Pittsburgh Penguins: There Are Many Changes Yet To Be Made

The Pittsburgh Penguins already made some moves this offseason.

Although the Pittsburgh Penguins lost some players, they also gained some through free agency. The additions of players like Matt Hunwick and Antti Niemi helped relieved the sting of losing players like Trevor Daley, Ron Hainsey and Marc-Andre Fleury. But in the end, there are still more holes left than filled.

Pittsburgh Penguins

Yesterday, we ran a poll on the Pens Labyrinth Twitter page trying to determine what the fans thought of our offseason so far. It seems as though most of those who answered were unsatisfied with the offseason so far.

With most big name free agent’s gone to other teams, we have to wonder how these moves will be made. We are tight on cap and still have many holes left to fill. So what can we do?

Trading

Matt Duchene rumours aside, there is a big market out there that we can work our team with. We need to stay competitive. We have holes that need to be filled. I think it might be time to turn to wheeling and dealing.

If it’s not Matt Duchene filling our third line centre spot, there is also Jordan Staal from Carolina. We already know what we’d be getting from former Penguin Jordan Staal, and he would help complete the centre core that this team is built on.

Replacing holes on defence might be a little harder, but still doable. Perhaps digging into the draft pick bank may be needed. We are a win-now team. Our late draft picks are expendable when it comes to winning a Cup. There are also quite a few rebuilding teams putting defencemen on their trading block for picks and prospects.

Work’s Not Done

So now we get it. GM Jim Rutherford can’t be finished yet. This staff has gotten us this far, with back-to-back Stanley Cups and all. I trust them, and you should too.

No matter what happens, there’s still time left to form our team. Lots of things to fix, but I’m sure it will get done in no time.