Take Another Little Piece Of Our Champs, Now, Babay
Farewell, Rob Scuderi, and we thank you.
After the jump, a look back at Scuderi's years in Pittsburgh.
Oh, and remember last off-season when everyone said the Pens lost too many key players.
for example, Ryan Malone, Marian Hossa, and Jarkko Ruutu?
The Pens had no chance to win the Cup, said everyone near and far.
We saw how that turned out.
The Penguins have so far lost Hal Gill and Rob Scuderi.
They were both beasts.
But we're not talking about a couple of Bobby Orr's here.
Some people are complaining about Ray Shero.
Remember, when Shero walks to work every morning, he'll look up and see an Atlantic Division banner, two Eastern Conference Champion Banners, and a Stanley Cup banner.
Most people go to work, look up, and see asbestos.
Suck it.
Free Agency Update - Scuderi to LA
EDIT: From Rob Rossi on Twitter:
Scuderi: "LA!"
Rob Scuderi has agreed to terms with the Los Angeles Kings, he confirms via text.
From the P-G:
The Penguins have lost free-agent defenseman Rob Scuderi.
He accepted a contract with Los Angeles today. Terms of the agreement were not announced, but is it believed to be a four-year deal with an annual salary-cap hit of $3.4 million.
The Penguins continue to try to re-sign winger Ruslan Fedotenko, and to have discussions about bringing back winger Petr Sykora.
They also are in the market for a backup goaltender, although restricted free agent John Curry is a candidate to fill that role.
Rob Rossi reports that Los Angeles has offered Scuderi a long-term contract worth over $3 million a season.
The word is that Fedotenko is down to three teams: Pittsburgh, Minnesota and an unknown third team.
In other news, Nik Antropov signed a four-year, $16 million deal with Atlanta.
Mark Recchi is returning to Boston.
He signed a one year deal worth $1 million.
Come Sail Away
The USS Hal Gill left port on Wednesday, ne'er to return.
He is headed to Montreal.
At the 2008 trade deadline, Ray Shero made a subtle move before trading for Hossa.
The Pens didn't really have a big-body presence on the blue line.
He called up Toronto and wanted Hal Gill.
The love affair ensued.
A nickname, The USS Hal Gill, was christened.
Stoosh and his crew forever coined the nickname.
.
During the 2008 playoff run, Hal Gill showed why Shero wanted him here.
He was a machine every day of the week...during the playoffs, that is.
It's been our contention that Hal Gill will look like mud over an 82-game season.
But once the second season starts, his presence night in and night out frustrates other teams.
This year against Detroit, he picked up on the Wings' obstruction and did some of his own.
But, alas, it is Hal Gill's time to go.
There's a reason why we said we were "living every shift with Hal Gill" during the SCF.
If Scuderi wasn't his defensive partner, it could have been bad news bears.
In closing, we wanted to bring up the things that pop into our head when we think of Hal Gill's time here.
How unreal was the "Snuggie game."
He reportly had a Snuggie on in the locker room before game against Calagry. And scored an unreal goal.
We'd show it, but youtube is broke right now.
Farewell, Hal Gill. And we thank you.
Don't listen to the Francoturds up in Montreal.
Garon left, as well, signing with Columbus. Hey, he has a ring.
Speaking of which, he's anxious to get back to Joe Louis Arena.
He left his mop bucket there.
The Pens signed Mike Rupp for 2 years, like $800,000 per.
He's a jobber/fighter who has a Stanley Cup winning goal under his belt.
Whispers of Dupuis and/or Godard being dealt are sweeping the plains.
No word on Scuds, either.
The Chicago Blackhawks snatched up Marian Hossa.
$62 million, 12 years, something like that.
A cap hit of $5.2 per season.
Detroit fans thinking they're taking the high road on this one, wishing Hossa well, unlike those vile Penguin fans.
Let's wait and see if Hossa says that the Blackhawks have a better shot to win the Cup than the Wings.
Then watch the jobbing ensue.
Instead the Red Wings fans face something like this: imagine last season if the Pens had upwards of $15 million tied up in two over-the-hill defensemen fading into the twilight of their careers, as well as having a good truckload of cash allocated to a couple of forwards...
And then Hossa signed with Philadelphia for about $1 million more per season.
What would be your feelings on that one?
Face it. Hossa's gonna get booed in Detroit.
As a quick side note, the Blackhawks also picked John Madden from the Devils.
A shutdown center who would routinely job Crosby six to eight times a season is now in the West.
Nice.
Oh, and Brian Gionta is headed to Montreal.
