If he can find his game in Pittsburgh, it could be a home run pickup but without much risk, as he signed a two-way deal at only $775,000. He went from scoring 44 points in 81 games as a rookie in 2017-18 to spending all of last season with the Texas Stars of the American Hockey League (AHL). Butcher is likely just a depth defenceman but could be an interesting player to keep an eye on. He may not be as much of a shutdown defender, but he is younger and should be able to mesh well in the top-four. On the back end, Graves fits a different role from Dumoulin. Lars Eller, Colorado Avalanche (Photo by Michael Martin/NHLI via Getty Images) Similarly, Nieto and Acciari are upgrades to Archibald and Heinen. However, he has been one of the league’s better bottom-six centres defensively and on the penalty kill for years while Poehling has not. Eller for example, provides similar production to Ryan Poehling averaging 1.6 points per 60 minutes (P/60) at even strength over the past three seasons to the latter’s 1.1. In free agency, the team added Lars Eller, Matt Nieto, Noel Acciari, Radim Zohorna, Ryan Graves, Will Butcher, and Alex Nedeljkovic to further upgrade the depth.Īlthough these may not be the “sexy names” of the free agent class, Dubas was able to make clear upgrades. Before the draft, he traded for Reilly Smith who seemingly replaces Jason Zucker at a lower cap hit and he only cost a third-round pick. The players that Dubas added in free agency and trades so far make the roster look much better on paper. Although some names were undoubtedly tough to stomach, the group as a whole failed to supplement the team last season, especially offensively.

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