Pens Tidbits

[Killer]

It takes money to pay those young talents...with Sid and Malkin making 9mil a year per it'll be hard to keep the guys we have coming up now.

We go cheap with rent-a-players at trade time - that's the way it will go.


Player - Salary /Cap Number

Sidney Crosby $9,000,000 / $8,700,000
Evgeni Malkin $9,000,000 / $8,700,000

Sergei Gonchar $5,500,000 / $5,000,000
Brooks Orpik $3,750,000 / $3,750,000
Chris Kunitz $3,600,000 / $3,725,000
Jordan Staal $3,500,000 / $4,000,000
Marc-Andre Fleury $3,500,000 / $5,000,000

Bill Guerin $2,000,000 / $2,000,000
Mark Eaton $2,000,000 / $2,000,000
Ruslan Fedotenko $1,800,000 / $1,800,000
Pascal Dupuis $1,400,000 / $1,400,000
Alex Goligoski $1,250,000 / $1,833,000
Matt Cooke $1,200,000 / $1,200,000
Maxime Talbot $1,050,000 / $1,050,000

Michael Rupp $800,000 / $825,000
Jay McKee $800,000 / $800,000
Eric Godard $750,000 / $750,000
Kris Letang $625,000 / $835,000
Tyler Kennedy $600,000 / $725,000

[steelpride12]

Originally Posted by Shea

Guys, there's a Pens' game on tomorrow night.

I can't wait!

Yes and me and my buddy will be there freezing our tails off in the student rush line woo! GO PENS!

[HometownGal]

Originally Posted by steelpride12

Yes and me and my buddy will be there freezing our tails off in the student rush line woo! GO PENS!

Have a great time!

XT and I don't have tickets to tonight's game - it wasn't in our "plan".

I hope Pens fans give Ryan Miller a standing O tonight for his outstanding play representing the USA in the Olympics.

[SteelMember]

Penguins face prospect of revamping defense
By Rob Rossi, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Sergei Gonchar isn't on the trading block, and general manager Ray Shero isn't looking to move any defenseman off the Penguins' roster between now and the NHL trade deadline at 3 p.m. Wednesday.

However, developments Monday point toward Gonchar likely playing out the season and testing the free-agent market July 1 - and possibly leaving the Penguins for a long-term contract elsewhere.

There is no other way to read two bits of news from yesterday: That talks between Shero and Gonchar's agent JP Barry are on hiatus until after the season, and the acquisition of puck-moving defenseman Jordan Leopold from Florida for a 2010 second-round draft pick.

Also, consider these words from coach Dan Bylsma regarding Leopold, who is in the final year of his contract.

"His coaches played him against the top line this year," he said, acknowledging that Leopold was often assigned to defend against Washington superstar left wing Alex Ovechkin, who torched the Penguins for nine goals in a seven-game playoff series last spring. "To get a guy who skates like he skates, a guy who goes back for pucks and who has the ability to join the rush - that's a unique opportunity, whether it's in the summertime or now."

Those are all roles currently assigned to Gonchar.

Those are also roles the Penguins believe young defensemen Alex Goligoski, 24, and Kris Letang, 23, could handle next season - especially Letang, long considered by management as the heir apparent to Gonchar as the club's top two-way defenseman.

Leopold, 29, leaves the Penguins with eight NHL-tested defensemen but only two under contract for next season (Brooks Orpik and Goligoski). Gonchar, Mark Eaton, Jay McKee and Martin Skoula are all slated to become unrestricted free agents; Letang can field offers July 1 as a restricted free agent.

Bylsma dressed seven defensemen in eight playoff games last season and said he would consider that unconventional strategy again. Shero said he believes at least eight NHL-quality defensemen are needed for success in the postseason.

He also will not willingly engage clubs such as Philadelphia and Boston in a bidding war for scoring-line winger Raffi Torres of Columbus.

"I'm not really that interested in trading players off our team, because I'm trying to strengthen our team, not weaken it," Shero said, noting a seller's market of five teams.

"And if you're a buyer, there's not a lot of pickings."

Improving the defense was Shero's top priority, and Leopold's strengths - skating and puck movement - mesh well with Bylsma's preference for the Penguins to possess the puck and aggressively challenge on offense.

Leopold's experience as a key component on Calgary's 2004 Cup finalist squad was also a selling point.

The Penguins have tried to sell Gonchar on taking a so-called hometown discount to finish his career in Pittsburgh, but he isn't buying - at least not on short-term deal, which the club prefers. Barry told the Tribune-Review yesterday that term was a sticking point on two different proposals he presented to Shero during the Olympic break.

Gonchar, 35, is in the final year of a five-season contract that counts $5 million annually against the NHL salary cap, which is expected to increase only slightly next season from its current $56.8 million.

The Penguins are within about $350,000 of the cap after the acquisition of Leopold, whose $1.7 million hit will be prorated over their final 20 regular-season games. With their remaining cap space, the Penguins could acquire a player whose average annual cap hit is about $1.8 million, but the club must keep enough room to recall AHL prospects in case of short-term injury to regulars or the need to rest returning Olympians Crosby, Malkin, Orpik and Gonchar.

Gonchar has said he wants to finish his career with the Penguins, but he has not said he will accept less than anticipated market value - as Crosby and Malkin did for contract extensions in 2007 and 2008, respectively.

