It’s a big week for new Penguins president of hockey operations Kyle Dubas, with the NHL Draft on Wednesday and Thursday and the start of free agency on Saturday.
Dubas met the media on Friday and fielded questions about how he plans to build the Penguins for the coming season and beyond. He said he has about $20 million in salary cap space so he is in a good position to sign free agents to contend for the Stanley Cup this season, but at the same time he wants to build for the future with younger players.
Major decisions will be made this week regarding some of the Penguins’ best-known free agents, and Dubas said he has had talks with the agents for Jason Zucker, Tristan Jarry, and Brian Dumoulin. He expects that by the time the draft rolls around on Wednesday, he’ll have a better idea of where he stands with all three.
In addition to Zucker, Jarry, and Dumoulin, the Penguins’ other unrestricted free agents are forwards Nick Bonino, Danton Heinen, Josh Archibald, and Drake Caggiula, defenseman Dmitry Kulikov, and goaltender Dustin Tokarski. There are also nine restricted free agents, most notably Drew O’Connor and Ryan Poehling.
The first round of the draft will be on Wednesday night in Nashville, with rounds two through seven on Thursday.
NHL Awards Night is tonight in Nashville. The Penguins have one nominee for the top honors in the league. That’s defenseman Kris Letang, who is one of three nominees for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy, which is awarded to the NHL player “who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to hockey.”
This past season alone, Letang returned to the ice for the Penguins after suffering his second stroke and overcoming the death of his father. In previous years, he has dealt with his first stroke (in 2014), which was the apparent result of a congenital hole in his heart which required a surgical repair, and a herniated disk in his neck.
Arizona’s Clayton Keller and Chicago’s Alex Stalock are the other finalists for the award. Mario Lemieux, in 1993, and Lowell MacDonald, in 1973, are the only Penguins to win the Masterton Trophy.
NHL
Former Penguin Jordan Staal has signed a four-year contract extension with the Carolina Hurricanes. He’s been a ‘Cane since 2012 after spending the first six seasons of his career with the Penguins.
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