The Pens have gotten a lot done, even in the quiet time of year

Checking on the Penguins’ off-season checklist, it’s the dead period for non-playoff teams but some items have been completed

The period from mid-April until June can be the loneliest time of year for the teams that don’t qualify for the playoffs. Even during the dog days of summer in August there’s always the possibility of a free agent signing or trade to break the news. But during the NHL playoffs? Pretty dead if your team isn’t involved.

Despite that, in the last month since we’ve published the Penguins’ 2024 off-season checklist, there has been a lot of total movement for the team in the last few weeks. Let’s check back in on the progress as a reminder and to kill some time before the more active parts of the off-season begin.

Step 1: Any staffing changes?

Assistant coaches Todd Reirden and Mike Vellucci both see their contracts run out, and the staff could probably use a freshening up on some levels (to say the least). Other staffers may come or go, any announcements on that could be forthcoming in the somewhat near future about who might be moving on.

The Pens announced in early May that they decided to part ways with Reirden, effective immediately to free him up to seek new opportunities. Some in the national media were quick to speak of as much of a “rift” between head coach Mike Sullivan and GM/President of Hockey Ops Kyle Dubas over the decision, but others in local media have said the relationship is as steady and stable as ever.

Either way, the Pens will have a new face on the bench and have to re-think their power play now that Reirden is gone.

Vellucci’s status, interestingly enough, has remained unanswered. He’s interviewed for positions with other teams in recent summers and won’t have a contract soon and will be free to depart if he wants. But being as Vellucci wasn’t shown the door at the same time that Reirden was dismissed, it would seem the Pens still have some appetite or at least are still considering hanging onto their other primary assistant coach.

Reirden exiting stage right is the biggest development of the off-season. It’s not unexpected that someone would have to pay for Pittsburgh having the 30th ranked power play this season, and the main coaching triumvirate in Pittsburgh of Sullivan-Reirden-Vellucci could be at their end. Those three have been together with the Pens for the last four years —which is practically two complete coaching cycles in NHL parlance these days — so change makes sense. It was time for freshening up, many wanted even more significant changes.

Step 2: Lottery draft results

1. The lottery draft is still TBD for either May 7th or 8th. There are two options for the Penguins:

2. They win the lottery. But a winning team can only move up 10 selections, so that would mean going from 14th to picking fourth. There is only a 3.2% chance of this happening.

They lose the lottery, stay at pick 14 and at which case the selection is transferred to San Jose as part of the Erik Karlsson trade. There is a 96.8% chance of this scenario playing out.

Choice No. 2 happened, as the odds pointed heavily towards. The Pens’ long-shot to sneak into a top-5 pick via a lottery ball bounce wasn’t to be this year, so San Jose gets Pittsburgh’s first round pick and that part of the trade is concluded.

Step 3: Moderately cheer for Carolina in the playoffs

The Penguins have a slightly vested interest in the 2024 playoffs, even though they are not involved.

If the Carolina Hurricanes win three rounds, Pittsburgh then takes Carolina’s first round pick (which would be 31st or 32nd overall, pending whether the Canes lost or won the Stanley Cup). If Carolina is eliminated within the first three rounds, the Pens get a second round pick (44th overall).

A difference of 12 or 13 slots isn’t that big of a deal with how the NHL draft tends to play out with value, but it’s something to track at least. Many will be rooting for Carolina based off the Jake Guentzel and Jordan Staal connection, and that’s only enhanced since the Penguins could actually benefit if the ‘Canes go on a run this spring. Carolina is the current betting favorite to win the Stanley Cup at +550 going into the playoffs.

Well, this one crashed and burned. Carolina fell down 0-3 to the Rangers and ended up bowing out in six games. It easily could have been longer, Carolina was up 3-1 in the third period of Game 6, the Hurricanes were about 15 game minutes away to forcing an “anything could happen” Game 7 with all the momentum of winning three straight games — until Chris Kreider struck with a clutch natural hat trick to end the series in a shocking manner.

And just like that, the best draft pick Pittsburgh will get in the Jake Guentzel trade is the 44th overall selection next month. Yikes. Dubas had better be right on some of the prospects he liked in that trade, for trading away a top piece at the deadline the Pens aren’t setup to replace Guentzel with any blue chip pieces. Maybe the 31st or 32nd pick wouldn’t have been much better, but on the surface a “first round pick” in return sounds so much better to have.

Step 4: Buyouts and early trades

Kyle Dubas is on record saying he strongly wishes to avoid having to go the buyout route and incur the added penalties that come with it, so this likely will be a period that clicks by with no activity by the Pens. Pittsburgh already has a Jeff Petry salary retention via trade and Jack Johnson buyout penalty for dead space for 2024-25 on the books.

There have been no trades yet. Buyouts remain highly unlikely. So far the Pens have stuck to taking care of their own imprending free agents; both Sam Poulin and Valtteri Puustinen have re-signed for team-friendly salaries on two-year contracts. Pittsburgh also signed their prospect Tristan Broz and organizational depth in net via Filip Larsson since the end of the regular season. Not the most exciting of times, but a few housekeeping bits taken care of early in the cycle.

Step 5: Make a decision at goalie...again

Unless there’s news of an Alex Nedeljkovic re-signing, we can set a timer on this for the time period of about June 20th - July 5th as far as when decisions will have to be made for direction the team in net for next season.