No qualifying offer for Simon
While the Penguins locked down one restricted free agent Saturday by signing Tristan Jarry to a three- year deal, the organization likely will part with another.
General manager Jim Rutherford told the Pittsburgh Post- Gazette that the Penguins likely will not extend a qualifying offer to forward Dominik Simon before Wednesday’s deadline. Barring a change or a trade, Simon will become an unrestricted free agent and can sign with any team when free agency begins at noon Friday.
“Dominik would be the one that would be tough to qualify because he has arbitration rights,” Rutherford said. “We don’t know where that number goes. We can’t risk getting put over the cap.”
The Penguins currently have just $ 2,634,825 in cap space, according to Cap Friendly after Jarry’s $ 3.5 million deal. They plan to submit qualifying offers on Sam Lafferty and Anthony Angello, who are not arbitrationeligible. That which will eat up $ 735,000 and $ 874,125, respectively, and leave just a little over $ 1,025,000 in cap space.
Simon played for a cap hit of $ 750,000 this season, but that figure might double on the free market or at arbitration. If you think Simon is polarizing on Twitter, what’s an arbitrator going to think when deciding how much of a raise Simon should get?
Evaluating his 2019- 20 season depends, largely, on the prism through which you choose to view the game.
Simon is a darling of the “advanced”- metrics world. This past season, in Corsi For percentage — a ratio that shows the percentage of shot attempts created by a team versus the total shot attempts during 5- on- 5 situations — Simon produced a 53.2%. The only Penguins forwards with a better shot share were Jake Guenzel ( an All- Star who was on pace for another 40- goal season), Evgeni Malkin ( the team MVP) and Sidney Crosby ( who is Sidney Crosby).
On the other hand, the more traditional stats tell a much different story. Simon recorded seven goals and 15 assists in 64 games. Those seven goals were third fewest among Penguins forwards who played at least 50 games.
The true story of Simon probably lies somewhere in the middle. As the Corsi figures suggest, Simon was at times a complementary piece on Crosby’s line thanks to his puck- possession skills and ability to navigate in tight spaces. But at the same time, Simon’s shooting percentage of 6.9% was the second lowest among Penguins forwards, certainly leaving something to be desired.
Simon underwent surgery on his left shoulder April 29 to repair a torn labrum. He was expected to be out six to seven months from his surgery date.
Uncertain 2020- 21
It remains unclear if the NHL can meet its target date of Dec. 1 to start the season, considering no schedule or format has been announced. But Jarry said that players have been told to prepare for a training camp that begins Nov. 15. That might also be in flux. “There’s a lot of moving parts here right now when we deal with [ COVID- 19],” Rutherford said. “I think we all have to be aware of what that situation is. We are preparing, at this time, for camp in the middle of November.”
The NHL and commissioner Gary Betterman deserves a hearty stick tap for finding a way to award a Stanley Cup under unprecedented circumstances and doing so with zero positive COVID- 19 tests in the NHL’s two bubble cities.
However, finding a format that works for a full 82- game season is another animal, especially considering a significant chunk of NHL revenue comes from ticket sales. To this point, most outdoor NFL stadiums that can host 70,000 or more fans are letting just a small percentage inside their gates.
“I don’t know what the plan is,” Rutherford said. “I give the NHL a lot of credit for the preparation and how they handled this situation to get through the playoffs. I have full trust in whatever they do. I’m sure they talk about it every day. I’m sure they have a plan.”