With Free Agent Frenzy soon approaching, the Pittsburgh Penguins have their sights set on bolstering their defence.  With Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin up front, the flightless birds will need players who can move the puck up the ice to them. 

"Bringing in Sergachev last season was the first step in the right direction in terms of addressing a need on the back end.  We added DeHaan last offseason and recently acquired Brett Kulak.  Those two should be our shutdown pair.  It would be nice to grab a couple of strong two way guys," added the Pens GM. 

Cap space could be a bit of an issue.  With roughly $1,500,000 in wiggle room, the team might only be able to afford one steady two way rearguard. 

"Things are a little tight, but we should be able to make it work.  You bring in a player, you send one down.  We feel strongly that we can get it done," the GM added. 

Here is a quick look at tentative pairings for next season at this time...

Mikhail Sergachev - Calvin DeHaan

Brett Kulak - Evan Bouchard

Vlad Kolyachonok/Gustav Lindstrom - John Marino

Some veteran leadership could go a long way for next year.  Time will tell as to who is available come the big day.  Teams still have a couple of days to work out some deals with their pending free agents.  Generally speaking, there historically tends to be no shortage of depth defensemen available during free agency given the fact that teams tend to prioritize spending money on forwards and goaltenders. 

"I am sure we will be in on a couple of players. You'll be the first that I tell when the time comes," the GM stated with a wink. 

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