It's the weekend in the offseason. Things tend to be fairly quiet around the site at this time and so we often miss the boat on "breaking news," unless of course it's something of big time importance.
The re-signing of goaltender John Curry is not necessarily groundbreaking, but it is at least a sign of good things to come for the WBS team and the overall Penguins system.
Snippet from the official release:
The Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins have re-signed goaltender John Curry to a two-year contract, it was announced today by Executive Vice President and General Manager Ray Shero.
Up until the signing of backup goaltender Brent Johnson, many felt (present company included) that John Curry was a top contender for the role behind Marc-Andre Fleury. Heading into last season no one could have outright predicted we'd even see Curry playing on the parent club at any point in time. Yet when MAF went down with a lower-body injury and then backup Dany Sabourin wasn't exactly playing to his expected potential, Pens fans everywhere caught a glimpse of the 25-year-old and many were happy with what they saw.
Now don't get me wrong. It wasn't exactly like we saw the future of goaltending for the Penguins right there in front of our eyes. But we did see a guy who wasn't shaking under pressure and showed some signs of success with the farm team. You give a guy like that another year or two to work on his game and you have a starting goaltender on your hands. What the Pens will do with him in light of Fleury's contract that takes him up through 2015 remains uncertain.
Curry went 33-15-1 with the WBS Penguins last season and will once again stand between the pipes as the starter this season.