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Pens Optimistic Revamped Core Has "The Right Mix"

When Pittsburgh GM Trevor Cook took over the team last summer, he immediately set to work on revamping the roster of an aging team that had missed the playoffs the year before. The goal was made clear from the moment he was hired and sweeping changes were expected.

Perhaps less expected was another revamp of the core one summer later. Cook brought in players like Nico Hischier, Jeremy Roy, Riley Tufte, Brandon Carlo, Hunter Shinkaruk, and prospects Vitaly Kravtsov and Matthew Robertson with the intention of building a contender around them. None of them made it a year in the organization.

"We came into this off-season with a couple of goals... we wanted to stay young, and we wanted a high-end defenseman and a high-end winger and maybe a little more physicality," said Cook. "The sheer size of the revamp isn't something we were after, it just kind of happened. We ended up finding a lot of deals that we thought made sense for us. Certainly we never expected to trade Nico, we never expected to trade Carlo or Robertson, and we thought a lot of those guys would be in Pittsburgh for a while. But we didn't want to pass up on the opportunities to acquire some of the players we've brought in."

The Penguins figure to boast a roster with somewhere between 8-10 carryovers from last season when next year rolls around, although the roster turnover isn't quite as significant as last year when only Robin Lehner made it through the off-season. They expected a little more stability to come a little sooner, but they anticipate sweeping changes will not remain a theme much longer. "I mean, I think going forward our roster will be pretty stable. We are in a place where... it took a lot of work to assemble this group, but we really like this group now, and we want to see it grow," the GM says. "We think this is pretty close to the right mix."

The Pens' off-season got off on the right foot when they jumped up from #7 to #3 in the draft lottery, but in a draft where the top-end is high on skill but low on size, they swung a pair of deals with Detroit and Chicago moving down in the draft to add Nicklas Jensen, Erik Gudbranson, and Vasili Podkolzin while also giving up Ryan MacInnis and Brandon Carlo, with the Penguins particularly coveting Jensen's combination of skill and physicality.

As further trade discussions went on, the Penguins made a couple of salary-clearing moves, trading Tufte for prospect Antti Tuomisto and draft picks, then flipping Tuomisto and a pick to Detroit to clear the cap hits of Jared McCann and David Elsner, depth forwards who found themselves squeezed out of the roster despite a combined cap hit of about $6.2 million, also bringing back Guillaume Latendresse, a very physical but less pricey 4th line option.

The Penguins then moved back up to the #5 spot in the draft, sending away the 12th overall pick acquired from Detroit and prospect Vitaly Kravtsov to Buffalo to do so. "Honestly, we really liked a few guys at the top of the draft. We liked Jensen more, so that was the move we gave priority, but we were excited to be able to move back up there," reflected Cook.

As trade talks progressed with the Rangers on a big deal, the Penguins revamped their defense with a few smaller additions, adding Anthony DeAngelo from LA for Brett Leason and shipping a couple of picks to Dallas for Kristians Rubins. The big piece came quickly from there, when the team finally landed their #1 defenseman, but at the cost of Nico Hischier, viewed as the #2 piece of the rebuilding effort behind Jack Hughes. "I won't lie, that one hurt a lot. I really think we needed a player like Seth Jones, but Nico was someone I never envisioned trading," Cook says of the trade. The Penguins also got Calle Jarnkrok, prospect Rasmus Kupari and a 2nd round pick while sending Nikolaj Ehlers the other way.

Jeremy Roy and Hunter Shinkaruk were next to go. Roy was simply a victim of the Penguins' revamped defense and his $4.3 million cap hit - he was sent to Buffalo for the #29 pick in the draft - while Shinkaruk was sent to Vancouver for Sean Monahan and a slight drop in draft position in the second round.

But the biggest deal may have been saved for last. With the new Arizona GM looking to make his mark on his team, prized 20-year-old Andrei Svechnikov hit the market and the Penguins were very interested. "We kept looking at Svechnikov and seeing the perfect linemate for Jack Hughes. A young guy who had a strong rookie year and elite goal scoring instincts. He has a bit of an edge to his game, he's a great skater, it just made a ton of sense," said Cook of Svechnikov's fit with the Penguins roster. The deal came together slowly with multiple teams showing interest in Svechnikov, and it was a huge pile of assets heading the other way: Victor Ohman, Matthew Robertson, Gustav Forsling, Mads Sogaard, Kupari and the 1st round pick acquired for Jeremy Roy (the Penguins do get vet defenseman Mark Pysyk back, as well). "We had built up what we felt was a pretty deep pool of prospects and we had the ability to trade from an area of strength to make a huge addition with that one. We lost some pieces we were really excited about, but... we're obviously really excited to add Svechnikov, too."

The Penguins will pick at #5 overall in the EHEC Entry Draft, beginning July 17th. They will also pick three times in the second round; at #37, #48, and #52. They will try to replenish a prospect group that has seen half of its top-10 prospects traded this off-season, including all but one of its top-5. "We do like this draft and we like how we're positioned. It's part of the reason we were as willing to trade off some of our futures as we were. I think we're going to get some good players. I'm not giving you any hints, though."


Pittsburgh Penguins
Posted: 2020/06/30

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