Sarge departs, Shero retorts...

July 1st delivered just as we all expected. Free agents from far and wide signed deals left and right. And just like that, #55 was gone. It took all but 16 minutes for Sergei's agent JP Barry to find a taker. The Ottawa Senators were quick to offer Gonchar his expected 3 years at $16.5MM deal. Gonch was dead set on a three year deal and it appeared that he was ready to accept the first offer that came to the table. Part of me things the deal was struck so fast in spite of Shero's stubborn position. All Barry was looking for was for Shero to budge on his two year offer with just one more, but that wasn't the case. As such, our 5 year Penguin veteran, former assistant captain, leader of the defense, quarterback of the powerplay, is now bumpin' uglies with the likes of Chris Neil and Jaarko Ruutu. Good luck Sarge, thanks for the years, thanks for helping us to a Cup. You will be missed.

The good news is, old things pass away, but behold, Shero makes all things new.

Rather than wasting any time, Ray went out and landed his first deal of the day, Zbynek Michalek. This  former defenseman of the Phoenix Coyotes has much promise. But he didn't come cheap. He landed a 5 year deal worth $20MM, so he's gonna be here a while. Sam Kasan from Penguins.NHL.com has this to say,  

Michalek is a classic stay-at-home defenseman that will provide a solid presence on the blue line. He’s a shot-blocking specialist (led the NHL with 271 blocked shots in 2008-09), and can play a shutdown role against the opposing teams’ top forwards.

“Michalek is a right-handed defenseman that we really liked,” Shero said. “He’s 27 years old, a big body, 6-foot-2. He was really under the radar in Phoenix. He’s had a great career there. He was an under the radar swap with Minnesota a few years back, and he really blossomed in Phoenix under Dave Tippett. We’ve really liked him for a long time. Phoenix tried really hard to re-sign him. Unfortunately for them he became free. He was our first phone call today. We took care of that pretty quickly.”

Likewise Shero was quick on the draw to focus on another defender, this time to help replace the likes of Gonchar. He went out and nabbed another former NJ Devil, Paul Martin. Like Michalek, he didn't come at a discount. But by signing another top 4 defender, the 5 year $25MM price tag was worth it. Rather than listening to me ramble in the theater of your mind, here is Devils blogger Carlos Figueiredo of Speak of the Devils, who was kind enough to offer up Pens Universe some insight. Carlos His work can also be found on Hockey Independent and View from my Seats. Carlos notes,

Like Mike Rupp last season, I think Pens fans will immediately enjoy former Devil Paul Martin. He's a very likeable guy off the ice, and a solid defenseman on it. 

He's not big (6'1", 200lb.), and there isn't any one part of his game that's all that outstanding, but overall, he's solid. He played in only 22 games last season after breaking his forearm in a game against, yeah, the Pens. He didn't look quite right after coming back from the injury, but that should be a non-issue this coming season.

In his six full seasons with the Devils, he played in 400 NHL games with 26 goals and 137 assists, was a plus-55 and had 114 PIM's. The 37 points (5g-32a) he put up in '05-'06 are his career high in a season. He's solid offensively on the power-play, with 91 of his 163 career points coming on the PP.

Defensively, again, he's solid but not spectacular. He's not very physical, registering less than a hit per game over his career. He's not a big shot blocker either, getting in the way of about 1.2 shots per game over his career. 

As a 3rd/4th, second line defenseman, I think he'll have some very good seasons in Pittsburgh, where the pressure won't be on him to be the guy on the blueline the way it was the last few years in NJ. I even think he'll likely set career highs in goals and points. If he gets significant time on the power-play, he might even have some great offensive seasons.

However, I'm not going to lie. I think the 29 year old Martin was overpaid.  Of course, if he helps the Pens win games, or is part of a Cup winning team, nobody will care about how much he's getting paid.

Shero has this to add,

“Paul is a really smooth skating defenseman, great stick, good defensively. Offensive production might be a little bit better than what he’s had in the past. He’s a real solid all-around player. He can play lots of minutes, an effortless skater.”

