John Tavares A Penguin?

Some of you may have already read this, but over the last couple of days a rumor has surfaced in both the local and national media. The rumor to which I refer is a discussion where GM Jim Rutherford goes after and lands Unrestricted Free Agent (UFA) John Tavares.

So far, from what I have read, everyone is acknowledging that given the Penguins’ financial situation, Rutherford would have to work the same type of magic that brought us Phil Kessel and Trevor Daley, otherwise the numbers (financially) just will not work.

On the plus side, several pundits have noted Marion Hossa as an example of a player possibly signing a 1 or 2 year contract on the cheap to make a run at the Cup with a legitimate Cup contender. Those same ubiquitous they also point to how Rutherford figured out a way to trade for Kessel. So, just because linear thinking, boring, unable to think outside of the box types might think

Question 1: Do the Penguins need John Tavares?

Well, not really, they already have the 2 best Centers to play in the league over last 10 years (Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin), who are still top 3 or 4 Centers in the league right now. Furthermore, they traded an arm and leg (thanks to trade dead line hysteria and strong arm league interference) for Derick Brassard. They also have Riley Sheahan who was really coming on as a 3rd line Center until Brassard come over to the team and they have an interesting prospect Jordy Bellerive, who had a really big year last year in Jrs and was so impressive last year in training camp he earned himself a contract.

The Penguins’ problems really didn’t involve Centers this past year. It revolved around Defense or lack thereof. As interesting as Tavares may be, the Penguins need 1 if not 2 better Defensemen.

Question 2: Could Tavares help the Penguins?

That is a silly question. Of course he can. Imagine if Tavares were to play 3rd line Center for the Penguins. The quality of defensive players against him would be bottom of the barrel. Tavares should be able to put up massive numbers while the Penguins should immediately leap to odds on favorite to win the Cup in 2018-2019. So Tavares may think about signing a cheaper ($7 or $8 mil), 1 or 2 year contract (vs $10mil long term) to win the Cup and still be in a great position to ask for that long term massive deal.

Question 3: Is there a way the Penguins would be able to afford Tavares?

Possibly. The easiest way to be able to afford Tavares would be to acknowledge that Kris Letang, as a Defensemen, is no longer a viable option. Even at the top of his game he was marginal in his own zone. During his best seasons, Paul Martin cleaned up most of his mistakes. It was not coincidental that 10 of the 19 goals scored against the Penguins during the Capitals’ series came when Letang was on the ice. In a perfect scenario the Penguins could find a trade partner to unload his $7.25mil contract so they can have all of it to play with. In a worst case scenario they could buy him out, in which case they would have $4.83mil to play with.

If the Penguins were able to swing that deal they could then trade Brassard to free up even more money. Although Brassard had a tough playoff run last year he is still well thought of and with a large portion of his contract being paid by other teams he should be fairly easy to trade.

The Penguins could free up another $3mil by trading Conor Sheary. Yes, Sheary is a great feel good story, but at his size, the wear and tear of 82 regular season games and increased physicality of the playoffs cause him to fold under the weight of his opponents hits.

Another consideration that Rutherford must face is the number of UFAs and RFAs (Restricted Free Agents) on the Penguins’ roster and weeding out which ones would be worth keeping and which ones are not worth keeping. The Penguins do not necessarily need to resign all of them. They can still keep costs down. Many of the pending Penguins’ FAs really didn’t do much this post season to point to as a reason for a pay raise.

The interesting part of my above scenario to pluck Tavares from the FA tree is not only does it give the Penguins an unreal depth at Center, but it also improves the Penguins’ defense by subtraction (remove Letang improve the Defense).

In the end I am not calling for the Penguins to pursue this rumor. Although I do find the idea of Tavares joining Crosby and Malkin, intriguing (I would think everyone should), it isn’t needed. The core of this team is still arguably the best assembly in the league. The only real problems that need to be addressed is Letang and the supporting cast. The Penguins leaned too heavily on a weak defensive Defenseman and gave up/were forced to give up way too much in their pursuit of Brassard.

Letang needs to be traded, bought out, or moved to wing. As a Defensemen he hurts the team.

As for the supporting cast, the Penguins could conceivably recoup their losses of last trade deadline. They could resign both Ryan Reaves and Ian Cole. However, it is doubtful that even if the team resigned them, they would be given any ice time at all (Cole) or any significant ice time (Reaves).

The most important decisions the Penguins need come to this post season surrounds Letang and the supporting cast not Tavares.