Staal signs extension

The Penguins re-signed Jordan Staal today, four years and $16 million. On the surface it seems like a shock, a $4 million a year cap hit for a 3rd line center seems like a novelty.

But when you talk Jordan Staal, you must always remember he's 20 years old. In fact he recently broke Patrick Marleau's record of being the youngest player to play 200 NHL games. The sky is the limit, the potential is there. This year Staal's been going through an up and down season, but we've noticed he's been more physical in throwing checks than past seasons. His game is progressing and he is getting better, even if it doesn't always jump out at you. Take even strength faceoffs as one indicator; Staal's first season he won just 38%, last season it was up to 44% and this year it's up to exactly 50% so far. Even if the statistictial metrics don't always jump off the page, 6'4 220 pound defensively responsible centers do not grow on trees.

A second reaction might be; $4 million, that's a big increase. But it really isn't, Staal's on his entry level contract and his cap hit is $2.2 million. Cap hits for rookies includes the maximum bonuses, though it's pretty likely that Staal achieves most these bonuses (usual marks include appearing in 40, 50, 60 games, score 10, 15, 20 goals, etc). Considering that Evgeni Malkin could have been a $10 or almost $11 million man next season, what he left on the table covers a lot of Staal's salary bump.

So much for those budding Staal for Martin St. Louis trade rumors, huh? We never thought Staal would be traded this season, it always seemed like Ray Shero was very connected and comfortable with his first ever draft pick as a general manager.

20 years old and all that money though. When we were 20 the things on our minds were finishing papers, chasing girls and wondering where the next party would be. It's almost unimaginable to ponder four years and $16 million dollars.

A Superstar signs a deal

Mats Sundin? Never heard of him. We're talking about a superstar here!

"Max has developed into one of the key players in our organization," Shero said. "He has shown his versatility and plays in all situations for our hockey club. He played an integral role in helping our team reach the finals last season and we look forward to having him for the coming years."

Here's to at least two more years of commercials, clutch goals, fu manchus, hustle and laughs....And at just over $1 million a season, it's a great deal for the club.

MAF gets paid

From the PG:

The Penguins have finalized a seven-year contract with goalie Marc-Andre Fleury.

The deal is believed to be worth $35 million, which translates to an annual salary-cap hit of $5 million.

The year-by-year breakdown of his salary is not yet known

Big time money. But Fleury has been a big-time player ever since coming back from an ankle injury. Some might wonder the wisdom in giving a seven year contract to a goalie so young and still prone to inconsistencies...A close observer will tell you that Fleury has proven himself to be the real deal. His talent and quickness has never been in doubt, but he's thought the game better during his 14 win playoff run (something not many goalies can say).

Look around the league at some of the other premier goalies..JS Gigeure got $6 million a year, Cris Huet just got $5.6 million on the open market, Bobby Lou's making $6.75 million and Henrik Lundqvist (who MAF and the Pens easily eliminated) is making $6.875 million.

Fleury is considerably younger than all those players and now locked in for a fairly reasonable term for player and management.

Hook 'em Brooks....Orpik stays!

A steep price to pay for the Penguins to retain Brooks Orpik at $22 million for six years, but worse would have been losing the team's only legitimate physical defenseman (excuses to the USS Hal Gill).

We're happy. This move couple with the Mark Eaton re-signing gives the Penguins significant defensive depth. There may be rumors about a trading of Gill or Ryan Whitney, but we wouldn't put too much stock in them. Whitney is young and has room for improvement if he can stay consistent. Gill is under a managable salary and set to be a UFA after next season. Trade him and if Orpik was hurt and the Pens would be under the same situation.

Sadly Jarkko Ruutu went to Ottawa and we all know Georges Laraque is a goner so Ray Shero's focus is now upon replacing the two top-6 forwards he lost (Hossa and Malone) and then getting Marc-Andre Fleury under a long-term contract before his arbitration.

Malkin signed to 5 year extension

Right now it's difficult to be too happy with all the losses to free agency the Pens have suffered, but there's light at the end of the tunnel that really isn't a train (honest).

Evgeni Malkin officially signs for five years and the Crosby-esque number.

