Penguins Free-Agent Bulletin Board

1. Hey all,

   A quick observation. Following years of de-clawing, the Pens have gone decidedly in the opposite direction and added some size and gristle to the organization.

   Tinordi (6’6″ 230), Trotman (6’3″ 219) and Summers (6’2″ 209) are all big boys. Add in Ryan Reaves and returning heavyweight Tom Sestito? The Pens should have no worries in the physical play department.

   Perhaps the influence of Bill Guerin, who’s replaced Jason Botterill as the No. 2 man behind JR? I dunno.

   But I like it.

   Rick

   1. Hi Rick
      It certainly can not hurt us to be a little beefier.
      I am hoping DUMO signs below 3 mill and we make a deal for a good center.
      No matter how you look at it the Pen’s lost a lot today.
      Bonino, Kunitz, Daley, Hainsey…Maybe Cullen as well.MAF…We are not the same team as 2017.
      We need at least 1 good left winger,1 good center and 1
      more d man. Minimum!
      I am sure Tommorrow will bring a few more pieces.
      Letang is still a mystery. Hope he fully recovers.
      Talk soon Rick

      ..

   2. Hey Rick and Jim,

      I agree Jim, the Pens look like a weaker team today than they did 1 month ago. Rick I am not talking about physical size, in fact the exact opposite is true, obviously the team is physically bigger, but the object of the game is outscoring your opponent not beating him up. So, in that dept with the losses of Bonino, Kunitz, Daley, Hainsey, MAF, maybe Cullen and this years 1st pick, the team is much weaker where it counts. Not that Bonino, Kunitz, Daley, Hainsey and MAF were all that irreplaceable, it is just that they weren’t replaced with any veterans and it appears that at least this point in time the Pens may not be considering the possibility that they can upgrade from within.

      I know there are those here that disagree with me and I respect your opinions, your arguments do have some merit, just not enough to convince me that Reaves is better than having drafted Hague or Kostin. As weak as the Pens D is, I really do think that Hague could have challenged for a spot on this roster.

      Kostin may not have been able to crack the line up yet but I believe he can play either wing and the Pens are really weak on the left side. If we want to be truthful the Pens a big Question Marks here. Guentzel looked really good last year but Hagelin didn’t and although Sheary had a good regualr season, his post season left a lot to be desired. True he redeemed himself near the end, but I am sorry, and no disrespect intended, just speaking the truth, they were the weakest opponent the Pens faced. And although Was seems to have lost even more than the Pens, CBJ may have loaded themselves for a very strong run.

      It may have cost CBJ a lot for the future when they dealt with the Devil (Vegas) to preserve spare part bottom 6 players, they pulled off one heck of a coup in trading Saad for Panarin. I am not sure what Chi was thinking. The best hope the Pens have here is that the loss of Gagner will counter balance that. To that end, they really do need to try and keep Duchene from joining their line-up, particularly for the paltry sum of R Murray and a Prospect.

      I am hoping that the Pens haven’t forgotten what brung ’em to these two Cups. These Cups weren’t bought with over the hill veterans but the infusion of kids into the line up and players that seemed to value/buy into the team concept. I really do think it is time for some youth to be served. It is really hard to judge the progress of these kids from development camp, where the only players on the ice are prospects, where there are no NHL calibre players around them to be yardsticks of progress, but it may be time for the team to believe in at least Sprong and maybe Aston-Reese and move a veteran RW.

      Holding on to Hornqvist until the trade deadline would make sense if the Pens were in rebuilding mode and not challenging for a 3-peat. Hornqvist is a made to order rent-a-player. His value to a team challenging for the Cup, in a “all in for the Cup mode” to paraphrase JR last year, would be astronomical. By waiting for the trade deadline the Pens could price gauge for draft picks and prospects. However, the Pens are themselves challenging for a 3-peat and Hornqvist is an asset in an area of strength, that can be used to shore up a weakness.

      As for Letang Jim, I am hoping for the best, but JR should be girding for the worst. I don’t know what he has been thinking, but I am sorry, at $7 Mil I really would have shopped him around. Chances are no one wants him, but I sure hope JR at least tried.

      The good news is, there still is 9 months until the stretch run, anything can happen.

      1. Well said Coach..😊

2. Pens resigned Sestito and Corrado as well as interestingly enough, they signed Casey DeSmith who was Jarry’s partner in crime in WBS last year. I made mention that the Pens may want to sign him to a couple of people down the Gym, Rick, just last week, if nothing else to possibly use him as trade bait. He played well in the AHL last year.

3. According to most recent Cap Friendly….
   We have 11 forwards signed and 6 d men and 2 goalies.
   Pen’s have 11,055,000 cap left to sign
   Dumo and a skilled center. Plus Sheary and Archibald.

   The 4 guys just announced are all 2 way or in the AHL now so do not count towards cap.
   D MEN ZACH TROTMAN, JARRED TINORDI,CHRIS SUMMERS and Center Greg McKegg.
   Good position to be in if we can land a third center and sign Dumo.

4. Shultz 3yr $5.5 a year.

   1. Gr 8..
      Of course it is with Penguins.
      Given other contracts signed today that is not to bad.
      Hope we can get Dumo signed for under 3 million.
      French media is saying Pittsburgh is talking about acquiring center Alex Galchunyck? ( not the correct
      spelling).
      Keep u posted Phil.

      1. He is RFA, so are they saying trade for his rights? or sign him and then pay whatever the league says to compensate?

   2. I would have liked to see a 4 or 5 year deal, maybe get him to about 30 years old

5. Cam Fowler signed an 8 year 50 million dollar deal.
   Wow.

6. Kunitz to Tampa 1 yr $2 mil

   1. Hey Phil
      Sports net announced 2 million Kunitz deal plus up to 1 million in bonuses if they win the Cup.Plus no taxes in Florida they said.Great deal for him.
      They interviewed Bonino and he said he was impressed with Nashville during the playoffs .
      Just talking about the 13.5 million offer to McDavid and how this will affect the entire league.

7. UFA Joe Morrow was picked up by the Habs for one year. It is a one way deal though.

8. On a side note, I am glad Nillson moved out west to Van. He is not that great of a goalie but the Pens seem to have trouble solving him. Conversely, having Chad Johnson move East could be a good thing, he hasn’t matched up all that well against the Pens.

9. Hey all,

   I know Hunwick isn’t a sexy addition. But I think he’s a solid one.

   For some reason, I made it a point to watch him during the Leafs-Caps playoff series this spring, and was surprised at how effective he was.

   A nice, prudent, under-the-radar signing by JR.

   Let’s hope Niemi’s able to flash his old form. The price sure was right ($700,000).

   Rick

10. Hi Rick
    A lot of d men moving to new homes.Alzner went to Montreal.Dellzoto went to Vancouver. Tampa signed Gilardi ?,Detroit took Daley and Hainsey went to Toronto.
    Shattenkirk is talking to Tampa,New Jersey and New York. A few sources are mentioning they are talking to Schultz as well.
    Bonino signs 4 years a 4.1 million a year deal with CBJ !
    That is a tough one to replace.Radulov is the top forward still not signed.
    Getting nervous Rick.

    1. Shattenkirk to Rangers 4 years $6.65 a year. Bonino went to Preds – You have CBJ. Related to that, Preds also got Hartsnell.

11. Leafs are reporting Hainsey signed 2 year $3mil per year

    1. It’s official now.

       1. Great new look to the blog!

          Thanks, Phil!

Comments are closed.