Don't Be Sad That it's Over, Be Happy That it Happened

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Although the Pittsburgh Penguins had an early exit in this years Stanley Cup Playoffs, there is no reason for the team, or the fans to be upset.

Sullivan and company marched their way through nine straight series wins and two Stanley Cup Championships in the salary cap era. In order for the Pittsburgh Penguins to achieve the ultimate goal in the upcoming season, they need to make some changes.

With the announcement of winger Daniel Sprong being a full time player in the show next year, and as long as Aston-Reese recovers in time and stays healthy after a brutal hit from Tom Wilson, the Penguins have a solid four forward lines and just need to look at sharpening their defense. The Penguins need to look into a two-way defenseman. They should also look into gaining defensive defenseman after losing Ian Cole at the deadline this year.

Additions

RALEIGH, NC – DECEMBER 23: Jaccob Slavin #74 of the Carolina Hurricanes controls the puck on the ice as teammate Justin Faulk #27 looks on during an NHL game on December 23, 2016 at PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina. (Photo by Gregg Forwerck/NHLI via Getty Images) /

The Hurricanes recently come out and said that everyone on the team except Sebastian Aho is available for trade. The Penguins can certainly benefit by looking into trading for one of their defenseman.

Both Jaccob Slavin and Justin Faulk could be solid additions in a 2018-2019 Penguins team. Clearly the issue with the team this year was the defense. The addition of Derrick Brassard really helped, but the subtraction of Ian Cole hurt. Cole was their best true defensive player. Justin Faulk is a good two-way defenseman who would work well on the Penguins top defensive pair with Letang or even on the second pairing with Schultz. Faulk makes just over four million dollars a year and trading Sheary may help .Slavin is a good young defenseman in which it will cost to get home but his salary is capped at three quarters of a million dollars a year, helping the Penguins try to stay under their cap limit.

PHILADELPHIA, PA – APRIL 18: Head Coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins Mike Sullivan looks on during the first period behind Bryan Rust #17, Conor Sheary #43 and Carl Hagelin #62 against the Philadelphia Flyers in Game Four of the Eastern Conference First Round during the 2018 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at the Wells Fargo Center on April 18, 2018 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Len Redkoles/NHLI via Getty Images) /

Subtractions

The Penguins do not have any unrestricted free agents come July in which they need to worry about resigning. They do have multiple restricted free agents in which I would look into resigning sooner than later. Rust, Sprong, JSD, and Jarry are all on the market July first.

In order to attain one of the defenseman mentioned above, the Penguins could look into moving Conor Sheary. Moving Sheary would ease three million dollars off of their salary cap. Another player in which they could possibly move is Carl Hagelin, who makes four million a year. Hagelin has been a good player and penalty killer for the Penguins. Come the start of next season, in order to make it deeper into the playoffs, the Penguins need to shape up their defense to be solid contenders.

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