Salary Cap Deep Dive: Pittsburgh Penguins
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Navigating the salary cap is one of the most important tasks for a front office. Teams that can avoid total cap chaos by walking the tightrope of inking players to deals that match their value (or compensate for future value without breaking the bank) remain successful. Those that don't often see struggles and front office changes.
PHR will look at every NHL team and give a thorough look at their cap situation heading into the 2024-25 season. This will focus more on players who are regulars on the roster versus those who may find themselves shuttling between the AHL and NHL. All cap figures are courtesy of PuckPedia. We're currently covering the Metropolitan Division, next up is the Penguins.
Pittsburgh Penguins
Current Cap Hit:$88,037,434 (above the $88MM Upper Limit)
Entry-Level Contracts
F Rutger McGroarty (three years, $950K)
Potential Bonuses
McGroarty: $500K
McGroarty was recently acquired from Winnipeg after the winger told the Jets he wouldn't sign with them. He should have an opportunity to push for a roster spot right away (or at least be the first recall from the minors). Bonus-wise, the exact structure of the $500K isn't publicized but it's likely two 'A' bonuses ($425K in total) and $75K in games played. If he's a regular, he should get the games played one at a minimum while his role will go a long way toward determining if he has a shot at one of the 'A' bonuses.
Signed Through 2024-25, Non-Entry-Level
F Anthony Beauvillier ($1.25MM, UFA)
F Lars Eller ($2.45MM, UFA)
F Cody Glass ($2.5MM, RFA)
F Matthew Nieto ($900K, UFA)
F Drew O'Connor ($925K, UFA)
D Marcus Pettersson ($4.025MM, UFA)
F Jesse Puljujarvi ($800K, UFA)
D Matt Grzelcyk ($2.75MM, UFA)
Glass was acquired from Nashville in a cap-clearing move from them this summer. He's only one season removed from a 35-point effort but struggled last year. He'll need to get back to his 2022-23 level if he has a shot at getting a qualifying offer, one that would carry arbitration rights. As things stand, he's a non-tender candidate. Eller remains a serviceable third-line center most nights, a role he has held for most of his career. However, he'll be 36 when this deal is up and with offensive production usually under 35 points, he's probably going to be going year-to-year moving forward at or slightly below this price tag. Beauvillier is also coming off a rough year between three separate teams, resulting in a $2.75MM pay cut. There's room for him to rebound and it wouldn't be shocking to see him land a multi-year deal next summer with a price tag above $2MM at a minimum.
O'Connor is coming off of his best season offensively by far after notching 33 points in 2023-24. While both sides will want to see if this is repeatable before approaching extension talks, if he can maintain those numbers, he could triple that price tag heading into next season. Nieto missed most of last season due to injury and is month-to-month heading into the start of the season, meaning he could land on LTIR to get the Penguins cap compliant. Given the injuries, he'll probably be looking at a contract close to this price tag again next summer. Puljujarvi was a later-season signing last year and at this point, is simply looking to establish himself as a full-time NHL player once again. A small raise could be doable if he does that.
Pettersson is now the most notable pending UFA on the roster. He logged over 22 minutes a game last season while reaching 30 points for the first time, certainly a positive heading into early negotiations. He'll be entering his age-29 year next season so his next deal could push past the $5MM mark on a longer-term agreement. Grzelcyk is looking to rebuild some value after a tough season in Boston. If he does, he could get back to the near-$3.7MM AAV from his past deal.
Signed Through 2025-26
F Noel Acciari ($2MM, UFA)
D Sebastian Aho ($775K, UFA)
F Michael Bunting ($4.5MM, UFA)
F Kevin Hayes ($3.571MM, UFA)*
F Blake Lizotte ($1.85MM, UFA)
F Evgeni Malkin ($6.1MM, UFA)
G Alex Nedeljkovic ($2.5MM, UFA)
*-Philadelphia is retaining an additional $3.571MM on Hayes' contract.
Malkin's contract went to the wire two years ago and it wound up being a case of term being used to keep the cap hit down. So far, he has provided a very strong return on the deal but he's now 38 and showing signs of slowing down. That could make the final couple of seasons a bit tougher to deal with from a value perspective.
Bunting was acquired at the trade deadline as part of the Jake Guentzel trade and seemed to fit in better with the Penguins than he did in Carolina, coming close to averaging a point per game following the swap. Part of the challenge last summer for him was trying to argue that he could produce away from Toronto's top line where he had spent the bulk of his still-limited NHL career (his first two full seasons at the top level). But Bunting managed to produce at a similar rate last year and if he has a couple more seasons around that level of production (he had 55 points in 2023-24), he should have a case at a longer-term deal next time out at a price tag closer to the $6MM mark.
Hayes was a faceoff ace for St. Louis last season but saw his point total nearly cut in half compared to 2022-23, resulting in the Blues parting with a second-round pick to shed the rest of the contract. Assuming he stays in a bottom-six role, his Pittsburgh portion of the contract is about what his market value might be in 2026. Acciari had a quiet first season with the Penguins on their fourth line. He'll need a bounce-back effort to have a shot at matching this price tag even though he's above average at the faceoff dot. Lizotte, meanwhile, was non-tendered by the Kings after a quiet season but his track record as an effective bottom-six piece helped earn this agreement. He'll need to get back to scoring double-digit goals per season if he wants to cross the $2MM mark.
Aho came over from the Islanders in free agency, getting a one-way salary for the fourth and fifth straight seasons. Until he locks down a full-time top-six spot, however, he's likely to stay close to the league minimum moving forward.
Nedeljkovic took over the starting job down the stretch last season, helping him earn this deal to avoid testing free agency. He has been hit or miss throughout his still relatively brief NHL career and will need two more seasons like last year to have a shot at getting back to that upper echelon of platoon options.
Signed Through 2026-27
F Sidney Crosby ($8.7MM, UFA)
D Erik Karlsson ($9.999MM, UFA)*
*-San Jose is retaining an additional $1.5MM on Karlsson's contract.
Many expected Crosby to sign a contract extension on July 1st but it wound up taking more than two full months before he put pen to paper on this deal, maintaining the same cap hit he has had since 2008. He's entering the final season of a now-illegal 12-year contract and at the time it was signed, some wondered if those last couple of years could be tough from a value perspective given that he's entering his age-37 season. Considering he's coming off yet another season of averaging more than a point per game (something he's done in all 19 years), those concerns were unfounded, helping him earn this extension.
Karlsson, as expected, wasn't able to match the 101 points he put up in his final season with San Jose. However, with 56, he was still well above average in that regard. It's going to be next to impossible for the 34-year-old to provide surplus value on his cap hit but as long as he's still one of the higher-end offensive players among NHL blueliners, they'll do okay value-wise. He's not a $10MM player at this point but he's not necessarily too far off that mark either.
