DALLAS -- It’s official. The NHL has set the salary cap ceiling for next season at $79.5 million, the floor at $58.8 million.
The Penguins will certainly not have to worry about the latter.
All things considered, that’s about as good as Jim Rutherford could have hoped for. It’s the largest increase in four years. But it’s not going to make the GM’s job too much easier between now and the start of the league’s free agent signing period July 1.
The Penguins already have $70.2 million committed for next season, but still have to sign their restricted free agents. That group includes, most notably, Bryan Rust, Riley Sheahan, Jamie Oleksiak and Tom Kuhnhackl.
The latter three shouldn’t be difficult. Sheahan made $2.075 million in 2017-17, while Oleksiak received $964,688 and Kuhnhackl $625,000.
However, negotiations with Rust could be a little more contentious. Rust’s value is hard to quantify since he’s played every role, done fairly well at each and still managed a career-high 38 points in 69 games. After making just $640,000 in the final year of his entry-level contract, he should be in line for a significant pay raise. Just as a comparison, Conor Sheary received three years and $9 million ($3 million AAV).
No matter how you do the math, if you give Rust $2.5 or $3 million, those four players alone are going to eat up a large chunk of the $9.3 million the Penguins will have available.
“We're going to have our nose right up against the cap," Rutherford told DKPittsburghSports.com late last week before the final cap numbers were announced. "There won't be a lot of activity on July 1. Now, if we get to that period when we can start talking to the UFAs and there's someone who really wants to come here and we really like the player, that's a point in time where I'd maybe look at opening up some cap space and trying to move a guy out to do that."
Keep that last part in mind about “opening up some cap space" and "someone who really wants to come here.”
Usually, it’s only returning players who will afford a hometown discount, but it sounds like the Penguins are looking for players who will be willing to take a little less in free agency for what should be another chance at the Stanley Cup. Basically, the choice is theirs. - Chris Bradford
• In speaking to Rutherford and Patrik Allvin, the Penguins’ first-year director of amateur scouting, the consensus is this is a fairly deep draft but not as much as some would suggest. That said, the Penguins are supremely confident they can land a quality prospect at No. 53 and even at No. 64 in the third round. Do not, however, expect any of this weekend’s draft picks to make any sort of contribution at the NHL level this season. Whoever they get is still a few years off. - Bradford
• The Vegas Flu is real. Or at least it was last season when the Golden Knights went 29-10-2 at T-Mobile Arena.
Perhaps visiting teams took the expansion team a little lightly. Or it’s quite possible a hockey team full of young men in their 20s and 30s may have indulged in Vegas’ famed night life.
That’s not to suggest that’s what happened to the Penguins last December in Sin City when they lost 2-1 after getting a day off the night before. The Penguins won’t even be afforded that luxury next season according to the NHL 2018-19 schedule which was released Thursday night.
When they visit Vegas Jan. 19, it will be at the end of a long nine-day, five-game trip out west that will also take them through Anaheim, Los Angeles, San Jose and Arizona. Nope, the Penguins will get one even better.
Right after the Knights game, the Penguins will receive their bye week and won’t play again until Jan. 28. Here’s thinking that quite a few players may stick around Vegas for a few days. A week is a long time to get over a flu. - Bradford
PIRATES
• Gregory Polanco is batting .267 with a .861 OPS, nine RBIs and five walks to eight strikeouts in 12 games since moving further from the plate on June 6. Clint Hurdle, hitting coach Jeff Branson and assistant coach Jeff Livesey presented Polanco with the idea at the beginning of a three-game series against the Dodgers.
However, it was Hurdle's idea to finally make the change. Polanco had never given much thought to moving away from the plate, despite his long swing being a recurring problem over the past three seasons. The 26-year-old was receptive to the idea, and it's made a remarkable difference. Polanco has as many hits on the inner third of the plate in those 12 games as he did the entire season before making the change, according to Brooks Baseball.
