Penguins Sign Arron Asham to One-Year, $775,000 deal

From the team:

The Pittsburgh Penguins have agreed to terms with forward Arron Asham on a one-year contract, it was announced today by executive vice president and general manager Ray Shero.

The deal is worth $775,000.

Asham, 33, recently completed his first season with the Penguins. The veteran winger was one of Pittsburgh’s top performers during the postseason, leading the team with three goals and tying for the team lead with four points in seven games.

As always, a quick shoutout to the Pens for releasing financial details.  It always leaks, but not every team does it, so kudos to them for just getting it out of the way.

Secondly, Asham was a valuable player when he could stay in the lineup in 2010-11.  Unfortunately he had a series of unrelated nagging injuries that dogged him all year long and limited him to just 44 of the 82 games.  But, as seen above, he turned it up for the playoffs and was one of the better and most productive forwards in the Tampa series.

This signing may signal the end of Mike Rupp's time in Pittsburgh.  Rupp was more of a priority than Asham, but his contract demands in terms of money and term exceeded AA.  Asham is no stranger to dropping his gloves, hits and can play in the Penguins system.  Other than lacking Rupp's size, he's a good replacement in all realms.  General Manager Ray Shero has shown once again that he can identify and size up his targets, then move to get the right player under the right contract.