Atlantic Shanny?

The Philly Inquirer gave a Brendan Shanahan update, in the next 7-10 days they say he'll make his decision on where to go. You don't have to be a geographer to see where he's rumored to end up..

Shanahan and his family live in New York City, fueling speculation that the free agent might sign with the New Jersey Devils to be close to home. In addition to the Devils and Flyers, Pittsburgh and St. Louis are among the teams that have inquired about Shanahan.

We hinted recently that the Penguins could use another skill winger and it still holds true. While Petr Sykora and Miroslav Satan should both be 30-40 goal threats this season, they're the beginning and end of the skill wingers on the roster and something Ray Shero will surely sooner or later address before the March trading deadline.

But is Shanahan the right man for the Pens? While he still does have a great shot and terrific goal scoring instincts, Shanahan's been a shell of his former power forward self for years. Plus he's almost 40 years old and over the past couple years the Penguins have seen up close and personal some of those old boys (John LeClair, Mark Recchi, and to an extent Gary Roberts) lose their effectiveness and production. So Shanahan would definitely could not be a 18-20 minutes a night pure top six winger for the Penguins scheme. He's not an "every-down back" as they say in the NFL.

Still it is intriguing, not many teams boast 600+ goal scorers on their rosters and adding a guy who netted 23 goals is never a bad idea, especially when your chief division rivals are looking to snag the same guy. It will bear a half-eye's interest in seeing where Shanahan lands. Here's to hoping it's not Philly or New Jersey (unless he's got nothing in the tank).

Say, the Penguins could sure use a skill winger...

From the NY Post:

The 39-year-old unsigned right wing who'd been advised for months by GM Glen Sather to "sit tight" in anticipation of both a roster spot and salary-cap space opening up to create an avenue for his return to Broadway, Shanahan is no longer doing so.

Nearly four months after becoming a free agent, Shanahan is putting himself
onto the open market.

"I've told Rick [Curran] that I can no longer wait and that it's time to move
on," Shanahan, referring to his agent, told The Post this afternoon. "Until now,
Rick has been under instructions to tell inquiring teams that my focus was on
re-signing with the New York Rangers, and that I was not accepting any other
offers.

"That has changed."

Sure, you can point to the fact that Shanahan is turning 40 years old in January and that's valid. You can also mention how Shanahan's point totals have steadily fallen in the three seasons following the lockout [81 to 62 to 42] and that's another point taken.

But dude's still scored 92 goals in the past three seasons. He's still got the shot and he did score 11 PPG last year. At this point of his career he is a shell of his former power forward self, but he's got 650 goals and 690 assists for a reason. Could he play a full season on the first or second line? No.

But would he be a better option for situational use on a top line (and some rest) while taking a regular power play shift.

Giving a call to inquire about Brendan Shanahan is a no-brainer. He got a first hand look in the playoffs last spring about how great the Pens can be. Join us, Brendan, join us.

Pens looking for one more forward?

Pittsburgh's Eklund, err we mean The Insider on Pittsburgh Sports recently had this to say:

According to a source, the Penguins are still looking for a forward that may compete for a top six position. There have been brief discussions with Brendan Shanahan but no contract offer has been made. Sources indicate there appears to be more interest from Shanahan's camp then the Penguins but the Penguins are looking into the possibility. The Penguins have targeted a few forwards for training camp invites. Geoff Sanderson could be one of those forwards. The Penguins are looking for additional speed and have talked to his agent. No offer has been made, just to check on his health and asking price. Previously I reported, Shero had brief discussions with the agent for Mark Parrish. Parrish is seeking a multi-year deal and the Penguins are not expected to pursue Parrish any further.

No doubt the guy has sources but we're not sure we bite. According to the main-stream conventional knowledge, the New York Rangers remain Shanahan's preference and Sanderson is a 36 year old player that looked out of gas with Edmonton last season.

The Penguins have four clear top 6 skill forwards nailed down (Crosby, Malkin, Satan, Sykora). Given the contract signed ($2.25 million), it's presumptive that Ruslan Fedotenko was brought in to play bigger than a 3rd line role. This leaves one wing open and a guy like Shanahan would fill some talent gap. But the Penguins could also use a committee of players that have had some success in big moments (Maxime Talbot, Pascal Dupuis) or give Finnish player Janne Pesonen a chance at the big time.

The Penguins have roughly $1.5 million in cap space, probably not enough for Shanahan anyways. Better to keep what's left of the small cushion they have then get a vet like Sanderson or Glen Murray who's best days are clearly behind. There's nothing wrong with checking in with players like Parrish or Shanahan to see what they're looking for---hell that's Ray Shero's job...But contact between multiple parties may not mean a move is as pressing as TIOPS may lead (or have been led) to believe.

We suspect perhaps some others are as bored in this mid-summer rut.

53 more days 'til Sweden.

Bill Thomas is the new Ryan Malone

Some big shoes to fill, but for now at least 25 year old Bill Thomas is the newest Pittsburgh born representative of the Penguins.

