Penguins Update: Pettersson Perfect Partner for Petry?

At this stage of the summer, our Penguins resemble “a jigsaw puzzle with a couple of pieces gone,” to borrow from the old Jim Croce classic, Bad, Bad Leroy Brown. Actually, “pieces out of place” is more appropriate.

Specifically, we have a glut of nine defensemen under one-way NHL contracts, including newcomers Jeff Petry and Ty Smith, while appearing to be at least one bottom-six forward shy. Not to mention the fact that we’re roughly $480 K over the cap limit according to CapFriendly following the (generous) Kasperi Kapanen signing.

Obviously, something has to give before the start of the season.

Smith can be sent to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton without passing through waivers, which would pare…