Though 36 by July 1, Gonchar is among a group of marquee veterans at his position who are slated to become unrestricted. That group that includes Detroit's Nicklas Lidstrom, Anaheim's Scott Niedermayer, New Jersey's Paul Martin and Ottawa's Anton Volchenkov.

The bounty of potential unrestricted free-agent defensemen is likely to weaken the market for restricted players such as Letang, who would like a long-term deal in the $4 million range comparable to what center Jordan Staal signed in 2009.

The Penguins, who play Buffalo tonight at Mellon Arena, could turn their attention to negotiations with Letang's agent, Kent Hughes. Talks between Shero and Hughes have stalled since November, and the team is attempting to reach a deal with Letang that mirrors the one signed by Goligoski last summer.

Goligoski is in the first season of a three-year contract that counts $1.83 million annually against the cap.

Shero has not ruled out making another move by Wednesday but reiterated he is comfortable with his group of forwards.

By all indications, he feels the same way about playing future games at Consol Energy Center without the Penguins' "Sarge."

[steelpride12]

Originally Posted by HometownGal

Have a great time!

XT and I don't have tickets to tonight's game - it wasn't in our "plan".

I hope Pens fans give Ryan Miller a standing O tonight for his outstanding play representing the USA in the Olympics.

Oh we will for sure. He is not the starter tonight, Miller is taking an extra day break, but he will be down there in the walkway and hear it from the fans for is outstanding performance!

[X-Terminator]

None of that is going to make HTG happy, because Gonchar is by far and away her favorite player. But I've said before that if he insists on asking for $6 million a year, which he says is market value, then he can take his services elsewhere. I love Sarge and I truly do appreciate all he's done for the team and for Geno, and is as great a human being as you can find. But this is a business, and the Pens simply cannot afford to pay him that much money in a long-term deal. He has to be willing to either accept a short-term deal for more money or a lesser amount over a longer-term deal. There's no other way it's going to get done. The Pens have to think about the best interests of the organization, and risking having a $5 million or $6 million cap hit on a retired player (Gonchar would be 40 at the end of a 4-year deal - certainly retirement age) even for one season would cripple the team. Also, at the end of those 4 years, Crosby's contract will be up, Staal the year before, and Malkin the year after. They will need all of the money they can get if they want to keep all 3 of those guys.

[steelpride12]

Agreed XT, but it such a difficult situation for the organization. Come on Gonch is one of if not the most important player on this team and you all know how we play when he is not in the line up, and yes I agree 6 Million for an older players who seeks retirement soon is WAY too much for him, but still how can't you lock up someone so key for this team's success.
Im on both sides here because I can see where everyone is coming from except Gonch's 6 million "market value" because yes he is worth the money, but at this age and point in his career no. I just don't know. The team won't pay that so what more can we do?

[X-Terminator]

Originally Posted by steelpride12

Agreed XT, but it such a difficult situation for the organization. Come on Gonch is one of if not the most important player on this team and you all know how we play when he is not in the line up, and yes I agree 6 Million for an older players who seeks retirement soon is WAY too much for him, but still how can't you lock up someone so key for this team's success.
Im on both sides here because I can see where everyone is coming from except Gonch's 6 million "market value" because yes he is worth the money, but at this age and point in his career no. I just don't know. The team won't pay that so what more can we do?

Just pray that something can be worked out, and prepare to be bitterly disappointed if the Pens have no choice but to trade his rights to another team if they cannot come to an agreement. It should also be noted that J.P. Barry is also the agent for Sid and Geno, so here's hoping that they can wield some influence over Gonchar and convince him to take the discount to stay.

[SteelMember]

Originally Posted by X-Terminator

Just pray that something can be worked out, and prepare to be bitterly disappointed if the Pens have no choice but to trade his rights to another team if they cannot come to an agreement. It should also be noted that J.P. Barry is also the agent for Sid and Geno, so here's hoping that they can wield some influence over Gonchar and convince him to take the discount to stay.

I hope so.

We had to stink for too many years to build the team back up with those 1st rounders. And don't get me wrong here because I know what Gonch brings to the team, but if your asking me to choose, there's no way I keep him and risk losing players like Crosby, Malkin or Fleury down the road.

[Killer]

More rumors? Trade Letang?


"...That leaves Kris Letang as the intriguing final piece to Shero’s reconstruction of a contender. The thought of losing Letang’s raw ability and potential gives Penguins fans nightmares of trading away Markus Naslund far before he hit his prime, but his upcoming restricted free agent status this summer is a big reason for concern.

With such a large portion of the salary cap already locked up in the core of Crosby, Malkin, Staal, Fleury, and Orpik, it won’t be easy for Pittsburgh to pay the pretty penny Letang probably knows he can fetch as a restricted free agent this summer.

He’s a 21 year old defenseman with two trips to the Stanley Cup Finals already on his resume, and is an ideal prospect to build a team around. In a perfect world without a salary cap, Ray Shero wouldn’t think twice about taking any money he’s set aside for resigning Gonchar to pay Letang.

Unfortunately, this isn’t that world and trading Letang might fetch a return that puts this team over the top, especially with Leopold prepared to step in and contribute immediately as a replacement.

For the patient Shero to pull the the trigger immediately following the Olympic roster freeze, it seems to indicate he has more tricks up his sleeve. While anything at this stage is purely speculation, it still feels as if the other shoe has yet to drop."

http://thehockeywriters.com/penguins-jordan-leopold/