Penguins/NHL category, Page 89

Ron Hextall executed his plan, and did it well. Whether or not it’s the correct plan, and how well it works, is yet to be seen. The Penguins GM kept all four of his marquee free agents, bringing each in at under market value. Probably. The word is that Evgeni...

Wednesday’s “First Call” has a career update for former Pittsburgh Steeler Le’Veon Bell. Najee Harris is turning NFL heads already. Penguins draft choice Owen Pickering discloses his musical talent. And a rare Clay Holmes blowup hurts the Yankees and Gerrit Cole. Boxing for Bell Former Steeler Le’Veon Bell is taking...

Did you ever break up with someone after a long relationship, then start dating somebody else you barely know right away in an attempt to get back at that other person? Did that new relationship immediately start off with a $30 million prenup? That sort of feels like what happened...

Did re-signing franchise cornerstone Evgeni Malkin, as the Penguins did Tuesday night, guarantee the team will host a championship parade down Grant Street in the next four years? Of course not. The team’s superstars aren’t getting any younger, and besides, that’s not how the NHL works. But it did greatly...

As it turns out, the Penguins won’t be able to replace Evgeni Malkin. Especially since he isn’t going anywhere. Late Tuesday night, the Penguins announced they re-signed the superstar center to a four-year contract worth $6.1 million a season. The contract runs through the 2025-26 season. According to Cap Friendly,...

The Penguins re-signed defenseman P.O Joseph to a two-year, one-way contract that carries a salary cap hit of $825,000. The deal was announced Tuesday, one day after the team formally tendered a qualifying offer to retain his rights as a pending restricted free agent. Considered as the top prospect in...

If Evgeni Malkin winds up leaving the Pittsburgh Penguins, it won’t be easy to replace him. In fact, it probably will be impossible. But someone has to be the second-line center. There will be options on the free-agent market, which opens at noon Wednesday. But they aren’t plentiful. Here are...

Evgeni Malkin has opted to test the free agency waters once the NHL’s signing period opens Wednesday. But that doesn’t necessarily mean he can’t return to the Pittsburgh Penguins. At least that’s how the team’s president of hockey operations, Brian Burke, feels. On Tuesday morning, Burke spoke to the Tribune-Review...

If you were under the impression that Evgeni Malkin’s contract negotiations with the Pittsburgh Penguins were going to end as swimmingly as Kris Letang’s did, sorry to disappoint. Apparently, this keeping the band together idea isn’t going to happen without getting out of tune. Malkin has been playing hardball with...

With franchise pillar Evgeni Malkin apparently prepared to move on as a pending unrestricted free agent, the Penguins appear to have re-signed the winger they brought in to play with him. Rickard Rakell, whom the Penguins acquired in March at the NHL’s trade deadline, will re-sign with the Penguins, agreeing...

In December, Pittsburgh Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin joked he was already a “pretty rich guy.” It looks like he would prefer to maintain the status quo. According to multiple reports, Malkin, a pending unrestricted free agent who happens to be one of the greatest players in the history of the...

While the fate of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ most prominent unrestricted free agent, forward Evgeni Malkin, is still unfolding, the futures of his two most regular linemates last season took divergent paths Monday. Kasperi Kapanen and Danton Heinen entered the offseason as pending restricted free agents, and only one of them...

The Pittsburgh Penguins re-signed forward Alex Nylander to a one-year, two-way contract that carries a salary cap hit of $750,000, the NHL minimum. Nylander, 24, was scheduled to become a restricted free agent when the NHL’s free agent-signing period opens Wednesday. Acquired in a trade with the Chicago Blackhawks on...

The priorities of Pittsburgh sports fans are way out of whack. A Twitter poll with more than 10,000 responding showed more than 30% voting would rather see Sidney Crosby, Kris Letang and Evgeni Malkin retire as Pittsburgh Penguins than have the team win another Stanley Cup. You always can pick...

The Pittsburgh Penguins’ first-round draft choice Owen Pickering had to be exaggerating. Right? After being selected as the 21st pick in the first round of last week’s NHL Draft, the 6-foot-4, 180-pound defenseman claimed that he was only 5-foot-6, 130 pounds three years ago. That had to be hyperbole. That...

I have a two-pronged view of Kris Letang’s new contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins. For months, I’ve argued that the Penguins should use this offseason’s cap space to reconfigure the roster around Sidney Crosby, Jake Guentzel and Bryan Rust through trades and free agency. If that meant letting Evgeni Malkin...

Chances are, Corey Andonovski might be the smartest person in the Pittsburgh Penguins’ organization. If nothing else, he might be the most educated. At least that’s a safe assumption based on the economics degree he finished this past spring at a small institution called Princeton. “Very fortunate to have that...

It’s uncertain how the Evgeni Malkin contract saga will end. But one thing is definite: There will be a bad guy. If the Pittsburgh Penguins’ final offer is two years and Malkin declines, the team is the bad guy. If the Penguins’ final offer is three years and Malkin declines,...

With the Penguins’ 2021-22 season coming to a quick ending in the first round of the playoffs, the Tribune-Review will offer Penguins A to Z, a player-by-player look at all 54 individuals signed to an NHL contract — including those whose deals do not begin until the 2022-23 season —...