Free Agency Watch

Free Agency begins on July 1st, but teams can start talking to Free Agents a couple of days in advance. The Draft is April 27-28, but we don't know much about it so we're not gonna do a preview for it.

Here's what we know...

Here is the list of UFA's for the Penguins (According to CapGeek)

Jussi Jokinen
Lee Stempniak
Marcel Goc
Taylor Pyatt
Tanner Glass
Joe Vitale
Brian Gibbons
Brooks Orpik
Matt Niskanen
Deryk Engellend
Tomas Vokoun

Since we are Armchair GM's here at Heyyyyy Fannnssss, we predict that the only players on that list that has any shot of being a Pittsburgh Penguin beyond July 1st will be Jussi Jokinen and Brian Gibbons.

The current RFA's for the Penguins are:

Brandon Sutter
Simon Despres

Both of those are likely to be retained by GMJR.

So with that being said, here is the makeup of next year's Penguins team as of right now.

Kunitz - Crosby - Bennett
? - Malkin - Neal
? - Sutter - Dupuis
? - ? - ?

Letang - Martin
Scuderi - Bortuzzo
Despres - Maatta (out until around November/December)

Fleury
Zatkoff

The Penguins are set on Defense for next year, even with Maatta missing a month or so. One would assume someone like Dumoulin, Harrington, or Sameuelsson have a shot to crack the lineup on a regular basis.

So the biggest task that GMJR has on July 1st is to build up the bottom 6 and possibly get a winger for Sid or Geno.

As of this moment, the Penguins have $15,980,833 in Cap Space to essentially fill 6 forward spots.

Let's look at some of the UFA Forwards that could be available once FA hits on July 1.

