a nice campaign a year ago.
While the Penguins would love to move on from some of their pricier veterans, they will be in tough to do so as Jarry has three years left on his contract after this season with an AAV of $5.375MM, and defenseman Ryan Graves has four years on his deal at $4.5MM. Those deals were two of the first contracts Dubas handed out in Pittsburgh, and they’ve aged like milk. In previous years, those types of contracts would have been untradeable, but with the cap rising next season, it’s not out of the question that the Penguins could move on from those players in the next six months.
Metro Notes: Graves, Berard, Bowey
Josh Yohe of The Athletic wrote a brutally honest assessment of the conundrum the Pittsburgh Penguins are facing with highly paid healthy scratch Ryan Graves. Graves is a healthy scratch once again tonight and has sat out of the lineup for the Penguins’ last three games, which were all victories for Pittsburgh. In fact, the Penguins are 10-4-4 with Graves out of the lineup the last two seasons and 38-40-12 when he does play.
Now, it’s unfair to put all the blame on Graves for the Penguins’ struggles when he plays, but his play on the ice has certainly not come close to living up to his hefty $4.5MM cap hit. Pittsburgh general manager Kyle Dubas has made some shrewd moves to acquire young players since arriving in Pittsburgh, but the Graves contract and the four years remaining on it are one of the worst misfires of any general manager in recent memory.
In other Metropolitan Division notes:
- Colin Stephenson of Newsday reports that New York Rangers forward Brett Berard was back at practice today in a green no-contact jersey. The 22-year-old is currently listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury, an injury he most likely suffered on Saturday afternoon when he took a hit from Canadiens forward Kirby Dach. In four games this season with the Rangers, Berard has been solid, posting a goal and an assist while averaging 12:33 of ice time. The Rangers have a bit of a break this week and don’t play again until Friday against Pittsburgh, so Berard may still suit up depending on how he feels before then.
- The Columbus Blue Jackets AHL affiliate the Cleveland Monsters have signed defenseman Madison Bowey to an AHL contract for the rest of the 2024-25 season. Bowey has already suited up in 17 games this season for Cleveland, posting three assists while playing under a professional tryout. The 29-year-old is a veteran of 158 NHL games over four seasons with four different NHL teams. The Winnipeg, Manitoba native tallied five goals and 35 assists during his time in the NHL and was a regular for the Detroit Red Wings during the 2019-20 season before the league shutting down during the pandemic. Bowey would only play in four NHL games after that season, spending the bulk of his time in the AHL and KHL.