"It feels a lot better," Polanco said. "It's easier to see what's a ball and strike, and it's helped me get to those inside pitches. I'm more open-minded now. I've tried a lot of things I've never tried before. You have to do that. I had to adjust." -- Lance Lysowski at PNC Park
• Trevor Williams has learned not to take baseball too seriously. Yes, it's his livelihood, and he's passionate about his craft. But he has a unique perspective that helped him during his month-long struggle. His father, Richard, was given 60-90 days to live in 2015 after being diagnosed with Stage 4 B-cell lymphoma. He's now in full remission. Cory Hahn, a close friend of Williams from Arizona State, is paralyzed from the chest down after breaking his neck when sliding into second base during the third inning of his first collegiate game. -- Lysowski
• Steven Brault had his agent contact the Pirates during the offseason about him possibly singing the national anthem before a game this season. Brault thought it was as good a time as any since he had all but secured a spot on the 25-man roster this season. -- Lysowski
• Max Moroff had to have his parents ship him an outfield glove when he was notified he'd be playing left field for Triple-A Indianapolis. The Pirates considered moving Moroff to the outfield in 2016. However, there was still a need for an infielder. Now, with Kevin Newman and Kevin Kramer in Indy, the organization chose to make the change. -- Lysowski
STEELERS
• July is just around the corner and there has been no movement on either side of the Le'Veon Bell talks. This is by design on the part of the Steelers. Right now, they hold the cards and they'll let things continue to tick down toward the July 16 deadline to get something done before contacting Bell's agent again. Bell will then have to decide if he wants to roll the dice again this season and hope he stays healthy, take the Steelers' offer or counter with another of his own. Working in the Steelers' favor this year is the fact Bell will be 27 next offseason. He had more of the bargaining power on his side last year when he was still just 25. But now Bell has to start looking at the long-term possibilities of getting a big contract on the open market at 27. -- Dale Lolley
• Looking for a sleeper for training camp? Undrafted rookie linebacker Matthew Thomas impressed the coaching staff in the offseason workouts. Chris Carter took a good long look at him here. As noted by Carter, Thomas looked lost at times last year in college. But he has raw athletic ability and the Steelers liked the way he picked things up in the spring. We'll see if he can carry that over to training camp. -- Lolley
• Rod Woodson made some headlines earlier this week when he said the Steelers lacked playmakers on defense and haven't had one since Troy Polamalu, while making an appearance on the NFL Network. The Steelers haven't had a defensive back intercept more than three passes since Polamalu had seven in 2010 when he was named NFL Defensive Player of the Year. That's been a long-standing problem. They haven't had a cornerback intercept more than three passes since Deshea Townsend had four in 2004. Part of the reason for that is Dick LeBeau always valued corners who could tackle over guys who could intercept passes. The Steelers tried to get some guys who could take the ball away in Senquez Golson, Doran Grant and Gerod Holliman in the 2015 draft. That didn't work out. Now, they hope to find a happy medium in their secondary. But tackling is more of a priority, though Mike Tomlin stressed taking the ball away throughout the offseason program, as well. -- Lolley
HOUNDS
• Midfielder Ben Zemanski will not play Saturday in Charleston and is almost certainly out Wednesday at Louisville, as well, with the lower-body injury that forced him from the 3-0 win over the New York Red Bulls II after only 20 minutes. His loss could be offset by a return for midfielder Mouhamed Dabo. Coach Bob Lilley said Dabo was cleared to play last week, but he was kept out of the 18 active players on game day as a coach’s decision. -- Matt Grubba
PITT
• Pitt’s flurry of recruiting action might have seemed sudden, but Panthers offensive coordinator Shawn Watson pointed out that the blitz of verbal commitments — now at 13 for 2019 — that began last Friday wasn’t totally unexpected to the staff, though the sheer number of players was surprising. “What we did was stick to the plan. We did our due diligence evaluating and following up, and we built relationships. … What’s really cool is that run last weekend, that’s a lot of hard work that wasn’t shown yet, and it was really gratifying to see that those relationships did pay off. We targeted the right guys for us.” -- Grubba
• No one is expecting another weekend like the last one for football recruiting, but it has still been a busy week with recruits touring the Pitt side of Rooney Sports Complex and visiting the campus in Oakland. Pat Narduzzi and staff are hosting their 7-on-7 and Big Man Challenge team camps Saturday, the last of a busy month of hosting high schoolers on the South Side. The next recruiting dead period for Bowl Subdivision teams begins Monday and runs through July 24, so a few more commitments might pop up before the weekend ends. -- Grubba
DUQUESNE
• While visiting last Friday with Dan Burt for the feature on new scholarship player Kiersten Elliott, I also got a chance to check out some of the action in the team camp hosted by the men’s basketball program. While many local teams were present — Baldwin and Highlands both were in action during my visit to the Palumbo Center — one of the teams coach Keith Dambrot was keeping an eye on that morning was powerhouse Kennedy Catholic, which has plenty of prospects but was playing without Pitt target Oscar Tshiebwe, who was attending a national camp. Dambrot also grabbed a seat courtside to watch five-time City League champion Allderdice, a team with a couple of talented shooters in Bobby Clifford and Jackson Blaufeld, both in the Class of 2019. -- Grubba
• Talk about all hands on deck. With a shortage of officials for the high school players during that Friday morning camp session, Burt hopped out of his office and grabbed the whistle to help out. The women’s team’s coach used to be a referee, and he seemed to enjoy being back out on the court in that capacity. Burt said after one game: “They were going to try and pay me for it, and I said, ‘No way, this is fun!’” -- Grubba
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