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Player Cap Numbers for 2007-2008:
Sergei Gonchar - $5 Million
Ryan Whitney - $4 Million
Evgeni Malkin - $3,834,200
Sidney Crosby - $3.7 Million
Petr Sykora - $2.625 Million
Gary Roberts - $2.5 Million
Darryl Sydor - $2.5 Million
Jordan Staal - $2.2 Million
Mark Recchi - $2 Million
Mark Eaton - $1.6 Million
Ryan Malone - $1.375 Million
Marc-Andre Fleury - $1,294,750
Colby Armstrong - $1.2 Million
Georges Laraque - $1.2 Million
Jarkko Ruutu - $1.15 Million
Brooks Orpik - $1,037,500
Kristopher Letang - $835,000
Erik Christensen - $750,000
Rob Scuderi - $700,000
Max Talbot - $750,000
Tim Brent - $574,420
Dany Sabourin - $512,500

Restricted Free Agents:
Colby Armstrong (Offered - Signed - 2 Years, $2.4 Million)
Maxime Talbot (Offered - Signed 07/05/2007)
Michel Ouellet (Signed with Tampa Bay)
Erik Christensen (Offered - Signed 07/05/2007)
Ryan Whitney (Signed - 6 Years, $24 Million)

Unrestricted Free Agents:
Nils Ekman (Not being offered contract)
Ronald Petrovicky (Not being offered contract)
Josef Melichar (Not being offered contract)
Eric Cairns (Not being offered contract)
Rob Scuderi (Re-signed - 1/$700,000)
Alain Nasreddine
Joel Kwiatkowski (Not being offered contract)
Miki Dupont (Not being offered contract)
Jocelyn Thibault (Not being offered contract - Sign with Buffalo)

This is what I would like the Pens to do in the offseason.
Sign from the Free Agents above:
Colby Armstrong
Maxime Talbot
Chris Thornburn
Gary Roberts
Miki Dupont
Michel Ouellet (Went to Tampa Bay)

- Go hard for Kariya. If can't get him, go for Drury. (Went for Kariya)
- Sign a quality defensive D-man. (Sydor is a veteran, but no longer quality)
- Hopefully Letang will make the team next season, if not, gotta get a right handed d-man.


I know I said Gonchar was a top 5 D-man in the offseason, but I would love to see Shero trade him. He was absolutely horrible in the playoffs and is not worth 5.5 million next season.

I've heard rumors that Recchi and Roberts have both been offered contracts.

The Pens have made 2 signing so far in the offseason.

Jonathan D'Aversa - D shoots Right. Need a Right Hander on the blueline. Only 21 years old. Good signing by Shero

Tim Wallace - RW - 22 Years old.

I don't know much about these players. I like the signing of D'Aversa. Young defenseman who shoots right handed. Something the team needs.

both to 1 year deals

http://tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=211557&hubname=nhl

Love the move

Re-signed Recchi and Roberts today.

Agreed. Payed a fair bit for them, but they were required. One more veteran D, and I can see us being the class of the East next season.

xHardcourtx wrote:Agreed. Payed a fair bit for them, but they were required. One more veteran D, and I can see us being the class of the East next season.

I wouldn't say they paid a lot to get them. Recchi's deal can reach up to 2 million with incentives. Roberts originally wanted a 2 year deal. For the Pens to get him at 1, couldn't ask for anything more. Plus, for what he will bring to this team, 2.5 is a steal. I think Toronto and Ottawa would have gotten into a bidding war for him.

I would like the Pens to make a push for Ossi Vaananen or Tom Preissing.

Gonchar/Eaton-Preissing-Vaananen
Whitney/Orpik
Letang/Eaton-Preissing-Vaanen

I like this D-pairings
Whitney and Orpik came together the last half of the season. They didn't play to well in the playoffs, but none of the D-men did. I think Orpik will blossom into a good defender. Too early to give up on him. He played a lot better the last half of the season. Eaton was injured most of the season. If he stays healthy, you will see how underrated he really is. Hopefully Letang will make the team this year. Need a right handed shot on the top PP. Plus with Sneep and Goligoski in the system, I think the D looks good for the future.

Pens traded Chris Thorburn to Atlanta for a 3rd round pick in this years draft.

I don't like this move. I really liked Thorburn. He is a tough kid. Has some scoring touch. He would have been the perfect 4th line center. Always gave 100%.