An interesting signing, as Thomas could be a fringe NHL player for the Pens, or provide some scoring at the AHL level and be a decent mid-season callup option.

Thomas, a 6'1 185 winger, went undrafted to the NHL but still had a great career at the USHS and NCAA level. Phoenix signed him late in the 2005-06 season and Thomas had a decent go in a short stint [9 games, 1 goal, 2 assists]. Things seemed to continue to go well for Thomas, he scored 33 points [13 goals, 20 assists] in 47 games in San Antonio and was named to the AHL all-star game, of which he didn't participate since he was in Phoenix. That year for Phoenix, in 24 contests Thomas had 8 goals and 6 assists. That's a pace for 27 goals in a full season.

The wheels of his development were spinning last season, as Thomas was an "up and down" player between Phoenix and San Antonio. Most of it was down, as he only got 7 games in the NHL (pointless). The AHL numbers were good, he was 2nd on the team (to former Penguin Matt Murley) with 52 points [24 goals, 28 assists] in 75 games.

Bill Thomas became a Group VI unrestricted free agent. The definition in it's simplest form for a Group VI UFA is: it's for relatively younger guys who haven't played a certain number of NHL games (Ryan Lannon, Connor James and Nathan Smith qualified for it from the Pens). The purpose is to give guys who are about 25 and spent most of their careers in the minors a chance to find a fresh start in a new organization.

A knock on Thomas has been that he's not strong enough on the puck and while a skilled player, is he skilled enough to be a consistent top 6 forward every night at the NHL level? The answer to that seems to be in the negative. We still think Thomas is a good signing, he's young, shown flashes of great play in the NHL and could conceivably make the roster.

Hossa fallout redux

After the initial emotions (shock, disdain, cursing) have died down, TST buddy Greg Wyshnyski posed a question on Puck Daddy to Penguin fans:

Here's the thing that I asked [to yahoo/going five hole writer Sean] Leahy last week, and he really didn't have an answer on behalf of Pittsburgh Penguins fans: If Hossa fails to win a Stanley Cup with the Red Wings, what would it take to forgive him if he showed an interest in coming back to the Penguins?

A full-on apology for his avarice? A daily foot massage for Maxime Talbot for the duration of their contracts? Or has this bridge been permanently burned? Is Marian Hossa now dead to Penguins fans?

As we're ought to do, we turn to a hair-band for the answer. In this instance was it not Motley Crue who taught "don't go away mad, just go away"?

In the long-run, Penguins fans shouldn't be mad. Of course, the human nature is to hold a grudge that Hossa believed he'd have a better shot of winning the Cup in Detroit that Pittsburgh, but a neutral observer would probably tell you that's a good bet.

Even though Hossa only pulled on the black and gold jersey 32 times, the trade was worth it:

• The cost really wasn't that bad--guys like Matt Cooke and Pascal Dupuis are just as good as Colby Armstrong; Erik Christensen wouldn't be a top 6 forward this year; and the two first round prospects (Angelo Esposito and Daultan Leveille) are still a-ways away from producing in the NHL, if they ever even make it there.


• The message the trade sent was the front office didn't expect just gradual improvement: they wanted to be bold and embolden the players to dream big.


• The Penguins got two games from winning the Stanley Cup, and Hossa played his role wonderfully.

Further, it wasn't just Hossa's choice to go to Detroit, he bent over backwards to make it happen. Consider (emphasis added):

We were dreaming thinking we could add either [Hossa or Mats Sundin] to our team because we were looking at one year deals.

"I went to bed last night thinking we were going to be by the way side."

Hossa's agent, Ritch Winter, called Holland in the morning and said his
client was on the line and willing to discuss a one-year contract.

"I asked what they were looking for," Holland told Landsberg. "It was north of 7.5 (million). I told them I was uncomfortable (having Hossa make more than Lidstrom).

"In the end, Marian Hossa told me to not bother calling Nik, one year at 7.45 - it was a done deal."

(from TSN)

and

I had to compare the two teams, and there's a little better chance to win the Cup in Detroit. I had a great time with Sid and playing on the power play with Geno, but the team in Detroit is something special. I know it's a short term, but we never talked about a one-year [deal] with Pittsburgh. We just talked about a long-term deal. I totally believe Detroit has the kind of team that can win it again."

(link Post-Gazette)

In conclusion, Hossa agreed to a contract the price and the length that Detroit wanted. If he would have went back to Pittsburgh for a one year $7.6 million contract, it would have been granted. He never let the Penguins know he'd consider a short term deal, so how were they to know it was a possibility? But, as an unrestricted free agent that's just as much his right as signing in Edmonton for $90 million, as many expected.

The Penguins, after losing the Hossa sweepstakes, turned around and locked up their core--Evgeni Malkin at $8.7 million a season and Marc-Andre Fleury at $5 million. Omitting Brooks Orpik's new contract (since the Pens almost certainly could not have afforded him if they were paying Hossa $7+ million for the next 5-7 years) the Pens have their four franchise cornerstones* locked up until at least 2012-13 for an average cap hit of $26.4 million. Add Hossa's approximate contract and that's five players for about $33.6 million. Suddenly the room to sign other players (like Orpik, Jordan Staal, Talbot and Kris Letang) is cut down significantly, especially if the salary cap levels off or doesn't keep rising at such a fast rate.

