{"id":54380,"date":"2019-08-18T08:30:30","date_gmt":"2019-08-18T12:30:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonhockey.com\/?p=54380"},"modified":"2020-12-21T15:03:31","modified_gmt":"2020-12-21T20:03:31","slug":"nhl-rumours-penguins-jets-wild","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2019\/08\/18\/nhl-rumours-penguins-jets-wild\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL Rumours: Pittsburgh Penguins, Winnipeg Jets, Minnesota Wild"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome to Last Word on Hockey<\/a>‘s daily dose of NHL rumours. We continue to dig up the best bits of potential news for you during the late summer portion of 2019 NHL Free Agency. There are talks swirling about contract extensions prior to training camp as well as thoughts on future CBA topics. Today’s NHL rumours feature rumblings surrounding the Pittsburgh Penguins<\/a>, Winnipeg Jets<\/a>, and Minnesota Wild<\/a>.<\/p>\n

NHL Rumours<\/h2>\n

Pittsburgh Penguins<\/h3>\n

Rumour: Jonathan Bombulie of Trib Live recently pondered<\/a> over Justin Schultz<\/a><\/strong>‘s future with the Penguins. With the team currently even with the cap limit, the long-standing rumours of a trade involving Schultz may finally come true.<\/em><\/p>\n

Analysis:\u00a0<\/em>The Penguins are, again, facing serious cap-related issues. They don’t have a dollar in cap space left to spend, yet still, need to re-sign promising defenceman Marcus Pettersson<\/a><\/strong> to a modestly priced extension. While he won’t demand much in the way of cap space, Pettersson did net a respectable 25 points in 84 games last year despite only playing roughly 16:41 a game. 19 of these points were netted in the 57 games Pettersson played in after being dealt to the Penguins.<\/p>\n

Even with Pettersson inking a new deal, the Penguins won’t evade cap issues for long. Next summer they have a monstrous 18 players that are set to become free agents between their major and minor league systems. Among this list of 18 players are names like Alex Galchenyuk<\/a><\/strong>, Matt Murray<\/a><\/strong>, and Tristan Jarry<\/a><\/strong>. All three players will deserve a significant raise, with the former two eating up a healthy amount of cap space.<\/p>\n

This, ultimately, means moves are needed. While the Penguins roster is clearly still able to compete for a playoff berth, it’s riddled with terrible contracts. Erik Gudbranson<\/a><\/strong> settles in as a $4 million cap hit for the next two seasons. Meanwhile, Jack Johnson<\/a><\/strong> makes $3.25 million and the newly-inked<\/a> Brandon Tanev<\/a><\/strong> makes $3.5 million. For a team in such dire straits, these contracts will be disastrous.<\/p>\n

One of many steps to fixing these issues seems to be dealing away Schultz. He is facing a contract-year on his $5 million deal next season. This means dealing him away would give Pittsburgh ample cap space to finish this summer with. Bombulie also notes that it is simply Jim Rutherford<\/a><\/strong>‘s habit to trade away players facing contract-years.<\/p>\n

This was made evident by the trading of both Carl Hagelin<\/a><\/strong> and Derick Brassard<\/a><\/strong> last year. Bombulin speculates that Schultz could be the next addition to this list. This is despite Schultz spending four years with Pittsburgh, recording 101 points in 188 games with the team.<\/p>\n

NHL Rumours: Winnipeg Jets<\/h3>\n

Rumour: TSN looks at the current situation with Kyle Connor<\/a><\/strong>‘s contract talks before training camp.<\/em><\/p>\n

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RFA Kyle Connor says the plan is to a have a new contract before the Jets' training camp https:\/\/t.co\/jqXVGmTCAq<\/a> #TSNHockey<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/IVbu7g9tGR<\/a><\/p>\n

— TSN Hockey (@TSNHockey) August 14, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n