Pucks N'at Podcast: Is There A Shift In Roster-Building Across The NHL, And Are The Penguins Exploring That?
THN - Pittsburgh Penguins' editors Kelsey Surmacz and Hunter Hodies discuss the shifting landscape of roster-building in the NHL and whether or not it's a viable approach for Kyle Dubas and the Penguins to take.
Video Transcript
You know, you mentioned Thomas Harley.
I think the Stars would be nuts to move on from him.
I think he is a bonafide top pair guy in this league when he is going.
I think if Ky- if you're Kyle Dubas, you have to at least call them.
I would say the same thing for Robertson, too.
Make the call.
You may not have what it takes to pull off a trade.
That's also if Dallas decides to put him on the market, 'cause I agree with you, Dallas should sign him.
I don't think they have a choice but to sign him.
But if somehow things hit a snag, if you're the Penguins, you have to at least call to see what the price is when it comes to a sign and trade in that situation.
You can say the same thing for Robert Thomas.
That's another player that I think would be on the radar.
But a player like that is probably going to cost you more than Robertson.
Centers always cost more.
Teams are always looking for centers every off-season.
And if someone like Thomas is available, probably half the league is going to flock to St. Louis to be like, "Hey, what are you thinking here?"
Because that's a bonafide number one center in the NHL.
Those just don't become available very often.
You know, someone like, you know, Olen Zellweger from the Blue Line, from the Ducks, makes some sense.
He's not playing a lot right now in the playoffs.
He's still only 22 years old.
Left shot D. So that's something that at least makes some sense.
Seven goals, 22 points from this past season, if you wanna potentially put him in a second pair spot.
I do think they're going to trade quite a bit this off-season.
It, that's the way that, you know, you see some teams are building.
You, obviously Kelsey, you need, like, the top high picks.
Like you need, you need at least, you know, one to two to really be a contender.
Maybe even three, of course.
But, you know, you've seen, like, the trend, and Adam Gretz I thought did a great job of this on his Twitter page over the weekend, where a lot of these teams are really, really utilizing the trade market.
And I think that gives an advantage to Kyle Dubas because he's been very good at trading since becoming the Penguins GM/president.
So that's something to look at.
Obviously, they still need more, you know, high-end talent coming in via the draft.
But if you can really hit on your trades, that also goes a long way as well.
It's going to be super, super interesting to see how roster building kind of changes over these, you know, next handful of years, especially with the cap rising so much.
We'll see.
I think that, you know, favors a team like the Penguins.
I don't know if you would agree with me here, but it kind of favors the position they're in, too.
Because I know we've talked about this, it's gonna be hard for them to bottom out without Sidney Cros- with Sidney Crosby still on the roster.
And, you know, given how they played this season, I know a lot of the production came from those veteran guys.
But they're kind of at a point in a lot of their young players' development where they need to be getting NHL minutes and they're gonna be breaking through.
You talked about Avery Hayes.
Let's not forget Rucker McGorty.
I'm kind of low on Felix Hroux at this point.
Yeah.
But I do still think Rucker McGorty is going to be a, a, a part of the picture here.
He hasn't really shown that he shouldn't be, even though there's been some inconsistency.
And then we mentioned Gronek, we mentioned Mersha.
I mean, there's a good chance that a lot of these guys are gonna be breaking through next season.
Tristan Bros, Tanner Howe, you know, Bill Zahn is gonna be probably in the AHL next season.
So there's a laundry list and at some point you gotta give these guys the space to break through on the roster.
I think we're gonna see a little bit of that next season, but then if you can land one of those big impact players, that changes a lot about the short-term and the long-term outlook.
And I think that's kind of the goal here with Kyle Dubas.
My opinion, and feel free to disagree, my opinion on what's happening here is I think they're trying to build a little window of contention for while Sid's still around.
And I'm talking about Stanley Cup contention.
I'm not talking about just playoff contention.
And then I think after Sid retires, what their goal is is to minimize that window by building out all this peripheral talent- Mm-hmm so that they only have to tank for a couple years.
