Pittsburgh Penguins sign defenseman Kris Letang to a 4 year deal

The Pittsburgh Penguins announced that defenseman Kris Letang was signed for four more years and seriously it’s about time Ray Shero started shoring up the Penguins defense for the future or for next year which ever comes first. The Sergei Gonchar vs Ray Shero signing has taken center stage and because of that there hasn’t been much talk about how the Pens could lose not just their core defense, but also their main prospects next year. All 8 of the players that have seen time on defense in a Pittsburgh Penguins uniform are unrestricted free agents next year.

With the signing of Letang, the Pens now have  3 defensemen signed for next year, Orpik, Goligoski and Letang. It has been reported that Kris Letang got $3.5 million a year by ESPN.   Rob Scuderi got a contract last year with LA for $13.6 million for four years and he was an average defenseman, which they are finding out about now with his no goals 10 assists.  Though Letang is less experienced than Scuderi, I would take him for $14 mil for four years ahead of Scuderi any day of the week ...

TOUGH DECISIONS – the STANLEY CUP Pittsburgh Penguin Offseason…

The Parade is over and the memories will linger on forever yet the team management gets no rest.
The Secondary Awards Banquet is tomorrow… the Entry Draft next week… and Free Agency about a week later so there is no time to rest for Ray Shero and his management team.
What should they do?  Let’s first lay a few assumptions out there… that the Salary Cap remains at $56.7 million and our current Salary Cap Hit is $46.835 million.

The Pens have (10) players… Satan, Sykora, Fedotenko, Guerin, Zigomanis, Adams, Gill, Boucher, Scuderi, and Garon as UFA’s that were on the final roster. Plus, a few other UFA’s – Pesonen, Taffe, and Minard who were at WB/S.  They also have (4) RFA’s – Goligoski, Lovejoy, Bissonnette, and Curry. That’s (14) players and contracts where decisions need to be made.
That’s why we are here – to help Shero make his decisions!  You do know that this is where he comes for advice, right.

Let’s start with who not to keep. In others words no contract offered.  I have selected (5) players:

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GameDay Poop: The Penguins vs Capitals – Epic Game 7

This is it! At 7pm tonight the Sidney Crosby versus Alexander Ovechkin match up the NHL has been blabbing about for 3 years comes to a head. Toss an Evgeni Malkin and Simyon Varlamov into the mix and you have an combination so explosive that if you have a heart condition, you may want to sit this one out.  Five of the first 6 games were decided by only one goal, and 3 of those in overtime.

NHL.com columnist John McGourty already has this series as one of the 6 all-time epic NHL playoff series going all the way back to 1942: click here to read the article: “Caps-Pens ready to join NHL’s other 7-game epics“ 

On top of all that, this is Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin’s first game seven in the NHL, it’s not just Crosby’s first in the NHL, but in any league he’s ever played in.  Alexander Ovechkin has already ...