I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised to see Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford do a little more roster-altering this summer.
Derick Brassard, for one, might want to hold off on signing that next lease.
But if Sunday’s kickoff to free agency marked the last significant work of Rutherford’s offseason, I like the rationale behind it (though I still wonder if there’s enough abrasiveness on this roster). The Penguins basically told the hockey world, “We think we’re good enough to win another Cup with just a few tweaks.”
These were just tweaks, you know. I’m not sure if they were the right ones — the two guys the Penguins signed are a combined 72 years old — but they were tweaks nonetheless.
Matt Cullen signed for peanuts. Jack Johnson profiles somewhere in the bottom 3 and is the fourth-highest paid defenseman on the team at $3.25 million per season.
That makes Johnson the 94th-highest paid defenseman in the NHL, according to CapFriendly.com, just ahead of Ron Hainsey and just behind Radko Gudas. It might have seemed like a major move because Johnson is somewhat of a big name, because it was a five-year deal and because the Penguins didn’t do anything bigger. But it’s hardly going to ruin the franchise if he flops.
Johnson is a curiosity. I won’t be shocked if his apparent decline continues. But I won’t be surprised if he flourishes in a championship environment, either, away from John Tortorella.
What’s important to remember is that even when Johnson’s at his best, he isn’t dominating games or making All-Star teams. He is simply doing a lot right — making a good first pass, lugging the puck, delivering the odd hit, blocking a shot, scoring the occasional goal. He’s not great at anything. He can be above average at everything.
He was outstanding two years ago, including the playoff series against the Penguins. He was borderline disastrous this past season.
He is, oddly, minus-109 in his career and hardly an advanced stats darling, either. But he should be highly motivated after getting scratched in the postseason, and he has shown the ability to raise his game in the playoffs (he was good against the Penguins in 2014, too).
Bottom line: None of us, including the Penguins, know how this will turn out. It’s terrifying to picture Johnson at age 35 or 36, but who cares about that?
As for Matt Cullen, when he signed for a year at the no-lose price of $650,000, I couldn’t help but think two immediate thoughts:
1. Why didn’t he just come back here last summer? All that fuss over returning to his native Minnesota because that’s where he needed to be, and now, suddenly, he is going to work a thousand miles from home again?
2. Man, the Penguins could have used him the playoffs.
Cullen turns 42 in November. He could be turning 92 and would still be an upgrade on the likes of Carter Rowney. He still provides versatility in the form of moving up and down the lineup at wing or center. He could still score the odd goal, maybe one when the Penguins really need it.
Mostly, he provides a presence that no advanced stat can quantify. I don’t know what it means to have this man in the room the day of, say, Game 7 against Washington. Or with your team facing elimination. I don’t know what he says or does or how his mere presence can help. But every single person I’ve ever spoken to says it’s a good thing, even if it’s nothing dramatic.
That might even be the point. It’s nothing dramatic. The same could be said of the Penguins’ offseason so far — and that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
Remember this, too: How your team looks on opening day often has very little to do with how it looks in April.
First Published: July 1, 2018, 9:19 p.m.
