Team: 2020-21 Pittsburgh Penguins

Initial Creation Date: Apr. 8, 2020

Published: Apr. 8, 2020

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

Here is an honest conversation on where this team currently is.

A. The last time the Penguins had a CBO they didn't use it. I think there is a high chance that happens again. I say this because they aren't a big profit team like NY or TOR.

B. Moving players this off season will be hard. Lots of teams have cap dumps, and with no cap increase and most of the teams not spent to the cap tend not to be big money teams. This creates real problems.

So this leaves the penguins with few options.

A. they have to find a RHD in free agency. There are no prospects to fill that role.
B. None of their goalies are ready for a long term deal. No way Murray gets a big money long term deal after last season. It's best for both parties to do a 1 year prove it deal. Jarry looked good for a stretch then the wheels came off. Not enough consistency and he too is on a show me 2 year deal. At the end of the year, one of those guys is gone. Then there is DeSmith. My guess is he's traded. But we'll see. You can always sneak a guy through on waivers if you try.
C. Lets talk about the Jugs problem. If He's on the team this team is in the red cap wise.
So there is one of 2 options here. He is either on LTIR the whole year, or he is traded out.
Now moving him probably isn't that bad, saving grace he plays center and there is one year left on that deal. But I see no way forward for this team with him still on it. They simply don't have the cap to deal with him.
D. The RW issue doesn't appear to go away. Lets be honest. Simon and Sheary are not the answer here. The only other options they have are a very expensive FA, or they play one of either Poulin or Legare. The only way they have the cap for finding a FA, is they CBO hornqvist. I don't know if they actually use a CBO. We'd all like to say yeah they would..... But it's real money not fake capfriendly dollars. History shows they won't.
E. the 3C problem. This has been there all year. Jugs is unhealthy and it's been a downward spiral issue ever since. There are 2 options. 1. McCann plays 3C. He is a solid player but he can't win faceoffs and that in the end has hurt. But he's their most dynamic option.
Option 2 is that Blueger plays 3C and someone else plays 4C.
Any number of guys could do this.
Hallander, ERod, Nikita.

Either way there is an issue there at 3C.

I think this is going to be one grueling off season for all teams tight against the cap. Less room to make deals. No where to dump cap space.
In an ideal world they would create more space with a CBO if all teams used it. But the reality is, a lot of teams not really making big profits aren't going to waste good money after bad.

Either way they need to start working on calling the season already. Because as you can see below. If you can't move a contract out, this team is in real trouble. And you can't move contracts out if you don't call the season.
Which is another reason why they can't wait forever on calling it. It takes time to move players before the draft. It takes time to draft, and it takes time to do FA.
No one wants next year all screwed up too. If they are to return to playing in October. They need to realize it's over sooner rather than later.