Name	Pos	Age	Team	GP	G	A	P	PIM	+/-	TOI-TOT
Vanek, Thomas »	L	30	MTL	78	27	41	68	46	7	19.35
Iginla, Jarome »	R	36	BOS	78	30	31	61	47	34	18.22
Stastny, Paul »	C	28	COL	71	25	35	60	22	9	18.39
Jokinen, Jussi »	L	31	PIT	81	21	36	57	18	12	15.70
Moulson, Matt »	L	30	MIN	75	23	28	51	34	2	17.97
Vrbata, Radim »	R	33	PHX	80	20	31	51	22	-6	17.96
Legwand, David »	C	33	DET	83	14	37	51	61	-17	16.98
Alfredsson, D. »	R	41	DET	68	18	31	49	10	2	16.93
Cammalleri, Mike »	L	32	CGY	63	26	19	45	26	-13	19.84
Raymond, Mason »	L	28	TOR	82	19	26	45	22	-7	17.33
Jokinen, Olli »	C	35	WPG	82	18	25	43	62	-8	17.02
Hemsky, Ales »	R	30	OTT	75	13	30	43	24	-15	15.96
Gionta, Brian »	R	35	MTL	81	18	22	40	22	1	17.85
Michalek, Milan »	L	29	OTT	82	17	22	39	41	-25	17.59
Roy, Derek »	C	31	STL	75	9	28	37	30	-1	13.62
Callahan, Ryan »	R	29	TBL	65	17	19	36	24	1	18.65
Pouliot, Benoit »	L	27	NYR	80	15	21	36	56	10	13.44
Penner, Dustin »	L	31	WAS	67	14	21	35	30	25	14.47
Grabovski, M. »	C	30	WAS	58	13	22	35	26	6	15.75
Stempniak, Lee »	R	31	PIT	73	12	22	34	32	-16	18.46
Whitney, Ray »	L	42	DAL	69	9	23	32	14	-6	13.96
Gaborik, Marian »	R	32	LAK	41	11	19	30	10	7	17.01
Winnik, Daniel »	L	29	ANA	76	6	24	30	23	6	15.39
Koivu, Saku »	C	39	ANA	65	11	18	29	46	3	15.05
Heatley, Dany »	L	33	MIN	76	12	16	28	18	-18	14.82
Santorelli, Mike »	C	28	VAN	49	10	18	28	6	9	18.56
Setoguchi, Devin »	R	27	WPG	75	11	16	27	22	-7	15.05
Selanne, Teemu »	R	43	ANA	64	9	18	27	12	8	14.13
Morrow, Brenden »	L	35	STL	71	13	12	25	76	1	11.90
Goc, Marcel »	C	30	PIT	74	11	14	25	35	-7	16.33
Downie, Steve »	R	27	PHI	62	4	20	24	106	1	14.10
Smyth, Ryan »	L	38	EDM	72	10	13	23	44	-18	15.42
Ott, Steve »	C	31	STL	82	9	14	23	92	-38	18.23
Fiddler, Vernon »	C	34	DAL	76	6	17	23	37	3	13.28
Moss, David »	R	32	PHX	79	8	14	22	18	-1	14.65
Kulemin, Nikolai »	R	27	TOR	70	9	11	20	24	-4	16.23
Booth, David »	L	29	VAN	66	9	10	19	18	1	13.47
Winchester, Jesse »	C	30	FLA	52	9	9	18	38	-2	12.74
MacKenzie, Derek »	C	33	CLB	71	9	9	18	47	0	11.27
Moore, Dominic »	C	33	NYR	73	6	12	18	18	0	11.73
Boyle, Brian »	C	29	NYR	82	6	12	18	56	1	12.77
Gibbons, Brian »	C	26	PIT	41	5	12	17	6	5	11.94
Bertuzzi, Todd »	R	39	DET	59	9	7	16	40	-17	14.65
Comeau, Blake »	L	28	CLB	61	5	11	16	36	-2	12.06
Handzus, Michal »	C	37	CHI	59	4	12	16	16	0	13.65
Leino, Ville »	L	30	BUF	58	0	15	15	10	-16	14.43
Vitale, Joe »	C	28	PIT	53	1	13	14	29	-1	10.97
Malhotra, Manny »	C	34	CAR	69	7	6	13	18	0	11.60
Glass, Tanner »	L	30	PIT	67	4	9	13	90	-8	11.79
Bolland, Dave »	C	28	TOR	23	8	4	12	24	-1	14.47
D'Agostini, Matt »	R	27	BUF	57	5	7	12	26	-15	14.85
Halpern, Jeff »	C	38	PHX	69	5	7	12	24	-8	10.29
Bernier, Steve »	R	29	NJD	78	3	9	12	33	-15	12.45
Gomez, Scott »	C	34	FLA	46	2	10	12	24	-11	13.13
Regin, Peter »	C	28	CHI	61	4	7	11	20	-5	11.44
Gionta, Stephen »	R	30	NJD	66	4	7	11	18	-8	12.46
Thorburn, Chris »	R	31	WPG	55	2	9	11	65	0	8.95
Carter, Ryan »	C	30	NJD	62	7	3	10	35	-6	11.33
McClement, Jay »	C	31	TOR	81	4	6	10	32	-8	14.76
Bodie, Troy »	L	29	TOR	47	3	7	10	26	5	8.62
Bouchard, P. »	R	30	CHI	28	4	5	9	12	-9	13.95
Smith, Trevor »	C	29	TOR	28	4	5	9	4	-3	10.37
Dvorak, Radek »	R	37	CAR	60	4	5	9	41	3	10.64
Hall, Adam »	C	33	PHI	80	4	5	9	23	-15	9.84
Thornton, Shawn »	R	36	BOS	64	5	3	8	74	3	8.79
Cleary, Danny »	L	35	DET	52	4	4	8	31	-11	13.90
Kennedy, Tim »	L	28	PHX	37	2	6	8	4	0	11.76
Bissonnette, Paul »	L	29	PHX	39	2	6	8	53	6	4.75
Westgarth, Kevin »	R	30	CGY	48	4	3	7	68	-4	6.49
Pyatt, Tom »	L	27	TBL	27	3	4	7	4	-2	11.46
McCormick, Cody »	C	31	MIN	43	2	5	7	52	-6	8.91
Jones, Ryan »	R	30	EDM	52	2	4	6	40	0	9.84
Conner, Chris »	R	30	PIT	19	4	1	5	2	-3	11.77
Pyatt, Taylor »	L	32	PIT	56	4	1	5	20	-24	11.58
Carcillo, Daniel »	L	29	NYR	57	4	1	5	100	-1	9.28
Kearns, Bracken »	C	33	SJS	25	3	2	5	6	-2	13.19
Malone, Brad »	C	25	COL	32	3	2	5	23	-4	6.77
Eaves, Patrick »	R	30	NAS	30	2	3	5	2	-7	11.26
Brown, Mike »	R	28	SJS	56	2	3	5	94	-9	7.15
Skille, Jack »	R	27	CLB	16	4	0	4	6	2	8.66
Barch, Krystofer »	R	34	FLA	55	0	4	4	99	-10	5.98
Janssen, Cam »	R	30	NJD	24	3	0	3	22	3	4.91
Samuelsson, M. »	R	37	DET	26	1	2	3	6	-4	10.35
Konopka, Zenon »	C	33	BUF	59	1	2	3	88	-9	7.90
Zolnierczyk, H. »	L	26	PIT	13	2	0	2	12	0	10.13
Jones, Blair »	C	27	CGY	14	2	0	2	21	0	11.38
Kobasew, Chuck »	R	32	PIT	33	2	0	2	15	1	11.21
Sutter, Brett »	L	27	CAR	17	1	1	2	9	-4	7.56
Kassian, Matt »	L	27	OTT	33	1	1	2	63	-1	4.44
McCarthy, John »	L	27	SJS	36	1	1	2	4	-11	11.06
Miele, Andy »	C	26	PHX	7	0	2	2	5	4	9.35
Terry, Chris »	L	25	CAR	10	0	2	2	0	-4	12.08
Cracknell, Adam »	R	28	STL	19	0	2	2	0	0	8.18
Fraser, Colin »	C	29	LAK	33	0	2	2	30	-4	8.99
Pelech, Matt »	R	26	SJS	6	1	0	1	22	1	3.93
Welsh, Jeremy »	L	26	VAN	19	1	0	1	6	-1	6.86
Scott, John »	L	31	BUF	56	1	0	1	125	-12	6.75
Newbury, Kris »	C	32	PHI	4	0	1	1	7	0	5.03
Eager, Ben »	R	30	EDM	7	0	1	1	2	1	7.22
Porter, Kevin »	L	28	BUF	12	0	1	1	2	-5	11.63

