Rob Rossi: Penguins now positioned for many Stanley Cup runs

[url]http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/penguins/s_688647.html[/url]

[quote]Analysis: Penguins now positioned for many Stanley Cup runs
By Rob Rossi, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, July 2, 2010

Rob Rossi is the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review's Penguins beat writer and can be reached at 412-380-5635 or via e-mail.

The cost of turning potential free-agency defeat into possible Stanley Cup victories was $9 million annual.

General manager Ray Shero spent shrewdly for the Penguins on Thursday, adding a couple of young defensemen on five-year deals and losing players who were less ideal fits for various reasons.

Zbynek Michalek, 27, will do what Rob Scuderi did for the 2008 and 2009 Cup Finalist Penguins (block shots, take away open space near the goal, smartly move the puck), only with sharper offensive skills and a better upside. He'll cost $4 million against the salary cap.

Paul Martin, 29, is a sure two-way player who skates smoothly, passes crisply and instinctively thinks offensively while adhering to sound defensive principles. He'll cost $5 million against the cap.

These two players were targeted by many teams. Shero didn't settle; he surveyed the scene and made aggressive moves to vastly improve the franchise.

Consider that a big win for the Penguins. The NHL free-agent season was less than half-an-hour old yesterday and they already appeared beaten.

Top defenseman Sergei Gonchar was off to the Ottawa Senators on a three-year contract that totaled $16.5 million.

Dan Hamhuis, the cornerstone defensemen with whom Shero had been speaking since acquiring his rights from Philadelphia for a 2011 third-round pick last Friday, had not committed to re-signing. Instead, he was working toward an eventual six-year deal with the Vancouver Canucks that totaled $27 million.

Even deadline-period acquisition Jordan Leopold eventually left in favor of three years with the Buffalo Sabres.

So Shero turned to Plan B, and it was A-plus for these reasons:

» Signing younger defensemen afforded the Penguins an opportunity to offer long-term deals. This kept the average annual salaries of Michalek and Martin lower, thus working in favor of future salary cap totals against which will count new and richer deals for The Big Three centers.

» With scarce projected cap space next season (around $2 million) for NHL-tested wingers, centers Evgeni Malkin and Jordan Staal have no choice but to assume significant leadership roles. Time is perfect, because entering season No. 5, they're ready. Malkin and Staal also are ready to score more goals, produce more points and achieve a level of offensive consistency that rivals that of captain Sidney Crosby. They'll need to find that consistency with forward prospects being grafted into the lineup.

» The Penguins' top four on defense will rival any in the NHL. Michalek and Orpik are capable of filling shutdown roles, and Martin and Letang merit two-way responsibilities with a focus on puck movement. The puck shouldn't be in the defensive zone long, and shooters won't enjoy much space to fire upon goalie Marc-Andre Fleury. The franchise investment in Fleury is inescapable ($5 million annual for the next five seasons). He's a proven championship goalie when playing behind a stout defense, and the Penguins are stouter today than they were at any time since lifting the Cup on June 12, 2009.

» The flexibility of this roster is enviable. The oldest of the Penguins' five NHL-tested defensemen is a full year from 31, and none are past their primes. Orpik, Michalek and Martin possess limited movement clauses, but that wouldn't prevent Shero from moving either player if the deal was right. Any of these defensemen could be moved without little difficulty for potential impact forwards in future years. The Penguins are deepest at the prospect level on defense, and those players can now develop at a natural pace. Workable options are the way of successful season-by-season life in the NHL, and Shero has secured those options at the one position every team covets.



Pens' spending plan

A positional breakdown of how the Penguins, as currently constructed, will spend their money next season against the $59.4 million NHL salary cap:

Forwards: 12 players; $32,020,833 combined cap hit

Defensemen: 6 players; $18,608,333 combined cap hit

Goaltenders: 2 players; $5,600,000 combined cap hit

Total: 20 players; $56,229,166 combined cap hit

Notable: Winger Eric Tangradi ($845,833) and defenseman Ben Lovejoy ($525,000) are projected to make opening-night roster.[/quote]

[url]http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=533748&navid=DL|NHL|home[/url]

[quote]Craig Button looks at free agency winners so far
Saturday, 07.03.2010 / 1:23 PM / NHL Free Agency 2010
By Shawn P. Roarke - NHL.com Managing Editor

NHL Network analyst Craig Button has been watching how free agency has unfolded with a keen eye.

Despite the long weekend throughout Canada, Button has been glued to coverage of the 2010 NHL Free Agent frenzy. With only one big position player left on the board -- high-scoring forward Ilya Kovalchuk -- Button has already formed some ideas about whom the big winners were during the opening days of free agency.

1. Ottawa Senators

The Sens only made one move and it was in the first hour of free agency, but the acquisition of veteran defenseman Sergei Gonchar could easily trump all the moves that followed.

