Salary cap update: where the Penguins stand now

by Hooks Orpik on Jun 30, 2009 8:00 AM EDT in Pittsburgh Penguins free agents Comment 13 comments

Pittsburgh Penguins' Bill Guerin raises the Stanley Cup after the Penguins beat the Detroit Red Wings 2-1 to win Game 7 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup finals in Detroit, Friday, June 12, 2009. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

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4 months ago: Pittsburgh Penguins' Bill Guerin raises the Stanley Cup after the Penguins beat the Detroit Red Wings 2-1 to win Game 7 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup finals in Detroit, Friday, June 12, 2009. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

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Pensburgher Malsby as a great fanshot up (and is updating it) about the Penguins current contract status and how much room is left. According to him, the Penguins have about $5.5 million under the 2009-10 salary cap. And here's what the roster now looks like after the signings of Craig Adams and Bill Guerin.

Kunitz - Crosby - Guerin
XXXXX - Malkin - Talbot
Cooke - Staal - Kennedy
Dupuis - Adams- Godard

Orpik/Gonchar
Eaton/Letang
Goligoski/ XXXXX

Fleury
Curry

While it's not so simple as to give Ruslan Fedotekno $2.5 million and Rob Scuderi $3 million and call it an off-season, the pieces are falling into place.

There's still some considerable questions -- will Maxime Talbot be a consistent point producer in a Top 6 winger role? Does the defense have enough depth and the physicality to keep opponents at bay? What happens if Marc-Andre Fleury goes down to injury again and leaves John Curry and Brad Thiessen as the two goalies? However every team in the NHL is going to have questions (most a lot more pressing) and the Penguins only need to sign or replace 2 key contributors and they have just about the entire roster back from the Stanley Cup winning team.

Concluding, it looks like Ray Shero and co. in the front office have switched gears wonderfully from the joys of winning in order to keep key components back in place for next season. The job however is not finished, so it'll be interesting to witness what Shero decides on impending free agents and those on the market when shop opens up league wide tomorrow.

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First Time Post

I was considering all the talk this offseason about what we need/don’t need to do this offseason and I keep coming back to one answer. We need to sign THE piece. I think Scuds will sign for 2.75mm per if we offer it for 5+ years. The top 5 D would be set, and we could allow Lovejoy and Goligoski to fight it out for #6.

While keeping Tenks would be nice, I don’t think we need to. Here are my thoughts…
- Resign Ziggy to a 2 year $600K per contract. 62% on faeoffs and good linemate and PK partner for Adams.
- Trade Dupuis. It doesn’t matter what we get, he is expendable.
- Give Caputi/Wallace/Jeffrey each a chance to play on both second and fourth line. One will stick somewhere.
- Sign some new blood. My first though was Taylor Pyatt for 2-3 yr $1.5 – $1.7mm year. Huge guy who never lived up to his billing, but could be a beast in front of the net for Malkin/Talbot and Guerin could be a great mentor. Also will command Pronger’s attention when we play Philly. I hate being reactive to that trade, but it changes the dynamic of Philly’s whole team, and the Flyers, not the Devils, are our biggest challenge in the division.

If my numbers are correct, that still leaves us $1.8 – $2.05 wiggle room to increase offer to Scuds. I don’t like the idea of going into the season with the same roster as this year. We need to be a dynamic organization that is always growing. And replacing a few guys will keep the rest of the team honest.

by Ulf Murphy on Jun 30, 2009 9:45 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Scuds @ $2.75M/yr is a little rich for my blood.
Bringing in Pyatt for more than what Dupuis makes defeats the purpose of trading Dupuis. I’m all for trading Dupuis, but only if we upgrade at LW by bringing back Feds or signing someone better than Pyatt.

by AronV on Jun 30, 2009 1:15 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I definitely think that Pyatt is somewhere in between Tenks and Dupuis, but I remember watching a game earlier this year where Pyatt looked awesome playing with the Sedin’s. Sid and Geno make players better (See Armstrong, Colby and Talbot, Maxime). Dupuis has not been one to get better playing with either of them. I just liked Pyatt’s possible upside, and he was the first affordable left wing that came to mind.

by Ulf Murphy on Jun 30, 2009 1:47 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Nice first time post and I like your username!

I agree with Aron though, I’d rather bring in a more consistent LW than Pyatt — the Pens know what they’ll get from Fedotenko and like it.