*Those cornerstones, of course, being Crosby and Malkin at $8.7 million a piece, Fleury's $5 million and Ryan Whitney's $4 million*

In the end, everyone wants that flashy super-star winger for Crosby. We believe Pens fans are mainly bitter about Hossa leaving is that he is an awesome player and if he was willing to take less for a contender, why wouldn't he chose Pittsburgh to be that place? However Hossa turning his back on the Penguins, while disappointing, isn't the end of the world. Compare the top 6 forwards at the beginning of last season to how it'll look going into training camp and the forwards ARE improved; even with the defection of Ryan Malone. The sky is not falling, the world will still move on. And the Penguins still ought to be one of the, if not THE team to beat in the East again next season.

The ultimate answer to Wyshnyski's question is that it's just time to move on. The Pens didn't get Hossa, but time will tell if they can use his money to keep support players that want to be here (like Cooke and Miroslav Satan) to come in and get the team to it's ultimate goal. tPb had a good point in today's post: every team that's ever won the Stanley Cup has found a way to do it without Hossa. He's great, but not a prerequisite

So don't go away from this Hossa situation mad, Pens fans, just go away. It's time to move on.

Pens sign Cooke

Subtract like likes of Gary Roberts, Georges Laraque, Ryan Malone and Jarkko Ruutu and a club loses a lot of size and toughness.

The Penguins took a step to add some back by signing free agent Matt Cooke. The contract itself appears to be a cracker-jack one for the team, if initial reports are true (two years, $1.2 million per season). Cooke made $1.5 million the past three years and seemed to earn that. He's a scored 10+ goals in six of the past seven seasons (and the missed season was injury shortened to 8 goals in 45 games). Compare that to Ruutu's 2 career ten-goal seasons.

Cooke has been said to have received more money elsewhere (Ruutu got more per year from Ottawa and an extra year) but chose the Penguins. A good sign, as the Pens can certainly use the grit and the addition of a reliable penalty killer. Cooke doesn't have the yapper that Ruuts does, but then again hardly anyone chirps as much as Ruutu. Cooke is very uptempo, very aggressive and still a pesty player that gives a lot of effort and seeks out hits.

Roberts and Ruutu emerged as cult heroes and it seems like Cooke is destined to follow, given his style of play. That and there's already a nickname: the Cooke-y monster. It's a competitive world to start a trend, this blogosphere.

Twist our arm for a roster outlook and here's what we've got in early July, all very subject to change...

Fedotenko-Crosby-Satan
Talbot-Malkin-Sykora
Cooke-Staal-Dupuis
Godard-Stone-Kennedy
Pesonen?

Orpik/Gonchar
Scuderi/Whitney
Gill/Letang
Eaton/Sydor

Fleury
Sabourin

Obviously the forward lines could be different, Max Talbot probably isn't a consistent top 6 NHL winger, Janne Pesonen may or may not be the answer there. But it's looking like the 3rd line that will have a lot of energy to go with some size and skill some with whatever combination of Pascal Dupuis/Tyler Kennedy/Talbot/Cooke emerges to go with Jordan Staal. But there's plenty of time for those questions.

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.

Pens keep Eaton, sign a fighter, lose two more UFAs

The Penguins signed Mark Eaton, two years $2 million (source: TSN). A great signing if Eaton can stay healthy. Eaton played well with Sergei Gonchar on the top pairing before his knee injury, so one has to wonder if the Pens intend to stick him back there with Gonchar and come to terms with Brooks Orpik going somewhere else. The Pens now have seven defenseman on the roster and that doesn't even count Alex Goligoski who tore through the AHL playoffs.

The Pens also signed Eric Godard. He's regarded as a pretty solid fighter, but his hockey skills leave to be desired. This probably means the end of Georges Laraque's stint as a Penguin. Godard doesn't have to play much, even if dressed he won't take the ice much which could mean more opportunities for Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin to double shift and increase their own ice time.

Tampa Bay, in their continuing effort to sign every free agent under the sun (especially if they're from Pittsburgh) signed Adam Hall, three years $1.8 million. Can't really blame Hall, as I'm sure the Pens contract wasn't three years. But still Hall owes something to his former aGM Ray Shero for inviting him to training camp last year when it seemed his NHL career was over.

Also, it's somewhat sad to report the Conkblock has moved on, signing a one year deal with Detroit. We wish he could have gotten the shot to be a number 1 goalie somewhere (like Colorado) but in the end he's going to a great organization. Also Conklin should fit in well with Detroit with how he handles the puck and can hold a team in the game.

A lot of rumors flying around as to who's fielding offers from where. Stay tuned.

And no, we're not even going to touch this one with a stick.

The calm before the storm

Tomorrow at 12 noon, all hell will break loose. Well, not really, but the "free agent frenzy" of teams rushing out to out-bid each other for services of unrestricted players will begin.

