TSN Reporter Darren Dreger stirred a buzz of fears and conversation late last week when he included information about the Pittsburgh Penguins attempting to trade veterans but also being on a team budget that was less than the salary cap.
We’ll come back to Dreger’s exact words.
Budgets are not something the Penguins have worried about in the salary cap era. Despite the franchise’s checkered financial history, which includes a couple of bankruptcies, the team has lived in relative luxury in the salary cap era. From owners Mario Lemieux and Ron Burkle, and even through the Fenway Sports Group ownership, hockey operations had all of the money they needed, and perhaps wanted.
After all, in successive summers, general manager Kyle Dubas acquired draft picks in exchange for taking on well-paid but rapidly declining players. In 2024, general manager Kyle Dubas took on Kevin Hayes’s $3.5 million cap hit for two seasons in exchange for a second-round pick (eventually, that became a second- and third-round pick). In the summer of 2025, Dubas snared another second-rounder when he accepted Matt Dumba from the Dallas Stars.
Dumba’s cap hit was $3.75 million, which meant that the Penguins essentially had over $7 million in dead money on the books last season.
However, FSG sold to the Hoffmanns, and the deal became official last June. The deal took nearly a year to complete, and there were concerns about the Hoffmanns having the financial capital to run the team after paying somewhere around $1.7 billion for the team.
Coming full circle to Dreger’s report, it included the words, “(Dubas) is working with a cash-strict budget, not just the NHL’s salary cap.”
Dreger’s report included a couple of details that we already knew, but the national spotlight might have put a different focus on the issue. First, PHN reported early last week that the Penguins locker room was indeed aware of the trade talk surrounding them. One player said anonymously, “Oh yeah,” when asked if they were aware of the reports.
But the players also said it was something they weren’t talking about.
Regarding the potential budget bombshell, Dubas himself let that part slip last March when talking about a changing market.
“So, honestly, I think we had one team call that asked if we would be interested (in taking a salary dump), and that was–I mean, there’s cap space and there’s budget space, and they’re two different things as well,” Dubas said. “But that’s where we have to choose where to spend. We like to spend it here on players.”
That was the first time anyone with the Penguins hinted they had to make budget choices.
However, before negative perceptions of the Hoffmanns become reality, and unknowns become conclusions, realize that Dubas chased Jason Robertson all summer, and Robertson would have cost about $15 million annually.
Dubas also delivered Ville Koivunen a $4 million average annual value through 2034. Signed journeyman Andrei Kuzmenko to a contract with a $5 million cap hit and 35-year-old defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk to a two-year, $8 million deal.
In other words, a team with a restrictive budget would not be signing second-chance veterans, especially with young players available to fill spots for entry-level contract salaries.
Even more bluntly, don’t get too worried about the money. This isn’t a Bob Nutting situation, and the overwhelming evidence is that the Penguins have what they need, though maybe not as much freedom as they had.
At the introductory press conference in June, when PHN pressed Penguins CEO Geoff Hoffmann on the rising cap and their ability to spend to the salary cap limit, Hoffmann didn’t say yes, but put himself on the hook to give Dubas the money he wants.
“I can commit that Kyle will have whatever resources at his disposal that he needs to have the type of hockey team that can go out there and be successful,” Geoff Hoffmann said. “We’ll follow whatever we need to do in terms of spending to make sure that happens, but that will be Kyle’s call.”
Hoffmann was a bit opaque, if not slippery, on the issue, but there has been no evidence that the Penguins have lacked funds.
Now, driving to the specificity of Dreger’s words, “cash budget,” many teams like Anaheim have robust operating budgets, but have limits on singular outlays. The Philadelphia Flyers offered Anaheim RFA Leo Carlsson a whopper of a contract tender in July, but part of the deal included massive signing bonuses, which would drain Anaheim’s cash budget.
For clarity, cash budgets are a bit different than salary cap limits, so there aren’t yet reasons to panic or think the Penguins cannot afford top players. But it certainly was a comment that deserves vigilance.
Right Players
Dubas reworked his blue line over the offseason and then added a couple of more defensemen on the recent four-game road trip.
The Penguins traded Caleb Jones and an ECHL defenseman to Buffalo for LHD Ryan Johnson, and then assigned Johnson to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins when injuries opened a spot (recalling Ilya Solovyov instead).
Prior to acquiring Johnson, the Penguins snagged Spencer Stastney from the Edmonton Oilers for Filip Hallander. Stastney was being served press box nachos in Edmonton, but was immediately dunked into the deep end after arriving in Pittsburgh. Coach Dan Muse put Stastney on the second pairing with Kris Letang, then promoted him to the top pairing with Erik Karlsson.
The similarities between Stastney and Johnson were several. They are steady, quiet, good skaters, and simple defensemen. So, too, is Solovyov, but he also brings a good bit of heft and some physicality, too.
The difference in the Penguins’ blue line since coaches separated Karlsson from Declan Carlile, and injuries separated van Riemsdyk from Kris Letang, has been enormous. The advanced stats are cloudy, but the team results have gone from brutal losses to clean wins. The repetitive and ugly turnovers have given way to simple connections pushing breakouts.
If money is an issue in any way, Dubas could start with van Riemsdyk when he returns from injury, and whose signing raised instant questions on July 1. It surely looked like a mistake to task TVR with playing his off side on a high-leverage pairing, and the Penguins also have additional prospects and minimum-wage options waiting for their chance.
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