Behind The Net

Room to Move
By Bob Grove

One year ago this month, Evgeni Malkin was the Conn Smythe Trophy winner as MVP of the Stanley Cup playoffs. When the Penguins were knocked out of the 2010 playoffs, he was trade bait in some circles.

Certainly the voracity of that argument would not have been the same had the 23-year-old center been coming off another spectacular post-season performance or, at least, a third consecutive 100-point season. But the durable Malkin missed 15 games with injuries, amassed a career-low 77 points while playing the entire season without the benefit of consistently productive wingers, spent too much time in the penalty box and had a forgettable playoff run.

All of that, when combined with the Penguins' premature playoff exit, gave the idea some legs. After all, the Penguins' decision to sink $21.4 million per year into three centers—Malkin, Sidney Crosby and Jordan Staal—is a bold one, and no one can be blamed for wondering if that kind of salary structure can be sustained in the salary cap era.

The Penguins have an annual cap hit of $17.4 million tied up in Crosby and Malkin, the most of any two teammates in the NHL, with Washington's Alexander Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom ($16.2 million) a close second.

The Penguins have made two Stanley Cup Final appearances and won one championship with Crosby, Malkin and Staal down the middle, and none is near his prime. This was the first season in which Malkin and Staal earned the big money, but still it's not time to blow up the salary plan.

No matter how difficult it is to fill in the roster spots around the big-money players, one thing will never change: the Penguins won't win a playoff series when Crosby and Malkin struggle to produce points, Staal is injured or less than 100 percent and Marc-Andre Fleury struggles to make the big save. All of that happened against Montreal.

But now to that pesky question about finding what the Penguins need: a shut down defenseman and someone (or two) to cash in on all those Crosby and Malkin passes – and with only $11 million in cap space to find them. That means $10 million realistically, because GM Ray Shero is not going to start the season at the cap limit and therefore without room to maneuver when the need arises.

With only three NHL regulars signed for next season (Kris Letang, Brooks Orpik and Alex Goligoski), defense will be the biggest priority while Sergei Gonchar and Mark Eaton remain without extensions. Among unrestricted free agents, Ottawa's Anton Volchenkov ($2.5 million this past season), Boston's Dennis Seidenberg ($2.2 million), Nashville's Dan Hamhuis ($2.0 million) and Phoenix's Zbynek Michalek ($1.2 million) would all be nice to have, but all figure to get raises while drawing plenty of attention from other teams.

Unfortunately, it's a miserable season to be looking for free agent wingers. Thirty-eight-year-old left wing Ray Whitney ($3.5 million) would be a nice fit in the short term, and right wing Lee Stempniak ($2.5 million) is an intriguing but somewhat risky candidate in that he's run really hot and really cold over the past few seasons in St. Louis, Toronto and Phoenix.

One intriguing possibility is that of making a deal with the league's most cap-stressed team – the Chicago Blackhawks. The Hawks are already over the cap for next season and have to jettison salary, and unless they can find buyers for the overpriced pair of Brian Campbell and Cristobal Huet, it's possible they might part with either left wing Kris Versteeg (two years left at $3.0 million) or left wing Patrick Sharp (two years left at $3.9 million).

At any rate, Mark Letestu and Ben Lovejoy (if he can be re-signed) figure to get every chance to become NHL regulars, and Deryk Engelland might not be far behind. And all of them should have the chance to pass the puck to Malkin.