Cap space is usually tight for the Penguins, but it's especially scarce this year with the flat salary cap for the 2021-22 campaign.
With that in mind, Penguins general manager Ron Hextall said they made a list of players they had an actual shot at getting when free agency opened at noon on Wednesday, July 28 - and Brock McGinn was at the top of the list.
Inside Scoop: 2021 Free Agency
The Penguins signed the 27-year-old forward
to a four-year deal
with an average annual value of $2.75 million. He had spent the last seven-plus seasons in the Carolina Hurricanes organization.
"We're thrilled to add him to the organization," Hextall said.
Penguins brass felt like they needed another "inside" player, which Hextall defined as someone who scores goals around the net, blocks shots and does all the little things that are necessary to win games.
They felt McGinn fit the bill, and that he will help fill the void left behind by winger Brandon Tanev, who was taken by Seattle in the Expansion Draft earlier this month.
"He's got really good energy," Hextall said of McGinn. "Physical player, plays the same way every night. We just really valued the player, but we also value the intangibles that he brings on a nightly basis and some of the stuff that he's going to bring into our locker room."
The Penguins also felt like they needed to add some more organizational depth up front, which resulted in them bringing Dominik Simon
back to Pittsburgh for a second tour of duty
.
Both Simon and the Penguins were interested in getting a deal done at this time last year, but ultimately, they couldn't make it work. The forward then headed to Calgary, where he appeared in 11 games with the Flames during the 2020-21 campaign. The 26-year-old will be on a two-way deal for next season.
"We've got obviously good reports on Dominik," said Hextall, who noted assistant general manager Patrik Allvin and head coach Mike Sullivan know him well.
"We feel Dominik will be a real good piece for us moving forward. Whether he's up top or down below, we'll see what training camp dictates. We do have some kids that are going to be fighting for some spots, and Dom will be in the mix as well."
While Pittsburgh was able
to re-sign Evan Rodrigues
, they did lose Freddy Gaudreau to Minnesota. And while the Penguins would have loved to keep Cody Ceci, they simply weren't able to afford him.
Edmonton signed the defenseman to a four-year contract with an average annual value of $3.25 million, a substantial raise from his $1.25 million salary last year in Pittsburgh.
"There was no real way for us at this point to make that fit," Hextall said. "So as I always say, with any position, if we can do something to improve ourselves and fit under the cap, we will certainly look at it at any position. That's no different with our defense."
Hextall, who did
ink veteran depth blueliner Taylor Fedun
to a one-year, two-way contract, said that mindset applies to the goaltending as well. For now, he anticipates both Tristan Jarry and Casey DeSmith returning to the fold next season.
"Those guys did a good job for us last year, and we anticipate them both being back," Hextall said.
Moving forward, Hextall said they would like to tweak some things regarding the type of personnel in their lineup, like potentially
adding that size and toughness he has mentioned before
.
"We've looked around," Hextall said. "We tried hard today. We had a guy on a two-way contract that went somewhere else. So we'll continue to look for that."
As they continue filling out their roster, the Penguins still don't have a lot of cap space to work with, and need to make sure they're compliant when the season starts. Prices were higher than Hextall expected, so that may be a factor in deciding whether to look externally or internally for candidates to replace players like Gaudreau, Ceci and Jared McCann, who was traded to Toronto earlier this month.
"I was a little surprised with some of the prices today," Hextall said. "We're going to continue to monitor the free agent market to see what's out there, and see if we find any fits that are upgrades for us."
NOTE: Hextall did add two more forwards to the organization on Thursday. It looks like Danton Heinen will be joining the big club, as the 26-year-old
signed a one-year, one-way contract
with an average annual value of $1.1 million. Meanwhile, Michael Chabot will add to that aforementioned organizational depth up front. The 29-year-old, who spent last season split between Arizona's main roster and taxi squad,
signed a one-year, two-way contract
.
Here are the rest of today's organizational updates…
- The Penguins added to their prospect depth between the pipes by signing Filip Lindberg to a two-year, entry-level contract. The 22-year-old is coming off a career season with UMass, posting incredible numbers en route to winning the NCAA national championship.
"Whenever you can get a good young goaltender, you're obviously excited," Hextall said. "I would certainly anticipate him starting in the minors. But he showed a lot of promise last year, so exciting day for us in terms of signing Filip."
- The Penguins extended qualifying offers to restricted free agent forwards Zach Aston-Reese and Radim Zohorna, and Hextall hopes to get their deals taken care of in the near future.
"I would expect to get Zohorna done in the next little while," Hextall said. "It's not a real difficult one. Just kind of put it off until after free agency here. I anticipate getting something done with Zach in the near future hopefully as well. He's got arbitration rights, so hopefully we'll get something done before that."
- The Penguins plan to resume contract extension talks with Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang and Bryan Rust next month. All three players have one year remaining on their current deals.
"We'll get to those in August here," Hextall said. "Figure out a plan and we'll get to those. I would anticipate in the next little while."
- The Penguins also made an addition on the hockey operations side,
naming Nick Pryor as director of amateur scouting
.
With global crossover scout Al Santilli leaving the organization, the Penguins needed to add somebody to the department. So they hired Pryor, who had spent the last eight seasons with the Philadelphia Flyers as an amateur scout from 2013-21.
The 30-year-old, who is the son of Pittsburgh's director of player personnel Chris Pryor, will oversee the Penguins' amateur scouting efforts in both North America and Europe and report to Allvin.
"I'm familiar with Nick," Hextall said. "I've been around him for four or five years working closely with him. He's going to be a really, really important add to the organization. He's got a terrific hockey mind."
