Pittsburgh Penguins Offseason Game Plan: Building Around Talented Youth

Heading into the offseason, the Pittsburgh Penguins are tasked with filling out a roster with limited cap space and handcuffing veteran contracts, while trying to add at least two top-six forwards. While it seems like a daunting task, it’s actually quite doable.

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By now, everyone is aware of the crippling contracts handed out to Chris Kunitz, Rob Scuderi, and yes, Pascal Dupuis. Nothing personal against Dupuis, it’s just hard to justify the amount and term of his contact at his age. But, despite those challenges, if Jim Rutherford will entrust the youth in this organization, things get a little less complicated.

The Pittsburgh Penguins have become known for the defensive prospects drafted year-after-year by Ray Shero. They’ve stockpiled young defenseman only to either keep them in the AHL or trade them for rentals. Well, the time has come for the Pens to trust these young guys, and doing so will help them fill out a well-rounded roster for 2015-16.

Let’s look at the current roster and how things shake out financially. Positionally, this is how I see the best results.

Line 1
Kasperi Kapanen ($.925m) – Sidney Crosby ($8.7m) – Patric Hornqvist ($4.25m)
Line 2
David Perron ($3.81m) – Evgeni Malkin ($9.5m) – X
Line 3
Chris Kunitz ($3.85m) – Brandon Sutter ($3.3m) – Pascal Dupuis ($3.75m)
Line 4
Nick Spaling ($2.2m) – X – X

Defensive Pairings
Olli Maatta ($.894m) – Kris Letang ($7.25m)
Derrick Pouliot ($1.29m) – X
Rob Scuderi ($3.8m) – Ben Lovejoy ($1.1m)

Goaltender
Marc-Andre Fleury ($5.75m)
Jeff Zatkoff ($.600m)

Total Combined Cap: $60.97 million
Total Available Cap: $10.03 million

The first move, which should be priority for the Pens is to buyout Rob Scuderi. It would be great to trade him with some retained cap, but that’s unlikely. A buyout still gives you $2.5 million in cap room. Then, extend qualifying offers to Ian Cole and Brian Dumoulin. Assuming his contract will be similar to Matt Niskanen coming out of RFA, you’re likely looking at $2 million for Cole and around $1.2 million for Dumoulin. So, you’ve essentially added $700,000 but removed Scuderi and added Cole and Dumoulin.

Considering his play in the offseason, Taylor Chorney also needs resigned as your seventh Defenseman. I’ll assume he costs around $700,000. The defensive corps is now completed, and if issues arise throughout the season you can address it at the trade deadline.

Now, the tough part. How can you possibly add a top-six wing plus three depth forwards?

A trade is absolutely necessary, and I’ll revisit a trade I proposed last week. Draft picks and/or prospects involved aren’t important for this conversation, the important part is Beau Bennett‘s RFA rights and Brandon Sutter being moved to Arizona for Mikkel Boedker‘s RFA rights, and Boedker getting inked for $4 million. That number is based off similar production to David Perron, but could be either high or low by a few hundred-thousand. But, remember that $3.3 million is coming off the books from Sutter.

That leaves the Pittsburgh Penguins with roughly $7.93 million in cap space for three forwards. Steve Downie is a must at roughly $1 million and fills out the fourth line with Oskar Sundqvist at center. Sundqvist will make $.667 in 2015-16. Now comes an upgrade at third-line center via free agency.

To round out this lineup the Pittsburgh Penguins need to sign Eric Fehr of the Washington Capitals. Fehr is coming off a season in which he posted 33 points (19g, 14a), and carried a cap hit of $1.5 million. Fehr will likely require a raise, but should come in between $2.5 and $3 million. We’ll go with $2.75 million. That brings us to our final roster and cap.

Line 1
Kasperi Kapanen ($.925m) – Sidney Crosby ($8.7m) – Patric Hornqvist ($4.25m)
Line 2
David Perron ($3.81m) – Evgeni Malkin ($9.5m) – Mikkel Boedker ($4m)
Line 3
Chris Kunitz ($3.85m) – Eric Fehr ($2.75m) – Pascal Dupuis ($3.75m)
Line 4
Nick Spaling ($2.2m) – Oskar Sundqvist ($.667) – Steve Downie ($1m)

Defensive Pairings
Olli Maatta ($.894m) – Kris Letang ($7.25m)
Derrick Pouliot ($1.29m) – Ian Cole ($2m)
Brian Dumoulin ($1.2m) – Ben Lovejoy ($1.1m)
Taylor Chorney ($.700m)

Goaltender
Marc-Andre Fleury ($5.75m)
Jeff Zatkoff ($.600m)

Total Combined Cap: $67.49 million (Including penalty for Scuderi buyout)
Total Available Cap: $3.51 million

If you follow me on Twitter, you’ll know how much I’ve been harping on a youth movement. If you’re not following me, well, you can find me at @Michael29Angelo. But, you can see why it’s so important at this time that the Pittsburgh Penguins trust their youth. It’s time to find out who’s cut out for this league, and you have a nice cap cushion to add pieces at the trade deadline. Or, in the Pens case, for call-ups from Wilkes-Barre when a rash of injuries occur.

An expensive third line like the one listed above isn’t ideal, but it may be necessary. You have to work around those bad contracts while still putting players in the best possible situation to succeed. And, yes, I did leave out Blake Comeau. I think he’ll fetch more than he’s worth after his strong first half of the season, in which case the Pens need to let him walk. If you can sign him for $1 to $1.5 million then it’s a no-brainer to bring him back.

Of course, the offseason likely won’t fall exactly like this. But, it gives you an idea of how manageable the Pittsburgh Penguins roster can be with the use of their young talent. There are still guys in Wilkes-Barre that can fill in, such as Conor Sheary and Bryan Rust, and you have wiggle room for moves that are needed.

Next: Hard Lesson to be Learned From Remaining Playoff Teams

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