Could the Pittsburgh Penguins sign John Tavares?

Recent NHL Rumors link the Pittsburgh Penguins to the future free agency center of John Tavares. Is it plausible to afford them?
The Pittsburgh Penguin quest for three consecutive Stanley Cups came to an end. It was a noble attempt, but eventually the Washington capitals received the best of them in six games in the Eastern Conference semifinal. CEO Jim Rutherford says there will be changes. The latest NHL rumors suggest that you can come to a huge, in the form of the soon emerging free agent center of John Tavares.

In his last article 31 Thoughts, Elliott Friedman notes this possibility.

Assuming that [Lou Lamoriello] really wins, it probably means a new step to save John Tavares. The captain did a very good job to stay under the radar ... Someone we do not expect will come out of nowhere to run for him. This is purely a guess, but Penguins GM Jim Rutherford is the guy with whom I could see the night when I figured out how to do it.


Rutherford turned out to be cunning when he was dealing with the issue of wages. Remember, he persuaded the Golden Knights of Vegas to take over part of the contract of Derik Brassard, so that he could substitute him for a salary. In addition, no one thought the Pens would be able to come up with a cap for trade by Phil Kessel, but they did (although it was with a saved salary).

Penguins do not enter the offseason of 2018 with a large cap. Assuming that the limit level of the maximum wage is $ 80 million, they are projected to have $ 9.7825 million with 17 players under the contract. If Tavares wants to get an eight-figure salary, signing with the Penguins is out of the question.

However, this is the way to subscribe to Pittsburgh, which makes sense. Tavares could follow the route of Marian Hoss. Back in 2008, Wing signed a contract with Detroit Red Wings for one year to try to win the Stanley Cup. He refused big offers to do it. Having spent his entire career in the New York Islanders and having only seen the postseason three times, perhaps Tavares wants to go to Pittsburgh for a year to try to win the Stanley Cup.

Hossa signed a contract for $ 7.45 million, so let's assume that Tavares subscribes to this. Penguins would have 2.5325 million pounds sterling to sign four players. Pittsburgh could not have put four guys under it, even if they used four players who make the league a minimum. How could penguins create space for salaries? There are several options.

The only reason that Kessel trades, it makes sense - it comes off the very best of the season. However, given that he has an uncommercial offer and how he used it to get to Pittsburgh, it will kill almost any value he has. Penguins can not trade Kessel for something like fair value. So let's choose it.