Pittsburgh Penguins Free Agency: To Sign or Not to Sign?
By Mike Necciai
The Pittsburgh Penguins have eight unrestricted free agents currently on the roster heading into the offseason. They also have two restricted free agents. So, in other words, Jim Rutherford and staff have a lot of decisions to make about who they’ll approach about a new deal before free agency begins on July 1.
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Rutherford added a lot of players on one-year deals last summer, which leaves him with a ton of flexibility. For a team that already has multiple handcuffing contracts, he did exactly what was needed to put the Pittsburgh Penguins in a better financial situation.
We already know for sure that Craig Adams will not be a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins next season, so that covers one of the eight. It was reported earlier in the month that Jim Rutherford informed Adams that he would not receive an offer from the team. I’m not sure that anyone was surprised by that decision.
As far as the two restricted free agents, the Pittsburgh Penguins will likely be able to sign Ian Cole without battling offer sheets from other NHL teams. As far as Beau Bennett, I don’t believe that they’ll have to worry about opposing offer sheets, but I’m indifferent on whether they should keep him around. He isn’t developing with this organization and is obviously injury-prone. If he’s back, I’m okay with it. However, if he’s not, I’m okay with that too.
In the remaining slides we’ll cover the other seven UFA’s and whether or not they should remain with the Pittsburgh Penguins.