Penguins lose Minard, Taffe - 7-3-09

Two more Penguins have jumped ship. From Jonathan Bombulie of the Wilkes-Barre  Citizens Voice, forward Chris Minard (above, center) has signed with the Oilers while forward Jeff Taffe has joined the Panthers.

Minard had three points (one goal, two assists) in 20 games last season while Taffe had two assists in eight games.

Minard and Taffe were vital parts of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins offense. Minard led the team with 34 goals. He had a total of 57 points in 54 games in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Taffe had 75 points (25 goals, 50 points) in 74 games.

EN Says: Fire Ray Shero.

Seriously, some folks in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton might be upset to see some of that team's best scorers leave, but neither player had much in the way of an NHL future with the organization.

(Photo: Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

Penguins re-sign Fedotenko - 7-3-09

The Penguins have re-signed forward Ruslan Fedotenko to a one-year deal. Financial terms of the deal have not been released.

In his first season with the Penguins, he scored 39 points (16 goals, 23 assists) in 65 games. He was the Penguins' fourth-leading scorer in the playoffs with 14 points (seven goals, seven assists).

EN Says: Regardless of the money, we have to imagine this rules out a return for Petr Sykora.

We like the signing. Fedotenko's regular season stats will never blow you away (Though, he probably would've hit the 20-goal mark if his fist didn't have an unfortunate run-in with Colby Armstrong's nose), but he does lots of little things that help his team win and he just works well with Evgeni Malkin on the second line. He goes to the net, will work hard along the boards and most importantly, picks his game up in the postseason.

UPDATE: Dave Molinari has the salary cap number at $1.8. Fedotenko made $2.25 million last season.

EN Says: That's a bargain for a second-line winger. That should leave them plenty of room to sign a competent No. 6 or 7 defenseman.

Now, if the Penguins can somehow acquire Henrik Zetterberg, Travis Moen, Frantisek Kaberle, Brendan Shanahan, Alex Tanguay, Jason Arnott and Darren McCarty, they'll have every active player who has scored a Stanley Cup-clinching goal.

(Photo: Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

Wild signs Hnidy - 7-3-09

The WIld has signed former Bruins defenseman Shane Hnidy. No word yet on terms.

In 65 games last season, he had 12 points (three goals, six assists).

EN Says: Hnidy is a tough, tough defensive player who will dress for 60-75 games. He should be set as the Wild's No. 5 or 6 defenseman.

(Photo: Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

Canucks sign Samuelsson - 7-3-09

Mikael Samuelsson is the latest former Penguin to defect from Detroit. He has signed a three-year deal with the Canucks.

Samuelsson had 40 points (19 goals, 21 assists) in 81 games last season. He also had 10 points (five goals, five assists) in 23 playoff games.

EN Says: Samuelsson never accomplished a thing in his career until he joined the Red Wings. It will be interesting to see what he can do once he leaves Mo Town.

That said, he's been a solid, consistent producer, particularly in the playoffs, the past three seasons. And the Canucks are a little light in playoff experiences. They've just added a player who has played in the past three Western Conference finals and past two Stanley Cup finals.

(Photo: Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

Rangers sign Arnason - 7-3-09

The Rangers have signed former Avalanche forward Tyler Arnason to a two-way deal.

Arnason had 22 points (five goals, 17 assists) in 71 games last season.

EN Says: Arnason is a talented but inconsistent player. So he'll fit in well with the Rangers.

It's little surprising he could do no better than a two-way deal. He's a player who has been a regular No. 3 center in the NHL despite his inconsistency.

Arnason is the son of former Penguins forward Chuck Arnason. We can sense Paul Steigerwald cueing up several "the Arnasons' are..." as we type this.

(Photo: Jeff Gross/Getty Images)

Penguins sign Guein - 7-3-09

Eat your heart out Bill Thomas.

The Penguins have signed former Flyers defensmean Nate Guenin, a native of Sewickley, to a one-year, two way deal.

Guenin appeared in one game last season with the Flyers and recorded no points. In 77 games with the Philadelphia Phantoms of the AHL, he had 17 points (four goals, 13 assists).

EN Says: This is a signing for the sake of organizational depth. He'll get a look at as the team's sixth or seventh defenseman. That said, we'll be surprised if he makes the team out of training camp unless another defenseman is injured or something. Guenin had trouble sticking with the NHL club the past few seasons where depth on defense has always been an issue.

There's a Guenin-Guerin joke in there somewhere which we can't put together at the moment.

NOTE: Tom Fitzgerald, who served as an assistant coach last season, will be moved to a newly-created position of assistant to the general manager. The team will hire a replacement as assistant coach.

(Photo: Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

Old timers - 7-3-09

The Penguins didn't just lose a defensive stalwart when Rob Scuderi bolted for Los Angeles yesterday. The also lost one of their most tenured players.

Scuderi made his debut with the NHL Penguins Feb. 12 2004. Only Brooks Orpik and Marc-Andre Fleury (above, making a stop on Kings forward Zigmund Palffy in his NHL debut during the Penguins' home opener of the 2003-04 season) compiled longer tenures with the organization.

Here's a list of every player currently with the organization (we included unsigned free agents too for the heck of it) who has played in at least one game with the NHL club and the length of days they've been with the franchise since they made their debut in black and gold (or blue and dark blue):

Note: When looking at this list, keep in mind, we didn't account for time a player might've been demoted to the minor leagues or juniors. If you played a game with the NHL team and never "left" the organization, the clock kept running as it regards to this list.

