Signing a 37-year-old to a multi-year contract extension is a pretty good signal a rebuilding project is not looming.
The Pittsburgh Penguins’ decision to keep veteran forward Jeff Carter around for two more seasons beyond this one is a pretty good indicator of what they think their chances of contending for the Stanley Cup will be beyond this summer.
They still view themselves as a legit threat to win the NHL’s ultimate prize this year and beyond.
If some of their foundational players will be part of “beyond,” that remains to be seen.
On Thursday, one day after Carter’s contract extension was announced, Penguins general manager Ron Hextall held court with local reporters to discuss the state of the franchise. He addressed the future of his team’s other pending unrestricted free agents, most notably forward Evgeni Malkin and defenseman Kris Letang.
Each franchise icon is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent this offseason.
“We’ve had discussions (about potential contract extensions),” Hextall said. “I don’t negotiate publicly. We’ve had discussions with those guys. Certainly, they’re a top priority for us. We have a limited amount of (salary) cap space. So to squeeze everybody in, it’s certainly our goal. Whether that’s possible or not, I don’t know. With every player, you have a certain number you feel like you can go to. That’s where you draw the line. But negotiations have been fine and we’ll continue on.
“(Malkin and Letang), they’ve been here for, I think, 16 years. I know they’ve done a lot for the city, and the city has been good to them. It’s certainly a match that we’d like to continue on with, but, obviously, the players have choices, too. We’ll see where they go.”
Malkin and Letang are the two most prominent pending unrestricted free agents the Penguins will have to address at some point.
Forwards Bryan Rust, Evan Rodrigues and Zach Aston-Reese and defenseman Chad Ruhwedel also are viable contributors who are scheduled to become unrestricted free agents after this season.
“They certainly proved to us that this is a group that wants to move forward and wants to try to win. That’s where we’re at right now,” Hextall said. “I like our group. I think our record speaks for itself. We’d like to sign some of our (pending unrestricted free agents). We have a hard salary cap so they’re going to have to, obviously, work with us. Certain players, if they want the most money, they’re probably going to go elsewhere. But I think you could say that about every team. We’re hoping that our guys are comfortable here, which I believe they are. Hopefully, we can find a deal that satisfies both sides.”
Hextall spoke on a variety of subjects:
• Carter’s contact had been in the works for some time.
“I had initially reached out to (agent) Ricky Curran, I want to say, a couple of months ago and just said, ‘Talk to Jeff and see what his thoughts are. We’d like to keep him in (Pittsburgh),’ ” Hextall said. “He came back to me — this is probably a month ago — and said, ‘Yeah, Jeff would like to stay in (Pittsburgh). He wants to play.’ Then actually probably the last week or so, I guess it got serious and it actually came together pretty quickly.
“We’re happy to have him. Jeff has been a big part of our group since he came in. He gives us another veteran leader. He gives us a lot of versatility. He is just a real presence around the room, around the younger players. He can play the right side, he can play the middle, he can take faceoffs, he can play on the power play, penalty kill. He does a lot of good things for us. He’s been a good guy. We’re happy to have him for the next two years.”
AP
Penguins forward Jeff Carter.
• Hextall professed support for backup goaltender Casey DeSmith, who has struggled most of the season.
“Casey is very capable,” Hextall said. “He played terrific for us last (season). He had a couple of games before Christmas there where he played very well. We believe in Casey. … We’re looking forward to Casey getting back to the level that he’s capable of playing at.”
• The strong play of all-star goaltender Tristan Jarry certainly has sated management.
“You look at every goaltender, they’re going to go through times where things don’t go their way,” said Hextall, himself an all-star goaltender during his playing career. “It can be a little bit of a lonely feeling, certainly. Been there, done that. But it’s all how you bounce back from it.
“Tristan’s got a lot of ability, and he’s bounced back extremely well. That’s a testament to his mental strength. I think I used the example last year, Patrick Roy, playing in the playoffs and he didn’t finish (a) series. One of the greatest goaltenders of all time. So, if you’re in that position, you’re going to have your ups and downs. Obviously, Tristan had a little bit of a down there. He’s come back with his chest out and obviously done a real good job for us. We couldn’t be happier with him.”
• Hextall lamented the loss of a handful of his team’s forwards to injuries — namely Teddy Blueger, Drew O’Connor and Jason Zucker — but lauded the team’s depth.
“I was actually looking forward about a week ago to seeing our team healthy,” Hextall quipped. “Then all of a sudden, bang, bang, bang. I guess we’re not going to see us as healthy for a while here. I really like our depth up front. We’ve had a lot of guys out. We had, I think, our top three centers out there for a while. And (Evan) Rodrigues stepped up and Teddy stepped up and Drew O’Connor stepped up. I really like the job our group has done filling in, playing higher in the lineup. We seem to have a really good chemistry this year. … I think the group has had a really good attitude. It’s hats off to our leadership and the coaching staff.
“On defense, I think Chad Ruhwedel has played extremely well. I think Mark Friedman can play. We have a couple of guys (with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton), Jusso (Riikola), P.O (Joseph) that can certainly play games for us. I feel pretty comfortable with our team right now and our depth. But certainly, as we get towards the deadline, you refine things and see which way things go — injuries and whatnot — and make decisions as we have more information. But I’m happy with our club right now.”
AP
Penguins forward Teddy Blueger.
• There is no time frame to find a replacement for former assistant general manager Patrik Allvin. On Wednesday, Allvin formally was hired by the Vancouver Canucks as general manager and reunited with former Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford, now the Canucks’ president of hockey operations.
“Patrik did a lot of things,” Hextall said. “First of all, I’ve got a ton of respect for him. I’ve only known him, I guess, for a year now. He did a terrific job for us. My hat is off to him. He’s ready for the job he’s going to take on. Obviously, the relationship with (Rutherford) worked well here, and it will work well there. … You don’t want to lose people, and we certainly didn’t want to lose him. On the other hand, you want your people to do well. Happy to see Patrik get an opportunity. As far as around here, he did a lot of the minor-league stuff. He’s done a lot of the amateur stuff in the past. But we put him more on the pros so he knew the pros more this year. I mean, he was my right-hand man, bottom line. We’ll miss him.
“As far as replacements, we’re in pro (scouting) meetings right now. We’ve been doing that for the last couple of days. Once we get through that, we’ll start to get a list together and figure out which direction to go. I don’t have a timeline, whether it’s in the few weeks here or at the end of the year. I don’t know. We’ll start to chip away at it though in the next few days.”
Notes:
• Jarry is slated to be in net for the Penguins’ home game against the expansion Seattle Kraken at PPG Paints Arena on Thursday.
He has appeared in 34 games this season — second-most in the NHL among goaltenders — and has a 23-7-4 record, a 2.12 goals-against average, a .926 save percentage and three shutouts.
• The Kraken are expected to start goaltender Philip Grubauer. In 31 games this season, Grubauer has a 10-16-4 record, a 3.28 GAA and an .883 save percentage.
• This will be the Kraken’s first game in Pittsburgh. In the first meeting between the franchises Dec. 6, the Penguins came away with a 6-1 road victory.
Seth Rorabaugh is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Seth by email at srorabaugh@triblive.com or via Twitter .
Penguins GM Ron Hextall hopeful to keep team's other pending free agents - TribLIVE
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