Yeah I had heard a report saying that the Leafs had been preparing an offer over 2.5 per for Roberts. I guess the fact that they were already locker room presences contributed to it...chemistry isn't a stat but we need it jus as much. As far as those D pairings...I like Vaananen, but if the price is right, I wouldn't mind Scott Hannan for a 2nd defenseman to go with Gonchar. Their skills offset each other pretty well. Agreed on Orpik, I have high hopes for the guy, and I don't see why Letang can't at least get a bit of a look in the show this year.

xHardcourtx wrote:Yeah I had heard a report saying that the Leafs had been preparing an offer over 2.5 per for Roberts. I guess the fact that they were already locker room presences contributed to it...chemistry isn't a stat but we need it jus as much. As far as those D pairings...I like Vaananen, but if the price is right, I wouldn't mind Scott Hannan for a 2nd defenseman to go with Gonchar. Their skills offset each other pretty well. Agreed on Orpik, I have high hopes for the guy, and I don't see why Letang can't at least get a bit of a look in the show this year.

Finally, someone to talk Pens hockey with. I would rather have Hannan also, but I think some teams will bid too high for him and force to Pens to withdrawal.

Roberts contributions are invaluable to this team. I think he will really help Armstrong in the offseason to become the player he will be. I also hope he becomes Malones mentor because Malone has so much talent, just lazy.

Haha yeah I completely neglected this board until last night, but when I saw that we got Esposito, I needed to find some other fans to talk about it with, and had the brainstorm of checking this board out. I'm sure it'll pick up a little bit more in the regular season. I'll be here all summer tho, nothing like a summer of speculation.

I few updates to the Pens roster these past few days.

Traded Stephen Dixon to Anaheim for Center Tim Brent.

Offered qualifying offers to Colby Armstrong, Maxime Talbot, Eric Christensen, Ryan Whitney, and Ryan Lannon.

Michel Ouellet was not offered a contract.

I see Tim Brent as being the 4th line Center. Reports say he is a good faceoff man, which the Pens need. As well as a strong penalty killer.

I am suprised Michel Ouellet was not offered a contract. He played good in the second half and was one of the few who showed up in the playoffs. I see 2 things coming from this.

1.) Freeing up some money for a free agent
2.) Letting him go into free agency and then signing him instead of him going to arbritation and costing too much money to the Pens.

With the signing of Tim Brent, I could see a possible Ryan Malone trade. Malone's been rumored for a while now.

6 years $24 million

http://tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=212417&hubname=nhl

Compared to what the free agents are getting, this is a steal. Gotta love this signing by Shero.

Aside from the Whitney signing, Dany Sabourin was signed by the Pens today for 2 years, $1.025 million. Backup goalie for Fleury.

Markov - 2 Years/$6 Million - Declined

Kariya - 3 Years/$12 Million - Declined

I like this deal to Markov. Makes the defense much better. I hope he ends up signing it.

Kariya signs with the Blues for 3 years. Wow. This sucks. Pens need a forward for Crosby. They are screwed if they don't get one.

Sykora man, we just signed him. Only 22 goals last season, but I could see him getting 30 no problem with us.

I was dissapointed that the Pens didn't get Kariya. But at 6 million a season, no thanks.

I like the Sykora signing. He was linemates with Geno on Magnitogorsk in 04-05. Maybe a Gonchar trade is in the works.

Shero's comments on Sykora:

It was really interesting, when free agency started at 12:00, it must have been at 12:01, the phone rang, it was his agent, the first call that I got saying that Peter first choice was to play in Pittsburgh. So about 14 hours later that happened.

Sykora should be on the top line with Sid. He has a quick shooting release. Sid will be able to set him up plenty of times. The team got better this offseason.

Agreed, I'm happy with all of the moves made so far. Would have maybe liked to have gotten another D, but hey, you can't have it all.

This is what I think the lines will be:

Sykora-Crosby-Roberts
Staal-Malkin-Recchi
Malone-Talbot-Armstrong
Ruutu-Brent-Laraque

Line 1: Crosby plays with a player who will hit, go to the net in Roberts and a fast skater with a quick release in Sykora.

Line 2: Basically the same as last season with the addition of Recchi. I don't see Recchi on the 1st or 3rd lines, so he has to go somewhere. Staal and Malkin played well last season.

Line 3: I like this line a lot. They played well together the few times they were together. I think this is a good 3rd line.

Line 4: Brent/Talbot could flip. From his scouting report, Brent is a good faceoff specialist and good in the defensive zone. This is what you need for a 3rd line center.

Gonchar/Eaton
Whitney/Orpik
Letang/Sydor

The 1st 2 pairs played together last season and know each other well. Letang should make the team this year and Sydor will become a good teacher for Letang. I don't see Sydor being a top 4 defenseman anymore, and I think this is the season for Orpik. He needs to progress and step it up for the whole year like he did in the final 20 games last year.

I don't see Espo, Filewich, Kennedy or Stone making the team this year unless there are some trades involving some forwards. Espo will probably be better off going to the juniors for 1 more year. During rookie camp, he didn't look spectacular.