Penguins Blog: New UFA to Watch; Why This August is Much Different
August is generally a breather for general managers and teams. Players begin skating again, but transactions slow to a snail’s pace as teams prepare for the coming season by taking a break. It has been years since a major trade occurred between mid-August and late September, but the Pittsburgh Penguins and other teams might break that rule this year.
Of course, you and I have been waiting with bated breath for months, waiting for the Penguins trade that reshapes the roster and allows general manager Kyle Dubas to plant his flag upon a rebuild. And we’re still waiting.
This August could be different.
There is still too much left undone in Pittsburgh and across the league. Sooner or later, someone has to make the move. The Edmonton Oilers absolutely cannot go into another season with their goaltending malaise, certainly not if they hope to keep the fire that has led them to two-straight Stanley Cup Finals.
The Detroit Red Wings know they’re not over the hump, and how much longer can they wait? The Toronto Maple Leafs lost Mitch Marner and replaced him with … Nick Robertson, who doesn’t want to be there. The Boston Bruins have no intention of rebuilding but need more talent to become a player in the Eastern Conference chase. The New Jersey Devils and New York Islanders are stuck amongst the junior varsity in the East, but have much bigger hopes.
Surely someone will start to push for the big move before training camp, right?
GMs have a habit of waiting to see. Wait to see if a player who has underperformed will turn it around. Wait to see how the changes they made in the off-season play out.
Wait.
However, with the loser points bunching the standings, teams can no longer doddle or limp to December, then start making changes. That Thanksgiving line of demarcation is becoming more and more relevant. It is no longer a silly stat created by fans, but a true representation of the parity and competitiveness of the NHL from the first games in October.
The cost is the cost. And the urgency to be ready for the season is much greater. Or, at least it should be.
New Free Agent to Watch
The KHL MVP is now a free agent.
Josh Leivo. You may remember him from his time with the Toronto Maple Leafs (when Dubas was AGM and GM) and several other teams. The light-scoring right winger signed with the Ufa Salavat Yulayev two seasons ago and promptly became the highest-scoring player in Russia.
Last season, the Ontario native who never scored more than 10 goals in any of his 10 NHL seasons popped 49 goals with 80 points in just 62 games; those are massive totals for the KHL, and he was named the league MVP. However, this week, he and Yulayev parted ways.
If Leivo, 32, wants to come back to the NHL, the Penguins are the perfect place for him, provided Dubas has a plan to clear a few locker stalls between now and training camp. He would be a low-risk, high-reward type signing. Perhaps the 6-foot-1, 187-pound forward would become a top-six winger to fill spots vacated by trades, thus becoming a nice trade chip for later in the season. Perhaps he would return to being a low-scoring pressbox nachos candidate, but what is there to lose?
A player who nets 49 in the KHL and also had a healthy fight card in North America is worth a look (but only if a few veterans can be moved).
Origin Stories
When Dubas talked about his origin story on the Cam and Strick podcast, it resonated with me. He had big dreams of playing hockey, but being a late bloomer led to being knocked around in hockey, leading to concussions and the end of his playing days at 14. It crushed him, but it opened the door that was supposed to be opened.
I was also about 5-foot-4, 110 pounds in my freshman year. But one of my many inflection points didn’t come on the court or the ice. I realized I was not built for professional sports (though I have always been intensely competitive whenever I play anything. If you’re going to beat me, you’re going to work for it).
Perhaps being behind at that stage in life leads to a terminal case of work ethic, but the one time I gave up was one of three times that God or Fate or dumb luck kept me in this business. Following the 2005 lockout, I gave up my syndicated radio show. It didn’t produce a lot of money, and there were various external pressures on me to relinquish my radio career, which had already been reduced to what the kids call a side hustle.
I made the call. No more Fourth Period Radio Show. After days of agonizing over it, I informed my show partners that it was over, and began to make my peace that I would just work in sales and figure out what came next.
Then, 24 hours later, my phone rang. ESPN Nashville was getting pressure from the Predators for more hockey content, and they told the Preds they had picked up my show. Say what?! The program director had my demo folder in his desk drawer for a couple of years, just collecting dust. He quickly pulled it out to save his business relationship with the Predators.
How could I say no? We quickly refired the show. The results tree has many branches. You now see The Fourth Period guys on NHL Network. My show was eventually picked up by NHL Home Ice on Sirius/XM, leading to a tenure with Sportsnet, leading to coming home to 93.7 the Fan, leading to PHN.
…leading to Detroit Hockey Now, Montreal, Boston, San Jose … and a lot of young writers getting their first shot to cover an NHL team, some older writers staying in the game, and hopefully a few more of both in the coming years.
One absolutely perfectly timed phone call got my shoulders off the mat. It has provided the launchpad for others. Of course, whether it’s a hero or villain origin story depends on who you’re talking to.
Categorized:NHL Free Agency PHN Blog Pittsburgh Penguins
It seems like there is a widespread culture of doing nothing among NHL GM’s. For the last several years they couldn’t make trades because they had no cap space, now they can’t make them because they have too much cap space!
We Pens fans have been insulated from this somewhat because we’re still used to the JR years, and Dubas doesn’t hesitate to make moves either. But for 20-25 teams in this league, they could fall over dead at their desks and no one would notice.