Hextall Please Do Something

Team: 2022-23 Pittsburgh Penguins

Initial Creation Date: Feb. 18, 2023

Published: Feb. 19, 2023

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

So right now the Penguins obviously have a lot of issues. Here's what I think the most pressing are:
1. The 3rd line of McGinn-Carter-Kapanen is useless. They have the worst xG% of any line that's played 110+ minutes this season per Moneypuck.
2. The Penguins give up the 4th most shots per game of any team. The only goalies with a larger workload play for Columbus, Arizona, and Anaheim. That isn't good competition to have.

Those are the two issues I'm trying to fix. We can complain about goaltending all we want, but I think making Jarry and DeSmith's lives easier is a more realistic solution. All 3 of Jars, Casey, and Tik have a positive GSAx per evolving-hockey. We love piling up on Casey right now, but he's doing a better job than some of the goalies we could target to replace him (DeSmith's GSAx is 5.72. Cam Talbot is 2.61, MAF and James Reimer are both around -7). Anyway,

Adam Henrique: Massive upgrade over Jeff Carter. Instantly provides a 3C capable of sound defensive work, who can be trusted for ~20-25 goals and ~40-50 points. If I could make one aquisition, it's him. I think we need a 3C more than we need to fix any other issues. A good 2-way centerman like Rico would go a long way towards facilitating more depth scoring, and would help lessen the defense and goaltending's workload.

Kevin Labanc: Genuinely stellar defensive analytics this year. Like Rico, is on pace for ~20 goals, ~50 points. His relationship with the Sharks organization seems strained, so maybe the asking price is low. I'm also interested in Barabanov, but I think Sharks management (and maybe fans) are both more bullish on him, so he's probably more expensive for a similar return.

Jake McCabe: Would give Letang a stellar shutdown partner like Dumo was for most of his career. Instantly provides a significant uprade to the defensive core, and takes some of the burden off of Marcus Pettersson on the left.
I actually think McCabe's presence could help offensively, too. If Tanger has a reliable partner to anchor us, he can play more offensively and take more risks without us being punished for it as much.

If we can't manage to get either Labanc or Rico, Nick Bjugstad is having a surprisingly good season in Arizona, only makes 900k so the cap isn't an issue to work around, and reportedly will cost a 2nd at most. Sounds very doable to me.

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