Team: 2022-23 Pittsburgh Penguins

Initial Creation Date: Jul. 5, 2022

Published: Jul. 5, 2022

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

Reports indicate Letang will probably return on a 3 year deal for about $8M AAV. The situation with Malkin remains very fluid but my best guess is that, if he returns, it would be somewhere in the neighborhood of $7M for 3 years (he's still worth it but I'm hoping he settles closer to $6M). Given these projected contracts, this mock is a combination of what I think will happen + want to happen.
**I used the average AAV from Evolving Hockey and Dobber Hockey

Trade Pettersson + McGinn for draft pick. Ideally, Dumo would be traded for a draft pick, but Pettersson seems like the most likely candidate to be shipped out. If this happens, I'd like to see McGinn packaged into the trade to clear more cap space. I assume it would take us giving up a late-round pick to ship him alone, so adding him to a Pettersson deal (who is probably worth around a late 2nd) allows us to move him easier. Trading Pettersson does have it's advantages; while his defensive impact was better than Dumo last season (see JFresh and Dom @ The Athletic), he faced lower quality competition and played fewer minutes. I think he's worth keeping but there's also a chance he's just a really good 3rd pairing defenseman without higher potential.

Sign Vincent Trocheck. With the cap space, the Pens can make a splash in free agency. I liked the idea of signing Trocheck given the rumors of Geno's potential departure, but I like the idea of Trocheck playing behind Malkin even more. This would be an expensive 3C but I think it makes sense to limit Malkin's usage as he plays out the 3 year contract. Another possibility is to use this cap space to sign Rakell as Sid's RW, move Rust to Malkin's line, and move EROD to 3C (or RW with Carter taking C).

Sign Mason Marchment. Great defensive abilities with the ability to generate a lot of offense. Granted, his production last season is likely unsustainable, Marchment is my #1 target this offseason for the Pens given what his contract is projected to be.

Sign Evan Rodriguez. Here's hoping we see first half EROD for the whole season.

Sign POJ. Really enjoy watching this guy play, I hope Hextall and Sullivan give him the chance to succeed (also very tough to give him minutes when he's behind Letang's best linemate and Matheson)

The rest of the team is pretty much intact. It seems like O'Connor and Zohorna will see more minutes and I wouldn't be upset to see them spend a lot of time on the 4th line (although I'd love to sign Colin Blackwell from TOR). I'm also hoping to see Zucker regress back to his pre-Pens form. I'd be shocked to see his shooting percentage to remain where it's been.