MONTREAL — After signing Kris Letang to a six-year, $36.6 million contract extension on Thursday, all eyes now shift to the third and final member of the Penguins core: Evgeni Malkin.
Ahead of Day 2 of the draft on Friday, general manager Ron Hextall once again reiterated his desire to keep the three-time Stanley Cup-winning center under contract by agreeing to a deal before free agency opens on Wednesday.
"We're going to keep chipping away,” Hextall said. “We stated right from the start we'd like to bring Geno back. I strongly believe he wants to come back, so we'll continue to work at it and hopefully come to an agreement."
Entering this offseason, the Penguins had several big decisions and not a lot of cap space. Most notably, three of the club’s top five players all saw their contracts expire, as Bryan Rust, Letang and Malkin all finished the final year of their previous deals.
Letang very well could have garnered more on the open market. However, after inking a contract that carries a $6.1 million average annual value that was less than the $7.25 million he made the previous eight seasons, Letang suggested on Thursday he took a bit less (albeit with a much longer term) so the club could add pieces and remain a contender.
“Everybody knows the cap situation now,” Hextall said, “The players probably know as well as anybody, so they have worked with us.
“They want to stay with the Penguins and keep this group together, and if you look at our last two playoff runs, we certainly could have gone a lot further and arguably should have. So I think everybody on our team thinks that we have a good team, and I believe they want to keep the core together.”
While the Malkin, Letang and Rust contracts have generated most of the attention this offseason, they aren’t the only hard decisions on the Penguins cap-constrained payroll.
The club has yet to extend qualifying offers to restricted free agent forwards Kasperi Kapanen or Danton Heinen. They also have to decide whether to sign unrestricted free agents like Evan Rodrigues, Rickard Rakell and Brian Boyle.
Hextall said he’s kept “open lines” of communication with all of the UFAs but prioritized the core first. As it stands, the others are all slated to hit the open market when free agency opens on Wednesday.
“It's like putting a puzzle together, right?” Hextall said. “Until you get another piece in place, it's really hard to find your direction. Hopefully, we can we can lock Geno in and then kind of go from there.”
The Penguins other notable signing this week came when they agreed to terms on a two-year deal with backup goalie Casey DeSmith, which will carry a $1.8 million average annual value.
As it stands as of Friday afternoon, the Penguins are currently $15.3 million under the $82.5 million upper limit of the salary cap with several holes on the roster, notably at the forward position. Whether they bring back players from last season or add on Wednesday, they need to address the position group one way or another.
“I feel pretty comfortable with our defense,” Hextall said. “But we do need a couple more forwards. We do have space.”
It’s also worth wondering if the Penguins could move some players in order to create more flexibility.
The left side of the blue line would appear to be a somewhat obvious area of strength from which the Penguins could deal. Marcus Pettersson and his $4.025 million average annual value would appear to be the most ideal player to move. Forward Jason Zucker, who is on the last year of a deal carrying a $5.3 million average annual value, is also a contract to watch in the coming hours and days.
“That's fair to say,” Hextall said when asked if the club could be interested in shedding salary, without addressing any specific players. “Easier said than done — not a whole bunch of teams that are looking to add salaries. So, again, we'll keep chipping away. We get a bunch of balls in the air, and we'll see where they land at the end.”
Mike DeFabo: mdefabo@post-gazette.com and Twitter @MikeDeFabo
First Published: July 8, 2022, 4:32 p.m.