Team: 2022-23 Pittsburgh Penguins

Initial Creation Date: Mar. 14, 2022

Published: Mar. 14, 2022

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

What I would like to see plus what I think are realistic moves for the Pens this trade deadline and offseason.
Salary Cap is projected to rise 1,000,000 tp 82.5M

-Trade for Brock Boeser at the deadline. (I resigned Kapanen to his exact cap hit at the time of the deadline)
-Resign ZAR. took a step back this year. Could probably get him at a lesser deal with an added year to make him feel some job security.
-Geno has already said he'd take a hometown discount, the term is up in the air but sign him until SId's deal is up and reassess then.
-Letang is tough you need him. I resigned him in this one but definitely thought about letting him walk and snagging a UFA at a lesser rate but with Pettersson going in the Boeser deal it made it tough to want to let him go. The same thing with Geno, sign until Sid is up plus gave him a raise.
-Let Rust walk if you're bringing in Boeser, he's younger and will probably want about the same money as Rust would.
-Housekeeping with a lot of multiple RFAs.
-Heinen has shown decent chemistry with Geno recently, he's played well. I think it's a low-risk move to give him a slight raise and an extra year.
-I'd like to see some of the younger players like Nylander, Puustinen, and POJ make the team at least to start the year. Hopefully, they'd play well and give you some financial flexibility.
-Domingue will probably take the backup spot from Desmith. They are the same age, Domingue is cheaper. I don't think the Pens want to deal with DeSmith's inconsistency.
-Bringing back Boyle is a "hey you had a good year last year, if you still want to play the same contract same length see what happens" move.
-Re-sign ERod, started out the year hot but cooled off so maybe you can use that as a bargaining chip to not price yourself out of running for him. Sully likes him a lot, can play up and down the lineup. Give him a decent nice work raise and some security with an extra year.

I think these are all realistic moves that would keep the Penguins competitive without giving up a bunch of future assets which Burke and Hextall has said is the plan. They want to prepare for life without the BIg 3. Zucker will be back so that'll be a scoring boost in the middle six if he can figure it out. Nylander has proven to play at the NHL level maybe sheltered 3rd line minutes and learning from vets like Carter SId and Geno can grow his game if not Puustinen and Zhorna are there in the AHL. Maybe Poulin makes a significant jump. These moves also leave you with a little less then 4.4m for in season moves. Only one trade the trade deadline move from the previous season. Unclogs the log jam at LD gets an impact player in Boeser. I originally had John Marino in the deal instead of Pettersson so probably would need the 2nd round pick instead of the 4th. Would definatly need to add more AHL depth but they have prospects in college and overseas/Canada that could probably fill that roster out.