PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – The Pittsburgh Penguins bowed out in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but it’s time to start looking ahead to next season.
The NHL Draft begins tonight in Florida and free agency is only a few days away.
However, the free agent pool this summer is not nearly as deep as it has been in previous years. As a result, bidding wars will likely drive up prices on the most sought after players. Good for the players, bad for salary cap strapped teams.
It’s no secret that the Penguins are in the market for a top six winger to play alongside either Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin. Given the free agency situation, the more likely scenario is acquiring one through a trade.
A year ago, the Penguins made a splash at the NHL Draft by trading James Neal to Nashville for Patric Hornqvist and Nick Spaling.
With no first round pick this year, could General Manager Jim Rutherford be plotting another blockbuster deal?
NHL insiders have linked plenty of names with the Penguins recently, so here’s a look at five potential trade targets.
Phil Kessel
(Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images)
The Toronto Maple Leafs are in total rebuild mode at the moment. They traded away a bunch of assets at the Trade Deadline this spring, but they likely aren’t done.
They held on to Phil Kessel and Dion Phaneuf in the hopes of getting a better return in the offseason.
Now, the Kessel to Pittsburgh rumors have been heating up for the past week.
In 82 games last year, Kessel racked up 25 goals and 61 points on an awful Maple Leafs team. During his career, he’s had five 30-goal seasons. During the shortened lockout season of 2012-13, he scored 20. So, it’s feasible he’d have a sixth 30-goal season on his resume.
Durability doesn’t seem to be an issue either as he hasn’t missed a regular season game in five years.
He’s got a great combination of size, speed and a lethal shot. Picture him alongside Crosby for a moment. Pretty fun right?
However, it’s not all good news with Kessel.
There were multiple reports this year about him being a problem in the locker room. Part of that could be attributed to the frustrating season Toronto endured.
But, any potential character issues aside, there’s a giant elephant in the room – his contract.
Kessel’s contract runs through the 2021-22 season with an annual cap hip of $8 million. With Crosby, Malkin and Kris Letang’s contracts already in that ballpark, adding Kessel to the mix would be tough in the short and long term.
The only way this deal happens is if Toronto retains some salary and by some, I mean a lot.
Patrick Sharp
(Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
The defending Stanley Cup champions are shopping Patrick Sharp this summer. They probably don’t want to trade him, but salary cap issues are likely going to force them to do so.
Sharp, 33, put up 16 goals and 43 points in 68 games this season. Those numbers are pretty underwhelming after his 34-goal, 78-point season a year ago.
He’s reached the 30-goal plateau four times and the 20-goal mark seven times in his career.
In 23 playoff games this spring, Sharp added five goals and 10 assists.
Sharp also has two years left on a contract that carries a $5.9 million cap hit.
While he’s more affordable than Kessel in terms of contract, the initial price Chicago set for him is asinine.
Chicago is allegedly asking for a first round pick, A-level prospect and a top-6 forward with an entry level contract.”
Per NHL source, CHI currently asking for 1st rd pick, A-level prospect & top 6 forward on entry-level contract for Patrick Sharp #isles
— B.D. Gallof (@BDGallof) June 19, 2015
Good luck with that.
Again, the Penguins don’t have a first round pick this year and I doubt Beau Bennett is enough to make this deal happen.
The Penguins are loaded with blue line prospects, but that’s really the only part of the equation they can initially meet.
The asking price for Sharp will likely drop, but will it be low enough for the Penguins to be a player?
T.J. Oshie
(Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images)
T.J. Oshie is perhaps best-known for his shootout performance against Russia at the Olympics.
The St. Louis Blues are rumored to be at least pondering a shakeup of the team and Oshie’s name has been floated around.
For starters, Oshie has two years left on his contract with a cap hit of $4.175 million.
Oshie, 28, has been in the league for seven years and has only reached the 20-goal mark once. During the 2013-14 season, he scored a career-high 21 goals and 60 points. However, he has scored 19 twice and 18 once.
In 443 career games, Oshie has 110 goals and 200 assists.
In 30 career playoff games, Oshie has just five goals and four assists to go along with a minus-12 rating.
Let’s assume the Penguins pull the trigger on Oshie. Would it be unreasonable to think he could come close to the 30-goal mark if he was playing with Crosby or Malkin? Let’s look at Hornqvist as an example.
Hornqvist scored 25 goals last year in only 64 games. Had the Penguins been able to avoid the (annual) injury pandemic (Hornqvist included), he could have easily surpassed 30.
If you’re on a line with Crosby or Malkin, you’re going to get chances. The only question is whether or not you can convert them.
Oshie certainly has the skills to put the puck in the net. Depending on the asking price, this could be a bit of a risky deal. If he figures it out and approaches the 30-goal mark, it could be also be a steal.
Jeff Skinner
(Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)
Jeff Skinner broke onto the scene in 2010-11 with a 31 goals in his rookie season, en route to winning Calder Trophy. He topped that total with 33 during the 2013-14 season.
So, we know he can score goals. This past season, he only lit the lamp 18 times, but you could attribute part of the decline to the Hurricanes being on one of the worst teams in the league.
While a change of scenery would probably do him some good, there are some problems to keep in mind.
Most notably, he has a history of concussions. Given the Penguins’ concussion issues in recent history, would it be worth adding Skinner?
Then, there’s the hefty $5.725 million cap hit for the next four years to figure into the equation.
The good news is that he just turned 23 in May and he can flat out fly around the ice. While he’s only 5-feet-11-inches tall, the Penguins need to get younger and faster up front and he fits the bill.
Let’s also not forget that Rutherford is very familiar with Skinner, having drafted him in the first round of the 2010 draft.
Could Skinner’s injury history lower the asking price enough for Rutherford to take a chance?
Loui Eriksson
(Photo by Jana Chytilova/Freestyle Photography/Getty Images)
Loui Eriksson is in desperate need of a change of scenery and could fit right in on a wing with Crosby or Malkin.
Eriksson will turn 30 this summer and has one year left on his contract at $4.25 million.
In two years with the Bruins, Eriksson has 32 goals. For reference, in his final two seasons in Dallas before being traded to Boston, he had 38 goals. Oh, and one of those years in Dallas was cut short by the lockout.
Eriksson has great hands and possesses an incredibly quick release with deadly accuracy. In Boston, he just never really looked settled and had a hard time finding any consistency.
He’s hit the 30-goal mark once in his career (36) and flirted with it three other times (29, 27, 26).
The knock on Eriksson is that he is not the most physical player, so don’t expect a lot of dirty goals.
However, he can skate and plays a solid two-way game.
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