During Ron Hextall’s press conference Elliotte Friedman announced the Penguins had signed Johan Larsson. Half a day later and it has been the only evidence of such a signing. We are still awaiting any information about it. Things have died down a bit on the Penguins front since a frenzy of activity the past few days so let’s look into Johan Larsson.
First thing to know is he is a very effective defensive player and has been so since his days in Buffalo. This is the selling point because he is not going to wow anybody with his offensive production.
Last year he finished best on the Coyotes in xGF% among players with 100 minutes or more. It is the Coyotes so it was 49.83%. More impressively he dragged Phil Kessel’s 5v5 xGF% from putrid to respectable, no easy task these days. Phil was a 42.36 xGF% player last year overall. In the 251 minutes Larsson and Kessel were together that number improved to 51.33. Quite the jump.
As I said before offensively Larsson doesn’t have a huge history of offensive production. Last season was probably his best. Between Arizona and Washington he had a 1.82 points per 60 at 5v5. This was a career high and sticks out among many of his other years where he’s been 1.24 or lower in seven of his eight other seasons. I wouldn’t bank on this production.
I would rather target offensively minded players to fill out this roster. I think Larsson would be a better version of Zach Aston-Reese. I’ll also say I’m not exactly looking for any version of Zach Aston-Reese. There is no official confirmation of Larsson signing as of this moment. I would be fine if this didn’t come to fruition. Aston-Reese was making 1.8M when the Penguins traded him for cap space. I would imagine Larsson would come in right around that figure. He was previously at 1.4M and he just had his best offensive season. I guess I just don’t see the need. Give this money to somone like Sonny Milano instead.
The Penguins did sign Josh Archibald. It is a one-way deal for 900k. The one-way doesn’t mean he is NHL bound. It means he will be paid 900k regardless of where he plays. The Penguins can send him down to WB/S. He would have to pass through waivers. I’m hoping it is where he ends up. I don’t have a lot of time for players with self-inflicted myocarditis.
Lastly, the Penguins have nine NHL defenseman on the roster at the moment after the Jan Rutta signing. Hextall has admitted to a future trade being worked on. The team wants to push Marcus Pettersson out the door. I’ve been clear about my desire for it to be Brian Dumoulin. While I’m not in love with Marcus Pettersson as a player at a 4M cap hit, I think he is quietly functional and would be a bigger hole to fill than some think. Something has to give. Jan Rutta being right-handed adds to the John Marino speculation. Marino finished the season playing his best hockey in a few years. I don’t think Jan Rutta was a necessary addition at all given Chad Ruhwedel and Mark Friedman already on the roster. I don’t think Rutta playing top four minutes away from a superstar defenseman, like he did with Hedman, was a necessary path to go down. It will be if Marino is traded. Basically, a best-case scenario is Rutta plays third pairing minutes and does well, but costs way more than Ruhwedel who was fine. Worst case is he is a replacement for Marino and flounders. Fail to see the logic here, especially when the desire to acquire was grit related. At least it wasn’t an Erik Gudbranson contract, I guess.
Thanks for reading!
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