There you have it folks, the first day of Free Agency. With just about $2MM left under the salary Cap Shero has went public to say he's going to chase after a straggling winger. As he said in his press conference today, re-signing Bill Guerin is not out of the question. But the fact that he mentions it like that simply means Billy is not his first choice. Otherwise Guerin would be a Penguins since he's looking for $2MM a season and that what Shero has. More than likely Teemu Selanne and Maxim Afinogenov might be the two people Shero is waiting on. Today is another day, more free agency happenings will emerge. Stay tuned.

Read more »

Shero Works His Magic

Earlier today, GM Ray Shero announced that the Pens had extended defenseman Kris Letang’s contract to a 4 year deal worth 3.5 per season. This caused an up roar on Twitter of fans who liked the extension and others who didn’t. This also brought up some issues regarding the resigning of Veteran defenseman Sergei Gonchar. Gonch, who over the last couple season has had to deal with injuries, is indeed a valuable piece to the Pens D and power play. He is a guy who is respected not only in the locker room but by the league and the fans. Now let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves here, we have no idea what Ray Shero could have in store for us regarding Sarge. Shero was quoted today by saying that the signing doesn't hurt negotiations with Gonchar at all, that this was part of his plan (via Brian Metzer's From The Point).





Gonchar had nothing but praises for Letang today saying,

“He can continue to improve by finishing those (scoring) chances he does have. He does a great job playing defense and is always in great position. It’s only when he jumps into offensive chances he has to work on finishing them.”












Letang, of course, was thrilled, “You always want to be in a town where you want to play. I think that I’d rather stay here and have fun. I fit in great with these guys, and I think that we are a family now. We’re all young and growing together. It’s a really important part of any team.”

He was interviewed by Mark Madden of 105.9 The X. I only caught part of the interview but in that part MM asked Letang, “What are you going to do with your money?” Letang was quick to respond saying, “Nothing. I’m not going to change anything, I going to stay the same.” It’s great to hear that a guy wants to stay and play for a city like Pittsburgh, who wouldn’t? The best part is this kid is only going to get better and that’s why Shero does what he does.





“I think that he is one of the better young defensemen in the league,” Shero said. “He's going to get better as a defenseman, and he shows leadership capabilities on and off the ice. We'll see what happens.”
Check out what HC Dan Bylsma had to say about the Letang extension as well as Captain Sidney Crosby.

Read more »

An Upside to Gonchar's Injury?

With Gonchar "on the shelf" for a month or so there are some Penguin fans starting to panic; and to some degree rightly so. Sarge (as he is called) is currently tied with Crosby for second most points on the team at 8. He has played (and continues to play) an integral part of the Penguins defense as well as offense, particularly on the powerplay. He is a leader out on the ice and continues to be our top blue-liner.

So with an impact like this, it begs the question: Can there possibly be an upside to his injury? I assert that there actually is.

We all are going to miss Gonch, particularly Sid and Geno. But I think there are four things we can see positively coming out of it:

1. Goligoski's Maturity: Since the beginning of the season Gogo has been a pleasant surprise. He currently sits in the 3rd position in Penguins scoring (7) and leads the team in +/- with +9. He capitalized on Gonchar's injury last year by playing some 45 games and getting some great NHL experience. Now with possibly taking a bigger role aside Eaton on the second line he'll have increased responsibility. And though this may be true of all the d-men, this affords Gogo an even greater opportunity.
2. Martin Skoula: The signing of Skoula initially seemed a little off in my opinion, but with a situation like this it now shows us (me) the genius of Shero. Skoula will bring some more size to the Penguins blue line as well as championship experience. Bylsma thinks he'll make a "seamless transition."
   
3. Rest for Sarge:  Say what you want, its a long season. With the possibility of Sarge getting as much as 6 weeks rest in the beginning of the season could prove quite valuable as the season goes on. 
4. Team Adaptation: One thing the Penguins learned to do last year is to win without the presence of their rock solid D man. This year they will have to learn to do it again. With a few new guys in the lineup the Pens will need to adjust and adapt to their new roles and subsequently expand their overall effectiveness.

I'm looking forward to seeing how our powerplay will be affected as well. It's been our penalty kill that has show itself approved this year, not the our powerplay. Some wise fans see TK possibly getting a promotion and Geno moving to the point. Having Geno up top may not be the most effective last season, but that was under Therrien. Bylsma will have to make the call here and I trust he'll make the right one. Perhaps we'll see Goligoski get a shot up there as well.

Read more »