Penguins make PERFECT Signing... This is HUGE

The Pittsburgh Penguins have made the perfect signing. This is absolutely huge as Nick Robertson has signed his contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Kyle Dew has made the signing today. Also in this video, Brandon Pridham coming over from the Toronto Maple Leafs. Kyle Dew is his old buddy. We're going to be talking about Nick Robertson. His contract. Is it good? Is it bad? I think it's pretty good. And what Brandon Pridham will be doing for the Pittsburgh Penguins as he departs Toronto. But hello everyone. Welcome back to Penguins Digest. My name is Dakash Kaniguli. Hope you guys are having a great day, a great time. I'm recording this at night, but it will be scheduled for the morning. So I hope everyone is enjoying their morning or whenever you're watching this. But yeah, the Penguins have been making a couple moves. But before we get into that, Nick Robertson, Brandon Pridham, make sure you guys do of course subscribe to the channel. We are currently at 67.5% of viewers who are not subscribed to Penguins Digest. So if you are in that large portion of Penguins Digest viewers who have yet to hit that subscribe button, make sure to hit that subscribe button. It's really easy. You can just press subscribe and help me out. I help everyone out here at Digest Media. And we got Penguins content coming your way whenever some big news drops. But let's get into it. So the Penguins announced earlier today that the Penguins have signed for Nick Robertson to a two-year contract. This was obviously after he filed for arbitration. Him and his brother filed for arbitration every year it seems. They just love going arbitration. They love going arbitration court and they love doing that stuff. But this year he gets a two-year deal. I know he's got a lot of one-year deals in his career. And yeah, Nick Robertson staying with the Penguins for at least, I mean, for at least two seasons based on this contract. So let's get into it. So the contract is $3.25 million for the next two seasons, of course. Can play both wings. Obviously, he's a left shot. Really good shot as well. I think an underrated shot in the grand scheme of things. He can really, really rip it, guys. I think Penguins fans are going to be very, very excited for what he can provide in terms of bottom six scoring. He's going to be a good player in that role, in my opinion. Again, he's a little small, but you know, he's kind of stocky at 180, 5'9". But yeah, I think this contract is fine given the current landscape of the salary cap. At some point, I'm going to stop talking about the current landscape of the salary cap. But $3.25 million for a guy that could score 20 goals, 15 to 20 goals. 40, you know, 40 points. Maybe 30 to 40 points. I think it's fine in this era. And he also might get an elevated role with the Penguins. Obviously, last year with the Toronto Maple Leafs, he had 32 points in 78 games. 16 goals, 16 assists. I think he can hit that 20-goal mark pretty, pretty easily. From what I understand, Sheldon Keefe and Kreiber-Roubaix never really gave him the fairest shake in Toronto. There's a lot to be desired with Nick Robertson in terms of defense. I talked about that in the trade video I made on him. But wherever he goes, he does score. He was elite back in junior with the Peterborough Petes, as you can see. He was over a goal per game back then. And he still has a good scoring touch in the NHL. Last three seasons, he scored at least 14 goals. He scored 14 goals in 56 games back in 23-24. Again, he has dealt with some injuries throughout his career, especially when he was trying to make the NHL. But now, you're looking at a guy who is kind of where he is in the NHL. I think, again, he's only 24, so there is some room to grow. But he is the kind of player that you are going to have on your third or fourth line. Mostly the third line, I think. Maybe the second power play in him because his shot is so lethal. But yeah, I think this is a good signing for them. The Penguins still have a lot of catch space to sign. I don't know who else they're going to sign. Maybe there's a trade brewing with someone related to Nick Robertson. I'll talk about that more at the end of the video. And this is what the lines are kind of shaking up to be as it stands. Still a lot to be changed. It's only July 14th when I'm recording this. Ricardo Raquel, Sidney Crosby, Brian Russ. Yep, that seems like it's going to be it. Igor Chinnikov, Tommy Novak, and Evgeny Malkin. And obviously, you have Andre Kuzmenko, Ben Kindle, and Nick Robertson. I think that will end up being the line. And then obviously, Conor Dewar, Blake Lizotte, and Elmer Solerbaum. Depending on how this changes, maybe the Penguins make a big trade. There's still a lot of catch space and a lot of assets. There's also going to be a lot of