At least some change is inevitable for the Penguins this offseason.
On July 21, every team in the league (minus Vegas) will lose one player to the incoming Seattle Kraken in the expansion draft.
Teams will be required to submit their lists of protected players to the league on July 17. Each team is able to protect one goaltender, and can opt to protect either eight skaters overall or seven forwards and three defensemen. For the Penguins, the latter option makes the most sense, especially given that John Marino and P.O Joseph are exempt from being chosen and don't have to be protected.
Some difficult decisions lie ahead for management when it comes to which players go on those protected lists.
And with the season over, the realization is setting in among the team that one of them is going to end up in Seattle this summer.
"Now it is, for sure," Mike Matheson said when I asked if the expansion draft was on the minds of players. "Going through the season and into the playoffs, I think it was far off in the distance. Now that we're in the offseason, that's kind of the next thing on the schedule. That is one of the toughest parts about going into this offseason. We felt like we did have a great group and ability to make a strong run in the playoffs. I think we played well. Five out of the six games, we outplayed them for large stretches of those games. To be sitting here not playing is really tough to digest. That's what makes change that could possibly happen, whether its through the expansion draft or other means, tough. Because we felt like this was a great group that could have done a lot of damage."
Marcus Pettersson noted that players know more what to expect this time around after going through the experience of Vegas' expansion draft, but still said that it's going to be "a tough situation."
"It's something you can't really speculate and have your mind on all day," Pettersson said of the draft. "You have to take one day as it comes and get better every day. Everybody knows its coming up. Guys are trying to not think of it too much."
For some, the sting of the first-round exit is still too fresh to even start thinking about the expansion draft.
"At the end of the day, I don't think that's on anyone's mind right now," Brandon Tanev said. "I think the loss and getting eliminated from the playoffs is still weighing on guys more than the expansion draft. It might be in the back of guys' minds, but it's tough to say."
"I haven't thought too much about it," Jared McCann said. "We had a very great team this year, we really did. It's going to suck to see somebody go. We have a lot of talent on this team, and I think a lot of guys are going to get a look."
