Hextall Discusses the Thought Process Behind the Penguins' Big Decisions
Some of those decisions were tough, like trading forward Jared McCann to Toronto and ultimately losing winger Brandon Tanev to Seattle in the Expansion Draft to become cap compliant for next year. Others were easier, like re-signing center Teddy Blueger to a well-deserved two-year contract extension.
All of them were made with the goal of putting the best possible team on the ice within the salary cap constraints.
"We had to do what we felt was best for the organization in the short term and the long term," Hextall said.
GM Ron Hextall speaks with the media.
After projecting who might be on the roster for next season while also factoring in Blueger's new deal, which has an average annual value (AAV) of $2.2 million, Hextall said the Penguins felt like they would be about $3-3.5 million over the cap.
So they set a price for McCann where they would move him if someone matched it, which the Maple Leafs did. Toronto sent prospect Filip Hallander - originally drafted by Pittsburgh in the second round in 2018 - and a 2023 seventh-round pick to the Penguins in exchange for the 25-year-old winger, who had a $2.94 million cap hit.
From there, the Penguins had to determine who would be on their protected list for Wednesday's Expansion Draft, where the Seattle Kraken announced their initial roster for the team's inaugural season.
"You look at a lot of things," Hextall said. "You look at the player's age, you look at the contract, you look at the terms of the contract, the AAV, the fit on your team, and the depth in your organization."
That all being said, one of the biggest factors was Evgeni Malkin's injury status. While Hextall said the 34-year-old center is "doing well" after undergoing successful knee surgery in June, there is still some uncertainty regarding his availability for the start of the season.
Therefore, four of Pittsburgh's seven protected forwards were centers: Malkin, Blueger, Sidney Crosby and Jeff Carter. The Penguins also protected three defensemen (Kris Letang, Brian Dumoulin and Mike Matheson, with John Marino being exempt) and one goaltender (Tristan Jarry).
"Geno had an impact on our list, for sure," Hextall said. "When we looked at our center position, it's the position where we lacked the most depth up front. So we felt like it was important to protect that position."
The Penguins are well aware that they need to start restocking the prospect pipeline, so they didn't want to give up any future assets in order to keep someone. That kept them from making any side deals with Seattle to prevent them
taking a player like Tanev
.
"Obviously, we lost a good player, but that's the price of expansion," Hextall said. "We'll move on, and Seattle certainly got a good one in Tans."
The one silver lining of losing a good player is gaining valuable cap space. Tanev, 29, had four years remaining on his contract that had an average annual value of $3.5 million. With both him and McCann off the books, the Penguins now feel comfortable that they'll have more breathing room under the cap.
Moving forward, they certainly have more decisions looming when it comes to filling out their roster. They currently have nine forwards (Crosby, Malkin, Carter, Blueger, Jake Guentzel, Kasperi Kapanen, Sam Lafferty, Bryan Rust and Jason Zucker), seven defensemen (Letang, Dumoulin, Matheson, Marino, Marcus Pettersson, Chad Ruhwedel and Mark Friedman) and two goalies (Jarry and Casey DeSmith) under contract for next season.
Meanwhile, Zach Aston-Reese is a restricted free agent, while players like Freddy Gaudreau, Evan Rodrigues and Cody Ceci are all set to become unrestricted free agents.
While Hextall said the Penguins do feel like they have enough candidates in-house to step into some of the holes, they will also look outside of the organization to see what they can find, whether it's through trades or free agency, which opens at 12 PM on Wednesday, July 28.
As of right now, Hextall doesn't anticipate being in the mix for any of the bigger names.
"I don't suspect there's going to be a top player there that we could fit under the cap," he said. "You never know what happens, I guess, between now and then. But we're going to do everything we can just to put the best team on the ice, whether it's internal or bringing a player in from the outside.
"Really hard to say what the market's going to be, and I suspect there will probably be players in August that aren't signed. So we'll just evaluate things on a day-to-day basis as we move along and if free agent makes sense, we'll move on it."
NOTE: Hextall said contract extension talks for Malkin and Letang, who each have one year remaining on their respective deals, are currently on the back burner.
"Once we get through the draft and free agency, we'll get more on it," Hextall said. "But at this point, we've just had more general discussions or mentions of wanting to resign the players."
