Drew O'Connor has had a pretty solid run in his most recent recall to the Pittsburgh Penguins. The past few weeks have been miserable for the Pittsburgh Penguins. After a lengthy stretch where the Penguins looked like world beaters, they have regressed again back to a team that looks easy more often than not. Through 42 games, the Penguins have won 21 games and lost 21 games. Surely, they’ve picked up six loser points in that span but they are a .500 team if looking directly into wins and losses. The team feels very stale. General manager Ron Hextall didn’t do himself many favors with his salary cap situation and the Penguins sit at quite the roster impasse as the trade deadline quickly approaches and the second half of the season gets underway. If you’ll recall back to the Penguins’ back-to-back Stanley Cup titles, they used a mid-season lull to fire their head coach and bring up a heap of young players from the AHL. This season, they won’t be firing Mike Sullivan but who’s to say they couldn’t go the young player route? With minimal cap space, shuffling players between Pittsburgh and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton isn’t just a willy-nilly deal. The money has to be even going both ways and the Penguins don’t have many low-end roster pieces that make minimal money complicating the situation even more. Guys like Drew O’Connor and Sam Poulin have made some appearances in Pittsburgh this year. Nathan Legare, Valtteri Puustinen, Alex Nylander and others haven’t gotten much chance with the parent club this season and probably should get a look for the currently stale Penguins team. Jonathan Gruden was given a recall on Sunday afternoon after he was acquired in the Matt Murray trade a few years back. The core has always been the same but the Penguins got a nice boost from their Baby Pens in 2015 and 2016. Matt Murray, Jake Guentzel, Bryan Rust, Conor Sheary, Tom Kuhnhackl, and Scott Wilson are just some of the names that helped reshape a Penguins’ season that looked very lost. No one will claim that these guys will help shape a resurgence akin to that team’s but that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t appreciate and seize the opportunity. Danton Heinen, a $1 million cap hit player, has to be on the verge of being waived. He doesn’t provide penalty killing and he hasn’t scored since October. His lineup spot should be hotter than Florida on a summer day in July. Kasperi Kapanen, despite his hefty cap hit, is underperforming and could use yet another wake up call. Jeff Carter, Brock McGinn, and Teddy Blueger? These are all guys who aren’t pulling their weight offensively and should be fearing a bunch of young players coming to take their spot. You obviously can’t replace everyone so you have to hope some of them will figure it out but everyone should have a bit of concern with their job security because Hextall, Sullivan, and Co. don’t have much cap space to make any real trades. Again, I don’t foresee a Stanley Cup turnaround but a little life as the Penguins fight for their playoff lives wouldn’t be the worst thing and the underutilized Baby Penguins may just be the spark the big club needs. Make sure you bookmark Inside the Penguins [http://insidethepenguins.com/]for the latest news, exclusive interviews, breakdowns and so much more! Penguins Desperately Need Ron Hextall to Make a Trade [https://www.si.com/nhl/penguins/news/pittsburgh-penguins-need-ron-hextall-make-trade] Jason Zucker Deserves Contract Extension with Penguins [https://www.si.com/nhl/penguins/news/jason-zucker-deserves-contract-extension-pittsburgh-penguins] Mike Sullivan Again Wants Penguins to Simplify Power Play [https://www.si.com/nhl/penguins/news/mike-sullivan-wants-pittsburgh-penguins-simplify-power-play] Hurricanes Sweep Regular Season Series Over Penguins [https://www.si.com/nhl/penguins/news/carolina-hurricanes-sweep-regular-season-series-pittsburgh-penguins] * undefined * undefined
