ANAHEIM, Calif. -- The Penguins plan to send a full complement of scouts, coaches and front-office personnel to the NHL Draft in June.
Makes perfect sense. After all, who would would turn down the chance to spend a summer weekend in Montreal?
Whether those staffers will have enough work to keep them busy is a whole other issue, though.
The Penguins have traded away their first-, second- and seventh-round choices in the draft, which means that, barring a deal after the season to add a selection or two, they will have only four.
There's nothing new about that -- Jim Rutherford's philosophy of trying to contend for as many Stanley Cups as possible while the Sidney Crosby-Evgeni Malkin window is open has been in place from the day he was hired to replace Ray Shero in 2014 -- but it does explain why the Penguins put such an emphasis on pursuing undrafted college players who showed NHL potential during their time in school.
"This is an important area for us, because we trade a lot of draft picks in a win-now situation, Rutherford said. "Anytime we can pick up college free agents -- or any free agents, European or junior free agents -- that's a bonus for us. That offsets draft picks that we move out."
College free agents who have signed with the Penguins and played for them in recent years include Conor Sheary, Carter Rowney, Zach Aston-Reese and Casey DeSmith.
Rutherford did not name any of the collegians the Penguins plan to target, but the top undrafted players who could be on the market in coming weeks include the likes of junior forward Johnny Walker of Arizona State and Bowling Green senior defenseman Alec Rauhauser.
Scott Young, the Penguins' director of player development, spearheads their effort to identify and recruit promising college players. (Young and pro/special assignment scout Kevin Stevens are credited with convincing Rutherford of the merits of trading for the rights to defenseman John Marino, then an Edmonton prospect, last summer.)
"That's one of (Young's) big jobs, and he's really good at it," Rutherford said. "We're on top of that."
Of course, the Penguins don't sign every college free agent that they pursue, but Rutherford noted that the paucity of quality prospects in the organization is a good selling point.
"This is a very good place for college free agents to come because we give them a chance right away," he said. "Our track record shows it. And we don't have a lot of guys in the pipeline because of moving draft picks, so it can work not only for the player, but also for the Penguins."
MORE PENGUINS
• Justin Schultz, whose pro career was revived after the Penguins acquired him from Edmonton at the trade deadline in 2016, will be an unrestricted free agent this summer, and most indications now are that the Penguins will allow him to walk. Schultz has dealt with serious injuries in each of the past two seasons and has not been much of an offensive force this season, putting up just two goals and six assists in 39 games. (He does not have a point in his past 21 games and has not scored a power-play goal in his past 148.) Despite the uncertainty about his future, however, Schultz insists he has not thought much about how the offseason will play out. "Right now, I'm just focused on each game, trying to play my best," he said. "Helping this team win. That's my mindset right now. (Play) this season, and try to get another Stanley Cup. ..... I'm just excited about this team and this opportunity we have. I'm sure that, with a winning season, everything will take care of itself. I'm not too worried." Schultz, by the way, is one of just five unrestricted-free-agents-to-be in the entire organization. The others are recently acquired forwards Patrick Marleau and Sheary and minor-league forwards Kevin Roy and Philip Varone. Marleau, Sheary and Varone joined the Penguins as the deadline approached. -- Molinari
• Penn State center Nikita Pavlychev is one of the most intriguing prospects on the Penguins' organizational depth chart, in part because he's the only one who is 6 foot 7, 225 pounds. Pavlychev, a seventh-round draft choice in 2015, initially projected as strictly a defensive forward, but has flashed some offensive ability over the course of his college career, despite being limited to seven goals and seven assists in 27 games this season. Whether the Penguins will offer him a contract after the Nittany Lions' season concludes remains to be seen, however. "We've watched him real close and we haven't made a final decision (on trying to sign him)," Rutherford said. If the Penguins would decide against doing so, it wouldn't be a surprise to see Minnesota be one of the teams making a run at him. Wild GM Bill Guerin took a keen interest in Pavlychev's development during his days as an assistant GM with the Penguins. -- Molinari
PIRATES
• Kyle Stark's salary as Neal Huntington's assistant GM, I'm told down here, was $700,000. That's an astronomical figure for that position with most teams. What's more, it was on a guaranteed contract, meaning he had to be paid $1.4 million to go away. Just in case anyone was wondering what kind of a grip Stark had on Huntington. -- Dejan Kovacevic in Bradenton, Fla.
