COLUMBUS, Ohio -- At this point it's no secret the Penguins need to augment their group of forwards with a player that can put the puck in the back of the net on a somewhat consistent basis.
Since the beginning of February the Penguins have scored 37 goals.
Sidney Crosby (7), Bryan Rust (7), Evgeni Malkin (6) and Jake Guentzel (5) account for 25 of them.
Danton Heinen (3) and Chad Ruhwedel (2) are the only other Penguins skaters with multiple tallies in that time.
Kasperi Kapanen has gone 17 consecutive games without a goal, and has lit the lamp just twice in his last 29 games. He headlines a group including Jeff Carter and Evan Rodrigues that has been held out of the goal-column with concerning regularity.
Though all three skaters are enduring some of the worst percentage luck of their careers recently, it isn't as if they have been swimming in chances, either. Certainly not at an acceptable level for their placement in the middle of the Penguins' lineup.
Then there's Zach Aston-Reese and Dominik Simon, who unquestionably bring value to the table outside of scoring, but how many of those kinds of players can you realistically have in your lineup? That's a fair question to ask before considering the club's scoring struggles elsewhere.
Jason Zucker's eventual return from injury has the potential to give the Penguins a boost in that department, but it would be risky to bank on him becoming the middle-six savior after having core muscle surgery, or even due to the fact he's shooting a career-low 6.8% on the season.
President of hockey operations Brian Burke told our Dave Molinari the team is looking for internal solutions, and while nothing on the trade-front is imminent, that can change rather quickly.
Wading through endless hypothetical trades on Twitter and other outlets can make it difficult to pinpoint which teams would really benefit from doing business together, but one team that stands out as a possible suitor for the Penguins is the Canucks.
The Canucks' president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford and general manager Patrik Allvin have quite the history in Pittsburgh and are in the midst of a transition period where they will have to decide which assets are part of the team's future plans.
Rick Dhaliwal of Vancouver's 'Donnie and Dhali' show mentioned Rodrigues and John Marino as players the Canucks might be interested in from the Penguins, noting that Rutherford is a big fan of both. It makes sense. He's traded for and signed both players before.
Right winger Brock Boeser was also a name brought up that is at the very least being discussed between the clubs.
Is Boeser a fit for the Penguins? Or might another Canucks winger be more in line with what the Penguins need?
The most important thing to keep in mind regarding a Boeser acquisition is that he counts $5.875 million against the salary-cap this season and is set to become a restricted free agent. With Burke stating the Penguins have about $170,000 of cap-space to work with, shipping both Marino's $4.4 million cap-hit and Rodrigues' $1 million cap-hit the other way wouldn't be enough to make the club cap-compliant.
Outside of Kapanen and his $3.2 million cap-hit, who else are the Penguins adding to the deal to make the money work? Aston-Reese is the only other Penguin that might make sense, as he carries a $1.725 million cap-hit through the end of the season. At that point, you're likely overpaying for a rental while significantly detracting other spots in the lineup.
If the Penguins are sending away a package like that, it would behoove them to ensure their acquisition can make a tangible impact where they need it most -- five-on-five scoring.
In that regard, the 25-year old Boeser might bring more frustration than solutions, as the 0.49 goals per hour he is scoring at five-on-five this season ranks 10th among Canucks forwards and would put him 13th on the Penguins, behind Kapanen and Rodrigues.
That figure is in order to improve, as Boeser has averaged 0.7 goals per hour at five-on-five over the past three seasons, but it still trails the 0.79 goals per hour Kapanen has averaged over the past three seasons.
Per Evolving Hockey, Boeser's isolated impact toward generating quality offensive chances is slightly lower than average for an NHL forward. That might be surprising, but he has never been overly dynamic at creating his own space or dishing the puck.
A good chunk of Boeser's production and value comes on the power play, where the Penguins don't even have a spot on their top unit to utilize him.
None of this is adding up to be a move that makes sense for the Penguins.
However, Canucks right winger Conor Garland is a more realistic option that would immediately supplement the goal-scoring and offensive-generation of the Penguins' middle-six at five-on-five.
Garland, 25, carries a $4.95 million cap-hit through the 2025-26 campaign. Not only would a Marino and Rodrigues package going the other way keep the Penguins under the salary-cap, they'd have several years of control for someone that could slightly soften the blow of losing Rust this offseason ... if it comes to that.
Almost all of what Garland creates comes at five-on-five. This season he's scored 1.03 goals per hour at full-strength, which would rank second on the Penguins behind Guentzel. That's the exact number he's averaged over the past three seasons. The Penguins could use some of that consistency.
They could also use the 1.03 primary assists per hour he's producing at five-on-five this season. That would put him atop all Penguins skaters. Averaged over the past three seasons, his primary assist rate drops to 0.85 per hour, but it still trails only Crosby and Malkin among current Penguins in that time.
Unlike Boeser, Garland has the ability to beat defenders one-on-one and create space with the puck on his stick. It just so happens he puts the puck in the back of the net more frequently as well.
His impacts at both ends of the ice grade about above-average. The only blemish on him is that he hasn't proven to be of much use on the power play. Good thing the Penguins have that taken care of.
Before looking at the implications of shipping Marino out, here's how the Penguins' forwards could line up with Garland, minus Rodrigues:
- Guentzel-Crosby-Rust
- Heinen-Malkin-Garland
- Zucker-Carter-Kapanen
- Aston-Reese-Blueger-McGinn
It wouldn't be a perfect lineup. Carter and Kapanen still have some pretty big question marks around them, but Garland would undoubtedly add some much needed balance.
Would Marino and Rodrigues be enough to snag Garland? Should the Penguins do it even if the Canucks would?
My frustrations with Marino's offensive game have only grown as the season goes on. While his overall defensive game is strong, he's also part of the reason the middle of the lineup has struggled to create offensively.
His absence on the second-pair would require one of Mark Friedman or Chad Ruhwedel to see a significant role increase. Both defenders have been very good this season, but it goes without saying that it would be a tremendous risk.
That said, you have to take risks to find success. That holds even more true when you're crunched against the salary-cap.
I'd even consider dangling one of Sam Poulin or Nathan Legare to sweeten the deal. Neither of them will be making an impact with the NHL club this season or next, and as far as I'm concerned, that's all the Penguins should be focused on.
I don't know whether or not Marino's departure would be detrimental to the blue line, but I do know that entering the postseason without another threat at five-on-five would be detrimental to the Penguins' chances at another Stanley Cup. Garland fills the Penguins' needs to a tee and should be at the top of their priority list if they hope to make a splash before the March 21 trade deadline.
