The Penguins have already made a pair of trades this offseason to free up some cap space. Defenseman Olli Maatta was sent to Chicago for winger Dominik Kahun to free up more than $3MM in room while winger Phil Kessel was shipped to Arizona for forward Alex Galchenyuk and defense prospect Pierre-Olivier Joseph which freed up roughly $2MM more. Despite that, GM Jim Rutherford may still have to make another cost-cutting trade in the weeks to come.
Right now, Pittsburgh has just under $1.6MM in cap room on a projected 21-man roster for next season, per CapFriendly. They have a handful of restricted free agents to re-sign as well. That list is highlighted by defenseman Marcus Pettersson who made a sizable impact after being acquired early in the season, averaging nearly 18 minutes a night with the Penguins while putting up 19 points in 57 games. Even though he isn’t arbitration-eligible, the 23-year-old should be able to command the rest of Pittsburgh’s cap space on his own.
Up front, there are pair of forwards that need new deals in center Zach Aston-Reese (who filed for arbitration) and winger Teddy Bleuger (who didn’t). Aston-Reese has done enough to earn a small raise on the $925K he made last season after putting up 17 points In just 43 games with Pittsburgh so his new deal will take up a big portion of their remaining cap room. Blueger, meanwhile, had 10 points in 28 games but the fact he spent so much time in the minors will likely keep his AAV closer to the league minimum of $700K.
Even if the Penguins carry a roster that’s smaller than the maximum of 23 players (which will be tricky considering none of the players projected to make the team are waiver-exempt), they will have some difficulty getting Pettersson and Aston-Reese signed while staying below the Upper Limit of $81.5MM. Accordingly, expect Rutherford to be looking to make a small move to give the team some extra flexibility to re-sign their remaining free agents and leave some wiggle room for in-season movement and recalls. There has been some change already in Pittsburgh and there may still be a bit more to come.
It will be Rust or Bjugstad or, if a certain portion of the fanbase, AKA the majority, get their way…it will be a Jack Jackson buy out or sweetened dump.
Never say never, but the Pens don’t do buyouts and unless they sign Ben Hutton or someone, they will need Johnson.
It will be Rust or Bjugstad. I would trade Bjugstand unless that reported offer of Puljujarvi for Rust was real and still on the table.
23 non-waiver exempt players is not ideal, also.
I don’t want to see Bjugstad moved. He makes the Pens rougher to play against with his size and battle against the boards. Rust is the one I’m moving for pick/prospect. You can’t move Rust for Puljujarvi. You don’t clear much cap space because you are bringing a contract back. JR’s bidding against himself on Johnson is killing this team cap wise … it will do the same with Tanev. I don’t like attaching first round picks to rid themselves of Johnson for a 5th rounder. JR’s made some mind boggling moves.
GMJR shouldn’t be allowed to hand out free agent contracts anymore. Overpays for guys he wants and puts the team in bad spots. Is Tanev really worth Rust/Bjugstad? Also doing a Rust for Puljujarvi trade would free up cap space as Puljujarvi will not be making that much next season.
JR’s free agent signings have been terrible. Rust is making 3.5. JP is a RFA who made 925K the previous three years. He hasn’t done much, but probably gets 1m. So, 2.5 million savings … and that is almost gone with Pettersson, ZAR and Blueger who need to be signed too. It doesn’t free up that much.
Rutherford is one of the most overrated GMs ever simply due to having two of the best three centers on the team in their prime at the same, exact time allowing them to win Cups.
Rutherford’s FA signings have been mind-bogglingly dumb and have really cap strapped the team, forcing him to trade more assets just to fix his own unforced mistakes.
The Pens Stanley Cup window is now basically closed as long as Rutherford keeps making his bizarre moves that make the team worse each time.
Rutherford took two different Canes teams to Cup Finals and won one there. Could you name his centers without Googling them? Not a Crosby or Malkin in the bunch.
Then he took a floundering team that did NOT win ANY Cups or even come close for 7 years even with Sid and Geno to back to back Cup titles.
Just FYI.
And Puljujarvi would get about $1 million, meaning $2.5 million in savings over Rust. Combined with their current $1.6 million and that’s $4.1 million for Pettersson, Blueger and ZAR. Just a guess…
$1.8-$2.1 million over 3 years for Petterson. (Similar to Cole and Oleksiak’s deals)
$750K for Blueger.
$950K for ZAR.
It’s tight but it would all fit under the cap.
If GMJR is stupid enough to trade for Puljujarvi, Coach Sullivan may terminate his own contract. Puljujarvi is Yakupov V2.0. New(er), not improved, and the same kind of problem-child, only with a different accent. If Burkie’s statement that all 30 teams had him at that position in the draft, it means ALL 30 teams got it wrong, mostly because of the lack of thorough psych-testing.