For the Penguins there's more unknown than perhaps any other team. They're supposedly the front runners for both Marian Hossa and Brooks Orpik who will both stick their feet in the pool to see how warm the water is. If there’s one thing you should know, it’s the paraphrase of an old H.L Mencken quote: “no top free agent ever went broke underestimating the restraint of NHL general managers”.


As it stands now:

____-Crosby-____
____-Malkin-Sykora
Talbot-Staal-Kennedy
????-????-????

The question marks on the 4th line could be filled with young players from the minors (like Ryan Stone, Tim Brent, Jonathan Filewich, etc) or could be veteran UFAs, whether the Pens can coax back guys like Georges Laraque, Jarkko Ruutu, Adam Hall, Pascal Dupuis or sign new faces to play the bit roles. This shouldn’t be that hard to fill out.

Obviously the glaring need is for skill wings to compliment Crosby and Malkin.

Defensively:

Gill/Gonchar
Whitney/Scuderi
Sydor/Letang

Fleury
Sabourin

The defense seems decent enough but the glaring hole is toughness. Gill is physical but no others play that game effectively. We’d be shocked to see the Pens try to sign a top defenseman (other than Orpik), since their needs are so much more for skill forwards. It seems like they may be content to go forward with these players (and maybe prospect Alex Goligoski)

Financials

By our count the Penguins have spent $33.8 million dollars already accounted for next season which covers 13 players (Crosby, Malkin, Staal, Sykora, Talbot, Kennedy, Gill, Gonchar, Whitney, Scuderi, Letang, Sydor and Sabourin). So the Pens have up to about $23 million (since ownership has authorized them to spend up to the salary cap) to fill out the roster. It should be noted, of course, that Marc-Andre Fleury will either get an award through arbitration or be signed before-hand, so that needs to be taken into mind as well.

After this season the Penguins have four impending UFA’s of note (Sykora, Gill, Scuderi and Sydor). Their contracts will take only $7.22 million off the books, and that following year is when the new contracts for Malkin and Staal, so the front office must keep in mind to buy in a little bit of wiggle room.

Top free agents like the long-term 6-8 year deals, but that’s not what fits the Pens salary plans. They need to target players who will accept shorter deals like Sykora and Sydor did. That might mean they might miss out on a guy who can’t get the most money possible (Marian Hossa?) but it does show there are some skilled players (like Sykora) that they can bring into the fold.

Targets

As we identified there are several great targets if the Pens can’t bring back Hossa.

Our preferences:
-Rolston (consistent 30 goal guy with a good all-around game)
-Huselius (imagine him with Crosby)
-Stillman (proven veteran presence and a consistent scorer)
-Naslund (completing the career circle)

Price will always be the decider on if it’s a good deal or not, but if the Pens came out of free agency with two out of those four targets we’d feel pretty good about the complexion of the forward lines on paper.

Buckle up boys and girls, it's going to be a wild ride.

Announcement of the salary cap shows how much Crosby saved the Pens..

As you've probably seen by now, the NHL and the players association announced that the upper limit for 2008-09 salaries for each team is $56.7 millon dollars.

A player can be signed for a maximum of 20% of the upper limit so Sidney Crosby, who would have been a restricted free agent this summer, could have commanded no more than $11.34 million a season.

Crosby, of course, signed with the Pens last summer for five years and $43.5 million dollars ($8.7 million a season). Players extended have to finish their existing contracts, so Sid played on the final year of his entry level contract in 2007-08; this coming season will be the first where his cap hit is $8.7. If he wanted to stretch the negotiations to find out what his maximum would be, he could have demanded $11.34 million from the Pens right now. And they would have obliged without blinking. Or he could have become a RFA and received an offer-sheet of likely epic proportions from any number of teams.

But Crosby didn't take any of those paths. He locked in to the Penguins taking less than what he could have in large part to ensure the team could have a little more flexibility in filling out the roster around him. Crosby, ever the selfless, humble person and with his mature-beyond-his-years demeanor seemed to realize that if he took the most of the pie that he could take, there wouldn't be enough to even talk about retaining a guy like Hossa and still hope to keep all of Evgeni Malkin, Jordan Staal, Marc-Andre Fleury. At the same time, Crosby is a member of the union and realized that if he accepted too little money it could be used as a glass ceiling for his peers league wide and could keep the amount his brothers got down. Plus dude's trying to get paid and he's basically the face of the league, put in all the marketing campaigns. It's not like he doesn't deserve to be compensated accordingly.

As of now, if Crosby signed five years at $11.34 million it would have been the $56.7 million figure. His overall contract is $43.5, saving the Pens more than $13 million over the life of the deal ($2.64 million a season). And that's assuming that the cap--which has risen every year as league revenues continue to climb, remained at 2008-09 values.

Just something to think about as Penguin free agent properties like Marian Hossa and Brooks Orpik (who've both publicly talked about taking less money or wanting to stay) explore free agency to what would amount to probably gaining a couple million over the life of a contract from another team on the market...It's easy to talk the talk but Crosby has walked the walk by actually putting a pen to the paper to make it official.

