CRANBERRY TWP., Pa. — The Pittsburgh Penguins have been watching a couple of players for a period of years. Wednesday, their attractions were requited via free agency and trade.
In a day with raised eyebrows as the Penguins went heavier into free agency than expected and did so with moves that seemed to unbalance the lineup, the Penguins began by acquiring winger Nick Robertson from the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Robertson, 24, is a former teammate of Penguins assistant general manager Jason Spezza and one of the players from Kyle Dubas’s early tenure as the Toronto Maple Leafs GM. In a break from custom, it was Spezza, not Dubas, who spoke to the media.
But Robertson has skills the Penguins might be able to extract for the benefit of all.
“Obviously, that’s something that came up this morning. Nick is a guy I know well personally. The team knows well,” said Spezza. “He’s a guy that brings a lot of energy, can score goals, just overall, a really good player.”
Spezza didn’t confirm that the Penguins have tried to acquire Robertson in the past, but the inference could be made. Robertson had requested a trade out of Toronto on multiple occasions. His connection to the Penguins staff, as well as being a young and skilled player, was too obvious a connection to ignore.
Last season, Robertson managed 16 goals and 16 assists in 78 games despite limited ice time.
“Well, I think with where we’re at, whenever there are young players that are seemingly available or names that there’s connections to, there’s always going to be noise. To be honest, this morning Nick came up, and because we had the space and we had the ability in the picks to make the move quickly, we were able to move fast on it,” said Spezza. “And yeah, has his name come up at times? I think, throughout the league, yes. But today, when teams start signing guys and making moves, they have to move money and players out, and that was the case this morning. We were happy to pounce on it.”
The Penguins didn’t necessarily revamp their roster or take any great strides forward in the rebuild, but they did add serviceable players, though ones who don’t necessarily fit the open roles in natural ways.
The Penguins were the first on the board after noon, signing 35-year-old right-handed D-man Trevor van Riemsdyk to a two-year deal worth $8 million moments after 12 p.m. Van Riemsdyk became the fifth righty on the Penguins roster, and his spry young age compared to others on the blue line seemed both superflous and contrary to the Penguins’ push for players in their 20s.
“(He’s) a guy that can play both sides, has been around the league for a long time–he’s 35 years old,” Spezza said. “You know, he has been in the league and is a guy that I think fits in well with what we’re trying to do.”
The Penguins organization may have hit a home run with their next signing, Declan Carlile, a 26-year-old defenseman who is a scrapper. He signed as an undrafted college free agent with Tampa Bay in 2022 and worked his way to the NHL this season. As the GM of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, Spezza would have been the one with the most knowledge on Carlile, but it was the first left-handed defenseman the Penguins have added this offseason after losing two (Parker Wotherspoon via trade and Ryan Shea to free agency).
In fact, Spezza outright stated that Carlile would replace Shea on the Penguins’ blue line.
“I think (Carlile) has good hockey intelligence, a really good stick, is a good defender, and is a guy that our pro scouting staff has identified for a while now. I think if you saw in Tampa this year when their defensemen went down, when they had a lot of injuries, he was one of the guys that just stepped up and really kept that team afloat and helped them,” Spezza said. “That’s always impressive when young guys can come in, (during) mid parts of the season and help a team stay in the playoff race. He did that, which gave us even more conviction on why we feel like he can come in and be an addition here for us.”
Indeed, Spezza left the door for Shea, but shortly after Spezza’s press conference Wednesday afternoon, the Edmonton Oilers closed that door by signing Shea to a five-year, $20 million deal.
The Penguins’ final signing of the day both made perfect sense, but will leave them vulnerable in their own zone and clog the depth chart. Dubas dished out a one-year, $5 million contract to talented but inconsistent LA Kings winger Andrei Kuzmenko.
After playing five seasons in the KHL, Kuzmenko signed a free agent deal with the Vancouver Canucks and had 39 goals in his first professional season. However, his production plummeted after that, and he’s played with four teams over his four-year NHL career. While his hands are top-line quality, his defensive game could be described as indifferent. Absentee. Or, generously, problematic.
However, the Penguins struck gold by signing the similarly besmirched Anthony Mantha last July and are taking another gamble on the Russian left-winger.
“He’s just somebody who has a history of scoring goals. I think his down low play and his ability to play around the net fits into our style of play,” said Spezza. “I think if you look at the skill set that he has, he can help our power play out in a few different spots. I think everybody will draw the natural connection to Anthony (Mantha), and we hope that we can come in and have success as well, but he’s just a guy that we think will fit in well with the group that we have.
Spezza expounded, tying the coaching staff to the reason that a handful of players had career years last season.
“It’s a guy that we see offensive potential in. (A guy) that we see has great hockey sense, and with Dan (Muse) and his staff and the job they’ve done, I just think it was a good fit for us and gives us the ability to add goals to our lineup,” Spezza said.
Somewhat surprisingly, the Penguins did not get much younger Wednesday. Robertson and Carlile are 26, but Kuzmenki is 30, and van Riemsdyk is 35.
Curiously, the Penguins’ blue line is overloaded with right-handed defensemen. With the addition of van Riemsdyk, the team now has five righties and only one lefty who was an NHL regular last season.
It’s not a typical mix and eschews the preferred lefty-righty balance.
The Spezza presser was likely the conclusion of the Penguins’ day. Their four new players are highlighted by a couple that fit the rebuilding motif, and a couple that could be harbingers of more moves to come. Spezza brushed aside the possibility that Wednesday’s moves portend more significant moves in the near future, especially on defense.
Perhaps Spezza was ready to diffuse the question, or perhaps the Penguins are OK with what they have, regardless of how badly mismatched it appears on paper. And we should not expect to see movement regarding Erik Karlsson and Kris Letang.
“They’re both on the roster, and they’re both good veteran players. I think our D core as a whole–I understand the right-left thing–we’re confident that our D core is getting better,” Spezza said. “We have Sam Girard, who, when he got here last year, found out a few weeks in that he had an injury he had to take care of. He played through that. So we expect Sam to come back at an even higher level.
“Sam has played on his offside at times. We’ll work through the pairs that stand, and the coaching staff’s job is to really figure out who can slide over, who can’t, or if we add more left shots. But with Erik and Kris, we feel like we have two veteran guys who are here and have played good hockey for us for long periods of time.”
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