Josh Yohe, who for my money is the #1 penguins insider, put out a piece today in the Athletic about all things penguins, so this is my attempt at a realistic and strong team based on his reports.
“Numerous agents have told me that, after conversations they’ve had with Penguins general manager Ron Hextall, they believe it’s unlikely that Evgeni Malkin is returning to Pittsburgh. Some people I’ve spoken with in the Penguins organization feel the same way.” So as of right now, it looks like Malkin will not be returning. This is definitely a hard one to take as a fan, but it could be the smart decision in the long run.
If Malkin is going to leave, then what about Letang? The organization is still very interested in keeping Letang it seems, although Hextall is being “stingy in negotiation”. Hextall offered Letang a 3 year deal, but it looks like Letang wants 5 years at 8+ million. It seems like this one will get done and they will have to meet in the middle.
On the topic of defence, Yohe also mentioned that even though Burke/Hextall aren’t as high on POJ as previous management was, he is still ready for a full time NHL role and the team will have to move one of Marino, Dumoulin, or pettersson to make room. With pettersson being the teams preference to move.
As for the backup goalie, Yohe thinks desmith will not return. He says fleury returning is a possibility and he also notes that fleury really like Jarry on a personal level so they would not have any unhealthy competition. What will his salary be? It is impossible to say.
Now time for a Malkin replacement. The two obvious candidates, Yohe says, are JT miller and Vinny Trochek. Both are Pittsburgh natives and spend their summers here. Yohe writes, “I believe both would love the opportunity to play for the Penguins”, and I don’t believe he is making that up. The more likely option would be Vincent trochek since he is a UFA and would not require assets being sent out, but both are strong candidates. Yohe says he thinks trochek would get 6 years at 6-6.5 million a year, and mentions that it is possible yet unknown if he would be willing to take a hometown discount. So I settled just a touch under that range.
“If the Penguins are unable to sign pending free agent Rickard Rakell to a new deal, it’s a problem. They’ll be loaded on the top line with Jake Guentzel and Bryan Rust at wing. On the second line, they’ll have injury-prone Jason Zucker on the final year of his contract. And who else? Top-six wingers aren’t easy to come by, and Rakell, in limited work, fit quite nicely with the Penguins.
“Rakell liked it in Pittsburgh and is interested in returning. However, many teams will be interested in him on the open market.“ I completely agree with Yohes comments on rakell, and I think he should be brought back. But the interesting think here is zucker. From yohes bried comment here it doesn’t seem like he is in imminent danger of being traded and the team still views him as a top 6 winger (which he is when healthy).
Yohe also mentions that the organization is high on O’Connor and he expects him to play a full time role which I think is the right move. Players with his skill set are rare and he has produced well.
Perhaps the most intriguing thing Yohe said was “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: The Fenway Group isn’t interested in any kind of rebuild. This is an ownership group that wants to win right now.
Expect plenty of transactions this summer”
If they want to win now hopefully we see some big moves. They acquired the team mid season so they couldn’t do anything too drastic, now at a massive cross roads they can take some big swings if they want. Maybe they could go out and get jt miller in addition to Vinny trochek. Would probably have to move some money around potentially including dumping mcginn, giving fleury less/signing a cheaper option, doing the Philippe Myers buyout ect. If FSG wants to be aggressive it can be done.
This ACGM is just meant to be a half finished puzzle as to what a semi-conservative, yet realistic team could look like for Pitt next year, with FSG steering the boat and Hextall potentially making changes. “A good, player” could be filled by a variety of players, the most likely scenario being 2/3 of Rodrigues, Heinen, Kapanen returning. There are also other very possible scenarios such as one better player and one younger and cheaper player (such as Marchment and Nylander, respectively), or that cap space could be utilized to take big and aggressive swings for the fences. Regardless, this will all be very entertaining.
Someone will give a 4th and a 5th, or just a 4th or just a 5th, or something for him. Regardless of the team. Probably the least relevant part of the entire post
If we could get both Miller and Trocheck that would be amazing.
Miller/Trocheck/Rakell would be formidable line 2.
Have to find a way to get out of the Zucker and MP deals ASAP! then we can retool the 3rd line.
That 2nd line would be incredible.
I actually think If we address star power through the form of Miller, then we should keep zucker. Both of their contracts ending in 1 year gives us a ton of flexibility and gives one last chance to zucker to prove he is not made of papier-mâché. Also because of millers low cap hit, we would prob be able to keep zucker if the final player on the third line is nylander, Puustinen, poulin ect, especially if we got them to retain a bit on miller.
Hullsy09 a aimé ceci.
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