Penguins could be adding another center in free agency
According to Dan Kingerski of Pittsburgh Hockey Now, the Penguins may be looking to add another center through free agency. The rumored center is Erik Haula, who will be looking for a deal soon with the NHL season slowly, but surely creeping up on us.
The Penguins currently do not have the cap space to sign him, but moves could easily be made to open up enough space to sign him. Haula has rejected some below-value offers so far this offseason, but what is a fair deal to offer the 29-year-old?
Last season, Haula had an AAV of $2.75 million and he should be looking at a slight raise for his next contract. A deal around three years and $9 million ($3 million AAV) should be about what he wants.
The Penguins will likely put Zach Aston-Reese on LTIR, which would open up their cap space to $2.3 million and moving a player with around a $1 million cap hit, like Colton Sceviour, would give the Pens over $3.3 million in cap space.
Haula would likely play on the 3rd line with Jared McCann and either Evan Rodrigues or Sam Lafferty. Haula is good in both the offensive and defensive zone, and he can help on the powerplay and penalty kill also.
He only had 24 points (12 goals, 12 assists) in 48 games last season with the Hurricanes and Panthers, but he battled some injuries. The year before that in 2018-19, he had a career high 29 goals, along with 26 assists for 55 points in 76 games with the Vegas Golden Knights.
Haula would be able to slot in as one of the best third line centers for the Pittsburgh Penguins in recent memory. He would help make the Penguins' bottom-six much scarier, and take some pressure off of the big guns in the top-six. This looks like it would be a great fit if a deal can be agreed upon.
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Martin Necas | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Matthew Tkachuk | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Brayden Point | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Nathan MacKinnon | - | 3 | 3 | |
| Matvei Michkov | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Zachary Bolduc | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Jakob Chychrun | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Cale Makar | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Aleksander Barkov | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Nikita Kucherov | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Taylor Raddysh | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Sebastian Aho | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Mike Amadio | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Rasmus Andersson | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Erik Cernak | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Mitchell Chaffee | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Lawson Crouse | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Justin Danforth | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jack Eichel | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Lars Eller | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Complete stats | ||||
| STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Capitals | 54 | 36 | 11 | 7 | 79 | |
Jets | 55 | 38 | 14 | 3 | 79 | |
Oilers | 54 | 34 | 16 | 4 | 72 | |
Golden Knights | 55 | 32 | 17 | 6 | 70 | |
Stars | 53 | 34 | 18 | 1 | 69 | |
Panthers | 56 | 33 | 20 | 3 | 69 | |
Maple Leafs | 54 | 33 | 19 | 2 | 68 | |
Hurricanes | 55 | 32 | 19 | 4 | 68 | |
Wild | 55 | 32 | 19 | 4 | 68 | |
Avalanche | 56 | 32 | 22 | 2 | 66 | |
| Conference | Cumulative | ||||||