Penguins overpay big time on a new deal for Kasperi Kapanen

The Pittsburgh Penguins have reportedly signed RFA forward Kasperi Kapanen to a two year contract extension worth $6.4 million.

Check it out:

Ouch... a $3.2 million cap hit for a guy who put up 11 goals and 32 points last season? That seems steep to me...

I like Kapanen as a player and all, but that's a massive overpay in my mind. The guy's got a ton of hustle and is a great depth piece on a good team, but he's by no means a $3 million+ player. 

With Kapanen now under contract the Penguins are $1.3 million over the salary gap with 24 players on their projected roster. To me, this indicates that a trade is likely coming from GM Ron Hextall this offseason. Look for depth pieces like Brock McGinn ($2.75 million) and Teddy Blueger ($2.2 million) to figure prominently in trade rumors over the course of the next month or so.

As for Kapanen, he'll likely get an opportunity to earn more of his pay this upcoming season with more offensive assignments. The Penguins' top two forward units are held down by the likes of Sidney Crosby, Jake Guentzel, Evgeni Malkin, Jason Zucker, Bryan Rust, Rickard Rakell and Jeff Carter but Kapanen could push aside guys like Zucker, Rust and Carter to earn himself a more regular offensive role with the team. If not though, he'll likely be playing third and fourth line duty once again and will be hard pressed to earn the large contract just given to him by Hextall.

On the blueline, the Penguins have stalwart Kris Letang back again for the next five seasons and also added Jeff Petry via trade and Jan Rutta via free agency. Youngster Ty Smith, who arrived in a trade for defenseman John Marino, and veterans Brian Dumoulin and Marcus Pettersson round out the top six. Not a bad blueline by any stretch, but certainly not the league's strongest. You'd have to imagine that Petry can provide an upgrade on Marino after it was clear that Marino fell out of favor with head coach Mike Sullivan and that Ruutta can add some stability, which would improve the team's D corps over last season.