At the present moment the Penguins don’t look like major players during this offseason. The status quo has them with minimal cap space once they take care of their own restricted free agents, namely Marcus Pettersson. With minimal funds at Rutherford’s disposal it doesn’t appear the team will be very active in free agency. They would need to move out some salary. Fans will immediately rush to the Jack Johnson and Erik Gudbranson contracts as the ones to move, but I’ll believe it when I see it. A Phil Kessel trade is still likelier than either of those two moving on and that isn’t looking likely at the moment. Players like Bryan Rust and Patric Hornqvist also probably have a better chance of being moved than the two albatross defensemen. I don’t view a Patric Hornqvist trade as probable. However, if he was to move and clear space I could absolutely see the following happen

#Penguins have reportedly had conversations with Wayne Simmonds’ agent but only have lukewarm interest. #Flyers

— Sam Carchidi (@BroadStBull) June 24, 2019

The lukewarm interest is because they don’t currently have room because of money and roster spots. As it stands right now the Penguins have too many right wingers. There are realistic scenarios where Mike Sullivan could have Bryan Rust or Patric Hornqvist playing on the fourth line if Jake Guenetzel is playing the right side on the top line. Here is one I have used recently for example:

McCann-Crosby-Guentzel
Kahun-Malkin-Kessel
Simon-Bjugstad-Hornqvist
ZAR-Blueger-Rust

In the unlikely scenario Hornqvist is traded I would absolutely expect the Penguins to be very interested in Wayne Simmonds. Look at the kinds of players the Penguins drafted this past weekend, the Ryan Reaves trade, the talk about “push back”. There’s no chance Rutherford wouldn’t try to regain some of Hornqvist’s tenacity if he moved him.

Is it a good idea? Not really. Simmonds appears to be shot.

He has lost his ability to create offense at 5v5. Outside of the 2015-16 season he has been performing at a replacement level

2014-15: 1.44
2015-16: 1.92
2016-17: 1.14
2017-18: 1.23
2018-19: 1.11

I wouldn’t be bending over backwards to take away power play time from Jake Guentzel to accommodate Wayne Simmonds either.

Here’s a look at Simmonds’ 2018-19 season



There’s also the important factor of how Wayne Simmonds body will hold up. He spent a lot of time playing through injuries over the past few years. Instead of getting treatment he would play through things. There is a cost to both playing through injuries and his style of play. People are rightfully concerned about Hornqvist’s ability to hold up. This applies to Simmonds the same if not more.

If the Penguins are going to move out salary then I would like to see them go in a different direction than a beat up Wayne Simmonds. Although if the Penguins do sign him I think a national TV audience would see Hornqvist pass the baton to Simmonds as Penguins grittiest player



Thanks for reading!

Join the Discussion: » 140 Comments » Post New Comment

» It's their fault

» Still alive, for now

» Going to need some help now

» Penguins giveth Penguins taketh away

» Now or never