The Confluence
Penguins’ Defense May be Drastically Different in a Few Days
by Tony on 06/30/10 at 05:00 PM ET
Comments (5)
The appropriate phrase that Penguins fans need to remember is “In Shero We Trust”.
‘Cause with under 24 hours before the 2010 NHL Free Agency period commences, it’s looking more and more likely that the Penguins will enter that period with only three defensemen under contract (Orpik, Letang, Goligoski - not counting Lovejoy just yet).
So in the eerie calm before the July 1st storm, there are so many different directions that Penguins’ GM Ray Shero can go to shore up his defensive corps it’s almost too many to mention.
But let’s take a look at possible key players:
First, let’s take a look at those D-men who are Penguins’ property, for the next 20 hours anyway.
The Penguins and Sergei Gonchar have been locked in a stalemate for quite a while now. Sarge wants a three-year deal. a desire which the Penguins don’t seem to want to comply with, for now anyway. It’s to the point now, the day prior to the start of free agency, where no new talks are currently scheduled. In my view, if Gonchar hits free agency, he’s gone. There WILL BE a team that’s gonna offer him three years at well over $5 million per year, if not $6 million. Perhaps the only saving grace Penguins fans might have in possibly keeping Sarge is that he’s reportedly torn on leaving Pittsburgh. We’ll see how it materializes, but frankly I think Sarge is gonzo.
Last week the Penguins surprisingly made a trade with the Flyers acquiring the rights to soon-to-be UFA D-man Dan Hamhuis. For the majority of this week, GMRS, Hamhuis and his agent have reportedly only been talking about whether Hamhuis would like to play in Pittsburgh, not even discussing any contract parameters yet. Just my opinion, but if Hamhuis hasn’t even told GMRS that he’d be willing to start negotiating a contract yet, that’s not a good sign. Even though the agent has denied it, there have been several reports that Hamhuis would prefer to play on the West Coast closer to his hometown. Hamhuis could be another that gets a much higher contract offer elsewhere.
Of course, there’s nothing that says that even if both Gonchar and Hamhuis go to Free Agency that GMRS won’t be able to sign either or both players, although it will be much more difficult with many more teams involved in the process.
But as I said about six weeks ago, assuming neither has signed by then, Shero’s gonna have to act fast at noon tomorrow. He simply cannot get caught waiting for players to make their mind up like he did with Marian Hossa in 2008. He and his staff are going to have to not only attempt to sign Gonchar and Hamhuis, but they also can’t ignore the top defensive free agents such at Anton Volchenkov, Paul Martin or Zbynek Michalek. Even Tomas Kaberle can’t be overlooked, even though he’s not a free agent. Otherwise, what could easily happen is that no one signs, and Shero will be left with signing the second rung of free agent defensemen, such as Pavel Kubina, Andy Sutton or Derek Morris. Even re-signing the other free agent Penguin defensemen, Mark Eaton, Jordan Leupold and Jay McKee, would help, but none of those are considered top-notch defensemen.
So by this time next week, either the Penguins’ defensive corps will only look a little different, or it could very well look completely overhauled.
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Tags: NHL-Hockey, Pittsburgh+Penguins,
Comments
Eaton Sucks !!! who gets Manhandled in front of the Net like a 12 year old Girl !!
Posted by Evilpens on 06/30/10 at 07:06 PM ET
“In Shero We Trust”
Hey, that’s kind of like “In Tick Tock We Trust” 
Posted by Red Winger from Sault Ste Marie on 06/30/10 at 07:45 PM ET
In my opinion, Shero did the right thing with Hamhuis, ie. trying to sell him the idea of Pittsburgh rather than throwing numbers around. Hamhuis would be stupid not to explore the market before committing to anything, so the lack of contract negotiating isn’t necessarily a problem. That could easily end up like the Hossa debacle. But I also have my doubts about Hamhuis signing with the Penguins.
And frankly, we need a minor overhaul. Preferably a couple of new names with or without the re-signing of Gonchar. We have a $7-9M budget for two defencemen. In an ideal free agency, those two wouldn’t include the names of Leopold or Eaton. If we spend closer to the $7M mark, there might be room for one of them unless they have faith in Lovejoy as the 6th defenceman (or feels like signing a forward).
Posted by Moq from Denmark on 07/01/10 at 08:31 AM ET
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If he can’t get things done with Gonch or Hamhuis, I’d like to see Shero sign one of te three UFAs you mentioned in addition to re-signing Eaton and possibly Leopold.
Posted by NHLJeff from Pens fan in Chicago, IL on 06/30/10 at 06:15 PM ET