Another franchise player that seemingly is about to do the same is Evgeni Malkin. Malkin can't sign until July 1, but if, as indicated, he gives the Penguins about the same break as Crosby the "sacrifice" (if you can call making that much money a sacrifice) will be virtually doubled. The Pens will have essentially have $22.68 million dollars (max contract times two) worth of superstar locked in for the set price of about $17.5 million dollars...That's a discount of 23% and over $5 million dollars in 2008-09 cap space. And as the salary cap seemingly will continue to rise in the future, the discounts the Pens received will only continue to grow.

Body of an American.....Orpik rejects the Penguins

Why wouldn't you sign this guy $4 million plus a year if you're a basement team?

In lieu of recent impending free agent news (Marian Hossa, Ryan Malone, Gary Roberts) it should come as no surprise that Brooks Orpik has rejected the Penguins latest contract offer. At this point, with just a few days left in June before unrestricted free agency, there's no reason for a guy who's trained and played hockey his whole life not to see what's out there on the open market.

Still, it's a little sad to know what was a pretty good offered (rumored to be about $14 million for four years [$3.5 million annually]) was rejected.

We don't doubt what Brooks Orpik said in January when he told reporters:

"I've loved all the time I've had here," he said. "I love the guys here, love the direction Ray [Shero, the general manager] has put the organization in. Everything here is done first-class, very professionally....Some guys get really upset with where they're at, they can't wait to get to July 1 to get out of a situation. ... I've talked with a lot of guys I've played with here who have gone other places, and they kind of wish they could come back."

We honestly believe what Orpik said to be true. But to turn down the serious money the Pens offered obviously shows a difference of philosphy. Maybe it's because Michel Therrien doesn't play him on the penalty kill and has had a frosty relationship with Orpik. That's not the end of the world, coaches and players don't need to be the best of friends and go out for beers after games; they need to win games.

Therrien shoved Orpik in a role of 4th line winger this season. Not because he was necessarily unhappy with Orpik, but he was trying to prove a point.

--Don't run around so much in the zone looking for a hit and opening up room for scoring chances.
--Stop taking so many lazy penalties that might lead to someone to rhyme your first name with an infraction and start a blog off of it.
--Play smart, play forceful.

To Therrien's credit, when Rob Scuderi was injured there was a hole opened up for Sergei Gonchar's partner. He didn't hesitate to plug Orpik in that gap and stuck with it for the rest of the season. Orpik rewarded him by redeeming himself to play the best hockey of his season. No doubt playing with the guy who came in 4th in Norris Trophy voting (and should have been higher than that) had something to do with it. But Orpik performed, he learned the lessons that HCMT was trying to convey and it showed.

At the end of the day though, it's about what the player wants. Despite his relationship with Therrien, Orpik has proven to be a loyal soldier to the Penguins regime and willing to accept whatever role they throw at him. While he rejected the Pens offer, it still seems out of Hossa and Malone, BO would be the most likely high profile UFA to return to the Pens. But to fit under the salary cap with their roster, how much more than the reportedly ~$3.5 million a season can Pittsburgh go? That's your $56.7 million dollar question.

Right now it doesn't seem like July 1 is shaping up to be a good day on 66 Mario Lemieux Place.

As some doors close, others perhaps open

We now know that Gary Roberts is looking to move on from Pittsburgh, Ryan Malone is less than a week away from about a $5 million a year offer that can't hope to be matched and Marian Hossa is interesting in at least testing the waters....

But there's other options out there. If the Pens lose important players to free agency they will inevitably be signing others to fill the gaps around their talented nucleus to continue to momentum built in the past two seasons in becoming a perennial contender.

An interesting story has developed out of Toronto: Darcy Tucker has been bought out. On one hand, Tucker is a 33 year old cast out from a struggling team. He plays a grinding game that has surely seen his best years past and his production has fallen each post-lockout year. But on the other hand he still is a player that plays a gritty game (reminsicent of a guy like Roberts or Malone) and still scored almost 20 goals last year on a lackluster squad.

We're not saying the Pens will or should sign Tucker, but it's not too hard to imagine him signing a Petr Sykora-esque deal in terms of money (~$2.5 million) and years (2). Tucker has the physicality and grit to play on an excellent 3rd line with guys like Jordan Staal, Max Talbot and/or Tyler Kennedy....But he also has the experience, sense and hands not to be totally out of place to open up room on the top two lines for Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin.

So chin up Pens fans....The news in the past couple days hasn't been favorable, with Hossa breaking off contract talks, Malone ready to be released into the sea of free agents, no significant news in signing important players like Brooks Orpik, Georges Laraque or Pascal Dupuis...But in the flurry of activity about to break in early July, there will just have to be as many good stories of new beginnings as there will be endings.

Mr. Gary moving down that road

PG breaks news:

"He very much enjoyed his time there," Curran said. "But he understands that Ray [Shero, the Penguins' general manager] has a number of items on his agenda that would take priority."

