MVN - Most Valuable Network

Free Agency Day Two: Brooks Orpik re-signed for six years

UPDATE 5:08 PM:  Brooks Orpik re-signs with the Pens for six years, 22.5 million, announced on GM Ray Shero’s press conference. 

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UPDATE 3:11 PM:  Per TSN, Jarkko Ruutu signed with Ottawa for a three-year deal. 

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UPDATE 12:33 PM:  Per the PG, Marian Hossa has signed a short term deal with the Detroit Red Wings. 

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Well, I guess it could be worse.  Much worse, if you think about it.

After the frenetic first day of free agency, the Penguins fared pretty well for a team that has so much of their roster up for grabs.

They did lose a couple of fairly significant cogs Tuesday, when stalwart backup goaltender Ty Conklin signed with the Red Wings and Adam Hall signed with the Lightning.  Losing Conklin was expected, especially after Conklin’s heroic effort after Marc-Andre Fleury’s high ankle sprain in December.  Hall probably earned his payraise with a pretty decent performance in the Cup Finals.

Penguins’ GM Ray Shero did re-sign two of his own yesterday, with recent acquisition Pascal Dupuis and unlucky defenseman Mark Eaton resigning for three and two years, respectively.  Dupuis was definitely an asset this past year, especially on the penalty kill.  I’m not so sure he’s going to be on Sidney Crosby’s wing next season, but his re-signing was a good move.  Eaton has had terrible luck the past two seasons, and it appears from what I’m reading that Pens fans don’t remember just how good of a defenseman this guy is.  Another quality signing, and for the 2 year/4 million price, fairly cheap for a quality defenseman.

Shero added his first new piece of the Penguins’ puzzle yesterday afternoon, signing enforcer Eric Godard, late of the Flames.  That bids adieu to fan favorite Georges Laraque.  Lots of interesting talk about this acquisition.  Laraque is the champ, no question about it.  However, Georges doesn’t have that frenetic personality when situations happen on the ice that warrant an immediate and physical response.  I did a bunch of Youtube searches on Godard fights.  This guy’s nuts, folks, and I like the signing.

In terms of the other still-pending free agents, here goes;

• Marian Hossa - Just a little bit of talk about this one, huh ??  Geezus, I won’t even attempt to list all of the speculation about Hossa.  Let’s just put it this way, it appears as of this morning that it’s down to the Penguins, Red Wings, Canadiens, and Oilers.  All of the talk about Boston making a big offer was squashed when they signed Michael Ryder.  It doesn’t appear that the Red Wings are going to offer enough cash.  Many are speculating that Hossa won’t want to play in western Canada, but who knows.  I know this much, the longer Hossa is available, the better the chances for the Penguins.
• Brooks Orpik - While Orpik’s salary demands are about half of what Hossa’s will be, Orpik has been rumored to just about everyone.  One of the rumored teams that was interested in Orpik, his hometown Sabres, have said they’re out of the running.  Orpik has said all along that he wants to stay with the Penguins, so just like Hossa, the longer he’s unsigned the better the chances for the Penguins.
• Jarkko Ruutu - Reports are that he wants a three year deal, the Pens are only offering two.  Lots of other interest in him, though.

Updates as I see them……..

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008 at 9:11 am and is filed under Pens News, Free Agency, Offseason. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.