Pens Points: Happy Birthday Evgeni Malkin

As you probably already know, the Penguins re-signed Conor Sheary yesterday. 3 years, $3.0 million per. [Pensburgh]

Also richer today, Nino Niederreiter thanks to a 5 year, $5.25 million cap hit. [Hockey Wilderness]

Niederreiter has to make the Sheary contract look even better, right? Both players are the same age, and while Nino has a much more extensive NHL resume (389 regular season games, three 20+ goal seasons to Sheary’s 105 games and one 20+ goal season) their stat-lines for last year were similar. 82 gp 25 goals and 57 points for Nino, 61gp, 23 goals and 53 points for Conor. This is a reason the Penguins only went 3 years on Sheary; a long-term contract buys out UFA years. As you can see with the Wild and Niederreiter , UFA years for a productive, young winger are not cheap.

The Red Wings didn’t buy out Jonathan Ericsson as some fans hoped, so the veteran defenseman will be back. [Winging it in Motown]

The Devils are getting younger under old friend Ray Shero. [All About the Jersey]

Alex Semin is now out of hockey and enrolling in school in Russia to study metallurgy. Hey, whatever makes you happy, but man what a talent that guy was when he wanted to be. [NOVA Caps Fan]

Finally, it’s the Pens summer superstar birthday week, kicking off as always with Evgeni Malkin! Happy 31st birthday!