MONTREAL — Penguins general manager Ron Hextall is far from certain he’ll be able to re-sign pending unrestricted free-agent forward Evgeni Malkin.
But that’s nothing new.
He felt the same way about defenseman Kris Letang as well before re-signing him earlier in the week.
“I wasn’t confident in Kris the day before, either,” Hextall said before the second day of the NHL Draft in the Bell Centre. “So that’s kind of how these things work. We’re going to keep chipping away.”
Hextall has been slowly chipping away at fortifying his roster this offseason. After re-signing top-line forward Bryan Rust (May 21) and backup goaltender Casey DeSmith (Tuesday), he signed the all-everything Letang to a six-year deal Thursday.
Will Malkin be next?
“We said right from the start, we’d like to bring (Malkin) back,” Hextall said. “And strongly believe that he wants to come back. We’ll continue to work at it and hopefully come to an agreement.”
Malkin’s fate will likely dictate how the rest of the roster takes shape.
“It’s like putting a puzzle together,” Hextall said. “Until you get another piece in place, it’s really hard to find your direction. Hopefully, we can lock (Malkin) in and then kind of go from there. See what we have left and work from there. …
“Things are starting to have a little bit more clarity. But we’re not there yet.”
One thing that has been clear is some of the Penguins’ would-be unrestricted free agents have been willing to accept average annual values that are perceived to be lower than what they might have commanded on the open market.
Rust’s new deal carries a salary cap hit of $5.125 million while Letang’s is $6.1 million.
“Everybody knows the (salary) cap situation now,” Hextall said. “The players probably know as well as anybody. They have worked with us. They want to stay with the Penguins and keep this group together. If you look at our last two playoff runs, we certainly could have gone a lot further and arguably should have. Everybody on our team thinks that we have a good team, and I believe they want to keep the core together.”
According to Cap Friendly, the Penguins have $15,308,158 of salary cap space.
Beyond Malkin, forwards Rickard Rakell and Evan Rodrigues are the team’s most notable pending unrestricted free agents. Meanwhile forwards Danton Heinen and Kasperi Kapanen are slated to become restricted free agents Wednesday.
Hextall did not dismiss a query suggesting he might look to shed salary via trade to help reconstruct his roster.
“Easier said than done,” Hextall said. “Not a whole bunch of teams that are looking to add salary. We’ll keep chipping away. We’ve got a bunch of balls in the air, and we’ll see where they land in the end.”
Hextall addressed a variety of other subjects.
• There was little hesitation in extending a six-year contract to Letang despite his age (35).
“Kris is very special in the way he trains,” Hextall said. “He’s a very gifted athlete. We believe he’s going to play a number of years, as does he. So we were comfortable with the deal and thrilled to get (Letang) under contract.”
• Hextall did not offer many specifics when asked if any of the team’s pending restricted free agents might not receive qualifying offers.
“Those decisions haven’t totally been made yet. We have some ideas obviously about what we’re going to do. But some of it depends on what happens between now and then. … I don’t have a definitive answer.”
In addition to Heinen and Kapanen, the Penguins have several minor leaguers who are pending restricted free agents such as forwards Justin Almeida, Jordy Bellerive, Kasper Bjorkqvist, Jan Drozg and Alexander Nylander; defensemen Niclas Almari, P.O Joseph, Cam Lee and Will Reilly; and goaltender Alex D’Orio.
• As far as what he might pursue on the free-agent market, Hextall has a clear target.
“You can see clearly that we need a couple more forwards,” Hextall said. “I felt comfortable with our defense. We do need a couple more forwards. We do have space. We’ll keep just chipping away with our guys and try to do the best job we can, keep as many guys as we can.”
• Don’t expect the Penguins to alter how they’ll play moving into the 2022-23 season.
“Everybody wants speed and skill,” Hextall said. “Certainly, we do as well. It’s kind of how we play the game. The way (Sullivan) coaches, we play a fast game. Nothing moves faster than the puck. So it’s a lot of quick puck movement and supporting your teammate and being there for the pass. We’ll continue on with the way we’ve played the last number of years.”
• The Penguins’ first-round pick on Friday, Swift Current Broncos defenseman Owen Pickering, has a pretty obvious physical presence at 6-foot-4, 180 pounds.
It wasn’t a coincidence he popped up on the Penguins’ radar.
“You like to draft big players with lots of skill and lots of hockey sense and lots of speed,” Hextall said. “But they’re not there very often. With Owen, we feel like he is a big kid. … There’s a lot of potential for growth there in terms of in his body but also in his game. So we’re excited to have him. Six-foot-four defensemen, they don’t fall off trees. He’s a nice add to our group for sure. His size/skating ratio is very good. We do believe there is quite a bit of upside there as well.”
• Hextall indicated goaltender Tristan Jarry, who suffered a right foot injury late in the regular season, is fully recovered. He also indicated forward Jason Zucker, who was hobbled by a chronic core muscle injury for much of the season, is “progressing.”
