In what was hands down the most dramatic series of the entire first round, the Pittsburgh Penguins fell short, dropping game seven in overtime to the New York Rangers. (*Pumps fist*). As a Rangers fan, this was an incredibly stressful series as the Penguins threatened the Rangers with elimination every night after game five. Nevertheless, the Rangers didn’t give up and the Penguins couldn’t finish the job. To be completely honest, I have nothing but respect for the Penguins. Unlike many Rangers fans who hate on Sidney Crosby, I’ve always considered him the best in the game and have enjoyed watching him over all these years. Don’t get me wrong, it crushed me when he scored the “Golden Goal” back in the 2010 Olympics and I can’t stand playing against him but there’s no question he goes down as one of the best to ever play the game.
The impact Sid, along with Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang have had on hockey over the last decade or so has been quite significant, which makes it all the more crazy that the biggest question regarding the Penguins moving forward is; Was this it for that group? Both Malkin and Letang are at the end of their current contracts and barring any extensions, will hit the free agent market. It’s incredibly difficult to picture a world where neither of them are in Pittsburgh and to be honest, I don’t think that’s a world we’ll see. Malkin’s already hinted at the idea that he doesn’t care about the money at this point. Pretty sure his exact quote was something along the lines of “I have enough money.” That being said, it wouldn’t be too much of a surprise if he signs a cheaper extension to finish out his career with Pittsburgh.
Letang’s a bit of a different story as he can definitely cash in on the Free Agent market but whether or not he’s interested in that remains to be seen. If anyone’s going to be moving on from Pittsburgh, it’s safe to assume that Bryan Rust will look to cash in on a big pay day this offseason by signing elsewhere. Rickard Rakell, who was traded to the Penguins at the deadline as a rental, could decide he wants to stick around with this group and hear out some extension offers. However, chances are he will look to sign for big money with a longer term somewhere else.
As of right now, assuming Malkin and Letang re-sign, the Penguins have
Guentzel - Crosby - Malkin
Zucker - Carter - Kapanen
Heinen - Blueger - McGinn
O’Connor - Zohorna - Nylander
Matheson - Letang
Dumoulin - Marino
Petterson - Ruhwedel
Just to ballpark everything, let’s say Letang and Malkin re-sign for a total AAV somewhere in the 12,000,000 range. That’s of course assuming they both take relatively significant pay cuts to stick around. That would leave Ron Hextall with roughly 16,000,00 in cap space to play with, a solid amount for sure. Mind you, Kasperi Kapanen and Danton Heinen are restricted free agents who will look for raises, that alone could take up 10,000,000 of your remaining cap space. Then you have younger players like Alexander Nylander and P-O Joseph who might want to sign more than a two way deal for next season, especially if they’re going to play at the NHL level. That could be another two million right there. You still need a backup goalie as Casey DeSmith and Mr. Pork and Broccoli himself will hit free agency. Defensively, the team is in a good spot and won’t need to worry about signing any big name defenseman again, assuming Letang sticks around. However, as far as forwards go, Ron Hextall is going to have some holes to fill if Rakell, Rust, Evan Rodrigues and Brian Boyle all go to free agency.
Speaking of Ron Hextall, there is another point to be made as we look at the flipside of what the Penguins could look to do. Ron Hextall is a general manager that likes to build and the Penguins are transitioning into new ownership… Could they take this opportunity to completely start over and start to shape a new future? That very well could be an option worth thinking about but at the same time it’s pretty hard to rebuild when you don’t have much to build with. While the Penguins do have their first round pick in the upcoming draft, they don’t have their second or third. Their prospect pool is extremely shallow and if they let all their pending UFA’s walk, they don’t have many pieces to trade away in order to get picks or prospects. Let’s run through another hypothetical: IF Malkin, Letang and everyone else did indeed walk away this summer. All you’re left with is:
Kapanen - Crosby - Guentzel
McGinn - Carter - Nylander
Heinen - Blueger - Zucker
Poulin/O’Connor - Angello - Zohorna
Matheson - Marino
Pettersson - Ruhwedel
Dumoulin - Friedman
Joseph
How do you rebuild with that? Matheson and Dumoulin have modified no movement clauses, so moving them would be challenging. You’re not trading John Marino, Jeff Carter signed an extension that kicks in next season, McGinn and Pettersson are signed for the next four seasons. You could move them but it won’t be easy and the returns won’t be much. I would love for Teddy Blueger to get traded to New York but he’s likely not going anywhere. If Hextall does decide to move on from Malkin and Letang, you’re likely looking at some rough years ahead until the draft lottery starts working in your favor.
The Penguins best course of action is to keep Malkin and Letang, get them signed and let them run out their days in Pittsburgh where they spent their whole careers. If things aren’t looking good next season, start selling what you can at the deadline and build from there. It’s not a bad idea to start focusing on the future with Crosby, Malkin and Letang still around to instill that winning culture in your younger players. There’s always the chance that the Penguins are still competitive next season but it’s certainly safe to say their Cup winning era is in the past and it’s time to start looking toward the future and what this next era holds for Pittsburgh.
Chris Feldman
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