General manager Jim Rutherford has long insisted that he had no interest in buying out Jack Johnson's contract.
And even after he'd placed Johnson on unconditional waivers Monday, for purposes of buying out the remaining three years of his deal, which carried a salary-cap hit of $3.25 million, Rutherford said he was a move he wished could have been avoided.
"I didn't want to do it, but it's the new system we're in," he said. "When I signed him (in 2018), we weren't planning on having a cap (ceiling) at $81.5 million. With COVID being here and having a new (collective bargaining agreement) with a flat cap and a lower cap than we expected, these are some of the things we have to do."
Johnson has been a lightning rod for criticism from a large segment of the fan base from the day he was signed. Although he was an effective penalty-killer, he slid down the depth chart to the third pairing last season, and his place there was jeopardized when the Penguins acquired Mike Matheson from Florida in the Patric Hornqvist trade last month.
Nonetheless, Rutherford responded with an emphatic "I do" when asked if he feels Johnson still can contribute to an NHL club.
The buyout will save the Penguins roughly $2 million in cap space for next season, giving them about $4.7 million with which to work for the coming season..
Buyouts are paid out over the course of double the length of the years remaining on the contract. Their cap hit for the buyout will be spread over the next six seasons like this: $1,166,667 in 2020-21 and 2021-22, $1,916,666 in 2022-23 and $916,667 in each of the three seasons that follows.
Rutherford also confirmed that forward Dominik Simon will not receive a qualifying offer, which will allow him to become an unrestricted free agent Friday. Rutherford was concerned about the kind of contract Simon could be awarded if he goes to arbitration, but has some interest in attempting to re-sign him.
But it does not sound as if keeping Simon, whose cap hit last season was $750,000, is something he intends to make happen, whatever it takes.
"I've talked to the agent about Dominik," Rutherford said. "We didn't qualify him because we didn't want to go through arbitration with him. We already have a potential arbitration case with Matt Murray, and we can't put in a position that the arbitrator is going to give us a number that's going to put us over the (cap ceiling), that's out of our control.
"I've told Dominik's agent that, if at a certain number, he wants to play in Pittsburgh, it's still open to him. There's a place for him between now and (the start of) free agency, but when free agency opens, if a player comes along that we like at a relatively low number that fits into our cap, that could take that opportunity away from him."
Trading Murray, who has been supplanted by Tristan Jarry as the Penguins' No. 1 goalie, remains Rutherford's top priority, although he said he does not feel the urgency to get a deal done to add picks in the NHL Draft that will be conducted Tuesday evening and Wednesday.
"We'll go with the picks we have (one each in Rounds 3-6) and hope we have some good fortune in those mid- to late-round picks," he said. "It's happened before for the Penguins."
Rutherford said he is not in serious trade talks involving players other that Murray, but noted that because of the stagnant salary-cap ceiling, it is difficult to gauge what kind of player movement might transpire in coming days.
"It's the hardest market (to assess) I've ever seen," he said.
In addition to Murray, forwards Sam Lafferty, Sam Miletic, Anthony Angello and Pontus Aberg will receive qualifying offers, while forward Graham Knott and John Nyberg will not.
Extending those qualifying rights allows the Penguins to retain the players' rights.
While buying out Johnson gives the Penguins some badly need cap space, Rutherford reiterated that he does not plan to be heavily involved when free agency gets underway Friday. Third-line wingers, a right-handed defenseman for the third pairing and a No. 3 goaltender figure to be their primary targets.
"We won't be in in the early going," Rutherford said. "I think it will be more of watching for players who fit our needs that start to slip away from what they thought they were going to make and slip into a number that we can fit into our cap.
"It's more than likely that it's going to be a few days after free agency starts, if we add anybody."