Keys to the offseason for the Pittsburgh Penguins
Emily Kaplan and Greg Wshynski of ESPN: The Pittsburgh Penguins season didn’t end the way they had hoped after being knocked out by the Montreal Canadiens in the play-in round.
The Penguins need to make some decisions in net – Both Tristan Jarry and Matt Murray are pending restricted free agents. Jarry put up better regular-season, numbers, Murray has won two cups, Murray started in the play-ins and Jarry finished. Jarry will be cheaper and more likely that he stays. Casey DeSmith could back up next year.
Shore up their blue line – The Penguins don’t have a lot of cap room to be able to add to their blue line. Justin Schultz is a pending UFA and though they had talked extension, a deal hasn’t been reached yet. Jack Johnson carries a $3.25 million cap hit through 2022-23 and could be a buyout option.
Forward shuffle – Pending UFA forwards in Conor Sheary and Patrick Marleau. RFAs in Evan Rodrigues, Jared McCann, Anthony Angello, Sam Lafferty and Dominik Simon will likely be back.
It could be a busy offseason for the Penguins
Matt Vensel of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: After their play-in loss, it appears that there are some things that need to change with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Both GM Jim Rutherford and coach Mike Sullivan have received contract extensions in the past 20 months.
The upside of Tristan Jarry may put him ahead of Matt Murray. If they are able to re-sign Murray at a good number, maybe they could bring both goaltenders back.
If the Penguins are looking to shed some salary cap space, they could try to trade the contracts of Jack Johnson and Nick Bjugstad. Moving Johnson wouldn’t be easy.
A big shakeup could be seeing what they could get for defenseman Kris Letang, It’s unlikely that they trade forward Evgeni Malkin unless he asks to be moved,
The Penguins may need to find replacements on their blue line for Justin Schultz (UFA) and Johnson.
If they don’t see Bjugstad or Teddy Blueger as their No. 3 center, they may need to find one.