Curran added that Roberts, 42, "most definitely" intends to continue his career and will decide where after reaching unrestricted free agency next Tuesday.

Seth at Empty Netters, as usual, knocked the ball out of the park with a lot of great youtube clips of some of Roberts most memorable moments.

Before Roberts and Georges Laraque the Penguins were a skilled team that got knocked around, and let themselves be abused. Shortly after the two arrived a new fire and attitude was instilled. You saw guys like Ryan Malone and Brooks Orpik more willing to drop the gloves to stand up for a teammate. We have it on good account that younger teammates got into the “Gary Roberts facts” and were almost as awed by Roberts presence as the fans were.

Roberts may have only laced ‘em up for 57 games with the Pens and was only with the organization for about 15 months, but it’d be hard to find a player with a bigger impact. Even last summer when hockey was over, younger guys (including Sidney Crosby) spent time with Roberts: training with him like the maniac he is, eating is horrifically healthy diet, and yes, we suppose drinking the Fiji water.

So in many ways Roberts announcing his separation from the team and fans that so embraced him is saddening. But Puck Daddy thinks this could be a good thing for the Pens:

But the shock isn't that Roberts is leaving. It's the shock that despite all the Evgeni Malkin free-agent discounts (is that Geno or Gino?), the Penguins team that played for the Cup is effectively dead.
Roberts is gone, Hossa will be gone, any number of other grunts will be gone. (And yet Therrien remains ...) What is lost on many of my Pittsburgh friends is that this is a good thing. Your team was a bridesmaid. Complacency leads to the 2007-08 Ottawa Senators; modification means that the Penguins, going forward, can build a team that will win a Cup rather than one that might. Keeping around a fourth-liner who is two years
younger than the head coach doesn't achieve that goal.

Wyshnyski makes a valid point, change is vital and necessary to get over the top. Roberts would have been, at most, a 3rd line winger, and given his injury history (he’s missed at least 10 games every season over the past six) and age (42), it’s unlikely the salary he’d want would make him a good signing from a pure business perspective.

The Penguins won’t be able to replace his intensity, but they will be able to use what they’ve learned, individually and collectively, going forward.

We've been watching a lot of the Discovery Channel series 'When We Left Earth' and can't help but think of the the metaphor that could be used between veterans like Roberts and the big Saturn V rockets that generated the force needed to go past the bounds of Earth's gravity. Both strong and do their jobs and even though it's jettisoned before the mission is completed, it's the reason you got there....In the future that's how we'll look back at the contributions of Gary Roberts.

If there’s one thing the editor here feels sad for, is not so much Roberts departing, but him doing so after coming so close and falling short of the Stanley Cup. But, sometimes in life that’s the way it goes. So long, Gary, and thanks for everything.

Pens taking Fleury to arbitration

Well, Marc-Andre Fleury, rated the most desirable goalie RFA by some, will not be a restricted free agent this year.

The Penguins are taking him to arbitration. This is a good move by the team, it buys them some time. If Fleury hit the market on July 1, there was a pretty good chance some team might have given him an offer sheet of a ridiculous amount of money. The Pens would be in the uncomfortable situation to match it and pay more than they wanted to, or let Fleury go and since Ty Conklin is a free agent, have a huge hole in the depth chart at goalie.

Arbitration, which runs from the end of July to early August buys more time to negotiate before the hearing. Players and teams can make comparable analysis, meaning only RFAs can be used. We think this is good for the Pens, after all Carolina's Cam Ward is the same age and has similiar stats and, oh yeah a Stanley Cup. Ward signed $8 million for 3 years ($2.66 million cap hit). Buffalo's Ryan Miller got that same contract three years ago and had similiar numbers/regard as Fleury does now.

Both sides will probably be looking for a long-term contract in the weeks to come, but by taking Fleury to arbitration, the Pens have essentially just pulled him out of the fire and won't allow other teams to even think of making an offer.

Sunny side of free agency...

The Penguins have more unrestricted free agents of consquence than any other NHL team this summer. Since you're probably interested in hockey by your reading of this blog, this is not a news-flash. Players will be departing, and that will draw a lot of attention. After all, we've cheered for these guys, followed their career paths for years and some will be finding new places to play.

But in their place will come others. Ray Shero has had some success in bringing in vets on short-term contracts (Petr Sykora, Gary Roberts) and some ones he'd probably like back (Mark Recchi, Darryl Sydor). Who's this year's candidates?

We're anticipating, as of this moment, the Pens need three skill players to fill out their top six forwards. We're only counting on Sykora, Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby to be the top forwards this fall. If Ryan Malone or Marian Hossa re-signed that would be awesome, but let's even think of them as goners for the time being. The Penguins have about $27 million committed to 11 roster players for next season. They'll want to leave wiggle room for deals for Marc-Andre Fleury and big contracts that will kick in the following season (Malkin and Jordan Staal), which is why they can't just appease guys like Malone and Hossa with longterm contracts today.

