Will the Future Penguins GM Return the Team to Cup Contention?
Adam Proteau writes that no matter who the Pittsburgh Penguins hire as their next GM, the leftover roster issues won't be easy at all to handle.
There is no shortage of off-ice drama with the Pittsburgh Penguins, who dismissed GM Ron Hextall at the end of the season. Rumors abound that former Toronto Maple Leafs GM Kyle Dubas is the front-runner to be hired as Hextall’s replacement. And although a new voice will be a positive for the Pens, the reality of what Hextall has left for Dubas (or anyone else who winds up getting the job) is sobering, to say the least.
Those determined to look on the positive side will point out that Pittsburgh still has stars Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang on board for the next two years, and as per CapFriendly, they do have more than $20.2 million in salary cap space to spend this summer. That said, all three of Crosby, Malkin and Letang will be at least 36 years old by the time training camp begins – and that $20.2 million in cap space will have to bring Pittsburgh’s group of signed players from 15 at the moment to about 23 by the start of the season.
Even worse, the Penguins have painted themselves into a corner as far as their goaltending situation goes. Starter Tristan Jarry is a UFA this summer, and given that Pittsburgh’s second option between the pipes is Casey DeSmith, Jarry has all kinds of leverage in his contract negotiations – and that’s if he chooses to re-sign with the Pens at all. Certainly, there will be bidders for the 28-year-old Jarry, who had a cap hit of $3.5 million this past season, and it’s entirely possible Jarry’s agent will be able to conduct a bidding war for his services. Jarry had a down year by his standards, but in front of the right defense corps, he could re-establish himself as a force to reckon with.
The same cannot be said for the Penguins’ lineup in front of whomever they have in net. While Crosby, Malkin and Letang all had solid seasons in 2022-23, there’s a notable dropoff in production once you look past their top two forward lines. Even if forward Jason Zucker returns – and that’s not a guarantee, as he’s a UFA who posted 27 goals last season – Pittsburgh’s third and fourth lines leave much to be desired. The trade-deadline acquisition of former Nashville forward Mikael Granlund has only increased the cap burden on the franchise, with Granlund’s cap hit of $5 million per season lasting through the 2024-25 campaign.
In addition, while the Pens have most of their defense corps locked up under contract, veteran Brian Dumoulin, who averaged 20:38 of ice time this past year, is also a UFA. And complicating matters is the fact that nine of their signed players have some form of no-trade or no-movement-clauses in their deals. Of course, it’s always worth repeating that no-move and no-trade clauses do not guarantee a player will remain with the team. Rather, the clause is a speedbump of sorts, one that gives a player some say in the team he would allow a trade to. But having so much of the roster having a limited number of teams they’ll agree to go to only makes Hextall’s replacement’s job all the more difficult.
As currently constructed, the Penguins remind us of the feeling we got when looking at the Washington Capitals this past season. In both those cases, there’s a legacy of winning there, but not nearly enough depth to outlast their Metropolitan Division rivals.
If Dubas does get the gig, there’s no question he’ll take the team in a more progressive direction. The problem is there are too many problems for any GM in Pittsburgh, newbie or otherwise, to come in and change their trajectory. The window of the Pens’ competitive cycle began closing this season, and it’s difficult envisioning them returning to a place of dominance with this collection of talent.