PENGUINS

The first day of free agency came and went without the Penguins making a flashy, headline-grabbing move that is common on July 1 around the NHL.

That wasn't by accident.

Assistant general manager Jason Spezza made clear on Wednesday that the Penguins entered free agency with a plan, and they didn't stray from it.

"We're trying to stay disciplined with our approach," Spezza said. "We have a plan. ... We have to make sure that we continue to have room for young guys to come in, and for us it's making sure that we're being really smart with what we're doing at this point. We feel like we're a strong team now and getting even stronger as we add players, but not really making long term commitments to guys and not doing things that we may regret in years past. Everything we do is thought out, everything we do is taking an eye on now, but also on the future as well."

The Penguins added pieces throughout the day, signing winger Andrei Kuzmenko for one year, defensemen Trevor van Riemsdyk and Declan Carlile both for two years, and acquiring restricted free agent winger Nick Robertson in a trade with Toronto, in addition to Tuesday's move of acquiring defenseman Kaedan Korczak from Vegas in exchange for Parker Wotherspoon.

The day also saw a number of Penguins from last season's team find new homes, with Ryan Shea signing in Edmonton, Noel Acciari in Philadelphia, Connor Clifton in Boston and Stuart Skinner in Winnipeg.

Rather than dramatically reshaping the roster, the moves continued the same philosophy Kyle Dubas has stressed of improving the roster where possible while avoiding long-term deals in order to maintain flexibility for bigger opportunities they arise, or to keep spots open for younger players in the future -- or as Dubas called it on Friday, building "brick-by-boring-brick."

That doesn't mean the front office believes its work is finished.

The most glaring need entering free agency was the imbalance on defense. After the trade of Wotherspoon and loss of Shea in free agency, the Penguins are severely lacking on the left side of the blue line, a need that wasn't exactly fixed with the additions of the left-handed Carlile or the right-handed van Riemsdyk, who does play on his off side. Spezza acknowledged the versatility of some of the right-handed defensemen they have, but he again emphasized patience in the process.

"We're a long time until the start of the season," he said. "It's July 1, so there is time to move things around."

The Penguins continue to explore trade possibilities around the league, though Spezza declined to discuss any specific individual targets for obvious reasons. 

"We're always in on everything," Spezza said. "We're going to continue to investigate everything that's out there."

Looking at the current roster would seem to suggest that there are still moves to come. They have an abundance of wingers, and need to upgrade their left-handed defense. PuckPedia projects the current roster at a $78.5 million cap hit, giving them roughly $25.5 million in space.

The cap space isn't really the issue. It's, again, the desire to avoid anchoring themselves to long-term deals with older players, when they hope to have younger players take those spots over the next few years. The 50-contract limit is also, well, limiting. They're currently sitting at 40 of their 50 allotted contracts, and that doesn't count the eight restricted free agents they've qualified. 

That would all add up to suggest that trades are still likely to come. More "brick-by-boring-brick" building over the next several months.

If Wednesday was any indication, the Penguins are comfortable letting the rest of the offseason unfold at their own pace.