The Pittsburgh Penguins will have a difficult offseason ahead of them because they have an aging core, limited cap space but have many issues to address with their roster.
This is what the Pittsburgh Penguins should do in Free Agency.
Before the free agency begins, the Pittsburgh Penguins need to free up some cap space because they only have about 3.2 million in cap space heading into Free Agency.
When looking at the payroll for the team, the first thing that sticks out is that they have 3 LD getting paid over 4 million per season; the Penguins will need to move one of those defensemen in order to free up cap room.
The player who is is easier to move is Marcus Pettersson because the Penguins aren't moving Dumoulin, and Matheson can't be moved without giving up other assets.
Pittsburgh Penguins trade Marcus Pettersson to the New Jersey Devils for a 2022 4th round pick.
This is a win-win trade for both teams because by trading Pettersson, the Penguins free up more than 4 million in cap space, while the Devils get an LD, something they actually need because Ryan Murray is a UFA and they don't have another LD other than Ty Smith and Will Butcher.
The Pittsburgh Penguins could lose Jared McCann in the expansion draft, so the Penguins so try to trade him before the Expansion draft.
Pittsburgh Penguins trade Jared McCann to the Chicago Blackhawks for Brandon Hagel.
This is a straight one-for-one trade that helps out both teams; the Blackhawks get Jared McCann a player that can play on the second line with Kirby Dach, which would allow Alex DeBrincat to play on the top line with Patrick Kane, while the Penguins get Brandon Hagel, a gritty forward who scored 24 points for Blackhawks last season.
After these two trades, the Pittsburgh Penguins have 10.16 million in cap space to spend in free agency which should be enough to re-sign the players they need to.
The Penguins have four UFAs on the roster: Cody Ceci, Colton Sceviour, Evan Rodrigues, Fredrick Gaudreau; The Penguins don't re-sign Colton Sceviour or Evan Rodrigues, but they do re-sign Cody Ceci, Fredrick Gaudreau.
Pittsburgh Penguins re-sign:
Cody Ceci-1yr/1.2M
Fredrick Gaudreau-1 yr/700k
The Penguins also have to re-sign 5 RFAs: Brandon Hagel, Mark Jankowski, Teddy Bleuger, Zack Aston-Reese, Radim Zohorna. Pittsburgh doesn't qualify Mark Jankowski, so he becomes a UFA.
Pittsburgh Penguins re-sign:
Teddy Blueger-3yrs/2M per
Zach Aston-Reese-3yrs/1.75M per
Brandon Hagel-2yrs/1.5M per
Radim Zohorna-2yrs/850k per
After re-signing all their free agents, the Penguins have over 2 million in cap space left, which is enough to sign a Left defenseman in free agency.
The Defenseman the Pittsburgh Penguins should go after is Derek Forbort, who recently played for the Winnipeg Jets. Forbort is a big, physical defenseman that would be paired with John Marino on the second pair.
In Free Agency, Pittsburgh Penguins sign:
Derek Forbort-2yrs/1.5M per
This is how the Pittsburgh Penguins look like after Free Agency.
2021-22 Pittsburgh Penguins
J.Guentzel-S.Crosby-B.Rust
J.Zucker-E.Malkin-K.Kapanen
B.Hagel-J.Carter-R.Zohorna
B.Tanev-T.Blueger-Z.Aston-Reese
B.Dumoulin-K.Letang
D.Forbort-J.Marino
M.Matheson-C.Ceci
T.Jarry
C.DeSmith
Spares: F.Gaudreau, S.Lafferty, C.Ruhwedel, M.Friedman
On Paper, The Pittsburgh Penguins aren't a whole lot better, but the team should produce better results in the postseason because they have a more physical defense, and their 4th line is built to mirror the Islander's fourth line which has had a whole lot of success in the postseason.
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