All the experts had whispered gleefully such stories as:

• Pittsburgh can't afford him
• Malkin will demand close to cap max ($10-11 million) to consider the Pens
• Malkin wants a trade to get out of Crosby's "shadow"
• Malkin wants to "be the man" in a different team
• Malkin preferred a flashy market like LA to Pittsburgh
• Pittsburgh didn't like the way Malkin didn't "show up" for the SCF finals.

Well, once again they were proven wrong. Evgeni Malkin is certainly in any argument for the best offensive player in the game right now. And he's just about to turn 22, only going to get better as the big guy fills out and learns more about how to win faceoffs.

Great deal for the Penguins to get him in at the Crosby contract level too. They've got two "max" talents signed for the next five and six years respectively for just 76% of this year's max. Got to be happy about that.

Hossa to Red Wings

It's not surprising at all that Marian Hossa chose to join another team, but the one he did join (a contender) the amount (less than the maximum offer) and the term (1 year) might have indicated he'd return to the Penguins.

Or maybe not. Hossa is a member of the Detroit Red Wings, thanks to signing a one year $7.4 million deal. $7.4 million is the most Detroit will pay another player, they want their captain Niklas Lidstrom to be the highest paid player.

We're shocked, no stunned, that Hossa accepted a one-year deal. The financial security he could have gotten from a 5, 6, 7 year deal from no limit of teams could have set him up so much more securly. Clearly $7.4 million dollars is nothing to scoff at, but if Hossa suffers any number of potentially career threatening/limiting injuries (like blowing out a knee or suffering a concussion) the amount of money on the table won't be great.

But then again he's going to the defending Stanley Cup Champions and is in a great position to try and win a Cup. Can't fault him for that.

Can apparantely fault him for not thinking that situation is in Pittsburgh. We have nothing to back this up, but clearly if he offered to let the Pens match Detroit's offer, they would have done it. Hell they might have even added in an extra 3% to cancel out that tax Hossa didnwas weary of.

For the Penguins it's time to switch gears and switch them quickly. Hossa has moved on and so must they. The names heard the most seem to be Markus Naslund, Jaromir Jagr, Pavol Demitra....Watch for Kristian Huselius as well.

Day One Aftermath

Culled from many sources and sorting through the rumors, here's where we're at...

``Marian Hossa won't decide on a team tonight. His closest suitors are believed to be Edmonton (who's rumored to have offered the most money), Montreal and Vancouver (who are both hoping on Mats Sundin) and Pittsburgh. It seems like Montreal and Vancouver may drag their feet since Sundin is in no hurry. No doubt Edmonton has offered more money than Pittsburgh, but they are way out there in the Western Conference and haven't exactly been a steady locale. Chicago (by signing Huet and Campbell), New Jersey (by signing Rolston, Salvador, Holik and Pandolfo) and the Rangers (by getting Redden and Rozsival) all were previous destinations that seem to be out of the running.

``Brooks Orpik supposedly has been offered more money by any number of teams (San Jose, NYR, Buffalo, Atlanta, LA). Anything can happen and it seems like the Pens are still very interested in retaining him and he obviously hasn't jumped ship to the first team that came a-calling so stay tuned.

``A lot of whispers are rolling around about Jaromir Jagr (!!!) and Markus Naslund. We see these guys as being contingency plans if Hossa signs somewhere else. But never under-estimate the ties between Mario Lemieux and Jagr.

``Someone named Jeff Finger (who's played 94 career NHL games) got $3.5 million and Michal Rozsival got $5 million. That just goes to show the craziness of the UFA market for defensemen and why Orpik's still on the market.

``Reports are Evgeni Malkin is about to sign almost the exact same contract that Sidney Crosby signed last year ($8.7 a year for five years). If so, this is a great thing for the Pens. Either/both could have demanded up to the maximum ($11.34 million this year) and both would have probably been obliged. But the both ponied up in the July as soon as possible--unlike Washington's Alex Ovechkin who waited until his last entry level season was nearly half over....As we've pointed out, that's a total savings for the Pens will be at least $5.28 million this year, which will only keep rising with the salary cap.