I’d be all for trading Dupuis and re-signing Zigomanis and giving a guy like Jeffrey a chance. I don’t think the Pens PK would suffer since Adams has been re-upped.

Then the savings from Dupuis – Ziggy’s salary should be enough to get Fedotenko back.

Easy to say this all hypotheticals instead of actually doing it in real life though.

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 30, 2009 1:28 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Agreed on the hypotheticals, but what else are we going to do as puckheads? Watch baseball? No thanks!

by Ulf Murphy on Jun 30, 2009 1:50 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

And by the way, thanks to you and Frank D for the great coverage and interesting dialogue all through the playoffs!

by Ulf Murphy on Jun 30, 2009 1:54 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

So you’re been lurking around these waters for a while then, huh? May I ask why you waited so long to jump on board? We’re relatively nice people with seemingly good intentions.

Follow the Penguins on SBN @ Pensburgh.com and twitter.

by FrankD on Jun 30, 2009 2:22 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

No real excuse. Work is crazy (until this week for some reason), two little kids, etc. I do not usually read blogs at all, but most of the posters/ commenters (Sp?), especially you and Hooks, are passionate about the Pens, but not so skewed that you cannot see reality. Your content kept me coming back after a Yahoo tag. As for the seemingly good intentions…kinda like keeping your head down going over the middle against Orpik? Depends on whose perspective you want. lol.

by Ulf Murphy on Jun 30, 2009 2:52 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Absolutely, no problem. No baseball, plz. Haha

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 30, 2009 3:50 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

The Future

Hooks,
Good information, thanx. Ray seems to have done a pretty good job regardless of potential UFA signings or not.

What strikes me though is the way the Pens seem to be following Detroit in their “farm” system. Over the last couple of years, good drafting and prospects have started to provide the depth that can make tough decisions on the NHL level a lot easier.
While it would be nice to keep a Cup Team together, it isn’t the 50s Montreal or 80s NYI and Edmonton anymore.

It does appear that the Pens may have more, good young players waiting for their chance than most other teams. We’ve all heard that was how Detroit does it (along with some creative financing) and it works.

If Shero continues to recruit and cul very good talent from the minors, the majors will take care of themselves, hockey-wise and monetarily. It should also have an effect on those up here to make them more competitive because of the “fear” of being replaced on a team with one of the best chances at a Cup for the foreseeable future.

With today’s salaries, to be honest, does a true player have a legitimate time quibbling over 3.4 million or 4.5 million a year…even though he knows he can sign with any club if he’s good enough? But there’s only a special few that get their names engraved! We’ve seen some already willing to work for less to get that fame.

Bottom line…it looks like the Pens have put together the foundation for a very good future with their up and coming players. Regardless of future salary caps, that’s a good thing.

by John Carter on Jun 30, 2009 9:49 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Team is in decent shape

I think the one thing Ulf Murphy said that is probably most true is there are going to be SOME shakeups. I think by in large that is going to be name guys moving on and youngsters being called up to replace them. The Lines listed above are solid and complete if Feds and Scuderi are signed, but obviously the Pens can’t go injury free. The Pens will likely drop Sykora, Satan and Hal Gill as well as Phillipe Boucher. The thing is that Philly’s move is really a one shot deal. The Cap is supposedly going down after next season which is going to make GMs jobs that much tougher but the “Detroit Formula” of developing and bringing up talent is really the ONLY way to keep on top for years to come. The good news though for the Pens is that I expect with some more experience Crosby-Malkin and Staal still have their best years ahead of them!

by Dutch71 on Jun 30, 2009 1:50 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Throw in Eaton and Cooke as Well

OUT via Capless Trades (picks, prospects)….Dupuis, Eaton, Cooke
IN….Scuds and Tenk or Sykora and/or FA

by m1lkman on Jun 30, 2009 2:56 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I like Cooke

I’d keep Matty Cooke, other than a stupid penalty he took on AO in G1 of the Caps series, where he got pissed off at him and essentially took him down, (led to a PP Goal) I was quite pleased with Matty Cooke, lot of hustle, lot of hitting. Not sure if Sykora is going to be kept but signing a D-Man should be more of a priority than him. Scuds/Tenk Top 2 remaining should signs…

by Dutch71 on Jun 30, 2009 9:22 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs