After Ville Koivunen signed his monster, albeit bizarre, deal the Penguins forward logjam has even more questions than answers.. Even before the eight year extension handled out to Ville, I had already written a blog projecting the lineup which failed to include any of the prospects. It seems Dubas is intent of further muddying the waters and the Koivunen signing did just that. Shoutout to Ville though, his frame looks noticeably larger as he has really put in the work this offseason.
Nobody Actually Wins the Penguins Forward Logjam
So what can the Penguins do with their gaggle of forwards? Competition is great but have the Penguins really created any competition? Sadly, I feel as though they have no open spots that anyone will be fighting towards. The only spot that seems up in the air is the fourth line right winger position, but even that seems destined to go to Elmer Soderblom or Justin Brazeau. The Penguins currently have the following forwards as all but locks to make the team:
- Sidney Crosby
- Rickard Rakell
- Bryan Rust
- Egor Chinakhov
- Tommy Novak
- Evgeni Malkin
- Andrei Kuzmenko
- Ben Kindel
- Nick Robertson
- Conor Dewar
- Blake Lizotte
They only afford you 12 forward positions and the Penguins have the following players battling for that 12th spot (to varying degress):
- Rutger McGroarty
- Ville Koivunen
- Avery Hayes
- Justin Brazeau
- Elmer Soderblom
- Tristan Broz
- Hendrix Lapierre
- Bill Zonnon
- Mikhail Ilyin
- Liam and Markus Ruck
Only two of the above players will likely make the team as the Penguins typically only carry one reserve forward. Also, the Penguins aren’t going to carry a prospect as a reserve because the young kids need to play games. Hayes, Koivunen, and Mcgroarty fail to even qualify as prospects at this point so leaving them stranded in the AHL might not be the best for their mentals, or development, either.
What can the Penguins really do?
Not much to be honest. Sure, they could make some trades but realistically the only forwards being traded off this roster are Rickard Rakell and Bryan Rust. Dubas has seemingly refused to lower his asking price for either of Sid’s wingers and the rest of the league doesn’t seem willing to meet the price that has been set. Also, the Penguins aren’t just going to trade one of the captains wingers just to make room for an unproven commodity.
Without the ability to make a trade that leaves the Penguins with pure competition. What happens if Koivunen or McGroarty come into camp and severely outplay Dewar/Kuzmenko/Robertson? Would management and the coaching staff feel comfortable with one of the more established veterans sitting? They did sit Kevin Hayes for most of last season so maybe they would. What becomes more fearful for management is if the Penguins prospects really push out the veterans and waivers come into play. Justin Brazeau wouldn’t make it through waivers, nor would Robertson, or Dewar. The Penguins have set themselves up to potentially lose a good player for nothing if they want to get a younger player a spot on the team. Due to this reason, I don’t think the Penguins are setting up a true competition.
Avery Hayes and Rutger McGroarty both don’t require waivers which seems like they won’t be given a shot due to their eligibilities. Zonnon, Ilyin, the Ruck’s would all benefit from another year not in the NHL so they likely won’t be given a spot regardless of performance. Koivunen does require waivers but his contract is almost waiver proof (on purpose) so he will likely not make the team either even with a good showing. As for Broz, the organization just seems down on him and I really don’t see a path towards meaningful NHL minutes for the kid, they would be wise to just move him to a better situation.
That leaves Brazeau, Soderblom, and Lapierre. Realistically one of these guys isn’t making the team. My bet would be on Justin Brazeau getting canned. Brazeau was interesting benched for most of the playoffs against Philly last season and he his ability to contribute offense really waned as the season went on. Brazeau is also the oldest of the bunch and the only player who the Penguins spent no draft capital to acquire. There will be teams during training camp that suffer an injury or two and need a guy to fill a bottom six role, Dubas would be wise to offer up Brazeau. Other teams may simply not like the makeup of their team and want to add some size and skill, Brazeau checks those boxes as well. As for now, I would pencil Soderblom into the 4th line right wing spot with Lapierre as the extra forward though anything could happen. We saw last year that several Penguins got hurt during the new up tempo, highly competitive, training camp the new coaching staff deployed and it’s bound to happen again this season. If injuries occur, the Penguins have plenty of able bodies who deserve playing time in the NHL as we have talked about in this blog.
