The Pittsburgh Penguins and free agency…
Adam Gretz from Pensburgh.com: Pittsburgh features two of the top centers in the NHL but precious little cap space. With just under $5 million of cap space, that means a big time impact player is not in the cards.
On the other hand, there are some options. For one, there are some of the players who were not offered qualifying offers this week. A few of those players could be had for a discounted price. Jim Rutherford expects to target this area of the market aggressively.
Also, despite a very busy off-season, Rutherford desires to add players.
“That’s what we’ve been working on. We talk about a lot of things – can we strengthen different areas – and we’re going to have to see where guys and their salaries fall to see who we can fit. We don’t have a lot of cap space, not a lot of teams do.
“There were a bunch of guys not qualified today. There’ll be a lot of conversation on those guys. We won’t be in on the big free agents on Friday, but we will be looking at adding more players.”
Vinnie Hinostroza is one target, formally of Arizona and Chicago. Then, there is Anthony Duclair. Duclair represents himself and his price is unknown. Furthermore, Andreas Athanasiou is on the market and his cost could be cheap given he struck out even in Edmonton. Dominik Kahun and Troy Stecher also are out there as well.
Penguins trade Matt Murray for prospect and pick
Josh Yohe, Rob Rossi, and Sean Gentille of The Athletic: Jim Rutherford tried trading Matt Murray since they were eliminated from the playoffs. On Wednesday, he was finally successful. The result was a second round pick in 2020 that became a goalie, Joel Blomqvist and Jonathan Gruden. Murray is now a member of the Ottawa Senators.
Rutherford did well according to the panel and got a bit more than expected. This is considering what Vegas has faced in trying to deal Marc-Andre Fleury. Murray’s strengths did not suit Pittsburgh’s defensive play or lack thereof. It had become clear that the goaltender wanted out of the Penguins’ circus and Jim Rutherford fulfilled that wish.
Tristan Jarry, for better or for worse, is the future and the more athletic goaltender. That is what Pittsburgh needed and not the superior positioning netminder.