Penguins to Watch in 2019-2020

As the NHL season gets underway plenty of people are going to tell you who they think will win what. Who they think will take home the Hart (is that Evgeni Malkin’s music I hear?), who wins the division (We’re all looking at Carolina, right?), and more. But what I want to take a few minutes to go over is the whopping NINE Penguins players going into “contract years” tonight when the puck drops.

Some, I suspect, may get re-signed before the season’s end. Some will probably be used as trade bait to top off a roster or to ship out someone like Jack Johnson, who the team is ready to move on from. So let’s take a look.

The Forwards

Three forwards start this season on expiring deals. Only one is looking at unrestricted free agency though. That’s Alex Galchenyuk. The American forward went third overall in his draft year but has been up and down since. He’s only played two full seasons and in both put up more than 50 points. So this year will mean a lot to him. If he wants to be paid he’ll need to produce and a spot with Malkin isn’t a bad place to work on that.

The three restricted free agents are highlighted by Jared McCann. He’s a young promising player looking to get some stability and assurance he’ll be in one place for a while. He’s going to have to build on the strong numbers he put up after coming over from Florida last year. Dominik Simon should be an easy enough guy to bring back so I’m less concerned about him. If they want him he’ll be back. Dominik Kahun is a wildcard for me. He hasn’t impressed so far but that could all change if he finds the right fit. Suffice it to say though he’s going to have to improve if he plans to stay with this franchise.

The Defense

The big-name that jumps out here is Justin Schultz. He’s currently making $5.5 million per year and has been a fairly well-known piece of the team since he came over via trade in 2016. Thing is, he’s probably going to have to take a haircut if he wants to keep the fit with the Pittsburgh Penguins he’s clearly comfortable with. Part of that is aging and his numbers not being as good when he’s given higher consequence minutes.

The other part is the next name on this list. Marcus Pettersson was an unknown to many when he was acquired for highly-touted dud Daniel Sprong. Now, he is part of this team’s future. Expect them to work long and hard to lock him up to Brian Dumoulin-ish deal if he keeps this up. He looked perfectly at home as a top-four defenseman last season. As long as he shows he’s for real, he’s in for a long-term deal. Juuso Riikola is a bit of a wildcard here. He’s going to need to prove he’s adapted to the US game, which he has so far by jumping Jack Johnson on the depth chart. But if he does he should be in for a sizeable deal as well.

The Goalies

Matt Murray is the number one player I expect to get signed mid-season. I know Rutherford isn’t huge on those kinds of deals but he did it with Guentzel and I expect around January to see him get it done with Murray too. Jarry is the other name here and it’s an interesting one. He’s likely trade bait as they’ve got DeSmith locked up but if he proves he’s the better choice could see a reward with an NHL deal with a little bit of term.

That’s nine players the Penguins have to make choices on based on this season. For some it should be no sweat, for others, we may see something special. But we will start to find out as early as tonight’s contest against a young and hungry Buffalo Sabres team.