CRANBERRY, Pa. -- Ron Hextall went full-send in waving goodbye to the Penguins' chances of being a competitor three or four years down the line by signing Rickard Rakell to a six-year, $30 million contract late Monday night.
And it was the right call.
Don't get me wrong, many of the roster decisions I'd been in favor of seeing this offseason go against the grain of what I'd suggest under normal circumstances. But this team's circumstances are anything but.
Rakell will be 30 by the end of the first season of his new deal. Wingers tend to drop off around that age and, sometimes, the effect is drastic. Really, up until this past season, Rakell was mired in a significant decline from his peak as a 30-goal scorer. He didn't reach that level, but he had his best season in several years with the Ducks and appeared to gain a boost after joining the Penguins.
This contract is almost guaranteed to produce negative value when it's all said and done. That should be of little concern. The Penguins' No. 1 priority should be maximizing this very next season. That's it. Sidney Crosby won't be around forever, and every season that isn't centered around a valiant effort to get him another Stanley Cup, well, is a failure.
It was fine to give Kris Letang six years to get a good year or two out of him to maximize this window but not Rakell?
Come on.
I won't sit here and tell you there aren't even some immediate concerns about Rakell (like his four goals in 19 games with the Penguins) but I'm convinced Rakell at $5 million a season is better value than what the Penguins would get by filling that role through free agency. Let's not forget Jason Zucker counts $5.5 million against the salary cap and signed his deal with the Wild in 2018. There simply won't be a player on the market with his upside that would be available at that price.
It would behoove Mike Sullivan to deploy Rakell in a manner that leverages his skill set. That starts and ends with Crosby as his center.
The two played only 100 minutes together at even-strength this past season and lit the ice on fire. During that time, the Penguins outscored the opposition 12-1, generated over 60% of the expected goals and took over 60% of the shot attempts. They were every bit as dominant by the eye.
This is no disrespect to Bryan Rust, but Rakell is the perfect complement to Crosby. He has the ability to dangle defenders one-on-one, can absolutely blister the puck with time and space, can make plays in traffic out front and, most importantly, his physicality opens real estate for Crosby and Jake Guentzel.
From years of playing in the Pacific Division, Rakell still has some of that West Coast hockey in his blood. He's not a bruiser and doesn't light anyone up, but he knows how to effectively use body contact along the walls and to protect the puck. He frequently plays the body on the forecheck. He led Penguins forwards in hits from the time he was acquired through the end of the season.
Another reason to give Rakell and Crosby an extended look is that Rakell and Evgeni Malkin stunk together in a slightly larger sample. We'll touch on Malkin momentarily, but should he re-sign, Rust is an obvious choice for his right winger. They've proven over multiple seasons to play well and generate strong results together.
I expected Rakell and Malkin to really gel as, in theory, their styles were a match, but they struggled defensively and didn't quite figure out how to assemble their attack. It's a small sample, so things could obviously change, but the way to squeeze the most value out of the situation is to play Rakell as the No. 1 right-winger and Rust as the No. 2 right-winger.
• Is anyone convinced there's a team out there that would give Malkin considerably more money and term on the open market, where his agent J.P. Barry publicly floated they intend to go Wednesday, than the Penguins will be willing to give him?
To the point where it would be enough to leave his "brothers" Crosby and Letang?
I just don't see general managers lining up to give him five years or any sort of cap hit over $7.5 million-$8 million on a shorter contract. I've pushed for Malkin to be brought back, but I'm not pretending there aren't serious concerns about his availability. It's probably even more of a concern to other teams.
• This entire Malkin situation is suspect. Is he upset that Letang and Rust were prioritized? It just doesn't make sense that a year or something like a million dollars is the holdup. Hextall seemingly made a reasonable offer. This could simply be more posturing from Barry, as a lot could change between now and 12 p.m. on Wednesday when free agency opens.
• Don't lose your marbles over Hextall submitting a qualifying offer to Kasperi Kapanen. As Taylor Haase has made abundantly clear, it would've been nonsensical not to do so. Because Kapanen's base salary last season was only $800,000, his qualifying offer amount falls in the $840,000 to $1 million range. Even if Kapanen doesn't sign, the Penguins have retained his rights. That's too cheap of an asset to pass up regardless of what you think of the player.
• I've embraced my role as one of Danton Heinen's biggest proponents, but Hextall was smart to pass on submitting him a qualifying offer. Heinen produced immense value on a bargain-bin $1.1 million contract and nearly scored 20 goals averaging the fewest minutes per game of regular Penguins forwards. An arbitration case surely would have ruled heavily in favor of Heinen's camp. There's still the possibility he returns to the Penguins, but at this point it seems unlikely unless he is willing to take less than he could get on the open market. After the season he just had, I wouldn't count on it.
• Development camp certainly isn't the place to conduct scouting reports. However, I can't help but notice sixth-round pick Luke Devlin standing out among the group. He isn't huge, but he's relatively tall and has a sturdy frame. He moves around really well for his size and has displayed the best shooting and craftiness of anyone in camp. He almost reminds me of a more skillful Drew O'Connor. They have similar strides and posture, but Devlin is a bit shiftier and more creative. I'm keeping my eye on him moving forward.
• I spoke with David Manning, who coached both Devlin and Corey Andonovski at St. Andrew's College (prep high school team), and he couldn't be happier or more proud of both players. When I asked Devlin about Manning, he absolutely raved about him and talked about the complete overhaul (for the better) he put the program through. Robert Thomas, Alex Newhook and Warren Foegele all played for Manning at St. Andrew's and went on to make the NHL.
• Taylor reported the front office has discussed signing Vince Trocheck as a fallback option in the event Malkin doesn't return. Look, Trocheck is a good player, but it's concerning that he's viewed as a viable -- or sensible -- replacement. Last season he scored just one more goal and nine more points than Malkin despite playing, wait for it ... 40 more games! Sure, he's an upgrade defensively. Other than that, yikes. He doesn't have game-breaking finishing ability and doesn't possess anywhere near the offensive skill of Malkin. Not to mention the AAV of his next contract will probably be in the same ballpark as what Malkin gets. Buyer beware.