(Photo: Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press)

Empty Netter Assists - 7-3-09

Penguins

-According to Michael Russo of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, free agent Ruslan Fedotenko will make a decision on his future today. The Wild is one team he is considering.

-"I'm really sad to leave." - Former Penguins defenseman (that's sobering to type) Rob Scuderi (right) on his decision to join the Kings.

-"We tried to create a winning culture in Pittsburgh, and I've seen how fast things can turn around for a team. I'm hoping I can be one of the players who helps create that type of culture here." - Scuderi on trying to turn the Kings into a winner.

-"We were trying to avoid what happened last year with Orpik. It was the exact same situation. With Orpik last year, we knew what Pittsburgh offered, and we made our offer but the (current team) is always going to get the last chance, and they got him. In this case, we found out what Pittsburgh was offered and we knew we just had to blow them out of the water. When you're talking about offers, it's not just the money. It's cost of living in L.A. and it's taxes. If you're offering $500,000 more, it's really not that much when you look at everything. So we knew we had to blow Pittsburgh out of the water, but we wanted this guy. He has a ring and there are no questions at all about his character." - Kings general manager Dean Lombardi on signing Scuderi.

-"It's strange. You win the Cup, you win the ultimate team prize, and 2 1/2 weeks later there's already a couple of guys missing from it." - Scuderi on himself and a few other players leaving the Penguins.

-Sidney Crosby, Jordan Staal and Marc-Andre Fleury are all going camping.

-Bill Guerin will spend his day with the Stanley Cup on Long Island.

-Hopefully, 5-foot-11 Maxime Talbot avoided this situation.

Atlantic Division

-The Islanders signed former Flyers goaltender Scott Monroe, former Bruins forward Jeremy Reich and former Sharks defenseman Kevin Westgarth.

-The Devils have signed forward Ilkka Pikkarainen, a former draft pick who has played the past three seasons in Finland.

-In 2006, Flyers owner Ed Snider vowed never again to trade away prospects or draft picks for veterans. So why did his team do exactly the opposite of that in the Chris Pronger (right) trade? A seemingly obligatory "Pronger will help beat the Penguins" note is included.

Northeast Division

-New Canadiens forwards Brian Gionta and Scott Gomez are more than familiar with each other.

-Montreal re-signed forward Mike Glumac, defenseman Alex Henry and signed former Sabres forward Mathieu Darche to two-way one-year contracts.

-With Dany Heatley holding out for a $4 million bonus that kicked in July 1, Senators general manager Bryan Murray notified the world that the price tag for Heatley in a potential trade has gone up.

-Does anyone even want Heatley at this point?

-New Maple Leafs defenseman Mike Komisarek (right) isn't all that bothered by the prospect of his former fans in Montreal booing him.

Southeast Division

-"Great job." - A text message from Thrashers forward Ilya Kovalchuk to general manager Don Waddell in reaction to the team signing forward Nik Antropov.

-The Panthers signed former Blue Jackets defenseman Clay Wilson to a two-year deal.

Central Division

-"I had no problem giving up security for a chance to win." - Forward John Madden on why he signed with the Blackhawks for only one year.

-The Blue Jackets are still talking to captain Rick Nash (right) about a long-term contract extension.

-Red Wings general manager Ken Holland is not optimistic he'll be able to keep former Penguins forward Mikael Samuelsson.

Northwest Division

-The Flames signed former Sharks forward Riley Armstrong - brother of former Penguins forward Colby Armstrong - and former Coyotes forward Garth Murray.

Pacific Division

-The signing of defenseman Karlis Skrastins likely means the Stars will not bring back former Penguins defenseman Darryl Sydor (cough, cough).

-The Kings re-signed forward Kevin Westgarth to a three-year deal.

-The Coyotes signed former Panthers forward Stefan Meyer to a one-year deal.

(Photo: Scuderi-Paul Sancya/Associated Press; Pronger-Harry How/Getty Images; Komisarek-Bruce Bennett/Getty Images; Nash-Dilip Vishwanat)

Sharks re-sign Clowe - 7-3-09

According to Pierre LeBrun of ESPN, the Sharks have re-signed restricted free agent forward Ryane Clowe (above, with current teammate Kent Huskins, then of the Ducks). The deal is four four years at $3.5 million per season.

Clowe, 26, had a breakout season scoring 52 points (22 goals, 30 assists) in 71 games in 2008-09.

EN Says: Very nice signing by the Sharks. They don't have too much salary cap room to operate in, but keeping Clowe in the fold was probably their biggest priority. He's a young power forward who will get dirty. And he's locked up through what you would assume will be the prime of his career.

(Photo: Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

Panthers sign Leopold - 7-2-09

The Panthers have signed defenseman Jordan Leopold (above, No. 44) to a one-year deal worth $1.75 million according to TSN. The Panthers acquired Leopold's signing rights when they dealt the signing rights to defenseman Jay Bouwmeester to the Flames.

Leopold played in 83 games last season between Calgary and Colorado and recorded 24 points (seven goals, 17 assists).

EN Says: The Panthers needed this. First, they need NHL caliber bodies on their blue line and second, they needed to show something for dealing Bouwmeester. Leopold won't ever  replace Bouwmeester, but he's a player who can run a power play and provide a solid offensive threat whenever he's healthy.

(Photo: Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)