As the NHL offseason continues to wind down, the final rosters for all thirty teams have nearly filled out in preparation for training camp. In cases like the New Jersey Devils, there are still some major players that need to be moved to get the team under the salary cap. For the Pittsburgh Penguins, the roster on paper is about as set as the Flyers. In this first installment, I will look at the roster moves that the Pens have made and what to expect from the Flyers’ rivals this season.
The Pens’ offensive core has remained intact this offseason, with swaps made in the depth department. Forwards Ruslan Fedotenko, Bill Guerin, and Alexei Ponikarovsky were let go and replaced with former Philadelphia Flyer Arron Asham and Mike Comrie. While the Pens will save previous salary cap space with these moves, there’s an argument to be made that their goals-per-game will reasonably drop as a result. Guerin, Fedotenko, and Ponikarovsky could reasonably account for 20, 12, and 20 goals respectively while Comrie and Asham are more likely to score 10 goals apiece.
To make up for that loss, the Pens will simply have to be creative and optimistic. For one thing, they have to hope that forward Maxime Talbot will be 100% healthy this season. Talbot played with a shoulder injury for most of last season and only notched two goals, compared to his usual 12 goals per season. The Pens, much like the Flyers, will be counting on one of their prospects to make the full time jump this season. Eric Tangradi, who had 17 goals and 22 assists last season with their AHL affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins, is considered to be the odds-on favorite. The most interesting line-up move is that superstar Evgeni Malkin will be moved from second-line center to first-line wing, while Jordan Staal will move to second-line center. Again, much like the Flyers, the Pens have a problem of too many centers and will have to hope that this experiment pays off.
On the back end, the Pens have shored up their first defense-pairing with the acquisitions of Paul Martin and Zbynek Michalek (say that five times fast) at the expense of veteran Sergei Gonchar. However, their remaining pairs aren’t particularly deep. Brooks Orpik is a very underrated shut-down defenseman (there is a reason he was chosen over Flyers defenseman Matt Carle for Team USA in the Vancouver Olympics), but I don’t expect Kris Letang to step up in the way that he will need to with Gonchar’s and defenseman Jordan Leopold’s departures. For the last pairing, Alex Goligoski is only in his second full NHL season and will be paired with another Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguin (presumably Ben Lovejoy). If the Pens make it to the Stanley Cup Finals, they could find themselves in a vulnerable position with their last pairing.
The Pens made no moves in the goaltending department, but they didn’t really need to. Brent Johnson is a sufficient back-up and Marc Andre Fleury is a sufficient starter. Fleury looked shaky at times last season, but I think most hockey fans would feel more comfortable with him between the pipes than Michael Leighton.
In summation, the Pens have neither improved nor taken a step back this season. They made a number of lateral moves as contracts expired and current players got older. With their core intact, the Pens will still be built for the playoffs, but they’re also built very similarly to the Flyers were last season- just a piece or two short of the puzzle.
Grade: B+
