Who else are the Penguins looking to to address their guard situation?
: Kingerski had an open mailbag on Twitter and was asked about the status of the Penguins goaltender and potential candidates the team would go after.
As covered on NHLRumors.com, Marc-Andre Fleury doesn’t seem like an option at this point. Fleury told reporters in Minnesota that he was tired of moving and staying in Minnesota even as a backup despite the logical fit on the Penguins’ part. So who else are they looking at to replace Tristan Jarry?
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Kingerski wrote that he gets a lot of questions about John Gibson of the Anaheim Ducks. He doesn’t think Gibson will be traded to Pittsburgh from Anaheim with Anaheim’s second-place pick. The trade with Gibson would also cost the Penguins quite a lot in return.
Then there’s Connor Hellbwick. This is a situation to watch because we know he doesn’t want to be part of the rebuild. Now if the penguins make that trade, someone with a no-trade or movement clause might have to go in return.
Other names on there include Fredrik Andersen, Jonathan Quick, Laurent Brossuyt, and Anti Ranta.
Stan Bowman is not an option in Pittsburgh as a general manager
Dan Kingerski of Pittsburgh Hockey now: Kingerski was asked about Stan Bowman being the next general manager of the Pittsburgh Penguins, whose name Andy Strickland grew up with.
As Kingerski stated, he doesn’t want to take away what someone else said, but the move doesn’t make much sense from Pittsburgh’s perspective. Bowman’s record hasn’t been the best lately, especially when it comes to signing players. Replacing Ron Hextall with Bowman would be seen as a sideways move.
Niklas Backstrom’s future in Washington is complicated
Tareq Al-Bashir from The Athletic: (Mailbag) The future surrounding longtime striker Nicklas Backstrom is a little more complicated than we might think.
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Bashir also notes that the context between what Backstrom says and what General Manager Brian McClellan says is very different. Backstrom believes that with no healthy season your hip joint will be at 100 percent. While the GM isn’t sure even with a full extra-thigh training it will be ready to go.
The question will be for Washington, how long will they present Backstrom before they make a decision for him?