Penguins Roster/Cap Space Report(check for updates!)

by Malsby on Jun 29, 2009 6:37 PM EDT Comment 22 comments

Updated July 3rd, 2:20PM: F Ruslan Fedotenko re-signed, 1 year, $1.8m 
D Nate Guenin signs 1yr 2-way deal, $500k/$105k

Updated July 1st, 5:02PM: Former NJ Devil Mike Rupp signs 2 yr deal, $1.65m

Updated June 29th, 9:14PM: Guerin re-signed, 1 year, $2m(plus incentives?)

Updated June 29th, 7:10PM: Adams re-signed, 2 years, $1.1m

The Free-Agent signing period is just about upon us, so I figured I would make a template to keep track of the comings and goings and show how all of it is affecting the Penguins' cap situation. I'll try and update this as deals are made, although I might be a little held up on Wed. afternoon. The cap number for next season is tentatively set at $56.8m, so I'm going to use that for now.

Signed Through 2009-2010(* = WB/S player):

Forwards(13+2):
Sidney Crosby - $8.7m
Evgeni Malkin - $8.7m
Jordan Staal - $4m
Chris Kunitz - $3.725m
Bill Guerin(re-signed 6/29) - $2m
Ruslan Fedotenko(re-signed 7/3) - $1.8m
Pascal Dupuis - $1.4m
Matt Cooke - $1.2m
Max Talbot - $1.05m
Mike Rupp(signed from NJ 7/1) - $0.825m
Eric Godard - $0.75m
Tyler Kennedy - $0.725m
Craig Adams(re-signed 6/29) - $0.55m
*-Luca Caputi - $0.833m
*-Dustin Jeffrey - $0.508m
Total: $35.425m

Defensemen(5+1):
Sergei Gonchar - $5m
Brooks Orpik - $3.75m
Mark Eaton - $2m
Alex Goligoski - $1.833m
Kris Letang - $0.835m
Nate Guenin - $0.5m
Total: $13.418m

Goaltenders(1+0):
Marc-Andre Fleury - $5m
Total: $5m

Team Total(19+3): $53.843m
Remaining Cap Space: $2.957m

Restricted Free Agents:
F Paul Bissonnette
F Tim Wallace
D Ben Lovejoy
G John Curry

Unrestricted Free Agents:
F Miroslav Satan
F Petr Sykora
F Mike Zigomanis
*-F Connor James
*-F Chris Minard
*-F Janne Pesonen
*-F Jeff Taffe
*-F Bill Thomas
D Rob Scuderi (Los Angeles)
D Hal Gill (Montreal)
D Philippe Boucher
G Mathieu Garon (Columbus)

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Only 5 D under contract sort of jumped out at me. Gotta get crackin’ on that, Ray. Scuds will be a goner, but we need credible blue-liners to protect MAF.

Heart, Max Talbot has it by the mile. The Pens are your 2008-2009 Stanley Cup Champions.

by Malsby on Jun 29, 2009 6:45 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I hate to say it, but I think the Pens need to move someone.

Kunitz’s $3.725m of space would be nice, and would allow the Pens to re-sign Scuds, so a possible deal could be: Kunitz for a 3rd/4th line F or 5/6/7 D-man and a draft-pick.

Also, Gonch will be a UFA after this season, and considering that Letang will need a new contract after next year, might be some thought about moving him as well. Gonchar won’t be traded at the deadline, so the Pens would be left with nothing when his contract expires. Semi-unthinkable, but possible.

Dupuis’ name is getting tossed around a lot here as far as cap space fodder, but it would only be $1.4m of space and it would leave the Pens without a forward. At least with Dupuis, you know what you’re getting and he can play at the pro level every night.

Heart, Max Talbot has it by the mile. The Pens are your 2008-2009 Stanley Cup Champions.

by Malsby on Jun 29, 2009 6:56 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Mostly agree

i would move kunitz if i could, I like him but he doesn’t earn his pay. Nor does Dupuis. Gonchar will get an extension but if he doesn’t we can’t trade him he’s too valuable to the PP, the only way i’d move him is if at the deadline we’re out of the playoffs which will not happen.

Phili B

by ColeHarbour on Jun 29, 2009 7:28 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I don’t think dropping Kunitz is a good idea. I have heard this idea bounced around here and there this short offseason. He plays the same role as Tenks does on Malkin’s line. He is the physical presence but has hands too. Sid needs that on his line. Someone to look out for him and can chip in 20 goals while Sid sets up the bad ass Billy Guerin all season long.

It seems to me that a lot of Pens fans have a short memory. Last offseason this team lost a lot of “balls” and it showed. Kunitz is a solid top six forward and a good lockerroom guy. He seemed to really mesh well with the team and his only “drawback” is his salary. I think Shero knows what he is doing and probably has a better grasp of the cap than we do. So I am guessing that he took all of this into account when he picked Kunitz and his contract up at the deadline. Remember, he was already planning on paying Whitney slightly more for the duration of his contract.

by PensFan024 on Jun 29, 2009 8:48 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I’m not saying Kunitz is a bad player. I’m just looking at how little money the Pens have to work with and the option is tempting. Still, keeping Sid happy seems to be priority #1 for the Pens. Now he has two quality wingers to play with him this year. Fedotenko will probably re-sign in the $1.5-2m/yr neighborhood and the Pens will either re-sign Gill on the very cheap or look at free agency to fill that 6th Dman spot.

