Équipe: 2022-23 Penguins de Pittsburgh

Date de création initiale: 16 juill. 2022

Publié: 17 juill. 2022

Mode - plafond salarial: Basique

In his meeting with the media after the two trades, Hextall said he feels comfortable with the forward depth and doesn't necessarily need to trade one of the 9 NHL defensemen he has on the roster. This roster reflects this idea but I believe the bottom-six leaves much to be desired.

Poehling I believe (and correct me if I am wrong) would have to start on the NHL roster or else he would have to go through waivers. O'Connor then becomes a healthy scratch and could also go down to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton if needed without waivers. With that here are my questions with the bottom-six:

- Can Poehling rebound in Pittsburgh after a bad start to his career in Montreal?
- How is Kapanen going to respond after having the worst season of his career? Does he even fit?
- Jeff Carter is now 37 years old. Can he make it through a full 82 game season in the 3C role?
- What will be the deal with Archibald when the team has to travel to Canada for games?
- Will Blueger be able be a defensive stalwart on his own or does he need a like minded winger to succeed in that role?

Lots of questions as you can see.

With the defense core, Smith can start the year in the minors to learn the system while Joseph starts the season on the 3rd pairing with Rutta. Only question here is, does Hextall stay put like he said he could or is another defenseman shipped out? Joseph has to start in the NHL or would he would have to clear waivers if sent down which makes this situation still confusing.