Pittsburgh Penguins: Quick Offseason Thoughts So Far

We are just about midway through the NHL offseason and the Pittsburgh Penguins have put in some work.

Here are a few of my thoughts concerning the Pittsburgh Penguins moves and what they have left to do.

Pittsburgh Penguins

1) Tyler Bozak is our best bet for our third line centre

We have been going over a lot of rumours recently about who can fill that third line centre spot. Matt Duchene was an option, so was Jordan Staal. Well now it seems that Tyler Bozak, the expendable third line centre for the Toronto Maple Leafs, could be the ideal candidate.

After all, he would probably fetch the least out of the three and yet, he is able to put up 50 points in a season, as he did last season.

2) I’m kind of excited to see what Antti Niemi can do

I’ve said it before and i’ll say it again, I think Antti Niemi will finally be able to shine as a backup goaltender instead of a starter. He had the pressure too many times, and he wasn’t able to live up to it.

With that said, he is a more than capable starter, but he is not elite. Make a good starter backup an elite goaltender like Matt Murray and our duo is golden. I have a feeling Niemi will be able to steal a few games for us when we need them.

3) Hurry up and acquire some defence

We lost quite a few key defenceman this offseason. Ron Hainsey, Trevor Daley, and Mark Streit all left through free agency. We may have added Matt Hunwick and a ready to play Kris Letang, but we still have a couple of holes left.

We have an amazing offensive core, and if anything, our playoff run showed that we can win even with an average defensive core. Lets hurry up and acquire some defenceman to fill these roles before it’s too late.

4) We’re still the best

Honestly, even with the holes we have, I think our Penguins are still in the best position to win the Stanley Cup this year. The holes we have are minor, Kris Letang is coming back from injury, and we’re still just very good. I can’t wait for the season to begin.