Wow.
Starting with franchise icon Evgeni Malkin reupping in the wee hours, it sure was a day of surprises.
Frankly, with only $4 million or so in cap space to work with, I thought it would be a quiet day for our favorite hockey team on the free-agent front.
WRONG.
GM Ron Hextall made four separate signings today (with a fifth rumored to be on the way), including a forward, a goalie and a pair of defensemen. Quite frankly, the last position I thought we’d seek to fortify.
The marquee signing if you can call it that is Jan Rutta, a 31-year-old Czechia defenseman who spent the better part of the past four seasons skating for Stanley Cup winners in Tampa Bay. He agreed to terms on a three-year deal with an average annual value of $2.75 million.
Having averaged just under 16 minutes of ice time with the Lightning, the 6’3” 204-pounder’s pretty much a third-pairing defender. Aside from the fact that he’s a right-hand shot and has skated for two Cup winners, nothing really sticks out about his game. He isn’t an offensive force (three goals and 18 points in 76 games for the Bolts in 2021-22) nor overly physical (a career-high 93 hits). He will do the dirty work as his 71 blocked shots will attest, and he’s fairly bomb proof (only 18 giveaways).
Again, his signing qualifies as a rather large surprise, given that we already have four right-shot defensemen on the roster, including the recently extended Kris Letang. It begs the question…is a trade in the works?
It certainly appears so. Vancouver needs defensemen. John Marino was one of former GM Jim Rutherford’s most prized acquisitions. It doesn’t take too much brain power to connect the dots.
In addition to Rutta, the Pens also signed defenseman Xavier Ouellet and goalie Dustin Tokarski.
An eight-year-NHL veteran who spent all of last season with Laval of the AHL, Ouellet signed a two-year, two-way deal that calls for $762,500 at the NHL level. The 28-year-old left-handed shot will provide organizational depth at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
This will be the 32-year-old Tokarski’s second stint in the Pens’ organization. He backstopped the Baby Pens for 18 games in 2019-20, posting a 1.97 goals against average and .924 save percentage before resurrecting his NHL career with Buffalo. His one-year, one-way contract calls for $775,000.
Tokarski will replace Louis Domingue, who agreed to a two-year deal with the Rangers. (Must’ve REALLY enjoyed the spicy pork at MSG.)
In a late-breaking transaction, Hextall affirmed he’d signed former Pen forward Josh Archibald to a one-year deal worth $900,000.
Archibald, 29, is a former sixth-round pick of the black and gold in 2011 and a teammate of Jake Guentzel’s at the University of Nebraska-Omaha, where he was a Hobey Baker finalist.
Josh saw action on our back-to-back Cup champions, including four playoff games in 2016-17, before being dealt to Arizona in December 2017. The feisty winger notched a dozen goals in back-to-back seasons, the second with the Oilers, before tailing off the last two seasons.
This past season was a particularly trying one. The 5’10” 176-pounder played in only eight games as a result of contracting covid and myocarditis…an inflammation of the heart. He was pronounced fit to return in March.
Although small in stature, Archibald can fly and plays an edge, as witnessed by his 192 hits (in only 52 games) in 2020-21. He’s also an excellent penalty killer.
Kind of a poor man’s Brandon Tanev.
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Rick
Not a good day for Penguin faithful. Just about everyone in our Division improved and in my opinion our
roster has taken a hit. We pick up Rutta - Jack Johnson played more minutes for the Avalanche than
he Rutta played for Tampa Bay. Not to mention the fact he's allergic to physical play and he's below average
offensively. I think we're in deep trouble. Then we sign Archibald who's another midget "what the H_ll is going
on here. I do know in Free Agency just because a player signed for an affordable price doesn't mean the Pen's
didn't try to make an offer but geeeeze come on we couldn't do better than these guys.