The lakeside cottage is calling. Take a few minutes to catch your breath at the margarita machine before the stifling business of the 2024-25 NHL season begins and the pressure mounts. A year ago, new Pittsburgh Penguins president of hockey operations and general manager Kyle Dubas prolonged the offseason drama until August with the Erik Karlsson trade, but the trade wasn't completed until Aug. 6.
There won't be the same push this summer, with Dubas not willing to spend the future assets he used to acquire Karlsson and not willing to lock the team into a big, long-term contract.
With free-agent fever in full swing and no long-term veterans left on the market to command big money, NHL general managers have shelled out more than $1.2 billion for temporarily unemployed hockey players, forcing even franchise cornerstones Steve Stamkos and Jonathan Marchessault to hire movers and Google Nashville home prices.
The NHL free agency line is already nearing its end.
“I don't think there will be much (further movement). I think most teams are just rounding out the last one or two guys in their lineup,” Nashville Predators general manager Barry Trotz told TSN Radio a few days ago.
The Penguins are in the same situation. Their lineup may already be full, but they have another free agent to target, for the same reason Dubas set his sights on Vladimir Tarasenko before he got a second year and a bigger contract from the Detroit Red Wings.
The Penguins still need a bit more offensive firepower in their lineup. Unless Valtteri Puustinen or Kevin Hayes are capable of a 20-goal season, the Penguins need a top-nine scorer. They also need at least one insurance in case any of their top-six players get injured. With Dubas' current roster configuration, there is no suitable long-term replacement if any of Drew O'Connor, Sidney Crosby, Bryan Rust, Michael Bunting, Evgeni Malkin or Rickard Rakell get injured.
It also means that if one of the wingers ends up colder than the wind in Winnipeg, as Rickard Rakell was for the first 20 games of last season, coach Mike Sullivan won't have good options to promote a player to that position.
The Penguins need one more free agent, and the only player worthy of consideration as capable of filling the needed role is … drum roll please … Tyler Johnson.
Johnson, 33, is not past his prime or injured, but his extended free agency bodes well for Dubas' strategy of signing players to one- or two-year deals. He also has two Stanley Cups he earned during his shortened season with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Johnson is small (5-foot-8, 185 pounds) but makes up for it with speed and hockey IQ. He can score 20 goals on the wing or serve as a pivot on the middle six line.
Last but not least, his leadership in developing the Chicago Blackhawks' young players was highly praised by all. The Penguins are on the brink of a youth development spree and could potentially have two or more young players in the lineup by the end of the season. Johnson is a championship-winning leader who can hold the top of the lineup accountable and interact with the young players. That's not a bad thing, either.
Johnson recorded 17 goals and 31 points in 67 games last season, his third season with the Blackhawks, and he looks to put up similar numbers in 2022-23.
Free agency options are like searching for water in the desert. Kailer Yamamoto scored 20 goals in 2021-22 next to Connor McDavid in Edmonton, but has just 18 goals in 117 games over the past two seasons. Like Johnson, Yamamoto is undersized, but unlike Johnson, he hasn't shown the ability to consistently put the puck in the net. Yamamoto's Seattle Kraken had the fourth-worst offense in the NHL last season, and unfortunately, Yamamoto contributed to that failure.
Daniel Sprong (27) is another free agent with 20 goals on the PuckPedia.com page, but his lack of complete games has forced Seattle and Detroit coaching staffs to limit Sprong's ice time to the fourth-line level. A second-round pick of the Penguins in 2015, Sprong has been bouncing around a lot since former Penguins GM Jim Rutherford traded him for Marcus Pettersson (Pettersson was a reserve defenseman at the time).
Sprong has played the past five seasons with Anaheim, Washington, Seattle and Detroit.
James van Riemsdyk and Max Pacioletti are 36 and not productive in 2023-24. If the Penguins were to move again, only Johnson would make sense. Outside of those three names, the UFA market is lacking in scorers.
If Coach Dubas wants to bolster the Penguins' lineup this season, he's left with only one option.
