Équipe: 2022-23 Penguins de Pittsburgh

Date de création initiale: 12 juill. 2022

Publié: 12 juill. 2022

Mode - plafond salarial: Basique

Happy Free Agency Eve! Warning - it is a bit of a pessimistic view based on where things stand right now with the Penguins (it is maddening there has not been a trade made yet to free up more cap space!)

First off, I strongly believe that Crosby convinces Malkin to stay and he ends up signing the 4 year $6.1M offer that has been widely reported. Getting Malkin and Letang back at $12.2M is a huge win for Hextall. In the top-six, Guentzel-Crosby-Rakell stick together as Malkin-Rakell produced little results in a good amount of time together last season. The key for the second line is for Zucker to stay healthy which is very doubtful.

In the bottom-six, things get dicey. Hextall extended Carter since he believes he still has enough left in the tank to play a valuable role. Kapanen signs his Qualifying Offer which is probably around the minimum it is allowed to be (1 year $1M) as a "prove it" type contract. This I think will end up being a mistake as Carter has most likely aged too much to be a consistent contributor in the 3C role for a 82 game season which in turn does not help Kapanen get things going. Overall, the third line is mostly ineffective. Aube-Kubel is a classic bargain type signing by Hextall to fill the 4 RW spot.

As I stated above, it is maddening that none of the defenseman are traded out by now. It sounds like there is no market for Pettersson and teams are asking more about Marino who if moved, would create a hole on the right side. Even with Joseph re-signed tonight, Hextall keeps his defense core as is with Joseph as a healthy scratch who gets games when Dumoulin, etc. need rest.

Goalies are set with Jarry as starter and DeSmith as backup.

Summary - The Penguins believe that the first round exit was mostly a fluke due to injuries to Crosby, Jarry and DeSmith and decide to run it back with most of the same roster (minus Boyle, Heinen and Rodrigues). Fluke or not, the core is now a year older, with some big question marks with some of the supporting cast (Zucker, Carter and Kapanen). What started off as a strong off-season with key re-signings, ends up being a dud come Free Agency.