NHL Rumours: Penguins, Eichel, Golden Knights, Carbery, Slavin

Outside of Woodcroft, none of these names have had success as a head coach in the NHL. Smith and Quinn both had opportunities, but struggled, and the others haven’t had the opportunity yet. There could be some concerns about this list, and general manager and president Kyle Dubas has reportedly been looking at making the team younger and may look to go with a younger coach, which is part of the reason Mike Sullivan parted ways with the team.

Considering Sidney Crosby only has a couple of seasons left, the goal should be to win him another Stanley Cup, but it is clear that what the Penguins need is a rebuild. Whether they look at one of these more inexperienced options or they look at a veteran coach, there is a lot of work to do in the offseason.

Golden Knights Prioritizing Eichel Extension

In another segment of the same 32 Thoughts episode, Friedman reported that while the Golden Knights are unhappy with their performance in the playoffs, they already have some things planned for the offseason.

Their top priority is going to be signing Eichel, who is eligible for an extension on July 1. Eichel is entering the final year of his eight-year deal worth $80 million, and the Golden Knights want to get him locked up as soon as possible.

Ilya Samsonov, Reilly Smith, Brandon Saad, Victor Olofsson and Tanner Pearson are the unrestricted free agents for the Golden Knights this year, and Nick Hague, Cole Schwindt, and Alexander Holtz are their restricted free agents. There is plenty of work to do, and with less than $10 million in projected cap space, there may be tough decisions to make.

Eichel’s cap hit wouldn’t come into play this offseason, but it is no secret that the Golden Knights are right up against the cap.

The other top priority Friedman mentioned was to acquire some more scoring on the wing. While Mark Stone. Ivan Barbashev and Pavel Dorofeyev had great seasons, they aren’t enough on their own. More scoring support on the wings would really improve the team.

Carbery’s Comments on Slavin

It isn’t all too common for a coach to fill his press conference with compliments for the opponent after being eliminated from the playoffs, but after Game 5, seeing the Hurricanes eliminate the Capitals, Carbery had some great things to say about the Hurricanes.

The highlight of the presser, at least from the Hurricanes’ side, was his comments on Slavin, saying “Jaccob Slavin; how he’s not in the Norris Trophy conversation every single year, it doesn’t seem right. … He’s one heck of a player.”

For a while now, fans have appreciated the talent that Slavin has, but he doesn’t post the points, and therefore isn’t in the Norris Trophy conversation as the NHL’s best defenseman. He started the availability by congratulating the team and Rod Brind’Amour for moving on, which is also uncommon.

Carbery is likely going to be taking home the Jack Adams Award, and while he wasn’t named a finalist, Brind’Amour is very likely close to the top of the list as well. Mutual respect between great bench bosses is a great sight to see.