Let's pick apart this list.

• For starters, Gaborik and Callahan would be perfect fits, but they're more than likely out of the Penguins price range, so they're not coming to Pittsburgh.
• Alfredsson, Smyth, Whitney, and Koivu are too old.
• Vrbata probably will re-sign in Phoenix.
• Stastny, Olli Jokinen, Roy, Grabovski, Santorelli aren't good fits because they're Centers and they're better than a 4th line center.

Now let's look for some names who could stand out.

• Ales Hemsky is very intriguing. He turned down a 3 year, $10 million deal to stay in Ottawa. If the Penguins could sign him to something like 3 years at no more than $12 million, then that could be a good fit as a Top 6 forward. ($4 million cap hit)
• If Hemsky doesn't come here, I wouldn't mind to see Matt Moulson come to Pittsburgh, but it would have to be about as reasonable as the Hemsky deal I proposed above.
• Signing a Top 6 around $4 million gives the Penguins roughly $12 million left to sign 5 bottom 6 forwards.
• Three bottom 6 guys that really stand out to me is Dustin Penner, Nikolai Kulemin, and Benoit Pouliot. Penner is a playoff stud, Kulemin could slide into a Top 6 with Malkin if needed, and Pouliot was just a stud on the 3rd line with the Rangers. A Penguins 3rd line of Pouilot-Sutter-Dupuis would make this team better from top to bottom plus Penner could slide into the 4th line and make the 4th line a tough line to play against. Kulemin with Malkin and Neal should allow Malkin to reap major benefits.
• As far as the 4th line center goes, two names stand out. Michal Handzus and Steve Ott. Both players are tough to play against but Handzus is more than likely in the Penguins price range as he only made $1 million with the Blackhawks last season.

If you sign Hemsky, Kulemin, Pouliot, Penner, and Handzus, here is your starting Forward lines going into next season.

Kunitz - Crosby - Hemsky

Kulemin - Malkin - Neal

Dupuis - Sutter - Bennett

Pouliot - Handzus - Penner

^ That lineup makes the Penguins better from top to bottom and also allows them to roll four lines. They have guys who won't let players like Crosby, Malkin, or Letang get abused, but they also aren't enforcers and actually can play with some skill and contribute both offensively and defensively.

If the Penguins can sign those players, or players very similar to that and hire a coach like John Stevens and Rick Tocchet. You have to like the look of the 2014-15 Pittsburgh Penguins.

CAPGEEK.COM ARMCHAIR GM ROSTER
CapGeek Armchair GM Roster
FORWARDS
Chris Kunitz ($3.850m) / Sidney Crosby ($8.700m) / Ales Hemsky ($4.000m) 
Nikolai Kulemin ($2.500m) / Evgeni Malkin ($9.500m) / James Neal ($5.000m) 
Beau Bennett ($0.900m) / Brandon Sutter ($3.000m) / Pascal Dupuis ($3.750m) 
Benoit Pouliot ($1.450m) / Michal Handzus ($1.100m) / Dustin Penner ($1.500m) 
Craig Adams ($0.700m) / 
DEFENSEMEN
Kris Letang ($7.250m) / Paul Martin ($5.000m) 
Rob Scuderi ($3.375m) / Olli Maatta ($0.894m) 
Robert Bortuzzo ($0.600m) / Brian Dumoulin ($0.832m) 
Simon Despres ($0.900m) / 
GOALTENDERS
Marc-Andre Fleury ($5.000m) 
Jeff Zatkoff ($0.600m) 
------
CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (follow @capgeek on Twitter)
(estimations for 2014-15)
SALARY CAP: $71,100,000; CAP PAYROLL: $70,400,833; BONUSES: $68,333
CAP SPACE (22-man roster): $699,167


According to CapGeek, the team I just put together is possible if the players take roughly the amount of money I offered them.

Now that the Penguins coaching search is starting to come together, the next few weeks should be interesting.

Go Pens.