The Pittsburgh Penguins Best Option Does Not Involve Buying at the Deadline
TSN Director of Scouting Craig Button joined Jay Onrait on SportsCenter and was asked about what the Pittsburgh Penguins should do at the Trade Deadline.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
NHL Rumors: Pittsburgh Penguins, Ottawa Senators, and Corey Perry
Jay Onrait: “All aboard, it’s time for the always entertaining Insider Trading After Show. Today’s special guest, none other than Craig Button, joins us once again, this time to talk about the Pittsburgh Penguins. So the Pens Craig, not only have a lot of ground to make up for the wildcard race with just six weeks until the trade deadline, they’ve got that Jake Guentzel expiring contract unrestricted free agency looming teams like the Vancouver Canucks nipping at their heels wondering if they can maybe get a piece of Jake Guentzel for the playoff run. You think the Pens, though, will be buyers or sellers at the deadline?”
Craig Button: “I think it’s difficult for them to be buyers that make a significant difference to their team Jay. You know, we know how top-heavy they are. And we know that with the addition of Erik Karlsson in the offseason, that it’s pushed their salary cap right up to the limit and certainly for Kyle Dubas.
NHL Rumors: Penguins and Jake Guentzel in Wait and See Mode
You know, understanding that he’s got a really good group, a top group Sidney Crosby having an MVP-type season that, you know, the goal here is to give them a chance to win. I don’t think that there’s enough there that he can do to give them a chance to win. Maybe they find their way into the playoffs, but I don’t see them being a threat to come out of the East.
And I don’t see them as a threat to win a playoff round. Let’s keep this in mind. They haven’t won a playoff round since 2018. So, when I look at what’s ahead for Kyle Dubas and this is the difficult part for any manager but certainly this applies to Kyle Dubas you’re looking at a core group of players that are there, his job is to try to give them a chance to compete for the Stanley Cup.
So the first answer is I don’t think they can compete for a Stanley Cup. So, that leads to the second question. Okay, so what can they do? I don’t think there’s anything they can do leading up to this trade deadline. But this is where you might be able to make some inroads, you know, trade Jake Guentzel, so maybe you can get some really good prospects because the Pittsburgh Penguins don’t have any that are ready to come in and make a material difference to their team.
And when I say I’m talking about going to get players that can come into your team, when the Pittsburgh Penguins won in 16 and 17, they had a whole bunch of younger players come up and give them a lot of juice. They don’t have that so they could benefit from that type of a transaction.
NHL Rumors: The Vancouver Canucks will be buyers, and eyeing Jake Guentzel or a second-line center?
They have 13 skaters under contract for next year. They’re gonna get a lot of cap room this coming summer. I don’t think the deadline is where they can make the significant changes to their team to give them a chance to win. Do I think the windows completely closed on the Penguins? No, I don’t.
Because you watch Crosby, you watch Malkin, and you watch Letang, you watch Karlsson, and certainly Jake Guentzel’s a really top-notch player. But these are the hard decisions that you have to make. I would consider trading Reilly Smith. One year left on his contract after this year. What did you get for him from a team contending for the Stanley Cup?
I mentioned Jake Guentzel, you start to look at other areas of your team. They need too much bolstering, and I don’t think there’s enough ability for Kyle Dubas to make material differences to help their chances this year. I think he’s got to clearly look at the next season as difficult as difficult as that is for people to hear.”
