Team: 2020-21 Pittsburgh Penguins

Initial Creation Date: Aug. 8, 2020

Published: Aug. 8, 2020

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

So you’re telling me there is a 12.5% Chance – Pens:
So in this capfriendly team I will go through what I think the Pens will do if they happen to win the No. 1 overall pick. I am also sharing this with a message board I talk on so this post will be a work in Progress. I will drop the (WIP) when I think it’s complete/realistic.
1. So first action of business is we draft Alexis Lafreniere and sign him to the max $925,000/yr. for three years on his ELC. Now Alex plays LW so in this instance we will not move him off his natural position and instead flip the other winger to RW. In this case we will place him on Line 1 with Crosby and flip Zucker to RW. I am moving Zucker up to line 1 because he will create speed on this line. It also allows Jake to drop to LW on line two with Malkin and fixes two lines in one move.
2. From here we can look at line 4 of ZAR – Teddy – Tanev and leave that as line 4. This line shows a little bit of everything and I think this line works for Pittsburgh as a very solid fourth line.
3. Now the first transaction is the goalie situation:
a. Move up Casey Desmith from AHL onto NHL as goalie #2
b. Sign Jarry to a $3.5Mx4 year deal
c. Now Matt Murray, trade Murray to Buffalo for Montour on D. Both players are RFAs so no dollars exchanged in this instance. This move will give Buffalo a better goalie for the future and Penguins acquire a D man. For Montour I will sign him to a $4.5M x 3 year deal.
4. Now that we have acquired Montour let us see where we are on the DP as of now:
a. DP 1 : Dumo – Letang
b. DP 2: Marino – Montour
c. DP 3: Johnson – Pettersson
d. Extra: Ruhwedel
5. First action is to call up POJ. He will be on the big club next year and this will provide a big opportunity for him to learn and grow his skills.
6. Second action on defense is to get Jack Johnson off the roster. At this point Jack Johnson value is very low. My thought here is in this scenario given his status around the league and friendship with Crosby is to move him verse buying out. In this case I add a prospect for Ottawa to take Jack Johnson and in return gain a 6th round pick in 2020.
7. After these two moves we now move forward with a D pair of the following:
a. DP 1: Dumo – Letang
b. DP 2: Marino – Montour
c. DP 3: Ruhwedel – Pettersson
d. Extra: POJ
8. Our next order of business is moving Nick Bjustad. Nick had a hard time in Pittsburgh fighting injuries but I think Nick in a good situation can bring some needed energy. In this instance I look to Minnesota. For taking Nick I also ironically add the rights to Mcann as part of the deal in return for Jordan Greenway who will go onto the in progress line 3.
9. Next order of business is to resign Sam Lafferty to a $850,000 x 2 year deal as an extra forward.
10. With the remaining dollars Pittsburgh will sign two UFA’s:
a. The first priority is finding a new 3C that will allow Hornqvist to go to front of net and Greenway to skate the puck and shoot. Looking at available FA I had the following options:
i. Zemgus Girgensons – Good player and I think could thrive in a more open offense.
ii. Erik Haula – Did wonderful things in Vegas and has some raw talent.
b. In this instance we take Haula for $3.5 x 2 years.
11. From here this is where things get a little interesting. We have the following options:
a. Resign Simon to x dollars
b. Bring up Sam Poulin and let him grow
c. Sign another Free Agent
i. For this example I have decided to let Simon walk and let Poulin come up and get NHL experience. My thought is it allows him to develop and he could play when someone is struggling. He also has the two-way contract so it provides flexibility. I also like this idea because it integrates the veterans like Letang/Crosby/Malkin with the young guys like Lafferty/Poulin/POJ.
Understand this is a working team and I will update as I get some feedback from my message board. Thanks for reading.

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