Penguins can survive free-agency losses

Bob,

You've got your terms mixed up.

Gill: 2 years, $4.5 million

(thanks. corrected. -- Bob Smizik)

Suderi: 4 years, $13.6 million.

of course the pens will survive free agency lets look at what we lost so far Hal Gill: a stand still defenseman who's primary job was to help the opposition put pucks in on Fleury to keep them in the game he will not be missed. and Rob Scuderi: although i am happy for him that he got his pay day and i don't blame him for taking it because this will be his highest paid contract ever he played well in the playoffs but there was way too much stock put into him if L.A. wants to pick up that kind of price tag that's cool L.A. is a good couple years a way from making any kind of impact in the league and Scuderi will be exposed in L.A. as the sub par defenseman that he is.....both of these guys are completely replaceable if not by any of the free agent defenseman on the market by AHL players.

The team lost it's two best forwards? Some might think that Crosby and Malkin were the Pen's two best forwards.

Top two wingers yes, not forwards.

Mt thoughts are that if Scuderi and Gill were deemd irreplacable by management, they could have gone to Crosby, Malkin, Fleury and rearranged their contracts to allow more cap space. I am trusting that they knew what they were doing and have either adequate replacemnts don on the farm or they feel that there is a gem hidden out there somewhere. As you said, Shero did pretty good last year when we ALL wrote them off! I would like to see Fedotenko back though, and of course, we will always have Tangradi waiting to light the lamp. They'll be fine.

pittfaninlioncountry,

You misread, Bob thinks the Pens lost their best DEFENSIVE tandem.

On that note, Bob, I disagree.  I would have to say Gonchar and Orpik would be my picks...with Letang in third out of the starting 6 in the finals.

Hal Gill was slow and was painful to watch in the final two series.

Penguin fans better get used to the revolving door at the end of every year.  The reality is that a) There is a salary cap (which is likely to go down next year) and b) As long as the Pens continue to be successful, their free agents will be over-valued by other teams.  There is no question that Gill and Scuderi were given greater contracts due in part to the team's Staney Cup Victory.  That being the case, Shero has chosen the correct tact, which is to sign the young core of talented players to long term contracts, offer below market contracts to his free agents and hope some, like Fedotenko, Orpik and Guerin sign and fill in with rookies and lower priced free agents.  As long as Malkin, Crosby, Staal and Fleury are in the line-up, the team will in all probability be successful.  It will be up to Shero to manage the rest of the roster to give them the best chance to repeat as Champions, even if that means losing popular players every year.

bennett8111-- Unfortunately the NHL isn't like the NFL.  Players can't rework their deals.  When a player signs a deal, then it's immutable.  It doesn't matter if the player and the team want to redo it or if the player is traded, etc., the deal can't be reworked.  The cap hit is the cap hit... for whomever has that particular player.  (If Heatley is traded, then it's going to cost some team roughly 7.5M against the cap for the next 5(?) years.

All the Pens need to add is a veteran defenseman, all the forwards are in place with today's signing.

As for the revolving door, that may be true, but with success you will see players like Adams, Cooke, Rupp, Fedotenko, etc. willing to play for less to come to a winner.

Penguins -Welcome back Ruslan Fedotenko ( above ). -Should the Penguins pursue former Blues defenseman

I did not misread. In the fifth paragraph the quote was: the team lost it's two best forwards. I pointed out that was not correct for Crosby and Malkin earned that title.

The post was later changed to read WINGERS not FORWARDS so my point must have been well taken.

Bob, you did change your original post, correct?

(Yes, your point was well taken and I made the corrections.  Thanks.  -- Bob Smizik)

Bob:

I know I'm jumping ahead a bit here, but I don't hear anyone talking about the salary cap situation for the Pens in 2010-11, when it's been speculated that the ceiling could possibly go down quite a bit? With so much money tied up in the core players, if it's a dramatic decrease, what's the likelihood they'll need to slash payroll to get under a much lower cap?