The Pittsburgh Penguins have $28.1 million of their 2019-20 salary cap based dedicated to six defensemen. According to CapFriendly, that’s the second most currently in the NHL, which it obviously way out of balance from team defensive performance. The club also still has to re-sign restricted free agent Marcus Pettersson, which while it won’t break the bank will be another expense added to the list.
So it makes sense that in order to rebalance the team a bit, salary on defense will have to depart this summer and be allotted to the forward position.