Over the past 24 hrs you've no doubt seen and heard stories of players coming and going throughout the league. If you need to play catch up on signings throughout the league I'd suggest checking out TSN's free agency tracker. If you're more interested in what's going on around the Penguins you're in the right place.
No one really expected the Pens to be big buyers on the market this year. After all, there's only so much cap space to work with and so many players in their price range. However the single addition to the Pens' roster after day one of free agency comes from within the division.
Mike Rupp, formerly of the New Jersey Devils, signed on to a two-year deal worth about $825K per year. Rupp is a fourth line forward who can also take faceoffs, known more for his fight total than his point total. Seeing as how the Penguins still have Eric Godard under contract, the addition has led to some speculation that a player or two may be on the move. In fact Godard is one of those players rumored to be in some sort of move with Pascal Dupuis. No obvious details of any kind out there yet, but the assumption is the Penguins are looking to retain Rob Scuderi and may need to open up more cap space. As of right now the Pens are about $4.7 mill under.
Another name to skip town today was Hal Gill, the monstrous defenseman whose slow skating and crease-clearing attempts really looked out of place with Pitt. The Montreal Canadiens picked him up for two years, valued at about $2.25 mill per.
Mathieu Garon, the Pen we hardly knew, signed a two-year deal with the Columbus Blue Jackets valued at $1.2 per. No way Pitt could've offered enough to keep him on and there may likely be no reason for it if they decide to call up John Curry from Wilkes-Barre as Marc-Andre Fleury's back-up.
Last but not least, the man many want to see back in Pittsburgh, Rob Scuderi. No news may be good news right now as teams initially interested in signing Scuds (Minnesota, New York Rangers, Lightning and Stars) continue to fill up cap space and similar style defenseman. Take for instance Minnesota, who today signed defenseman Greg Zanon to a three-year, $5.8 mill contract. Zanon fills the Wild's shot-blocking needs and unless Chuck Fletcher is really set on stockpiling another put-your-life-on-the-line defenseman, it's likely that we can consider Minnesota out of the mix for Scuds. Same can most likely be said of Tampa after signing defenseman Lukas Krajicek.
Miroslav Satan and Ruslan Fedotenko are still testing the market.
As we head into day two of free agency, the Penguins will continue their talks in filling a few holes and potentially move Godard and/or Dupuis to clear space. A back-up goaltender is also a consideration, but may be sent to the backburner as Shero and friends try to work something out with Scuderi.
As far as the Pens go, how do you think things were handled on day one?
With regards to the the entire league, which signing outside of Pitt do you think will make the most impact?
