NHL free agency doesn’t start till July 1, but it’s OK to do some window shopping now. After all, NFL draft geeks have already started doing mocks for 2025.
Two players the Penguins should take a good look at both played for Toronto this past season: Winger Tyler Bertuzzi and center/winger Max Domi. Boston winger Jake DeBrusk should also be a target.
None set the scoresheet on fire: Bertuzzi had 21 goals and 22 assists in 80 games, Domi nine goals and 38 assists in 80 games, DeBrusk 19 goals and 21 assists in 80 games.
But Bertuzzi, Domi and DeBrusk play with grit and edge. They compete hard in tight spaces. They’re tough.
The Penguins don’t have nearly enough of that. That was evidenced when winger Michael Bunting came to Pittsburgh from Carolina in the Jake Guentzel trade and seemed a revelation.
Bunting jumped on Evgeni Malkin’s line, making the mercurial center play north-south hockey and spurring him to a strong finish. Bunting worked stridently along the wall and in front of the net. He had six goals and 13 assists in 21 games as a Penguin.
Bunting isn’t better than Guentzel. But Bunting is different in a way that’s badly needed.
Bertuzzi, Domi and DeBrusk fit that description, too. Bertuzzi and Domi are 29, DeBrusk 27. That’s young by the Penguins’ current standard. If the Penguins are to truly get younger, it will have to be from within or via trade.
Players like Bertuzzi, Domi and DeBrusk often organically spread what they have throughout a team.
Jumping in when a star gets his cage rattled seems like a foreign concept to the Penguins. So does striking first in that regard. That needs to change.
You can’t have just one player like Bunting, either. Opposition teams ultimately target that guy if he’s stylistically flying solo, and that gets wearisome. Brandon Tanev was a victim of that during his Penguins tenure.
Bertuzzi, Domi and DeBrusk won’t be cheap. DeBrusk will be the hottest commodity among the three.
It won’t be a particularly strong free-agent class. Top-end free agents like Guentzel and Sam Reinhart (57 goals for Florida) figure to be out of the Penguins’ price range.
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The Penguins aren’t a destination team for free agents anymore, either. Not with their stars aging and after missing the playoffs for two straight seasons.
Maybe the Penguins could sign more old-timers, like Joe Pavelski (39), Patrick Kane (35) or Steven Stamkos (34). They’re all free agents. At some point, the team would disintegrate, disappearing in a cloud of dust.
Perhaps the Penguins could sign a No. 2 wide receiver.
It can’t be a blase offseason. President of hockey ops/GM Kyle Dubas needs to make big changes. The Penguins won’t magically straighten out on their own. Firing assistant coach Todd Reirden and, say, trading winger Reilly Smith won’t be nearly enough.
The Penguins are caught in a web of nostalgia, loyalty and respect. A reminder of that got served up Tuesday night when Pittsburgh guy Vince Trocheck scored in double overtime to lift the New York Rangers past Carolina.
Trocheck, a center, was available in free agency two years ago. The Penguins were reportedly interested, but decided to retain Malkin instead.
Trocheck has since been the superior player. He’s seven years younger than Malkin, and plays like it. Trocheck is better on the power play, manning the bumper spot efficiently. Trocheck doesn’t float. He competes hard. Malkin has nine more points than Trocheck over the past two seasons, but Trocheck plays winning hockey. Malkin doesn’t. Not anymore.
But the Penguins chose Malkin. They chose nostalgia, loyalty and respect. The Penguins are handcuffed by those concepts.
That’s OK. If you win.