Expansion Draft Preview: Pittsburgh Penguins
The Pittsburgh Penguins are running out of time to win with their core.
While Sidney Crosby is locked up for four more seasons, both Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang are eligible to become free agents next summer.
The Penguins lost in the first round of the playoffs for the third consecutive season this year and their new front office of Brian Burke and Ron Hextall will surely look to make some changes. First up, shedding some salary at the Expansion Draft.
Eligible Forwards
@Sidney Crosby (NMC), @Evgeni Malkin (NMC), @Jake Guentzel, @Jason Zucker, @Bryan Rust, @Brandon Tanev, @Kasperi Kapanen, @Jared McCann, @Jeff Carter, @Colton Sceviour, @Zach Aston-Reese, @Sam Lafferty, @Teddy Blueger, @Frederick Gaudreau, @Mark Jankowski, @Anthony Angello
Eligible Defencemen
@Kris Letang (NMC), @Michael Matheson, @Brian Dumoulin, @Marcus Pettersson, @Juuso Riikola, @Chad Ruhwedel, @Mark Friedman, @Cody Ceci
Eligible Goaltenders
@Tristan Jarry, @Casey DeSmith, @Maxime Lagace
Exempt Players
John Marino, Pierre-Olivier Joseph, Drew O’Connor, Samuel Poulin, Justin Almedia, Jan Dzorg, Nathan Legare, Kasper Bjorkqvist, Will Reilly, Cameron Lee
What should they do?
Crosby and Malkin have no-movement clauses so they’re automatically going to be protected. After that, Guentzel is a no-brainer, and Rust, Kapanen, and McCann are obvious choices as well. That leaves the Penguins with one forward spot open for Tanev, one of their top penalty killers, Carter, who they acquired ahead of the trade deadline, and Zucker, who hasn’t yet hit his stride after a year and a half in Pittsburgh.
On the blueline, the Penguins have the benefit of Marino being exempt due to him only having two years of NHL experience. They need to protect Letang, as he has a no-movement clause, so that’s one spot. Shutdown defender Dumoulin will be protected, so the Penguins can choose either Matheson or Pettersson as their third defender.
The Penguins are in quite a bind in terms of cap room this summer, so Seattle taking any underachieving player with a large contract would help. Jason Zucker, who carries a $5,500,000 cap hit for two more seasons, would be the ideal player to let go.
Of course, the Kraken aren’t just going to take bad contracts for the sake of it. The Pens would likely have to offer Seattle a sweetener to take Zucker after he scored just 18 points in 38 games in 2021. They sent Vegas a second-round pick to take Marc-Andre Fleury back in 2017.