Penguins Free Agency Day 1 Recap: Goaltending bets, bottom six, and spending big
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - So much for not taking big swings.
While it appeared that Penguins' President of Hockey Operations Kyle Dubas hinted that his plan this offseason would be to weaponize the team's cap space by taking on contracts other teams could no longer afford, July 1 was a big spending day for Pittsburgh.
"I think we're in a good spot and fortunate that the cap has remained flat," Dubas said prior to the draft, hinting toward the Penguins being active in the trade market. "It allows us to take on people from other clubs that can bring us good value and have us push to contend."
While the Penguins didn't sign any prolific scorers, they did completely reshape their bottom-six forwards and bring in some reinforcements on defense.
Dubas, suddenly ever the gambler, now adds Tristan Jarry to the players he is daring people to bet against.
That was arguably the biggest move of the day, the team announced that they had come to an agreement with the goaltender. Signing Jarry to a five-year, $5.375 million per year contract.
"For me, it's looking at the whole sample," Dubas said. "I think he'd be the first to tell you he wants to continue to be better. I think his sample shows that he's capable of being better. [In] Two of the previous three seasons he was an All-Star. That and the larger sample made me comfortable."
Jarry has been good, but unreliable the past few years as Penguins fans know. Whether it was a sub-par performance against the Islanders in the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs or injuries keeping him out of the lineup the past two seasons, his numbers while healthy are solid, but he has not been particularly healthy.
Dubas did bring in more depth at the goaltending position, signing goalie Alex Nedeljkovic to a one-year, $1.5 million deal. It appears the plan, for now, is to have a battle for backup in training camp between Nedeljkovic and Casey DeSmith with the other likely headed to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton where they would be the starter.
Meanwhile, the team parted ways with long-time defenseman Brian Dumoulin, who inked a two-year deal with the Seattle Kraken following not being offered a contract by the Penguins. They also lost forward Jason Zucker who signed a one-year deal with the Arizona Coyotes.
With the acquisition of Reilly Smith prior to the draft, that figures to be the replacement for Zucker as the now Stanley Cup-winning Smith posted very similar numbers to Zucker last season.
The team also announced the signing of defenseman Ryan Graves to a six-year deal worth $4.5 million, figuring to slot in for what they lost in Dumoulin.
The 28-year-old defenseman is the modern-day stay-at-home defenseman, similar to what Brian Dumoulin brought to the blue line for so many years. Positionally sound, makes a solid first pass out of the defensive zone, and can cover a lot of ground at 6'5".
"He was one of the younger players in free agency," Dubas said. "Obviously, he played a massive role [with the New Jersey Devils], faced very difficult matchups there."
The Penguins will also have a very different-looking bottom six this year as Dubas rounded out his day-one signings with forwards Matthew Nieto, Noel Acciari, and Lars Eller. Nieto and Eller each got two-year contracts and Acciari a three-year deal.
This signals that the Penguins' third and fourth lines this year will be a bit more physical, and defensively accountable all while being able to provide some secondary scoring.
"We went into free agency not wanting to overextend ourselves and make subtle bets on the forward front," Dubas said. "We addressed one of the needs we had with the Reilly Smith trade, and then the rest of the needs with shorter-term deals to give these players an opportunity here with us."
None of this also mentions that by all accounts the Penguins are still involved in one of the biggest fishes out there - Norris-winner Erik Karlsson.
The 33-year-old defenseman is coming off of a 101-point season and San Jose is reportedly in talks with multiple teams, including the Penguins, about a trade.
"When there's a player like that who becomes available, especially with this core group, I think it's incumbent on me to reach out and see if there's a fit for us," Dubas explained on Saturday.
While the Penguins will be fighting an uphill battle in the trade market now with less salary cap space and not many young assets to spend, the door appears to still be open to bringing an elite offensive defenseman to Pittsburgh.
Kyle Dubas was tasked with overhauling the Penguins by Fenway Sports Group when he was hired - to make the Penguins a contender in the final few years of the Crosby-Malkin-Letang era - and so far the work appears to be well underway.
While there's still three months and eight days until opening night at PPG Paints Arena, Kyle Dubas doesn't sound like a man who thinks the work is done.
When Jarry takes the crease against the Chicago Blackhawks and first-overall pick Connor Bedard on October 10, it's going to be a much different supporting cast in front of him.
