Pittsburgh Penguins GM Confident in Roster Changes

The Pittsburgh Penguins media have been hard on general manager Ron Hextall for most of the season. Hextall's been patient with his approach to make changes this season and leading up to the trade deadline wasn't doing much. Three moves later, the Pens GM feels his team has a shot at winning the Stanley Cup.

Hextall met up with Wes Crosby of NHL.com and had this to say:

I think there's a lot of teams that are capable of winning the Cup. Yes, I'd say we're one of them. We've got a proven group. We've got a hungry group. We've got a group of guys that we all think of as winners. You've got to make the playoffs first. Right now, that's our objective. We'll see where we go from there. I feel good about this team.

While the Penguins were linked to Jakob Chychrun, JT Miller, Brock Boeser, and Timo Meier, they ended up landing Mikael Granlund, Nick Bonino and Dmitry Kulikov. Pittsburgh also subtracted Kasperi Kapanen and Brock McGinn in the process, along with a slew of draft picks.

The Penguins sit three points up on the Ottawa Senators, Buffalo Sabres, Florida Panthers and Washington Capitals, and have two games in hand on the Wings and Caps, meanwhile have played one game less than the Sabres. Pittsburgh also sits one point behind the New York Islanders for the top wild card spot and hold three games in hand. The math is on their side so now the work begins for Hextall's finalized roster.

Photo credit:  Eric Bolte-USA TODAY Sports