Heart, Max Talbot has it by the mile. The Pens are your 2008-2009 Stanley Cup Champions.

by Malsby on Jun 29, 2009 8:50 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

So that leaves $8 mil for 7 spots

Left open for a 23 man roster:
1st line RW, 2nd line LW, extra forward, D-man#6, D-man#7, backup goalie, Reserve

I figure half spots will be WBS players (Curry, Lovejoy, Jeffrey/Bissonette) which are 500-700k/year
So figure about $5 million for RW, LW and D-man. Resigning Guerin and/or Fedotenko means about $2 mill for Scuderi. And resigning Scuds for $2.5 to 3.0 million will mean a reserve or prospect for one of the top 6 forward spots.

by biedergb on Jun 29, 2009 6:59 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I agree that some of the spots must be filled from within. The money just isn’t there to fill things up with free-agents. I would imagine that they’ll sign Curry as the backup due to financial constraints and Lovejoy will likely be the 7th D-man. Such a cap headache, though.

Heart, Max Talbot has it by the mile. The Pens are your 2008-2009 Stanley Cup Champions.

by Malsby on Jun 29, 2009 7:05 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

And it’s probably more like $7.5m…we’ll know exactly how much when the terms on Adams’ contract come through.

Heart, Max Talbot has it by the mile. The Pens are your 2008-2009 Stanley Cup Champions.

by Malsby on Jun 29, 2009 7:06 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Guerin signed

So, that takes care of their 1st line. Interesting to see how much of Bill’s contract is tied up in incentives. Ideally, they kept his cap hit under $2m. That would leave them about $5m to play with barring any trades.

Heart, Max Talbot has it by the mile. The Pens are your 2008-2009 Stanley Cup Champions.

by Malsby on Jun 29, 2009 8:43 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Right at $2m, actually.

Heart, Max Talbot has it by the mile. The Pens are your 2008-2009 Stanley Cup Champions.

by Malsby on Jun 29, 2009 9:17 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I was under the impression it was $2.8M.

Hey, an out is an out - unless you're Mario, in which case it's probably two outs. -UtesFan89

by wg1of5 on Jun 29, 2009 9:54 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Grrr…stupid moment. The “.8M” is incentive bonuses…I think. Something like that.

Hey, an out is an out - unless you're Mario, in which case it's probably two outs. -UtesFan89

by wg1of5 on Jun 29, 2009 9:59 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I saw the number $2.85m somewhere, so I’m guessing that it’s a $2m base salary with $850k in incentives, but for the sake of this thread, the only thing that matters is the base salary.

Getting Guerin to sign at $2m from $4.5m last year was, dare I say, Craig Patrick-esque. Well played, Shero; well played.

Heart, Max Talbot has it by the mile. The Pens are your 2008-2009 Stanley Cup Champions.

by Malsby on Jun 29, 2009 10:04 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah I think you’re right, Malsby. So according to your sheet (which is great and probably very accurate) the Pens have about $5.5 million under the cap.

Pensburgh.com -- it's like the Max Talbot of blogs*

*not just because we only work for 12 minutes a night

by Hooks Orpik on Jun 29, 2009 10:20 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Would not be surprised if Dupuis moves to make room for signing Scuderi, and I wouldn’t be upset by it. If it’s a choice between someone who wasn’t a healthy playoff scratch and someone who was, I go with the former.

As far as any talk about moving Kunitz: no way. The Pens need that winger for Sid, and they need Chris’s attitude for the long haul of the season. Next season I think the decision will get slightly easier because I believe Gonchar will be done as a Pen. Purely as a financial thing: at that point, Letang or GoGo will be ready to step into the PP-QB role, and signing Sarge to additional years anywhere near his current salary just won’t make sense.

P is for Latrobe.

by holiday park on Jun 29, 2009 9:15 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I wouldn’t mind them losing Doop. He’s a little overpriced at $1.4m/yr, and they could use his space for an up and coming player like Caputi or Bissonnette.

Gonch will go after this year, and they’ll use his cap space clearance to re-sign Tanger next year.

Heart, Max Talbot has it by the mile. The Pens are your 2008-2009 Stanley Cup Champions.

by Malsby on Jun 29, 2009 9:16 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Feds/Scuderi

Would like to see these two guys back. Little light on the signed D-Men at the moment. I’m afraid some team is going to give Scuds a can’t pass offer and he’ll be gone. Feds I could see back at 2/4M or 3/7 range. Pens would then need to pick up some modestly priced D-Men for sure.

by Dutch71 on Jun 29, 2009 11:01 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Dupuis is a pretty good value at 1.4 million. Seems funny Letang is making less than Gogoliski. I really think the Pens are regretting Orpik’s contract but they cannot trade him.

by Tim C on Jun 29, 2009 11:28 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I bet the Penguins management still get excited at the fact that got brooks for only 3.75mil a year. However I think I know where your going with this with money for letang.

As someone else mentioned before, this is Gonch’s last year on his contract. He will either A.) sign for less money with him getting up there in age or B.) be let go to allow us to sign Letang

by lovedempens on Jun 29, 2009 11:36 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Dupuis and Godard

These two are expensive dead weight at this point. Dupuis, at $1.75 million, makes 75% more than Max Talbot and Godard, at $750K, only makes 25% less than Talbot. Need to trade Dupuis and Godard, buyout their contracts, or send them to the minors to free up some cap space for more intregal pieces like Scuds, Feds, or a strong free agent player.

by Bobtimus on Jul 1, 2009 8:37 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Let’s all say this together, one more time: thank God Marian Hossa didn’t accept that contract offer a year ago. These are minor cap headaches compared to the full-blown cap migraine we’d have if we were staring at a hit of over $7M for the next 5 seasons.

P is for Latrobe.

by holiday park on Jul 1, 2009 10:21 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs