Free agency gave Kyle Dubas a busy few days, but it didn’t exactly leave the Penguins looking finished.
From June 25 through July 1, Dubas kept moving pieces around. He landed Hendrix Lapierre from Washington for a 2027 third-round pick and a 2028 fifth-round pick.
He picked up David Gustafsson from Winnipeg for Jack St. Ivany.
He added Kaeden Korczak from Vegas for Parker Wotherspoon, with $500,000 of retained salary involved. Then came Nick Robertson from Toronto for a 2028 fourth-round pick, along with signings for Trevor van Riemsdyk, Declan Carlile and Andrei Kuzmenko.
Dubas also locked up Atley Calvert on an internal deal.
There’s some appeal in that batch, starting with Robertson. The 24-year-old left wing is undersized at 5-foot-9 and 180 pounds, but he brings energy and a nonstop engine, and there’s at least a chance his offense hasn’t peaked yet.
The defense changes are more complicated. Losing Wotherspoon hurts, but Korczak and Carlile help explain the thinking.
Carlile, listed at 6-foot-3 and 190 pounds, brings a similar profile to Wotherspoon in terms of size, limited-role usefulness and willingness to engage. Korczak also comes with some upside.
The Gustafsson-for-St. Ivany move is tougher to get excited about on its own, though Korczak helps soften that blow.
Lapierre feels like another swing of the bat, another chance to see if something clicks.
The van Riemsdyk signing is harder to love. He’s an upgrade over St.
Ivany, but the price tag stands out, especially with Connor Clifton signing with Boston for two years at a $2.25 million AAV. That was roughly half of what the Penguins gave Trevor van Riemsdyk.
The move that really stands out is Kuzmenko. He can score and he has hands, but that’s where the comfort ends.
He doesn’t skate well, doesn’t defend and doesn’t bring much physicality. The comparison lands somewhere between a poor man’s Patrik Laine and a latter-day Alex Ovechkin.
The problem is consistency: Kuzmenko has produced as many as 39 goals in a season, but also as few as 11. He doesn’t look like a clean replacement for Anthony Mantha, and he could end up blocking a younger player’s path.
There’s also the matter of physicality on the back end. Wotherspoon and Clifton combined for 342 hits last season, while Korczak and van Riemsdyk combined for 114, with only 12 from van Riemsdyk.
That number is exactly what it looks like. He’s 6-foot-3 and 210 pounds, but he doesn’t play like a bruiser.
Carlile at least has shown a willingness to fight, having dropped the gloves with Josh Anderson, Jonah Gadjovich and Garnet Hathaway last season. But even there, the fight game isn’t really his calling card. The return of the Dragon is more about attitude than intimidation.
So where does that leave the Penguins? The right side of the defense looks deeper and better after the additions of Korczak and van Riemsdyk, and Robertson is an addition worth liking.
Kuzmenko, though, is a tougher sell, especially at $5 million. The left side of the defense still needs help unless the Penguins are prepared to lean on Caleb Jones, Jake Livanavage, Owen Pickering, Ilya Solovyov or Ryan Graves.
Ryan Shea also signed a five-year deal with the Oilers to replace Darnell Nurse, who was dealt to the Sharks.
There’s another issue, too: where do Rutger McGroarty and Avery Hayes fit?
Right now, the roster looks crowded in some places and thin in others. More moves still seem possible, perhaps involving someone with more weight on the roster like Rickard Rakell or Bryan Rust.
The verdict is pretty simple. There’s more work to do. Lots of work.
In Other News...
So Many Familiar Penguins Names Just Vanished On Day 1
The first day of free agency had a distinctly familiar feel for Penguins followers, only the names were attached to other sweaters. Ian Cole landed with the Chicago Blackhawks, Noel Acciari went to the Philadelphia Flyers and Ryan Shea headed to the Edmonton Oilers, while other former Pittsburgh players such as Teddy Blueger, Conor Sheary and Connor Clifton also found new homes across the league. It was the kind of opening-day churn that can make a roster tree look suddenly bare, especially when so many of the departures trace back to players who spent real time in Pittsburgh.
For the Penguins, the exodus is less about one headline move than the cumulative effect of seeing so many once-recognizable depth pieces and role players spread out so quickly. Some of those deals were modest, some carried more term, and a few send former Penguins back into familiar territory with new clubs. Either way, the first wave of free agency served as a reminder of how much turnover can hit in a matter of hours, leaving Pittsburgh with plenty of familiar names gone and a few more questions still hanging in the air. [Read more 🡒]
Penguins Lose Another Blue Line Depth Piece Fans Were Watching
The Penguins blue-line depth picture took another hit this week, with one of the organizational names fans had been tracking deciding to head back overseas. Alexander Alexeyev, a restricted free agent who spent last season with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, is moving on after a solid AHL stint that included three goals, 12 points and a plus-7 rating in 38 games.
His departure comes amid a broader wave of players leaving North America for the KHL, with Ivan Fedotov also signing a two-year deal with Spartak Moscow after his season split between the Flyers and Cleveland. For Pittsburgh, it is another reminder that the back end is still in flux, and one more depth option the club will have to replace as the offseason keeps unfolding. [Read more 🡒]