Keep in mind the below named aren't a list of players that will end up in Pittsburgh, just a little exercise to keep our minds off of the subtractions and look to new additions...

So here's some skilled forwards set to be unrestricted free agents that would look good lining up on Crosby or Malkin's wings next fall.....But then again, who wouldn't look good on those two's wings?

• Cory Stillman (OTT, $1.75 million)-- Ottawa has alot of money locked up in a few players (Spezza, Heatley, Fisher, Alfeddsson) and still needs deals for Meszaros and Vermette. Stillman scored 24 goals and had 41 assists between Carolina and Ottawa last season and has two Stanley Cup rings. At age 34 he's veteran but not too over-the-hill. He's a pretty reliable bet to have about a 25 goal/45 assist season.
• Brian Rolston (MIN, $2.432 milion)--Rolston's scored 30+ goals in all three seasons since the lockout. Even at age 35 he's an extremely fast skater, is defensively orientated and probably has one of the top ten slapshots in the league. He's got the wheels, hands and hockey sense to keep up with Crosby.
• Ladislav Nagy (LA, $3.75 million)-- The Penguins are going to have to be almost like the Oakland A's in finding talent; sometimes it has to come with a defiency or two. Nagy has knocks against him: he's doesn't seem to give his maximum effort every night, he's not a playoff performer and this will now be the third team not too devastated to see him leave. Nagy does have a ton of skill and age 29 he's a lot younger than most other UFAs.
• Vinny Prospal (PHI, $1.9 million)-- Prospal is a very consistent and steady offensive player. This past season was his best too in terms of goal scoring with 33 between stints in Tampa and Philly. Prospal seemed to run out of gas when he played the Pens, but was a diference maker in series before it.
• Kristian Huselius (CGY, $1.4 million)-- Huselius seemed to be forever in the dog house in Calgary but look at his average season over the past two years (29.5 goals and 42 assists) and it's hard not to be impressed by the numbers. He rode shotgun with Jarome Iginla, so playing on a line with a star wouldn't be anything new.

If the Penguins lost Malone and or Hossa but were able to reload with a name or two off the above list for a reasonable rate and term, it might not be the end of the world.

Of course, there's still a lot to play out, the real "fun" of speculation, signings and shock hasn't begun yet. But just remember, for every loss there's going to have to be a replacement to fill the ranks. How Shero finds them will obviously go a long way's in determining the mentality and set-up of the team for this season and the years to come.

Pens looking to get something from nothing?

Interesting whispers have come out of Columbus, namely the Columbus Dispatch writer Aaron Portzline's blog:

The two clubs have had preliminary trade talks, the Dispatch has learned. The discussions have involved Pittsburgh trading the rights to one or two of their pending unrestricted free agents -- players the Penguins have decided they can't keep because of the salary cap -- to the Blue Jackets for draft pick or player
compensation.

It's unclear who the players are, but Ryan Malone and Brooks Orpik seem like logical choices. Hey, why not Marian Hossa?

My guess is the Blue Jackets will be giving up draft picks. I don't think anything is imminent. Right now, Penguins GM Ray Shero has to be sweating it out deciding
who he's going to keep or let go...When he figures out how he's going to build the roster, the trading could commence.

The conventional wisdom each summer is that talks won't get serious until the draft gets underway on on June 20. But that's not true anymore.

We agree that if anything would happen, it's probably going to be more towards the draft day, and the return for Pittsburgh almost certainly will be draft picks. The Penguins gave up their first three picks to acquire roster players (1st for Hossa, 2nd for Hal Gill and the 3rd to get Georges Laraque last year).

At this point, the key word in the quoted artice is "preliminary". We wouldn't imagine anything is imminent, Shero's probably looking at all possibilities open to him. There is a history to this, right before the "silly season" of free agent signing in 2002 a couple of deals were made. The only one we can remember off the top of our head is Toronto sending UFA to be Tie Domi to Nashville for an 8th round pick. The rationale was a loop-hole in the old CBA that a low budget team like Nashville would get a compensatory pick for losing Domi (who ended up going back to Toronto) and Toronto got a little extra. Toronto, we believe, wouldn't have stood to gain a compensatory pick had they lost Domi because they spent too much money on salary and weren't eligible for the pick under the terms of the previous CBA.

Back to present day, this makes sense for the Pens. If initial talks with Malone or Orpik showed the players were asking for more money than Pittsburgh could budget, or if the players were interested in seeing just how much they could get when 30 teams bid on their services, Pittsburgh doesn't get much when they walk. At least by trading the short-term rights to a UFA to be, they could receive a needed draft pick in two weeks.

By that same token, if the player really wanted to test the open market, what good would it do to trade his rights for conditional draft picks that likely won't come to pass. And while the article specifically mentions Malone, Orpik and Hossa, the Penguins have a host of other impending free agents (Laraque, Adam Hall, Pascal Dupuis, Jarkko Ruutu and Ty Conklin, among others). Perhaps Columbus specifically contacted Pittsburgh about getting a leg up on everyone else when it comes to getting a chance to negotiate with a lesser light. It's pure speculation on our end, of course, but right now no one seems to know much of anything.

