Penguins mulling options of adding competition in goal & more rumblings
PENGUINS MULLING POSSIBILITY OF ADDING COMPETITION IN GOAL If you’re looking for a potential surprise signing for the Penguins this week, look to the goaltending market. Sources say goaltender Jonas Hiller is considering signing with the Penguins on a deal of at least 2 years where he would come in and battle Marc Andre Fleury for the starting job this season, something Penguins officials are trying to sell Hiller on. Team officials look at Hiller as a younger version of Tomas Vokoun. The Penguins are on Hiller’s shortlist of 3 teams he is considering signing with.
Penguins hope to land one of Kulemin or Pouliot
The Pittsburgh Penguins free agency wishlist is to add one top-9 forward, a 4th line center and 4th line winger, and the team is at least doing their due diligence on the goaltending market, notably Jonas Hiller and Chad Johnson. The team would also like to add a right handed defenseman, though, more of a depth defenseman, possibly NHL/AHL tweener. Winnipeg’s Zach Redmond, a puck moving defenseman, is among the names on the Penguins free agency list, team sources say The Penguins only have around $14.6 million in cap space and restricted free agents Brandon Sutter and Nick Spaling project to take up at least $5 million in cap space when both players negotiate new deals after being qualified.
Source: Penguins to begin contract talks this week with Brandon Sutter
PENGUINS MAKE QUALIFYING OFFERS TO RESTRICTED FREE AGENTS The Pittsburgh Penguins officially qualified the following restricted free agents, Inside Pittsburgh Sports has confirmed. Brandon Sutter – $2.7 million Nick Spaling – $1.5 million Simon Despres – $850,500 Philip Samuelsson – $605,000 Jason Megna – $874,125 Brandon Sutter and Nick Spaling will both decline their qualifying offers, a league source confirmed.
Latest Rumblings around the League on Miller, Iginla, Niskanen, Hemsky, Orpik & more
LATEST RUMBLINGS AROUND THE LEAGUE — Lots of talk that Ryan Miller will get around $6 million per season on a three to four year deal and the Vancouver Canucks have emerged as the front runners to sign him. The Tampa Bay Lightning did some wheeling and dealing tonight. They sent Teddy Purcell to Edmonton in exchange for Sam Gagner than flipped Gagner to Arizona for a 6th round pick. They cleared over 3 million in cap space. The Lightning’s wishlist includes signing a top-4 right handed defenseman, Matt Niskanen and Dan Boyle are one of the targets, and they’re in on Jarome Iginla. — Speaking of Iginla, an NHL source said late tonight the Red Wings, Lightning, Wild, and
Will the Penguins actually go with youth on the blueline in 2014-2015?
Will the Penguins actually go with youth on the blueline? We’ve heard it a lot the past couple off-seasons, especially last summer when Dan Bylsma was blabbering at his end of the season press conference about Simon Despres being the a top-4 defenseman for the 2013-2014 season, yet the Penguins couldn’t help themselves and signed a declining player in Rob Scuderi days later to be on their second pairing with Kris Letang. This year, though, all indications are that it’s legit, the Penguins have made an organization decision in the past couple days to go young and won’t invest significant money into a legitimate top-6 defenseman in free agency. Matt Niskanen is out of the picture and after talks with
Penguins plan to make offers to Kulemin, Malhotra on July 1, sources say
SOURCE: KULEMIN, MALHOTRA TOP PENGUINS WISHLIST The Penguins off-season game plan is coming into focus. Adding three more forwards and possibly one goaltender top the Penguins free agency wishlist, team sources said Saturday. The Penguins intend to make official offers to forwards Nikolai Kulemin, Manny Malhotra and David Moss on July 1, and have other fallback plans if deals are unable to be struck with any of those three, sources tell Inside Pittsburgh Sports. The Penguins are confident of signing at least two of the three, believed to be Kulemin and Malhotra.
Penguins Rumors: Hiller, Brodeur, Moulson, Gibbons
LATEST PENGUINS CHATTER FROM THE DRAFT The Pittsburgh Penguins are quietly doing their due diligence on free agent goaltenders, Inside Pittsburgh Sports has learned. NHL sources say the Penguins reached out to Jonas Hiller’s camp on Thursday. The team has also had internal discussions about Boston Bruins goaltender Chad Johnson. Word outside of Pittsburgh is GM Jim Rutherford would give consideration to a goaltending change if the Penguins can land a comparable goaltender for a lower cost than Fleury who is making $5.75 million this season and cost $5 million against the cap. The Penguins were not shopping Fleury at the draft. Hiller, 32, had a down season in Anaheim but has a career post-season save percentage of .932. He’s
Penguin scouts feel Kapanen a year or two away from NHL, add size at forward in later rounds
The Pittsburgh Penguins made a priority of drafting forwards and they did that, selecting four forwards and one defenseman in the 2014 entry draft. Pittsburgh’s draft class is highlighted by first round pick Kasperi Kapanen who Penguins scouts feel isn’t that far away from the NHL. “Comong in our priority was to solidify our depth upfront and we feel very good about that,” Co-director of Amateur Scouting Randy Sexton said, via Pens TV. “Kasperi Kapanen maybe a year away from playing in Pittsburgh. Terrific young player. Size, skill, plays the game the right way,” Sexton said. What the Penguins made a focus on and is a bit of a change from the past, was drafting players who play a heavy
Trade Analysis: Breaking down what the additions of Patric Hornqvist, Nick Spaling mean for Penguins
BREAKING DOWN THE JAMES NEAL TRADE For a team looking to shakeup a “bad room”, the Pittsburgh Penguins trade of James Neal was far from a shock. Bottom-line, James Neal was primarily moved more for “behavioral reasons,” as one source put it and the organization coming to the decision that they had to change the culture of the team. The Penguins sent the 26 year old Neal to the Nashville Predators in exchange for forwards Nick Spaling and Patric Hornqvist. “We feel he is a No. 1 line winger, we feel he is a goal scorer, and that’s exactly what we were looking for,” Predators general manager David Poile told reporters at the draft about Neal. For the Penguins, they
Nikolai Kulemin among Penguins free agent targets
The Pittsburgh Penguins shipped out Evgeni Malkin’s close friend James Neal but will they be bringing in one of Malkin’s best friends? “By doing this, we have a better chance of doing something on July 1st that may be suitable to ‘Geno,’ too,” GM Jim Rutherford said of the James Neal trade. “The deal we made helps with our cap space (Not exactly). I’m not going to call out any names, but we think we’ll get somebody to fit on his line.” The Pittsburgh Penguins met with Gary Greenstein the agent for Nikolai Kulemin on Friday and the two sides will touch base again following the draft, an NHL source tells Inside Pittsburgh Sports. Kulemin is high on the Penguins