- Will DePaoli of Inside Pittsburgh Sport: The agent for Sergei Gonchar, JP Barry, confirmed that he met wit the Penguins about the idea of Gonchar returning to the Penguins, but nothing is definite at the moment.Tyler Kennedy is also interested in returning to the Penguins, but it’s not known if the Penguins are interested in him.
“From our side very attractive,” veteran agent Steve Bartlett said when asked of Kennedy having interest in Pittsburgh.”
- Josh Yohe of DK On Pittsburgh Sports: Multiple sources saying that the Penguins have significant interest in free agent winger Michael Frolik.
- Darren Dreger: The Penguins, like other teams, are in trade mode today. If a trade is made, would likely take them out of the free agent market. Nothing is imminent.
- Dave Molinari: The Penguins are not expected to go after UFA right winger Martin St. Louis.
- Dave Molinari of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Penguins GM Jim Rutherford said yesterday that they won’t sign any players to offer sheets – which would include Blackhawks RFA Brandon Saad.
Three factors Rutherford outlined as to why not: The steep compensation required if a player’s team opts against matching, fitting the targeted player in under the new team’s salary-cap ceiling and the likelihood that the player’s current team will match any offer.
If they don’t make a trade beforehand, they could look at free agents like Joel Ward and Michael Frolik. It’s possible that they look at some defensemen, but not very likely.
“We’ve made the commitment that we’re going to move all, or most, of our young defensemen into the lineup this year,” Rutherford said.
- Dave Molinari of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: The Penguins are looking for a top-six winger, and haven’t ruled out free agency over the trade route.
“There may be somebody in there who we could consider using in the top six,” he said. “But it’s not necessarily a guy who has played in the top six over his career.”
At the draft, the Penguins hadn’t planned on talking to any free agents, but some agents started reaching out to them.
“We initially hadn’t planned to speak with anybody,” he said. “But it ended up that we got a couple of calls and did speak to a couple of guys.”