• I'm hearing here that there's already been a seismic shift in how money's allocated through the minor leagues, with much more to come. Meaning less spent on lavishly catered meals, military-type instruction, mental coaches and other Stark-rooted weirdness, and more toward actual expert-level baseball instruction. Coaches at the lower levels weren't being paid anywhere near the industry norm, and that was because Huntington and Stark found the aforementioned weirdness to be important. That said, I'm also told Travis Williams and Ben Cherington haven't gone nearly far enough toward fixing this. Yet. -- DK
• Starling Marte's very happy to be with the Diamondbacks. He was even unhappier with the Pirates than I'd realized. I'll leave that there. Suffice it to say, there was no way to keep him. (Doesn't mean a better replacement couldn't have been found, by the way. Separate subject.) -- DK
• Among the Pirates' chief worries about Chris Archer, and one they aren't likely to express publicly, is that he's struggled far too often since his arrival in Pittsburgh with routine fastball command and, within that, hasn't found a way to stabilize that. At age 31, that's alarming. Maybe Oscar Marin, the new pitching coach, can help. We'll see. But other teams are aware of this, as well, and it's undoubtedly hurt his potential trade value. -- DK
• Spoke with an American League scout here Thursday, one who's long been assigned to the Pirates among other teams. Asked for the Pirates' prognosis for the coming season, he replied: "They'll be OK if they pitch like they can. I honestly believe they've got enough hitting to be competitive, and they might be a little better at catching the ball. But I worry about that pitching. We'll see what the new guy can do." By that, he meant Marin. -- DK
STEELERS
• The Steelers worked themselves into a pickle with nose tackle Javon Hargrave. Hargrave is a four-year starter with the team, which selected him in the third-round of the 2017 draft. But he has been a starter as a nose tackle. As I wrote Wednesday, the NFL salary cap will get a significant increase in 2020 if a new CBA is signed. The issue the Steelers will have is whether Hargrave wants to continue to be a nose tackle -- and make nose tackle money -- or whether he thinks he can be paid more on the open market as a pass rushing defensive tackle. He's recorded 14.5 sacks in his four seasons, including 10.5 the past two seasons. The difference in the two spots is probably about $2 to $4 million per season, so it's significant. According to a source, the Steelers had internal talks last year about giving Hargrave a contract extension, but that idea was nixed at the highest levels. The Steelers wouldn't have had to pay Hargrave the $12 to $14 million per season he could get on the open market this year had they signed him last year. Now, that could be the going rate. -- Dale Lolley in Indianapolis
• The Steelers have already been informed by the NFL that they'll be playing in the Hall of Fame Game in Canton Aug. 6. But it hasn't been announced yet because the NFL hasn't figured out who the opponent will be. Part of the problem for the league is the split induction ceremony. The five modern era inductees, which includes Troy Polamalu, and the five Centennial Class coaches and contributors, which includes Bill Cowher, will be inducted Aug. 8. The 10-player Centennial Class, which includes Donnie Shell, will be inducted Sept. 18. And the league wants that Sept. 18 induction ceremony to be special, too. So there are some logistics to work out -- including who will play the Steelers Aug. 6. -- Lolley
• One of the things that's been the buzz at the NFL Scouting Combine this week is the quarterback carousel that's about to take place this offseason with even Tom Brady perhaps changing teams. It's even significant for the Steelers, who aren't in the market for a quarterback this year. But given Ben Roethlisberger's age, they soon will be. And if a number of teams lock up new quarterbacks this offseason, they won't be in the market next year. We're also expected to have four more quarterbacks selected in the first round of this year's draft, taking those teams out of the QB market in the near future. It will be very interesting to watch the game of musical chairs that takes place starting March 18 when free agency begins. -- Lolley
