Madden Monday: Kris Letang's contract a good one for Penguins, but there are flaws in team's big-picture plan

I have a two-pronged view of Kris Letang’s new contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

For months, I’ve argued that the Penguins should use this offseason’s cap space to reconfigure the roster around Sidney Crosby, Jake Guentzel and Bryan Rust through trades and free agency.

If that meant letting Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang walk in free agency this summer, so be it. Thank them for all they’ve done to bring three cherished Stanley Cups to Pittsburgh and let them seek success elsewhere as the Penguins begin the next chapter of their existence in 2022-23.

However, if the Penguins are committed to keeping their core together for the foreseeable future, then Letang’s deal is good.

For both this season and beyond.

At $6.1 million for a cap hit this year and the next five thereafter, Letang is actually working reasonably cheap for a player that finished seventh in the Norris Trophy voting this year. And if the Penguins want to get out of the deal after the 2025 season (when Crosby’s contract is also up), it won’t be as hard to do as some expect.

They can trade his contract with a draft pick to a team that Letang approves. They can pull an LTIR maneuver. They can buy him out for a year. Whatever.

The debate shouldn’t be about what’s happening six years from now. It should be about what will happen next spring in the playoffs. That’s where the decision to keep Letang ties into the decision to keep Malkin.

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In this week’s “Madden Monday” podcast, Mark Madden of TribLIVE and 105.9 The X expressed many of the same opinions.

“I disagree with the plan. But if that’s their plan, they should execute it,” Madden said. “And bringing back Malkin executes the plan. They aren’t going anywhere with this old core. Old players don’t get better. Old teams don’t win Stanley Cups. They’ll make the playoffs. They’ll beat the bejesus out of bad teams during the regular season … and lose in the first round, or maybe win a series for a change. But that’s the most we can hope for.”

Madden said one part of the analysis is that we have to consider what Letang would’ve gotten on the open market had he allowed himself to reach free agency.

“He left about $10 million in cash on the table,” Madden said. “I think he could’ve gotten $9 million for five years, which is $45 million total. That’s a little over $8 million on the table. And he might have gotten a little more than that. So, I’ve got to give Letang a lot of credit. I give a lot of credit to the Penguins for getting it done.”

Also in the podcast, Madden and I discuss what should be considered a fair offer for Malkin. We also talk about the rumors surrounding the franchise’s interest in Marc-Andre Fleury, Oneil Cruz’s pluses and minuses with the Pirates and Baker Mayfield’s trade to the Carolina Panthers.

Listen: Tim Benz and Mark Madden talk Letang’s contract, a Malkin offer and more