"Gonchar is the type of player that makes every offensive player better," Button said. "He made Malkin and Crosby better in Pittsburgh, and now he's going to make (Daniel) Alfredsson, Jason Spezza and (Milan) Michalek better."
How much better?

"I think this helps Jason Spezza become a 90- or maybe 100-point guy," Button said.

He believes the whole Ottawa team will be better because of Gonchar's ability to read the play in transition.

"One pass or one quick play can make all the difference for a team," Button said. "I don't think the acquisition of Gonchar is just about giving Ottawa a solid blue line; it is about improving their offensive thrust."

It's little wonder Ottawa GM Bryan Murray did not hesitate to give Gonchar the three-year deal he craved after Pittsburgh -- Gonchar's former employer -- refused to budge from a two-year deal.

2. Vancouver Canucks

Button absolutely loves what the Canucks have done this week, beginning with the acquisition of defenseman Keith Ballard at the 2010 Entry Draft and continuing Thursday with the free-agent signings of defenseman Dan Hamhuis and center Manny Malhotra.

"The Vancouver Canucks are trying to go to the next level, to get to the Western Conference Finals," Button said. "I'm looking at how do you improve the team to meet the next challenge? I think that Vancouver has done that with the moves it has made."

Button believes Ballard -- a British Columbia boy -- is going to be the key to Vancouver's ability to get to the next level.

"He's going to play a lot of minutes and give Vancouver really good depth on the blue line," Button said. "He's a really good two-way player that completes plays on both ends of the ice."

Button was also keen on Malhotra, who will be a third- or fourth-line center on the team, slotted in behind Henrik Sedin and Ryan Kesler. That gives Vancouver almost unprecedented depth down the middle.

"Malhotra is a big guy who wins faceoffs," Button said.

Why is that so important?

"Teams that start with the puck tend to be good offensive teams," Button said.

Plus, teams that have puck possession can't give up scoring chances. Button believes that was Vancouver's downfall in the playoffs last season when it fell to the eventual champion Chicago Blackhawks in six games. In that series, the Canucks gave Chicago's talented forwards more chances than even a quality goalie like Roberto Luongo could handle.

In fact, he believes that is the same reason why Chicago was able to beat top-seeded San Jose -- and top-tier goalie Evgeni Nabokov -- in the next round and why Philadelphia was able to knock off division champion New Jersey -- and Hall of Fame goalie Martin Brodeur -- in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs.

"Teams that give up a lot of scoring changes are going to get scored upon," Button said. "It's that simple."

[color=#FF0000]3. Pittsburgh Penguins

Defense was the theme of the first 48 hours of free agency. So it shouldn't come as a surprise that defensemen are all over Button's list. In fact, he rounds out his top three by raving about the Plan B job Pittsburgh GM Ray Shero did when the loss of Gonchar became a reality.

In short order, Shero got both Paul Martin and Zbynek Michalek to sign long-term deals. Martin, formerly of the New Jersey Devils, will be counted upon to replace Gonchar's lost offensive contributions. Michalek will give Pittsburgh some extra snarl in its own zone.

"Pittsburgh not only got younger with their transactions, but they added elements to their game that weren't there before," Button said.

He believes that Michalek has even more to showcase than he displayed as an integral part of the Phoenix defense for the past few years. Sure, he's a big body that blocks shots at a prodigious rate and keeps things orderly in his own end, but Button believes he will be a better offensive player going forward.

But it's the signing of Martin that has Button so high on the Penguins.

While Button stresses that the bedrock of Martin's game is his world-class skating ability, he becomes unique because of his ability to think the game in a way that complements his skill set.

"He combines great skating with a great hockey mind," Button says. "His cerebral attributes are as good as his physical attributes."

Button says the idea of Martin having the opportunity to hit Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin cutting up the ice in transition should be a nightmare for every team in the East. He says Martin often plays like an attacking midfielder in soccer, dissecting a team's defense and finding weaknesses to exploit.

Button also dismisses the lone knock on Martin, which is that he never really looked comfortable as a power-play quarterback during his tenure in New Jersey. To Button, Martin's struggles in that area had more to do with the fact that New Jersey did not have another threat on the blue line to pair with him and also featured limited threats up front. He knows that won't be the case in Pittsburgh.

"You put him in Pittsburgh where Crosby can beat you from down low and Malkin can beat you off the wall and (Kris) Letang has a bomb of a shot from the point and Martin can be very dangerous on the power play," Button said.

All of that is without ever discussing the underrated play of Martin in his own zone.

"He's like a pickpocket out there," Button said. "You don't know the puck is gone until it is too late."[/color][/quote]

I really like what we've done. I think Scuderi was the biggest difference between winning and not winning the cup.

Our defense really let us down last season. And I'm hopeful for the 2 new younger defensemen.

If we play solid D, there's no reason we can't win a couple more Cups with Crosby, Malkin, Staal, Fluery, Orpik, etc.