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.
Comments
Post a Comment