Penguins Perspectives: A franchise built on big swings needs yet another one
Welcome to Penguins Perspectives, a weekly column by KDKA-TV Digital Producer Patrick Damp. Each Friday, Patrick will talk about the week that was, the week to come, what to watch for, and more.
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - Allow me to begin this week's edition of Penguins Perspectives with a caveat - it's July 7.
Free agency has been open for less than a week and the Penguins now find themselves with another buyout window due to restricted free agent Drew O'Connor filing for arbitration.
For the uninitiated, the original window for buying out a player closed on June 30, 24 hours before the July 1 free agency period.
However, that window reopens for a team should a restricted free agent file for arbitration, which O'Connor did, giving the Penguins another window to buy out a player's contract.
Now, this means the Penguins and President of Hockey Operations Kyle Dubas find themselves, once again, in an advantageous position.
Dubas's July 1 work was, on the whole, solid yet somewhat unimpressive.
The goaltending free agency market was weak and while many speculated that the Penguins could be part of a trade to bring Connor Hellebuyck to Pittsburgh, following Winnipeg's trade with Los Angeles involving Pierre-Luc Dubois, that was probably a pipe dream. Winnipeg is looking to restock and retool and that doesn't mean taking on bad deals and shipping out a Vezina-caliber goalie for pennies on the dollar, even if he does want out.
So, taking a bet on Tristan Jarry and getting more depth at the goaltending position was smart, if risky.
Getting a younger, bigger, Brian Dumoulin in Ryan Graves was a nice bit of business, especially with a salary cap expected to take a couple of big leaps in the next 3-4 years.
The signings of Noel Acciari, Lars Eller, and Matt Nieto give the Penguins more flexibility in the bottom six, as well as a bit more scoring touch than it had in the past couple of seasons.
Now, to the point of the column: this can't be it.
Not by a long shot.
As it has been since its inception, the Metropolitan Division is an arms race.
Carolina seemingly finds cap space under every couch cushion to bring in big guns, the New Jersey Devils are here with all their big contributors locked up for the foreseeable future, the Rangers aren't going anywhere and are still relatively young, even being in similar positions as the Penguins, the Capitals still have the greatest goal-scorer in history and a supporting cast to help.
That doesn't mention that the Flyers aren't exactly that far away from being competitive again, neither is Columbus, and the Islanders will always be a thorn in this division's side.
So, while the Penguins are better today than they were when they failed to make the playoffs earlier this year, you could say they're still sitting in fourth right now.
It's time for Kyle Dubas to take the big swing.
The San Jose Sharks are entering into a rebuild and everything must go, including Norris-winning defenseman Erik Karlsson.
He's requested a trade out of California and has a no-movement clause in his contract, meaning he gets a say in where he goes.
By all accounts, the Penguins are interested and have been talking to Sharks General Manager Mike Grier about bringing Karlsson to Pittsburgh.
Not that many would disagree, but this should happen.
Yes, it would be a complicated deal, but it's one the Penguins need to make.
If it means buying out Mikael Granlund's contract, trading Jeff Petry, and involving a third team to get the necessary cap space and assets required to make this trade?
No need to hesitate.
Just a few weeks ago, I wrote that the Penguins are at their best as a franchise when they take the biggest swings.
Bringing in players like Paul Coffey, Ron Francis, Phil Kessel, and so many others only adding to rosters that already had an embarrassment of riches to boast.
These are not the young Penguins anymore. We've already experienced the evolution, defied ordinary, and each and every time it's been a great day for hockey.
In professional sports, you only get so many kicks at the can and for this franchise, the sun is beginning to set. We are not far off from finding out that Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang have decided to call it a career.
We're not there yet, but it's close.
A trade to bring Karlsson to the Penguins would immediately give the Penguins another scoring threat, and that's just about the trademark of the Penguins.
When they've won Stanley Cups, they haven't done it by being the 1990s New Jersey Devils.
They've overwhelmed you, your defense, and your poor goaltender. They scored 95 goals in 1991, 83 in 1992, 79 in 2009, 73 in 2016, and 77 in 2017.
In all but one of those postseasons that ended with a Stanley Cup, the Penguins were the playoffs' highest-scoring team.
The Pittsburgh Penguins franchise is at its best when they are aggressive and make bold moves.
So far, the Kyle Dubas era of Penguins hockey has been one of placing bets on big names.
Now, it's time to put some chips on EK65.