What if the Penguins Keep Geno and Tanger?

No, the title of this article isn’t a misprint. And you’re not seeing things. You read it right.

To digress, just about everyone (including yours truly) thinks there’s a slim-to-none chance of franchise icons and pending UFAs Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang sticking with our Penguins. An unsubstantiated rumor’s been making the rounds that GM Ron Hextall offered each a three-year extension for $15 million (an AAV of $5 million).

No way either one of them re-signs for that. Letang has expressed a desire to play into his 40s, and at age 35 he’s coming off arguably the finest season of his career. Considering all that he brings to the table, he’ll draw more (perhaps considerably more) than the $7.25 million he presently rakes in.

And Geno? Although he’s hinted that he might be willing to accept a hometown discount to stick around, I doubt if he’d be amenable to having his present $9.5 million salary virtually cut in half. Again, someone’s going to offer him more.

However, a PenguinPoop reader made a compelling argument in a recent comment for re-upping Geno and Tanger and providing them with a stronger supporting cast.

It got the wheels a turnin.’ Can such a thing be done? Is it possible to re-sign the future Hall-of-Famers and improve the team? How would that look?

Let’s assume for the sake of this example Malkin and Letang would re-up at Tanger’s current rate of $7.25 million. (That’s a stretch…both stand to make more on the open market.) It would free up $2.25 million in cap space that could be applied to making an offer of, say, $5 million to either Bryan Rust or Rickard Rakell.

Pick one, because you’re not going sign both. Again, both players could likely draw more on the open market.

Let’s say again for the sake of argument we resign Rakell and let Rusty walk. We’ve created a hole on right wing. One that could possibly be plugged by soon to be 23-year-old Valtteri Puustinen, who led the Baby Pens in scoring with 20 goals and 42 points in his first pro season and impressed during a one-game cameo with the Pens (and assist, plus-2). Puustinen earns $842K, a savings of roughly $2.7 million off Rust’s present contract.

Cheaper? Yes. An improvement? That’s debatable. It’ll surely take Puustinen some time to adapt to the rigors of big league hockey.

Okay, so we’re about $3 million under the cap at this stage. Inconsistent though he was, Evan Rodrigues had the best season of his career and his versatility and strong possession numbers seem to be highly valued. Let’s say the Pens decide to keep him, with a bump from his present rate of $1 million to $1.75 million.

Although I love what he brought to the table, I think the Pens will move on from 37-year-old Brian Boyle, who recently underwent knee surgery. His $750K cap hit would likely be filled in (and then some) by third-year pro Drew O’Connor or possibly the “Big Z,” Radim Zohorna.

That takes care of our UFA forwards. But wait. We have two RFA forwards, Danton Heinen and Kasperi Kapanen. Each has arbitration rights. The former, who proved to be a valuable if somewhat streaky secondary scorer, could probably be had for a bump from $1.1 million up to $2 million.

Frankly, I expect the Pens to non-tender Kapanen, exposing him to free agency, with a possible eye toward bringing him back at a reduced rate. But I think Kappy signs elsewhere, freeing up another $3.2 million in cap space and four million in total. Hextall hits the free-agent market to search for a replacement or perhaps swings a trade.

The Flyers’ Travis Konecny, a Hextall favorite from his days with Philly, keeps popping into my head. He’s fast and feisty…in some ways a Rust clone…and he’s topped the 20-goal mark three times in his career. Best of all, he’s only 25.

Konecny’s under contract for three more seasons at a rate of $5.5 million, which means we’d have to pare salary from our present roster. Maybe in the form of left wing Brock McGinn ($2.75 million), who could be packaged with, say, former No. 1 pick Sam Poulin.

If a deal can’t be made, perhaps Poulin, who had a strong second half with the Baby Pens, makes the team. The rub? Although he can play either wing, Sam’s most effective at center, where the black and gold has more depth.

If we go the cheaper promote-Poulin route ($842K), we’re left with about $3 million and change to throw at a physical depth defenseman and a backup goaltender. (It’s hard to imagine us bringing Casey DeSmith back due to his core muscle surgeries.)

Let’s say the Pens sign current UFA Nathan Beaulieu for around $800,000. That leaves roughly $2.2 to ink a backup goalie and have a little set aside for a rainy day.

Here’s what the lineup would look like.

Forwards

Guentzel-Crosby-Rakell Zucker-Malkin-Konecny/Poulin Heinen-Carter-Puustinen McGinn/O’Connor-Blueger-Rodrigues

Defense

Dumoulin-Letang Pettersson-Marino Matheson-Ruhwedel Beaulieu-Friedman

Goal

Jarry Backup?

Different? A little. Better? That’s a stretch. Certainly not Stanley Cup material.

Like it or not and sad as it is to say, we’ll need to move on from either Malkin or Letang (or both) to affect serious changes to both our lineup and fortunes. Changes that are liable to be as painful as they are dramatic.