The final moves of Ron Hextall and early decisions of Kyle Dubas have sunk the Pittsburgh Penguins spending value.
The final moves of Ron Hextall and early decisions of Kyle Dubas have sunk the Pittsburgh Penguins spending value.
For many years, the Pittsburgh Penguins were often looked at as one of the smartest teams in the NHL when it came to paying their players.
The top stars on the Penguins like Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Marc-Andre Fleury for a time were always earning paychecks far below their real market value.
While Crosby, Malkin, and Kris Letang are still out-playing their respective salaries, something has changed.
The final year of Ron Hextall’s tenure as Penguins’ general manager has turned the team into unwise spenders.
According to a model set up by Dom Luszczyszyn of the Athletic, the Penguins are the 22nd ranked team in the NHL when it comes to smart spending.
22nd is a massive drop from landing 8th on last year’s list.
Contracts that belong to guys like Mikael Granlund, Jeff Petry, and Jeff Carter almost completely tank the great deals held by Crosby, Malkin, and the best of them all in Jake Guentzel.
New president of hockey operations Kyle Dubas isn’t completely innocent in this, either, as a couple of the deals he’s signed so far pull the Penguins score down.
Lars Eller is making $3 million more than he should be according to Luszczyszyn’s model, and Ryan Graves’ new contract has him at $5.1 million over market value.
It’s a tad unfair to say those deals are bad before even seeing them play a game in a Penguins’ uniform, but the preseason metrics don’t help the cause.
It’ll be up to the players to play above their contracts, and with a possible Erik Karlsson deal still in the works, the Penguins numbers should improve come puck drop.
For now, however, the Penguins aren’t in a great spot when it comes to wise spending on certain players.
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