Penguins make it official with Jack Johnson; bring back Matt Cullen

Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford announced the signing of two free agents Sunday afternoon, one that was expected, and another that came out of nowhere.

First, the Penguins have made defenseman Jack Johnson official. five-year contract that will pay him $ 16.25 million. The news of this potential signature broke out last week and there seemed to be some certainty that the pen would be put on paper.

In addition to this news, the Penguins also announced that veteran Matt Cullen would return the team after spending the 2017-18 season as a member of the Minnesota Wild. Cullen was an important depth player in the winning Penguins Stanley Cup teams in 2016 and 2017, before leaving as a free agent before last season. The Penguins would have tried to re-acquire him through trading throughout the season, but have never managed to make it work. His contract is a one year contract worth $ 650,000

The addition that will hold the most attention is Johnson because it is a fairly investment important in a player whose career has been … say … polarized. You like his combination of size and skating ability that he had acquired early in his career, which helped to make him such a prestigious prospect, or you absolutely hate the objective evidence that his NHL career produced.

A brutal season in Columbus that saw it finish the year as a healthy scratch. He will also be 32 years old this season and the Penguins take a big bet that they can "fix" what made him suffer.

<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "Financially speaking, the ceiling of 3.25 Million dollars of salary cap might not be bad it was a shorter term contract But a five year commitment, it is a lot for a player you are trying to fix, and it's certainly questionable as to whether there is anything to save when it comes to his game on the ice. "data-reactid =" 32 "> Financially speaking, the $ 3.25 million cap on salary caps might not be bad if it was a shorter term contract . But a five-year commitment, that's a lot for a player you're trying to fix, and it's certainly questionable to know if there is anything to save when it comes of his game on the ice.

The defense of the signature revolves around improving Johnson's situation (he was talking Sunday about wanting to join a winning environment) and the ability of the Penguins' coaching staff, led by the coach Sergei Gonchar, to be able to help him. As well as they helped improve Justin Schultz and Jamie Oleksiak in previous years (Rutherford said that he would always put his money on Gonchar).

The problem is that they are not exactly perfect parallels to look at

. Schultz and Oleksiak, the Penguins were dealing with young players in the mid-twenties who were stuck in bad situations, they dropped a minimum of assets and were able to put them in more favorable situations and 39, get a little more production. their. And in the case of Oleksiak, the jury is still questioning the fact that it's really improved because the work in Pittsburgh is still so modest.

With Johnson, he's 32, has probably already begun to lose a step from where he was when he was younger, and has a long history of showing off what type of player he is. The results are not encouraging.

Almost every team that Johnson played did worse – significantly worse – in terms of goals and shots with Johnson on the field against him on the ice. Observe the difference in the shot attempts (CF%) and the goal differential (GF%).

This is not an encouraging trend.

Now, one of two things will happen: They will play Johnson in a top four play a role of Olli Maatta or Justin Schultz until the third pair, where they will play Johnson in this third pair role alongside Jamie Oleksiak. Both options present their share of problems. With the first, you play what is probably a lower player on a better game (Johnson is better than Maatta or Schultz? I'm not sold on this point).

With the latter, it simply means that you have committed five years and all the space of your new salary ceiling to a third-pair defender while you probably could have got the same (or maybe even better) play for less.

<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "This just seems like a big investment to make in a player you hope can improve a decade of play and you simply hope for the best. "data-reactid =" 57 "> This seems like a big investment for a player you hope improve a ten-year gaming trend and you simply hope for the best

The story continues