Remember the condensed schedule the NHL has last season?
Well, the pace of that was downright leisurely compared to all that's shoehorned into the shorter-than-usual offseason that's now in progress.
In mid-week, the NHL staged an expansion draft to stock the depth chart of the new franchise in Seattle.
Friday and Saturday were devoted to the annual draft that replenishes the prospects pools for teams around the league.
And now clubs must shift their focus to free agency, as players whose contracts have expired will be allowed to sign deals with new teams, beginning Wednesday.
At the moment, the Penguins are believed to have a little more than $7.4 million in salary-cap space available, and a handful of their own players, including unrestricted-free-agents-to-be Cody Ceci and Frederick Gaudreau, that they would like to re-sign.
Consequently, unless Ron Hextall makes some seismic personnel changes -- something he's said repeatedly that he does not believe is necessary -- over the next few days, the Penguins are unlikely to figure in the bidding for any of the big-money players on the market.
Nonetheless, when asked Saturday if the Penguins believe they can fill some personnel needs in free agency, director of player personnel Chris Pryor responded, "We'd like to think so."
That will only be possible, though, if players who interest them can be acquired without breaking the budget, and there's no way of knowing yet whether that will be the case.
"We're going to spend the next three, four days here talking about different scenarios that could come up, from both a financial standpoint and players available, and try to address some needs here," Pryor said. "But as we all know, financially, it's easier said than done. And especially this time of year, it's what we want versus what's out there.
"Sometimes it doesn't match, from both a term standpoint and a financial standpoint. So Ron and the rest of the staff are trying to do the best we can and fill some holes with what's available, both what's out there from a player availability (perspective) and from a financial standpoint, too."
