Alphabetical order dictates we have to take a look at the season - if you want to call it that - Mike Comrie put in as a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins.
It's difficult to ride a guy out of town after a number of injuries played a significant part in keeping him out of the lineup, but this was the risk the Penguins took when they signed him for league minimum during the offseason.
As mentioned before the jump, injuries were a big factor in his lack of production and it's hard to get on a guy's case about that. Between the start of the season and the late-December announcement of his hip surgery, Comrie seemed to be lagging on the ice, unable to produce any offense alongside Sidney Crosby and/or Evgeni Malkin. In a way, it's an odd twist to include Comrie on this past season's Penguins team, as we all know the implications that injuries had on practically the entire team over the course of 82 games.
I'm not entirely sure how opinions will vary on this, and I'd like to think I'm not really the sort of person who pushes his opinions off on others, but I genuinely feel that Comrie will not - or at least should not - return to the Pens in 2011-12. The lone highlight that came from his December surgery was that it would allow him to return to the Pens' lineup in time to contribute for the postseason. That did not happen. Comrie has not played in a playoffs game since 2006-07 with the Senators. If you add the total of regular season games played since he was traded midseason to the Sens in 2008-09 to the point where he left the ice for the Pens, it equates to 86 games. In other words, it's taken him just about two and a half seasons to play one full season.
But there's always hope I s'pose. The 30-year-old Comrie likely won't be ready to hang 'em up just yet, so maybe there's another short-term, discounted offer on the table next season.
Wave good-bye or consider a re-sign in 2011-12?