Pittsburgh Penguins make a shaky decision with Patric Hornqvist

The Pittsburgh Penguins stayed quiet on the day of the trade deadline but are close to a pretty large extension with winger Patric Hornqvist.

There’s really no debating that it’s good to be a fan of the Pittsburgh Penguins right now.

The team is the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion, loaded with stars and popular players, and general manager Jim Rutherford just went out and traded for center Derick Brassard. Pittsburgh had a pretty quiet trade deadline day, only adding Josh Jooris, a depth center from the Carolina Hurricanes.

The biggest news of the day came in the form of a contract extension for winger Patric Hornqvist.

It’s important to note here that the contract is not final. Things could potentially change, but the fact that Rutherford is talking so openly about it makes it seem pretty certain.

Since the team won’t disclose terms before it’s official, we’re relying on hockey insider Bob McKenzie for the scoop. The dollar amount and length are quite significant:

While it’s great to keep the core group of a Cup-winning team together as long as possible, this contract might be too much and too long for a 31-year old player whose career-high in points in 53.

Hornqvist plays a bulldozing and fearless style, which is precisely why he’s such an integral part of the current Penguins team. On a squad full of stars, a player like Hornqvist who is willing to do the dirty work and go to the tough areas of the ice is huge. He makes life easier for whoever else is on his line.

The flip side of that is the style Hornqvist plays leads to injuries. He’s only played over 75 games four times in his nine full seasons. He won’t hit that benchmark again this season. It’s a little difficult to envision that part of the equation get better with age.

Another argument for this contract is the salary cap will go up and it will make the deal look better. The catch there is since the 2014-15 season, the cap has only gone up by an average of $1.5 million a season. That’s not that much.

With the Penguins already having so many large contracts on the books, they’re always going to be close to the cap. Paying a winger on the wrong side of 30 more than $5 million a year when his play could drop at any point seems like a questionable decision, at best.

Make no mistake; the Penguins will have a hefty bill coming for the seasons of going all-in to win Stanley Cups while Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby are at their best. That’s not to say Pittsburgh has done anything wrong. On the contrary, the Penguins are doing their best while the window is open. Hornqvist is still part of that window and deserved an extension. The Penguins just shouldn’t have gone to this length to keep him.

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Someday, the studs will be making more money than they should when their production falls off. The franchise will have to generate a new path to success, but life will be a lot harder if they’re in the business of overpaying other players beside their stars.