``The Pens didn't make any sexy signings today, but the combined $2.4 million they spent (on Mark Eaton and Pascal Dupuis) are the savvy kind of deals that provide of depth and set the stage for success later on in the year. Believe that.


See you tomorrow when the Penguins will (hopefully) fill some skill winger positions...Whether that means Naslund, Hossa, Jagr or Huselius we will see.

Malone and Roberts are Lightning...And on front loaded contracts

Over the weekend the Penguins traded the negotiations rights for impending free agents Ryan Malone and Gary Roberts to the Tampa Bay Lightning. In return they were given a 4th round pick in 2009 that would become a 3rd rounder if Malone signed.


Well, according to TSN it's a 3rd rounder, as Tampa has signed Malone seven years, $31.5 million bones. That is silly money. Tampa is also said to be close to signing Mr. Roberts for about a one year $2 million deal.


Between Vinny Lecavalier, Marty St. Louis, phenom #1 pick Steve Stamkos, Malone, Roberts, coach Barry Melrose and a couple crazy new owners, Tampa is definitely a team to keep an eye on, if only because one can never quite be sure what wild and crazy stunt they might pull next.



An interesting aside...Malone's deal is front loaded, so he will reportedly be getting about $7 million a year in the first two years before the deal ratchets down to average out to the $4.5 million a season. Perhaps Tampa's willingness to do this for him was a reason why he signed before July 1, as he previously indicated he wouldn't do.


Other notable free agents to sign front loaded contracts include Daniel Briere, Scott Gomez and Ryan Smyth so this has been a fairly regular occurance in the new-CBA. Players obviously like doing this because who doesn't want a big payday as soon as possible. And if they weren't business majors, their agents probably teach them a little something about the time value of money.


For the teams there is also much value in front loading...The top unrestricted free agents tend to be older players and are usually given 5-7 year contracts. Sure their contributions for the first few years should be great, but as they age performance will obviously peak and decline during the life of the deal (particularly for power forwards like Smyth and Malone). By leaving little salary in the contract for the final few years, the players can be bought out fairly painlessly. See example 5 here for a great explanation.


Also the player could be attractive for a trade to a small market team that needs to meet the salary floor. For example, as he contract goes, a 37 year old Daniel Briere will "only" get paid $2 million for the 2014-15 season. But his cap hit is still going to be $6.5 million. By that point Briere probably won't be among the NHL's top point scorers, but for a small market team that needs to spend more money in salaries, his deal will still be $6.5 million against the cap, even though they have to pay him less than 1/3 of that for his play that year.


Front loading contracts isn't a loophole, per se, but clearly it's a crafty way for NHL general managers, players and agents to exploit the collective bargaining agreement for a little wiggle room to make it work best for them.

124 million reasons to stay in DC

Now I see why Alex Ovechkin fired his agent….No person in the world would advise him to sign for such a long-term contract. Well, apparently one person in the world, his mother.

The Peerless appropriately points out that AO saved a nice chunk of change by not having to pay the agent’s commission, which is true. But consider the salary cap, which was at $39 million the first season after the lockout (max player contract is 20%: $7.8 million) has grown to $52 million this season (max $10.4 million) and the NHLPA has already stated they expect league-wide revenues to increase, and thus push the cap up further.

With the league looking at an inevitable return to ESPN in some form in the very near future, one could speculate hockey could ‘pop’ in the public image. Especially when young stars like Sidney Crosby and, ironically, Ovechkin push the sport further to more and more revenue. In a sense, Ovechkin could grow the sport with his play, which would raise others salaries but not his own.

Don’t get me wrong, $124 million guaranteed is nothing to sneeze at. It’s financial security for your kids’ kids kids. Just as impressive is the commitment Ovechkin made to the Caps. He could have used what little leverage he had to try to get in a new city on perhaps a team closer to competing or with a bigger (and more visible) market for hockey. But, as he said all along we’ll point out, he wanted to stay in Washington.

Congrats to the Capitals for getting their cornerstone locked up. Congrats to Ovechkin for deservedly breaking the bank. Congrats to the Caps fans for having something to get excited about. Congrats to us all for no longer having to hear morons like Eklund and Larry Brooks and wishful thinkers North of the Border with their crazy fantasies about where he might end up.