We're not sure how the NHL would respond to a conditional trade like this--they weren't happy about the Toronto/Nashville shenanigans back in 2002-- but something would be better than nothing. Plus the last CBA was hundreds and hundreds of pages of legal mumbo-jumbo that dozens and dozens of lawyers wrote, proofread and tweaked. With examples like the 2002 loophole still a little fresh on their minds, we think if they wanted to close it, it would have been done. But then again compared to the major issues of that document (salary cap, defining revenues to be shared, etc) this couldn't have been too prominent on the radar.

And say, who was the assistant GM back in Nashville that would have knowledge of this practice to be keyed in? The very same Shero. This will be an interesting development to watch unfold.

Also last season it might be relevant to point out that the Preds dealt to UFA to bes (Kimmo Timonen and Scott Hartnell) for a first round pick last summer, so it seems recent precedent would be in favor of this deal to happen.

Where there's smoke there's not always fire, but since this is coming from a non-rumormongering source that's actually based in the other city, we won't flat out dismiss it as trash.

Eyes and ears open Pens fans, business is most assuredly about to pick up.

Extension for Malone to wait 'til summer..

..If at all.

One of the biggest changes the NHL has gone through since instituting the salary cap has been granting players unrestricted free agency at a younger age. That's a big reason you're seeing teams lock up players that are 24, 25 years old or younger for 5, 6, or even 12 or 13 years now.

Ryan Malone is a poster boy for this. At 28 years old, he's at the prime of his career. And, fortunately for Bugsy, he's having a career year (24 goals, 45 points and counting). At 6'4 and 220 pounds, he's always been big. But he's using it more effectively and consistently. That sound of lip smacking is about 30 general managers imagining adding a power forward to their lineup.

But Malone will hit the market with fewer than 300 career NHL games for the Penguins. He was drafted in the old CBA, where teams had a lot more time before they had to start developing prospects professionaly. Malone was drafted in the summer of 1999 but didn't join the Penguins until finishing his senior year at St. Cloud State. Throw in the lost lockout year and he's only had four seasons in Pittsburgh's organization.

Through teams good and bad Malone's always been a consistent 20 goal scorer (last year he netted 16 in 64 games of an injury shortened season). But he's never been this good.

So, how are the negotiations going?.

The Penguins are believed to have recently offered Malone a long-term contract,but not at significantly more than his current $1.45 million salary.

Uhh that's not going to get it done for a guy who will hit the open market. Teams historically over-pay for talent on July 1st---$8 million on two years of Todd Bertuzzi and Robert Lang, $20.4 million on six years for Dainius Zubrus last summer and so on and so on. It's easy to make a case that al of those guys are more established than Malone, but they were also older and had more "wear in the tires" too.

It's not crazy to think some team will swoop in and offer at least $12 million for four years for Malone...But would he leave?

Malone has publically stated he hopes to remain a Penguin. And who wouldn't? It's a bright time for the organization and Malone's played with centers like Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin for the past two and a half seasons. Taters has been a physical force, but he's not been the one primarily lugging the puck up the ice or making many decisions with the biscuit. It's simple; drive to the net, create room for the playmakers, cycle the puck and throw the body around and the puck on target.

But Bugsy is a Pittsburgh boy, you say. While true he spent his formative years (from high school senior through college) in the upper middle west. And, what will come as a newsflash to many Pens fans who believe Malone is the prototypical "hometown discount" remember that he makes his offseason home not in Pittsburgh, but in Minnesota.

There was a very telling quote by Ray Shero in that article, one that sounded more than willing to acknowledge this might be it:

"For every goal he scores, assist or fight he has - look, we're rooting for him. I hope he has a great playoff," Shero said. "It's the way the system is, and Ryan knows what our feelings are."

The Penguins have a general plan and they know what they're doing. Priority #1 this summer is obviously locking up Evgeni Malkin....Marc-Andre Fleury will also need new deal and the Pens can look to extend Jordan Staal if they want to as well. As crazy as it sounds, don't sleep on the the Pens not making at least a pitch for Marian Hossa either. If they're willing to spend to the salary cap, like has been reported it might be workable.

Immediately, There's 13 players next season under contract, the forwards are: Crosby, Malkin, Staal, Petr Sykora, Maxime Talbot, Tyler Kennedy. The defense is a lot more set: Sergei Gonchar, Ryan Whitney, Hal Gill, Darryl Sydor, Kris Letang, Rob Scuderi (and Alex Goligoski) are under contract. Dany Sabourin is too, but that's a different issue for a diferent day.

By our unscientific math that's a cap hit of right at $34 million...That leaves about $18 million to what's expected to be the cap; even if they don't make any moves on trying to shed a guy like Sydor ($2.5) or Whitney ($4) It'll be decision time to see who the Penguins want to bring back, who they're able to bring back and what will happen.

Start with Ryan Malone, end up with a thesis paper about the Penguins salary cap next season...That's Sweater Ted style, baby.