guys fighting for spots from the AHL. I don't foresee any of the Ruck twins making it in the first year, but I didn't see that with Ben Kindle either, and he made it. So maybe we get two surprises back-to-back. But someone like maybe a Will Horkoff or people like Rucker McGirdy and Avery Hayes are ready to step into the NHL. Really coiving in someone like him could be interesting. So a lot of players will be fighting for those bottom six spots. So someone like Nick Robertson, despite him making a lot of money, he might not be an everyday player. I think Dammu's plans to put him in an elevated role. If you look at this lineup, I mean guys like Igor Chinnikov played well in an elevated role. I think Tommy Novak has done fine at second line center after being elevated to that role since Malkin was moved to wing. And someone like Elmer Solerbaum came over and played really good hockey for the Penguins after kind of being an outcast with the Detroit Red Wings. And of course, they got Nick Robertson from the Toronto Maple Leafs for a fourth-round pick. So again, the cap is whatever given how high the cap is. He's probably a 40-point guy. 20 goals, 20 assists. We'll see if he can get better than that in Pittsburgh. But I like this contract. I think this is big for them in terms of shoring up the depth. And it makes a lot of sense that he kind of is making this money. I think he's getting paid what he's worth. So and I think the expiry status is going to be what? An RFA again? I'm not sure about that. But yeah, fourth-round pick. Really nothing to complain about. Great trade. Great signing by Kyle Dubas. Now, let's move over to Brandon Pridham. This is from Elliot Freeman earlier today. Former Toronto assistant GM, Brandon Pridham is joining Pittsburgh as a hockey operations consultant. He will handle... I mean, this was pretty crazy. He will handle contract, cap management, and planning responsibilities. Formerly held by... I really don't want to pronounce his name. I'm going to do it for the views. Vuki Mpofu, who recently departed for Nashville. I'm definitely butchering that. I should look that up. Pridham also mentored junior members on the staff. And Brandon Pridham was pretty essential for Kyle Dubas when he was in Toronto. He was kind of like the capologist of the Toronto Maple Leafs. We know Dubas signed a bunch of large contracts there and it never really worked out. And it made sense that Pridham must come over. Kyle Dubas really does like bringing over a lot of guys that he's worked with for a long time. I was honestly surprised that Sheldon Keefe isn't the coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins. But damn, he was really good. So, no love. Nothing about the grass being greener over there. But I think Wes Clark is here now. I think Jason Spezza is still here. I would have to look that up. But yeah, there's a lot of guys from the Toronto Maple Leafs front office and players that are on the Pittsburgh Penguins. Now, this is from Kevin Vepetti, who is pretty popular on the Leafs side of Twitter. I saw this as I was searching up Brandon Pridham's name. Dubas' ex-Leaf checklist. Jason Spezza, yep. Wes Clark, yep. Brandon Pridham, yep. Rich Kloon, who I didn't know about. I guess he's working with the team in some capacity. He was a former Marley. I think he played a couple games for the Leafs. And then Nick Robertson and Conor Dewar are all players who played for the Toronto Maple Leafs who are now on the Pittsburgh Penguins. So, yeah. Interesting about the connections there for Kyle Dubas. And then this is a couple more things I wanted to talk about. This is from a Josh Yogi article. Quickly to wrap up the video. The Penguins are still very much open to acquiring Jason Robertson, who they believe could be a short- and long-term building block for President GM Kyle Dubas' vision. The Penguins has previously reported to believe there's a real chance Robertson would agree to Pittsburgh. A training for his brother Nick doesn't seem to... doesn't figure to hurt the case, of course. And he is here for two more years. So, that should be interesting. And then this is from Stars Come Calling. Dubas won't hesitate to make a substantial offer for players he's long coveted. And if Dubas gets to make that offer, there's growing belief in the Pittsburgh organization that Robertson would love to come to the team. So, a lot of interesting stuff going on with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Let me know what you guys think about the Nick Robertson contract. Brandon Prento coming over. Possibly Jason Robertson coming over to the team? I don't know. There's a lot going on in this offseason, but let me know what you guys think overarchingly. Thanks you guys. Thank you guys so much for watching. And of course, we'll see you in the next video. Have a great day. Peace out and go Pens!