2024 Offseason Preview ft. Pittsburgh Penguins

The Pittsburgh Penguins just missed out on the playoffs again in the 2023-24 season, and finished the season with a total of 88 points, a 38-32-12 record; With Crosby and Malkin another year older and Letang and Karlsson also getting up there in age, the window to win another cup is quickly closing for the Pittsburgh Penguins. To make things even more complicated, the Penguins will only have 12.9 Million in cap space to fine tune their roster, so they can make another playoffs run. Unlike most other teams that missed the playoffs, the Penguins are not trying the rebuild, in fact they might have to be ultra aggressive in the offseason to surround Crosby with the personnel he needs to make another run at the Stanley Cup.

Before the 2024 NHL Draft, two trades are made:

Pittsburgh Penguins acquire the rights to Chandler Stephenson from the Vegas Golden Knights for 4th round pick '24.

The Penguins also trade Ryan Graves, Samuel Poulin, Jonathan Gruden, 1st round pick '25 to Ottawa Senators for Jakub Chychurun.

The Pittsburgh Penguins go all in with the acquisition of Jakub Chychurun, who is a UFA after the 2024-25 season, and it drastically improves their defense. For the Senators, this also makes sense, as they add two solid prospects in Jonathan Gruden and Samuel Poulin, Ryan Graves, and a 1st round pick.

Pittsburgh Penguins have only have 6 total picks in the 2024 NHL Draft, here are those selections.

2024 NHL Draft:

44-Jesse Pulkkinen (D)

72-Simon Zether (C)

111-Darels Uljanskis (D)

175-Harrison Meneghin (G)

207-Richard Baran (D)

222-Nikita Telegin (C)

The Pittsburgh Penguins took 3 Left Defenseman in the 2024 NHL Draft, Jesse Pulkkinen (6'6"), Darels Uljanskis (6'2'"), and Richard Baran (6'1") to retool and improve the left side of their defense. Pittsburgh selected two centers, Simon Zether and Nikita Telegin, both solid two-way players, as well as Goaltender Harrison Maneghin, a 6'2" goaltender, that led the Lethbridge Hurricanes of the WHL to an 8-3 record in 13 games this past season.

Before the offseason begins, Pittsburgh Penguins make a trade:

Pittsburgh Penguins acquire Brandon Saad from the St. Louis Blues for 3rd round pick '25, 2nd pick '26; St. Louis retains 50% of Saad's contract.

Pittsburgh Penguins need to a little more scoring pop on their third line and he fits perfectly alongside newly acquired Chandler Stephenson.

Heading into the 2024 Offseason, Pittsburgh has approximately $12.95 Million in cap space for the 2024-25 season, and only have one major UFA to re-sign, goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic. Defensemen Pierre Oliver Joseph is the key RFAs who need to be re-signed.

Pittsburgh Penguins re-sign the following players:

Chandler Stephenson-1yr/4M per

Alex Nedeljkovic-2yrs/3.5M per

Pierre Oliver Joseph-1yr/775k per

After re-signing these players, the Penguins are over the cap, so they will need to trade away someone to get under the cap.

Pittsburgh Penguins trade Reilly Smith to the Nashville Predators for Mark Jankowski, 4th round pick '25.

The Nashville Predators get a veteran winger to add to their young roster, while the Penguins free up some cap space.

2024-25 Pittsburgh Penguins

D. O'Connor-S. Crosby-B. Rust

M. Bunting-E. Malkin-R. Rakell

B. Saad-C. Stephenson-V. Puustinen

M. Jankowski-L. Eller-J. Puljujarvi

P. Oliver Joseph-K. Letang

M. Pettersson-E. Karlsson

J. Chychurun-J. St.Ivany

T. Jarry

A. Nedeljkovic

Spares: J.Ludvig, N.Acciari

Pittsburgh Penguins have retooled and improved their roster for the upcoming 2024-25 season, and looks a lot better than the roster heading into the 2023-24 season.

Fantasy Hockey Forwards to Trade For

Here is a list of Players who you should consider trading for in Fantasy Hockey. Tage Thompson Tage Thompson had very high expectations of him heading into this season but has been a massive disappointment to this point in the season with only 7 goals, 8 assists, 4 PPP, 60 SOG, and 99 FW. Thompson has been better after coming back from injury and you would think that he is going to eventually start putting points in bunches. Because of how bad Thompson's statline is this season. it would be a good idea to trade for him because you may not have to give up a lot in return. Elias Lindholm Elias Lindholm is another player who has had a slow start to the season with only 7 goals, 10 assists, 3 PPP, 68 SOG, and 297 FW so far this season. Lindholm is definitely going to want to play better if he wants to increase his value for his next contract and also showcase himself for a trade at the deadline. If Lindholm gets dealt to a contending team, his fantasy value would drastically improve b

TIPS FOR DECIDING WHO TO KEEP FOR KEEPER/DYNASTY LEAGUES

Keeper fantasy leagues are a variation of traditional fantasy sports leagues where participants are allowed to keep a certain number of players from their previous season's roster onto their team for the upcoming season. The number of players that can be kept, as well as the specific rules regarding keeping players, vary from league to league and are typically determined by the league commissioner or by a set of agreed-upon rules among league members. In a keeper league, the kept players usually come with a cost, such as forfeiting a specific draft pick in the upcoming draft or having to pay a predetermined fee. This adds a strategic element to the game, as managers must decide which players to keep based on their performance, potential, and value relative to the cost of keeping them. Keeper leagues often provide a deeper level of engagement and strategy compared to standard fantasy leagues because managers need to consider long-term player development and roster management beyond

FANTASY HOCKEY WAIVER WIRE PLAYERS TO PICKUP

Here are some players you should pickup in Fantasy Hockey, sorted by position. Center Colton Sissons Colton Sissons is one of the best 4th line centers in the league, but in fantasy hockey, he could be even more valuable than he actually is in real life because of what he provides in the peripheral categories. So far this season Sissions has 5 goals, 1 PPP, 1 SHP, 12 PIM, 20 SOG, 89 FW, 15 hits, and 9 blocks. This is a terrific stat line and although you can't count on Sissons scoring a ton, he will fill out the FW, Hits, and blocks usually. Sissons is owned in 6% of fantasy leagues, snag him up while you can. Nick Bjugstad Nick Bjugstad is having an excellent year so far with the Arizona Coyotes, in fact he has played so well that he earned himself a promotion to play on the 2nd line along with Mattias Maccelli and Lawson Crouse. Bjugstad also gets time on Arizona's 2nd PP unit and 2nd PK unit. Bjugstad may not be a name who stands out to casuals, but his fantasy stat line is

Hockeywiztalks Hockey Blog

Search This Blog

Fanatics Jersey