Penguins' options will be limited with free agents

When the NHL’s free agent signing period opens up on Friday, it’s a safe assumption the Penguins won’t be going after any All-Stars scheduled to be available.

“It’s not going to be any of the big free agents,” general manager Jim Rutherford said in a telephone interview with the Tribune-Review on Saturday. “We’re tight up against the cap. We’re going to have to do some different things to make room just to fit what we have.”

Following the signing of goaltender Tristan Jarry to a three-year contract extension with a salary cap hit of $3.5 million, the Penguins now have $2,634,825 of salary cap space according to Cap Friendly.

So don’t rush to pre-order any Taylor Hall or Alex Pietrangelo Penguins jerseys.

But that doesn’t mean the Penguins don’t have any holes on their roster to fill. They’ll just have to look further down the trough to find candidates to fill those voids.

With goaltender Matt Murray potentially on his way out via trade, the team could look for a goaltender, even if that player will likely open the season with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League.

“At some point, we’re going to look for a third goalie,” Rutherford said. “We’ll probably look for a (right-handed) defenseman. We could look for another center iceman, move (Jared) McCann to the wing.

“But these are guys that probably aren’t happening in the early part of free agency. These will be guys that we’re looking at that slip through the cracks and didn’t get the contracts that they were going to get and they fall into an area where we can get them under our cap.”

Rutherford discussed a number of subjects related to his team a few days prior to the draft, which opens on Tuesday, as well as the free-agent signing period.

• Following the signing of Jarry, the team’s only remaining restricted free agents on the NHL roster are forwards Anthony Angello, Sam Lafferty and Dominik Simon. The deadline to extend qualifying offers and retain their signing rights is 5 p.m. Wednesday.

Rutherford did not commit to extending qualifying offers to each of them but was short on specifics.

“We may not qualify them all,” Rutherford said.

Angello and Lafferty each made their NHL debuts in 2019-20. Meanwhile, Simon, a five-year veteran, would be the leading candidate to not receive an offer. Having just completed a two-year contract with a salary cap hit of $750,000, Simon’s season came to an abrupt end when he suffered a left shoulder injury on Feb. 29. He underwent surgery to repair a torn labrum on April 29.

Simon, 26, is just over five months into a prescribed recovery period of six to seven months.

• Rutherford indicated Simon and forwards Zach Aston-Reese (left shoulder), Sidney Crosby (unspecified wrist) and Evgeni Malkin (left elbow) are progressing as scheduled in their recoveries from surgeries. The latter three players were operated on in August.

• During a video conference with local media on Saturday, Jarry indicated he and his teammates have been told to prepare for training camp for the 2020-21 season to open up on Nov. 15.

Given the uncertain nature of the coronavirus pandemic, that appears to be more of a hope than a hard date.

“The league has given that date publicly, Nov. 15 (for camp) and start for Dec. 1 (for the regular season),” Rutherford said. “But it could be a moving target with what we’re doing with (covid-19). I don’t have a good answer for you. I don’t think anybody does until we see where this virus goes.”

• The departure of forward Patric Hornqvist — jettisoned in a trade to the Florida Panthers on Sept. 24 — created a void in the Penguins’ dressing room given Hornqvist’s loud, fiery nature. Rutherford, who has always played a value on having strong character on his roster, feels the candidates to replace Hornqvist’s vocal presence — off the ice, at least — are already in place. They just need to step up.

“I don’t think you replace Patric 100%,” Rutherford said. “He’s a special guy. That’s why we got him and that’s why he helped us win (Stanley Cup titles). But people have learned from him. And we have some other guys. We have a lot of good character in our room. Guys have to feel comfortable to speak up and be the leaders that they really are instead of sitting back and let somebody else do it. I am comfortable that we have the chemistry and leadership in the room. But there’s going to have to be some new voices, at least be a little bit louder than they have been in the past.”

• As things stand at the moment, Rutherford identifies Brian Dumoulin, Marcus Pettersson and Mike Matheson as his top three left-handed defensemen.

What does that mean for fellow southpaws Jack Johnson or Jusso Riikola? Each has played the right side before but by any measure, are more suited for the left side.

Rutherford was vague on their futures.

“The guys that we have signed now will have to either wait for their opportunity if there’s an injury or try to work into the opposite side,” he said.

Johnson has three years remaining on a contract with a salary cap hit of $3.25 million while Riikola signed a two-year contract with a salary cap hit of $1.15 million in September.

• Since the departure of Nick Bonino as a free agent in 2017, the team has struggled to find a suitable replacement for their third-line center role. The likes of Riley Sheahan, Derick Brassard, Nick Bjugstad and even Greg McKegg have offered intrigue but unappetizing results.

They might have had one all along in Teddy Blueger.

During the 2019-20 season, Blueger centered the team’s unofficial fourth line with Aston-Reese and Brandon Tanev on the wings. But injuries to the other teams’ forwards forced that trio to essentially serve as the third line.

“Teddy has the ability to do that,” Rutherford said. “Now, there’s more than just having the ability to do that. You have to have the stamina and the strength to be able to play 82 games. And when you’re playing in that position, comparing him to a Bonino, you’re playing against the other team’s top players — if not their top, their second-line players — to shut them down. You have to grow into that. You have to grow into that. You have to learn how to do that. You have to pace yourself. Right now, we believe Teddy has the ability to do it. But can he do it over the course of a whole season?”

• The team could make some additions to the front office. Several of Rutherford’s former lieutenants such as Tom Fitzgerald or Bill Guerin have been hired to general manager positions around the NHL in recent years but were never truly replaced.

Most notably, former Penguins associate general manager Jason Botterill has been a “free agent” of sorts since being fired as general manager of the Buffalo Sabres on June 16.

“I’ve been looking at this for a while and talked to somebody about coming on board with us,” Rutherford said. “We’re, at this point and time, not ready to do it but could very well do it in the near future.”

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