New Jersey and the Islanders are gonna be the best of friends.
Clowns
Not 48 hours ago, the Rangers looked like they were getting smart,
ridding themselves of the elephant-in-the-room Scott Gomez contract.
Wrong.
They have signed Marian Gaborik to 5 years, $7.5mill per.
Crosby and Malkin both make $8.7mill per season.
Marian Gaborik now makes $7.5mill per season.
Wow.
Now Gaborik just has to stay healthy.
Maybe the Eastern Conference presents greener pastures for injury-ridden players.
Montreal is busier than balls.
They acquired Scott Gomez earlier in the week.
Now they have added Mike Cammalleri, Brian Gionta, Hal Gill, and Jaroslav Spacek.
And they're still in Kovalev limbo.
Looking at the East as a whole, no team made themselves as good as the Penguins. So whatev.
The comments on this post are broken.
Free Agency
Welcome to July 1st and the start of Free Agency in the NHL.
This post will be updated with all of latest free agent signings and information as we hear them.
First, a couple of things:
The Pierre McGuire Photoshop Expo will be posted this weekend.
Email us your contributions.
Put the words "Pierre McGuire" in the subject of your email so that we notice it.
Stephen S. has been working hard adding new items to Storeblog.
Here's our write-up of what has happened so far
Marian Hossa turned down a ten-year contract with the Red Wings.
7:00
The live blog is going on hold now.
If anything big breaks we'll have it later.
To Recap Pens-related news:
- The Pens have signed Mike Rupp to a two-year, $1.65 million contract.
- Hal Gill has signed a two-year, $4.5 million contract with the Montreal Canadiens
Calm Before The Storm
So, this is it.
July 1st is where the 2008-2009 season ends with rosters being flipped.
And the groundwork for the 2009-2010 season is placed.
2010. Jesus.
Some shit is already going down.
The Penguins, Free Agency, and You.
When you get a dog, you start it off on a routine. Reading puppy books and the like, you develop a cycle to get it house trained. Wake up early, feed the dog, take it for a walk. You repeat that process for like a month, and the dog is trained. That is the system in developing your dog. You find it, perfect it, and use it on all the other dogs you get. We only wish training women was the same kind of deal.
Occasionally the dog will shit on your pillow, much like women do. But with every passing year, the dog starts to play the system, and it dominates. Victoria Stillwell would be out of a job if everyone did this system to a "T".
If you don't develop the dog, it becomes the Atlanta Thrashers.
There is poop everywhere and the next thing you know you're trading in your big time dog for a pet rat..
The maturation of a dog is much like being a general manager of an NHL team.
You have to come in with a plan.
You have to use it no matter what, perfect it each off-season, and then use it over and over.
Over the last three off-seasons, Ray Shero has had a plan.
He has used it.
And he has perfected it.
We take a look at where the Pens stand this year going into the Free Agent circus.
P.S. -- C-Blog ran into this issue last year, and we have already failed.
But we are bringing the Grammar Hammer™ down.
Resigns = Quits
Re-Signs = Signs again.
Bill Guerin Will Be Back Next Year
First Craig Adams and now Bill Guerin.
EDIT: Reportedly the contract is a one year deal at $2 million.
EDIT: Reportedly the contract is a one year deal at $2 million.
The contract includes performance bonuses that could make the deal worth $2.85 million.
From the Post-Gazette:
Guerin signs with Penguins
The Penguins signed right winger Bill Guerin to a one-year contract tonight.
Financial terms were not immediately available.
Guerin would have been an unrestricted free agent Wednesday if he hadn't re-signed.
EDIT: From TSN:
The Pittsburgh Penguins have agreed to terms with veteran forward Bill Guerin on a one-year, $2 million contract.
The 38-year old Guerin was scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent on Wednesday.
''We are excited to agree to terms with Billy on this one-year deal,'' Executive Vice President and General Manager Ray Shero said. ''He made a tremendous impact on this team with his scoring ability, physical play and outstanding leadership and was a key factor in our drive to the Cup. I know our players, coaches and fans will be happy to have him back in Pittsburgh.''
Guerin was acquired from the New York Islanders at the March 4 trading deadline in exchange for a third-round draft pick. He recorded five goals and 12 points in 17 regular season games with the Penguins, while playing a major role in the Penguins' Stanley Cup run.
What a human.
Craig Adams Resigns
Could be a sign of things to come.
Patch Adams took less money than he made last year.
He inked a two year deal that will pay him $550,000.[PG]
Didn't think he would be back, but we'll take that contract all day.
Solid player.
