2.9 Penguins mailbag

Here is the Feb. 9 edition of the mailbag, where we answer your questions asked on Twitter using #OvertheBoards. Tweet your questions to @drosennhl.

The Pittsburgh Penguins have a complicated future with who they re-sign and who maybe gets shipped out or let go. Where should the priorities be for the Penguins and who is likely to go? What trade deadline moves could we see? -- @ActualDanLavoie
This is not complicated, in my opinion. Penguins center
Evgeni Malkin
and defenseman Kris Letang each is in the final season of his contract and a pending unrestricted free agent. Center Sidney Crosby is signed through the 2024-25 season, so Malkin and Letang should each get a three-year contract, carrying the major core pieces of Pittsburgh's sustained run of excellence through that 2024-25 season, which means the rest of this season and three more. Crosby's contract is the window to keep winning. The Penguins need to do everything they can to win as much as they can with Crosby, Malkin and Letang. Whatever happens after 2024-25, it'll be a lot easier to deal with if they win another Stanley Cup championship.
Of course, it's way easier for me to say that. It's a lot harder for the Penguins, who have shown enough this season to believe they can win the Cup. Addressing their defenseman depth and backup goaltending, in that order, before the 2022 NHL Trade Deadline on March 21 would give them an added layer of insurance and comfort going into the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Penguins have a regular defenseman group of Letang, Brian Dumoulin, John Marino, Mike Matheson, Marcus Pettersson and Chad Ruhwedel. They have been generally healthy with each of the six playing at least 42 of Pittsburgh's 47 games (Marino is the only one to play 47). But the Penguins are an injury away from being thin at the position, and that's not ideal for a team that has the Stanley Cup in its sights. Goalie Tristan Jarry has been excellent, worthy of his selection to the 2022 Honda NHL All-Star Game, but backup Casey DeSmith has struggled (3-3-2, 3.37 goals-against average, .892 save percentage, one shutout). If he's still struggling come mid-March, the Penguins will likely try to find a better solution for their backup goalie. They can't go into the playoffs worried about what they have in net.

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      ARI@PIT: Letang wires in tying PPG

      Now that Gila River Arena wanted a 20-year lease, and the Arizona Coyotes will not be in an NHL-caliber arena for a few years, will this hurt or help their image and fan base? Instead of playing at Arizona State University for three years, why not lease a space at another arena? -- @theashcity
      Before we get into the seating capacity, should the Coyotes move into Arizona State's new multipurpose arena for the next three seasons, they will get to play in a state-of-the-art facility with modern amenities and separate space for them to operate.
      According to Capital Development Plan and License Agreement Approval submitted by Arizona State to the Arizona Board of Regents for their meeting Thursday, the Coyotes will pay about $20 million for multiple upgrades, including a two-story annex building that will allow for NHL-quality amenities including dressing rooms, training areas, equipment rooms, nutrition stations, coaches work rooms, team storage areas, fitness areas, ice plant equipment, broadcasting infrastructure, dasher boards, media and medical services, analytics, and replay capabilities. The building is supposed to open in November and be ready for the Coyotes in December. That's a scheduling issue that can be worked around. No other facility in the Phoenix area would offer them amenities like they can get at Arizona State.
      It's not ideal for an NHL team to be limited to a capacity of about 5,000 fans for its home games, but NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said it wouldn't have been smart for the Coyotes to sign a 20-year lease agreement to remain at Gila River Arena in Glendale in the West Valley. The Coyotes want to be in the East Valley, in Tempe, near downtown Phoenix. It's much easier for fans, especially those working in Phoenix, to get to their games if they're in the East Valley. That's why they're looking to build an arena in Tempe. Commissioner Bettman said an arena in the East Valley will reverse the Coyotes' fortunes. If they get that, and become a successful team, you'll see hockey in the market flourish. It has before when they played in downtown Phoenix.
      The most important thing the Coyotes can do for their image is build a winning team. They're in the early stages of a massive rebuild, but if they can continue it playing at Arizona State, maybe they'll be ready to win when they move into their new building. It'll be a full house every game if they do.
      How many players do you think the New York Rangers are from being true contenders? -- @msilvers1979
      They're contenders if goalie Igor Shesterkin continues to play the way he's capable of playing and the power play stays as strong as it has been with forwards Mika Zibanejad, Artemi Panarin, Chris Kreider and Ryan Strome, and defenseman Adam Fox. But for the Rangers to be considered true Stanley Cup contenders, which means balanced across the board, strong at 5-on-5, in the possession game, on both special teams and in net, they need more. They need forwards
      Alexis Lafreniere
      , Kaapo Kakko and Filip Chytil to be consistent with what they bring every game. It's been too erratic. They need a better second power-play unit. They need a top-six right wing. They need a veteran defenseman for their third pair. They need to be more dangerous offensively at 5-on-5, less reliant on their power play.
      It sounds like a lot, but it's basically two or three players for this season, additions the Rangers can make because they have space under the NHL salary cap, and continued improvement and consistency from the players they already have. They're close, but short of Shesterkin stealing it, I don't see them winning a playoff series against the Penguins, Carolina Hurricanes, Florida Panthers or Tampa Bay Lightning. Those teams have the extra pieces the Rangers don't have.

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          FLA@NYR: Lafrenière slips backhander past Knight

          What is going on with the Winnipeg Jets? -- @NathonMerasty
          There's a lot to unpack here, but it starts with injuries to forwards Blake Wheeler and Nikolaj Ehlers and uncharacteristically down seasons for Wheeler, center Mark Scheifele and goalie Connor Hellebuyck.
          Wheeler, the Jets captain, missed nine games from Dec. 14-Jan. 20, and they were 4-4-1 without him. They were 4-0-1 without him from Oct. 19-28, but that was a different point in the season. The Jets were scoring then, averaging 3.33 goals per game and going 9-3-3 through Nov. 16. They have scored two or fewer goals in 16 of 28 games, averaging 2.54 goals per game and going 10-14-4. Wheeler has scored two goals in 29 games this season after he scored 15 in 50 games last season and 22 in 71 in 2019-20. He's not a big-time goal scorer, but two is too few.
          The Jets are 2-5-1 without Ehlers (lower body). He scored 25 points (13 goals, 12 assists) in 34 games, an average of 0.74 points per game. Ehlers averaged 0.88 points per game between 2019-21 (104 points in 118 games). He could be out for several more weeks.
          Scheifele has scored 30 points (11 goals, 19 assists) in 37 games, an average of 0.81 points per game. He is third on the Jets in scoring behind Kyle Connor (47 points in 43 games) and Pierre-Luc Dubois (33 points in 42 games), but well below the numbers we expect. Scheifele averaged 1.01 points per game (423 points in 419 games) from 2015-21. He needs to do more and deliver more.
          The Jets need Hellebuyck to do more too. He's been OK, but the 2019-20 Vezina Trophy winner voted as the best goalie in the NHL can't be just OK. After a 2-0 shutout of the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday, he is 15-15-6 with a 2.82 GAA and .910 save percentage in 36 games. It's similar to what he was in 2018-19, when he had a 2.90 GAA and .913 save percentage in 63 games. The Jets made the playoffs that season but averaged 3.29 goals per game (seventh) and were 24.8 percent on the power play (fourth). Their offense isn't picking up the defense and goaltending this season, so they need Hellebuyck to be lights-out good.
          ---
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