Fixing The Mess

The Pittsburgh Penguins have had some pretty incredible defencemen in their franchise history. The likes of Larry Murphy, Paul Coffey, Sergei Zubov, Sergei Gonchar, Kevin Hatcher, Ulf Samuelsson, Marty McSorley, Darius Kasparaitis, and Kris Letang have all been players I've witnessed in the Penguins' black-and-yellow in my time, and it's pretty amazing to think that the franchise has had this many high-profile defenders. If you're building an all-time Penguins roster and need six defenders, good luck on winning any debate that requires one to eliminate any of the players above. Any of those nine players can and should be included on the list, but only six can be included.

In saying that, though, it's hard to believe that the Penguins only have had one Norris Trophy winner in all that time, and that was Randy Carlyle in 1980-81 after he scored 83 points in 76 games to beat out the likes of Denis Potvin, Larry Robinson, Ray Bourque, Rod Langway, and that Murphy character listed above. The Penguins may very well have a shot at having a defender win a second Norris Trophy with the addition of Erik Karlsson today, but make no mistake that Kyle Dubas' addition was all about subtracting contracts that held this team back. And yes, that would make Karlsson a tenth name on that all-time roster list as well.

There's no denying that cap space is a valuable asset in today's NHL. It allows for roster flexibility, the addition of a player or multiple players in the wake of short-term injuries, the addition of more expensive players via free agency or trade, and the ability to facilitate trades with other teams as an intermediate where the intermediate usually benefits with a draft pick or picks. Teams that don't have cap space are often desperate to create it while teams that have it are often the toast of the league. In short, cap space might be the most valuable asset on one's roster!

After Drew O'Connor's arbitration settlement last Wednesday, the Penguins activated their buyout window where they could buy out any player on their roster if they so desired. With the team sitting on the wrong side of the cap ceiling by a significant margin, there were suggestions that Dubas was going to writing off a lot of bad deals if he couldn't move those players. The deadline was today at noon for those buyouts to be made, so Dubas went to the phones and began working like a madman to see what could be done.

It would take a third team to be involved, but Erik Karlsson became a Penguins defender by Sunday morning. The deal to get Karlsson was anything but simple, but it breaks down as follows:

• TO PITTSBURGH: Erik Karlsson, Rem Pitlick, Dillon Hamaliuk, San Jose's 2026 third-round pick, and they retain $1.56 million of Jeff Petry's salary.
• TO SAN JOSE: Pittsburgh's 2024 top-ten protected first-round pick, Mikael Granlund, Jan Rutta, Mike Hoffman, and they retain $1.5 million of Erik Karlsson's salary.
• TO MONTREAL: Pittsburgh's 2025 second-round pick, Jeff Petry, Casey DeSmith, and Nathan Lagare.

For the Penguins, they trade away three contracts that legitimately carried a potential buyout status with Granlund seemingly hours away from being shown the door by the Penguins. It was inconceivable when Ron Hextall traded for Granlund last season, and it only got worse as the Penguins sputtered down the stretch and missed the playoffs. Granlund's contribution in 21 games was a goal and four assists while being in line for a $5 million pay day this season.

Jan Rutta was supposed to be the crease-clearing, defensive defenceman that the Penguins wanted for games played in the trenches, but Rutta never really found his game in the Steel City. His $2.75 million salary for 56 games of nine-point hockey didn't really count for much when you consider that he and Brian Dumoulin looked horrendous together after Rutta returned from injury. With Dumoulin already gone from the Penguins' lineup, Rutta's spot on the roster was up for grabs with younger, less expensive options already looking like a better choice.

Jeff Petry might have been the one player who arrived with a renewed hope of solid defensive play with an offensive punch, but it seems the Penguins were blessed with misfortune regarding Petry. While he still had a respectable 31 points in 61 games, the $6.25 million cap hit he carried meant people expected more from the 35 year-old defender, particularly in his own end of the ice. He wasn't terrible in terms of his play, but an upper-body injury seemed to linger all season long as he never really played physically after suffering the injury in December. As such, Petry often seemed to shy away from physical play when the Penguins needed so much more.

The trade of Casey DeSmith might be one simply to change the stagnant goaltending scene in Pittsburgh. Tristan Jarry was undoubtedly the starter with his new contract, so DeSmith's time with the club was already coming to a close. A 3.17 GAA doesn't help his case in keeping him platooned with Jarry, so the Penguins will roll the dice with the cheaper options of Alex Nedeljkovic, Magnus Hellberg, and Joel Blomqvist. Nedeljkovic wasn't great with Detroit last season, but he saves the Penguins $300,000 in cap space so they're hopeful he regain his form from 2020-21 with Carolina.

While the Penguins have two guys who can play 40 minutes per night in Letang and Karlsson plus a guy who can do 20-25 minutes per night in Ryan Graves, it seems clear that the Penguins will lean heavily on two pairings with a third pairing there to skate the extra eight minutes per night that might be available. I'd love to see Pierre-Olivier Joseph on that second pairing or even paired with Letang while Karlsson and Graves are together, but that may leave a Ty Smith-Marcus Petterson-Chad Ruhwedel pairing that would have to be evaluated. Clearly, the Penguins have options as long as they remain healthy, but that's always an x-factor in any season.

The trade, though, sent $15.8 million of unwanted contracts out the door for the Penguins. Yes, they acquired $9.4 million back in that deal, but the $6.4 million of space they created allows the team to sit less $100,000 over the cap ceiling with other decisions still to be made on cap compliance. In case one was wondering, that's approximately the same salary that Jake Guentzel will be earning this season, and there simply is no way the Penguins can afford to keep him on LTIR following ankle surgery if they hope to compete. Losing one of the team's top goal-scoring wingers would be catastrophic.

In the end, the Penguins still have virutally no cap room, but they are now $6 million closer to being cap compliant. And they have all their main pieces still intact. And they have a 101-point, Norris Trophy-winning defender on their blue line. It's hard to imagine the previous regime doing anything like this, but that's why Kyle Dubas was brought in by Fenway Sports Group: do whatever it takes to win with this group.

Good management can make a huge difference in a team's fortunes. Bad management can mean missing the playoffs with three surefire Hall of Fame players on your roster. Getting out of bad management's mess without dismantling a solid core of players is not only good management, but pretty incredible management. Kyle Dubas may not win GM of the Year this season, but he may have won the summer with the moves he's made to make the Penguins so much better.

I'm not sure anyone expected this when Kyle Dubas was named President of Hockey Operations, but no one can doubt that he's the man in charge of hockey side of Fenway Sports Group.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!