Pens re-sign James Neal, 6 years $30 million dollars

by Hooks Orpik on Feb 19, 2012 11:12 AM EST

PHILADELPHIA, PA - FEBRUARY 18: James Neal #18 of the Pittsburgh Penguins celebrates his 30th goal of the season against the Philadelphia Flyers at the Wells Fargo Center on February 18, 2012 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Penguins defeated the Flyers 6-4. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

One of the biggest question marks of the upcoming off-season was the contract negotiations with James Neal. The Penguins, with limited cap room, were looking to re-sign the goal scoring 24 year old winger before he hit restricted free agency and were able to get that out of the way early today. From the team:

The Pittsburgh Penguins have re-signed forward James Neal to a six-year contract extension, it was announced today by executive vice president and general manager Ray Shero.

The deal begins with the 2012-13 season and runs through the 2017-18 campaign, and has an average annual value of $5 million.
Neal, 24, has emerged as one of the top goal-scoring threats in the National Hockey League in his first full campaign with Pittsburgh this year. Playing most of the season on the Penguins’ top line alongside NHL scoring leader Evgeni Malkin, Neal currently ranks fourth (tied) in the NHL and second on the team with a career-high 30 goals

It's a high price to pay, and now according to Capgeek the Pens have $59.1 million tied up in contracts next season. But there will be a new CBA by that time and who knows if there will be any salary rollbacks or a buyout of any players. Plus the Pens have some money tied up in Paul Martin and Zbynek Michalek that they could possibly clear out via trade in order to open a roster spot for Simon Despres and see significant savings against the cap.

As for Neal, this represents a huge commitment to him. He's got a limited playoff resume and will need to score 30+ a year to justify this contract, but with his size, forechecking ability, shot and chemistry with Evgeni Malkin it definitely seems like a good gamble for Shero and the Pens to take.

Tweet Comment 18 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

In Shero We Trust

by mcnulty4prez on Feb 19, 2012 10:33 AM EST reply actions

Reasonable deal, exactly what some of us proposed on here a few weeks ago. Surprised it was for 6 yrs, but I don’t have any problems with it at all

by AronV on Feb 19, 2012 10:35 AM EST reply actions

Yeah, the six years surprise, I would have thought maybe from the player side that they’d shoot for another 1-2 year deal and look towards UFA. But $30 million guaranteed is certainly a nice payoff for Neal’s lifetime of hard work to get to this point.

Pensburgh

"You come at the King, you best not miss."

by Hooks Orpik on Feb 19, 2012 11:16 AM EST up reply actions

I’m sure Neal knows as well as we do that he will not find a better group of Centers to play with…could be a factor in the long term commitment.

by jedmiller71 on Feb 19, 2012 11:40 AM EST via mobile up reply actions

My assumption is that the 6 years is a sort of compromise for paying him less than he could get on the open market this summer. It’s a fair contract, but given the season he’s having right now, the $5M can be looked at as him taking a moderate discount.

Great contract, in my opinion.

Jagr? I don't even know 'er.

by PopRocks on Feb 19, 2012 4:04 PM EST up reply actions

If a team is going to sign someone for 6 years

I’d say doing it for his age 25-31 seasons is about as good as it gets.

by King Oskar on Feb 20, 2012 8:28 PM EST via Android app up reply actions

Agreed.

Jagr? I don't even know 'er.

by PopRocks on Feb 22, 2012 7:05 PM EST up reply actions

Isn’t that about what Ryan Malone got in 2008? And he was a little older having started his caterer later (after 4 years of college and some AHL time). So this seems like a good deal. From players’ perspective he knows he will be playing alongside Malkin or Crosby for years to come.

by biedergb on Feb 19, 2012 11:27 AM EST via mobile reply actions

close. Malone’s cap hit is 4.5 mil

"He doesn’t know whether to cry or wind his watch."..... Mike Lange

by Randy F on Feb 19, 2012 1:11 PM EST up reply actions

5 mil a year for

a potential (27 last year) and now real 30 goal scorer who is only 24 is the norm these days. This is a good deal. We are not loosing much ufas this year. and the ones we loose we can replace or sign for example Sullivan for even lower price next year.

by nut1976 on Feb 19, 2012 11:39 AM EST reply actions

Good point

about Martin/Michalek being moved. We’d have to acquire just draft picks for one of them, or a serviceable, decent veteran d-man making no more than 2 million (hopefully with an expiring contract). Meh, we’ll have to see, I guess.

But yeah, 5 million per for 6 seasons in the absolute prime of Neal’s career? Huge deal for the Pens. That’s the kind of shit we’ve been looking for and also significantly helps lift cups.

As fans, we’re so lucky to have both Shero and Colbert in varying shades of black and gold.

by HandsofSweed on Feb 19, 2012 12:10 PM EST reply actions

Is it possible

That Neal’s extension was front loaded fir this season at all? With Crosby on ltir we have some cap space. If we could use some of it on Neal this year, then the cap hits the following year won’t be as bad.

by zeke5123 on Feb 19, 2012 12:19 PM EST via mobile reply actions

It wasn’t. $5 million every year.

by SlayerGhaleon on Feb 19, 2012 12:26 PM EST up reply actions

not possible anyway

The deal starts next year so they could not front load it this year even if they wanted to.

by Netnwild on Feb 19, 2012 1:35 PM EST up reply actions

Also,

the cap hit is the average of the total salary over the years. If it’s front-loaded it just means the player gets more of the money in the first couple of years of the contract. This happens more often with really long contracts that a player may not even intend to play out (/cough/IlyaKovalchuk/cough/vomit), and/or when an organization wants to play around with what actual money they pay out at what time.

Jagr? I don't even know 'er.

by PopRocks on Feb 19, 2012 4:02 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs

Good deal

You lock up a guy that has real chemistry with your two star players. Something we have been looking for for a long time.

I disagree Hooks, I don’t think he needs to score 30+ to justify the deal, if he can score 25+ that would be good.

Ovechkin-Leich-Semin: The greatest line in hockey..............................Tee Hee

Proud supporter of the following clubs: Pittsburgh Penguins, Erie Otters, Columbus Crew, Boston Celtics and the best football clubs in the land: Manchester United F.C.

The Manchester United Football Club: Winning countless trophies and making City fans jealous and full of envy since 1902.

by Bradley James McEachern on Feb 19, 2012 12:55 PM EST reply actions

Holy shit this surprised the hell out of me this morning. This is so awesome.

Have to think someone else is on their way out through trade. Lookin at Martin.

"Hockey is the only tribe I belong to." -Jack Falla
Twitter Facebook Tumblr

by AlexStitch on Feb 19, 2012 2:38 PM EST reply actions

you have to figure if Martin doesn’t get traded this deadline or in offseason that the owners do put in that “Mulligan Button” for the crazy stupid contracts they hand out
it might take some team taking martin & Shero giving up a prospect too

by cmypath78 on Feb 20, 2012 8:00 PM EST reply actions