Post by Pittsburgh Penguins on Jul 2, 2022 10:00:38 GMT -6
At the beginning of the season, no one expected the pens to contend for a playoff spot. Even at the end of the season, no one expected the pens to contend for a playoff spot. In what was largely expected to be a year of growing pains, Pittsburgh found some development success along with more points than expected. Yanni (or is it Laurel 
) Gourde led the team with 35 goals and 78 points, and other veterans such as Sean Couturier, Gabriel Landeskog, Tyson Barrie each eclipsed 50 points in solid seasons. Young stand out defensemen K'Andre Miller and Ty Smith each also had over 40 points with Miller also a +15 on the season, which led the defenders on Pittsburgh. At goalie, MacKenzie Blackwood had an up and down season but still had over 50 starts with a .892 save percentage (which was top 20 in the league). Even Jonathan Bernier had some success with a .913 save percentage in 17 starts after being acquired from Boston. One disappointment was Nicholas Robertson who was injured for half the season which limited his development at both the farm and pro level since he was only able to skate in 45ish games.
Pittsburgh is set up however for an active offseason with lots of cap space, cash and two top 12 picks. GM Swackhammer was asked about whether he plans on re-signing any of his pending UFAs "Well, theres really only 1 UFA we are going to talk to and thats Jaden Schwartz. If his demands are reasonable we will discuss with him. Other than that, No. Most of the UFAs are older and we just didnt feel Chris Tierney was worth more than his current salary of 3.5 million. On the farm side, most of the UFAs obviously wanted multi year deals and we just weren't willing to do that considering the possible prospect activations for this season and next." Asked what they may be looking for in the offseason, GM Swackhammer answered, "We want to score more and we will likely need another top 4 defenseman depending how the re-rates go. We expect Miller and Smith to be top 4 d next season but maybe they aren't ready. We may be willing to move our 12th pick for a pro roster player and we also wouldnt mind moving up either. Its not a lock we make picks at 5 and 12. We are also in the market for an NHL re-rate candidate as well. We will be active with free agents." When asked how they will entice free agents to come to pittsburgh Swack said, "Like Randy Moss once said 'Straight Cash Homey'. But seriously, we feel we have a good program with a great future and lots of young talent. We feel that will sell players. We just hope the league allows us to continue on our plan for more than 2 seasons before changing the entire structure of the league"
) Gourde led the team with 35 goals and 78 points, and other veterans such as Sean Couturier, Gabriel Landeskog, Tyson Barrie each eclipsed 50 points in solid seasons. Young stand out defensemen K'Andre Miller and Ty Smith each also had over 40 points with Miller also a +15 on the season, which led the defenders on Pittsburgh. At goalie, MacKenzie Blackwood had an up and down season but still had over 50 starts with a .892 save percentage (which was top 20 in the league). Even Jonathan Bernier had some success with a .913 save percentage in 17 starts after being acquired from Boston. One disappointment was Nicholas Robertson who was injured for half the season which limited his development at both the farm and pro level since he was only able to skate in 45ish games.Pittsburgh is set up however for an active offseason with lots of cap space, cash and two top 12 picks. GM Swackhammer was asked about whether he plans on re-signing any of his pending UFAs "Well, theres really only 1 UFA we are going to talk to and thats Jaden Schwartz. If his demands are reasonable we will discuss with him. Other than that, No. Most of the UFAs are older and we just didnt feel Chris Tierney was worth more than his current salary of 3.5 million. On the farm side, most of the UFAs obviously wanted multi year deals and we just weren't willing to do that considering the possible prospect activations for this season and next." Asked what they may be looking for in the offseason, GM Swackhammer answered, "We want to score more and we will likely need another top 4 defenseman depending how the re-rates go. We expect Miller and Smith to be top 4 d next season but maybe they aren't ready. We may be willing to move our 12th pick for a pro roster player and we also wouldnt mind moving up either. Its not a lock we make picks at 5 and 12. We are also in the market for an NHL re-rate candidate as well. We will be active with free agents." When asked how they will entice free agents to come to pittsburgh Swack said, "Like Randy Moss once said 'Straight Cash Homey'. But seriously, we feel we have a good program with a great future and lots of young talent. We feel that will sell players. We just hope the league allows us to continue on our plan for more than 2 seasons before changing the entire structure of the league"
