Department of Homeland Security
| 3
|
by Pittsburgh Pro Sports Report
From PittPSR:
After a quick departure from the NHL playoffs, the Pittsburgh Penguins organization set a few goals for the off season: Protect the young home-grown talent by signing these players to long term deals and fill in the empty spots with bargain free agents. Ray Shero puts in more eloquently when he says,
“Every team is going to do what they feel they need to do, but as far as we’re concerned, our need was to add a veteran defenseman and a winger and I think we accomplished that. I think those players address our needs and we’re in pretty decent shape,” he said. “I really think with adding the two players we did, I really like our group. But, we don’t start playing until October, so there’s always a possibility where there’s a trade or we fall into something that might be attractive for us or make might make sense. "
So far, so good. Early in the off season the team extended the contract of rising star D Ryan Whitney to a six-year, $24 million extension. This signing ensures the Penguins will have a defensive star for years.
The next big signing, was that of the Next One. The Pens locked up C Sidney Crosby for five years at $8.7 million dollars a year. This could have been the the biggest no-brainer in sports history. Even Pittsburgh Pirates management would have dished out big bucks for this guys and that's saying something. Not even a terrorist attack, can take the best player in hockey away from the city of Pittsburgh.
Not only have the Penguins locked up the "stars" of the team, but they have also protected the young core of the team. They locked up virtuous D Robert Scuderi shorty after Whitney and have made strides to keep the team's offensive core together. General manager Ray Shero has resigned C Max Talbot, C Eric Christensen, and RW Colby "cheese" Armstrong, all to two-year deals.
Not only has Shero signed existing Penguin players, but he has also added some more weapons to help better the team. The most notable are free agents RW Petr Sykora and D Darryl Sydor. Not only will these players help the team (Sykora had 22 goals last season and Sydor plays exception defense) but they also came at the right price, $5 million over two seasons for each. The Pens also improved the young depth at defense. They lured All-American D Alex Goligoski away from the University of Minnesota ( money talks kids, $1.1 million over two years).
