The Daily Faceoff Show: Insider talks Pittsburgh Penguins’ offseason plans

The Pittsburgh Penguins find themselves in a potentially franchise-altering offseason unlike anything they’ve had to deal with in quite some time. Of course, the big names in Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang aren’t re-signed yet, but that also blocks the way for so many other moves. Do you offload salary to make room for them? Do you say goodbye to other free agents to make space? Do you get a chance to improve other areas as well?

While we won’t know for sure until the offseason actually begins, Tyler Yaremchuk and Mike McKenna welcomed Mike DeFabo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on to the Daily Faceoff Show to get some insight as to what happens to the Penguins this offseason.

Tyler Yaremchuk: “It’s going to be an interesting offseason here for the Penguins. They jumped ahead and got Bryan Rust re-upped earlier on about a month ago, but Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang still sit as unrestricted free agents. I want you to give me a percentage chance that each of those guys are back with Pittsburgh next season.”

Mike DeFabo: “Well I think the likelihood is Kris Letang is more likely, so maybe let’s say 80% with him. And the reasons are numerous there. His contract year was also a career year for him in some ways, he had 68 points, which was a career best for a guy known for his offensive upside. Beyond just what he does for the Penguins on the ice, it’s the fact they don’t have a natural replacement for him. I mean, few teams are going to have a guy who can play 25+ minutes, quarterback your top power play.

"But the Penguins in particular, that’s an area, the right side of their blueline, where they’re actually pretty thin right now, so if you lose him, you’re going to have to probably go out and acquire someone who might cost you more than you like, and is not not going to be nearly as good as Kris Letang. So, for all of those reasons, I think the Penguins find a way to get a deal done with Kris Letang.

"I’m a little bit less optimistic when it comes to Evgeni Malkin. He obviously has his place in Penguins history, three-time Stanley Cup champion, he’s always provided that 1-2 punch along with Sidney Crosby, but that said, his production ever since he got injured last offseason when he endured a significant knee surgery that included an ACL revision, his production dropped off, especially at 5-on-5. He was still the wizard when he had stagnant situations like on the power play, but he was not nearly as good in transition, and I think front offices are cognizant of that.

"In two days, Evgeni Malkin is going to turn 36 years old, you’re not going to pay him based on what he did winning those three Stanley Cups, you’re going to pay him based on what he can do going forward. I’d say maybe around 60% chance, maybe less for Evgeni Malkin. So, it could be a new chapter here in Pittsburgh after having so much continuity for so long.”

Tyler Yaremchuk: “So, those are the two big question marks heading into the offseason. Once those two situations are kind of dealt with, what else is going to be a part of the Penguins offseason strategy? What are the goals maybe Hextall and Burke are setting for the next two weeks this year?”

Mike DeFabo: “Well, I think that one area they will want to address is the goaltending situation. For the second consecutive year, we’re sitting here thinking, ‘What would have happened if Casey DeSmith stayed healthy?’ Because last year, Tristan Jarry faltered, Casey DeSmith had a groin injury and he was unavailable. This year, once again it was Tristan Jarry broke his foot, he was unavailable, it was supposed to be Casey DeSmith’s net in the first round of the postseason, another groin injury. So now, he was ineffective at the beginning of the year, injured at the end of the year, he’s going to be come an unrestricted free agent.

"The Penguins have learned back-to-back seasons the hard lessons of what happens when you don’t have good goaltending. I know every team in the league would love to have a solid goalie, but I think that shoring up that goaltending position has to be a thing for the Penguins. Not necessarily to find a replacement for Tristan Jarry, but if you can find somebody that’s a tandem guy, somebody that can alleviate some of that workload, I think that could go a long way.

"They also have a lot of questions even within their top six. Rickard Rakell, who they acquired at the trade deadline, he’s an unrestricted free agent that I know the Penguins in him, and then restricted free agent Kasperi Kapanen is a fascinating case. Jim Rutherford believed in him enough to draft him, and then to give up a first round pick to re-acquire him. He has not lived up to expectations at all.

"It’s going to be a very interesting decision the Penguins have to make in terms of whether you give him a qualifying offer because the qualifying offer is only about $800k something, because the deal was frontloaded. But, no way Kasperi Kapanen plays for that. It could set the stage for a challenging arbitration case. He’s a guy who’s underperformed. So really, there’s going to be a tough decision when it comes to him.”

Mike McKenna: “Yeah, and there’s an awful lot to consider with this Penguins team, just because of the cap implications like that you’ve outlined. I think of Kris Letang as the mandatory retention for this club. Like, you’re just not going to get that type of player, that type of puck-moving defenseman without keeping them in-house, so I would definitely put my own preference towards keeping him.

"But let’s look at this team, and if you have to make the subtraction, that there’s somebody on that back end that maybe doesn’t fit. I mean we’ve heard Marino’s name occasionally tied to trade rumours, even Pettersson. I don’t Mike Matheson’s going anywhere, he took steps forward this year. But if worst comes to wear for the Penguins, and they need that cap room, do you see anybody being moved from this roster?”

Mike DeFabo: “Yeah, the two obvious candidates are Jason Zucker and then you mentioned Marcus Pettersson. We’ll start with Pettersson. The left side of the blueline is actually an area of strength for the Penguins. They have Brian Dumoulin, they have Mike Matheson, Marcus Pettersson, all those guys are lefties who make more than $4 million. They also have plenty of depth there in the organization, [Pierre-Olivier] Joseph is a guy you keep hearing knocking on the door as a prospect, he’s probably their most NHL-ready prospect.

"But his path to the NHL is blocked right now by these other guys, so you can achieve two things if move a guy like Marcus Pettersson. You clear some salary cap space, while also opening up the door for one of your best prospects to jump in, and finally see what he can do at the NHL level. So, I think that would be a very obvious area the Penguins could subtract from is the left side of the blueline.

"Jason Zucker is another extremely difficult case. He was another guy that Jim Rutherford acquired, giving up a first-round pick and a good prospect to get, and he makes $5.3 million, he’s on the last year of his deal. He admits he’s not lived up to expectations as the goal-scoring top-six winger he was supposed to be when he came in.

"So, do the Penguins try to shop him? Probably. Do they consider a buyout? Maybe even they go that route if they really are desperate for salary cap space. But I think he’s definitely a candidate worth talking about right now in terms of a guy that can be subtracted in some form of fashion to create some salary cap space.”

You can watch the full episode here…