2010-2011 Pittsburgh Penguins

[Merman1983]

Pens resign Lovejoy. You've got to love the numbers on that contract, cap friendly if I ever saw it. I also think the guy has a chance to become a solid NHL regular. You really never know with these guys, Rob Scuderi was a late bloomer. Lovejoy has shown some skill in limited time, Not sure if they are planning on using him on the bottom pairing or as a 7th defenseman.

http://penguins.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=532209&cmpid=pit-twt-pghpenguins


The new contract goes into effect at the start of the 2010-11 season and will run through 2012-13. The deal is a two-way contract for the 2010-11 campaign, and will pay Lovejoy $525,000 at the NHL level. He will earn $525,000 in 2011-12 and $525,000 in 2012-13

[Merman1983]

Once again a TSN rumor, but it's good to hear they are considering getting something:

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=325320

The Pittsburgh Penguins may consider trading veteran defenceman Sergei Gonchar's negotiating rights. 

Gonchar has a no-trade clause and the Pens would still like to extend his contract, but sources say there's a good chance Gonchar will become an unrestricted free agent on July 1 - so the possibility of following a trend of trading a players rights will likely be explored.

Pittsburgh is a cap team, but on the open market, the 36-year-old Stanley Cup champion could lure upwards of $6 million.

Uh, yeah, just say no to 6 million Ray.

[Captain Chaos]

Rob Rossi, appearing on DVE this morning, is reporting that the Pens and Matt Cooke have come to an agreement on a three year deal.  He's also in agreement with the TSN report that Gonch is seeking $6 mil. and will test free agency.

Awesome fucking news on Cookie!  It's also time to move on without Sarge.

[Merman1983]

1.8 per year per the post gazette. definitely not a bad cap hit for what he brings.


Left winger Matt Cooke has agreed to a three-year contract with the Penguins.

His annual salary-cap hit will be $1.8 million.

Cooke, a fixture on the Penguins' third line and their penalty-killing unit, would have become an unrestricted free agent if not re-signed by July 1.


Read more: http://post-gazette.com/pg/10173/1067415-100.stm#ixzz0raS0Kymd

[Merman1983]

Captain Chaos, I don't listen to DVE in the morning but someone at work was telling me Rossi said Ottawa is interested in Gonchar, and Rossi thinks there could be a trade, Volchenkov's rights for Gonchar's rights. Was this mentioned?

I've gone a record saying that I wouldn't want 5 million tied up in Volchenkov, but that would be a pretty wild trade right there. Figure:

Volchenkov-Leopold (possible shutdown pair, i think)
Orpik-Letang
Goligoski-Eaton/cheap fa
Lovejoy

might be a tight squeeze getting all that under the cap, especially bringing back eaton and leopold. Wouldn't trust a bottom pairing of Lovejoy-Goligoski though, have to get a solid veteran guy to play with Goligoski.

[Merman1983]

And Nathan Horton is officially a B:

http://prohockeytalk.nbcsports.com/2010/06/report-florida-panthers-trade-nathan-horton-to-boston-bruins.php



Horton and Campbell for the No. 15 pick, Dennis Wideman, and another draft pick. Looks like a good deal for Boston. Horton has all the talent in the world, Boston is starved for offense, and a line with Savard and Horton will be scary.

[Captain Chaos]

Rossi did mention that Ottawa would be interested in Gonch as a FA.  Didn't say anything about a trade.  I saw the same Gonch/Sens rumor on hockeybuzz.com as well.  Might be were Rossi got his info or vice-versa.

http://www.hockeybuzz.com/blog.php?post_id=28893&blogger_id=1

[Merman1983]

Well this changes everything:

http://hendrickshockey.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2797:nhl-salary-cap-rises-cba-extended&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=136


The salary cap will rise the new cap to $59.64 million, a $2.84 million increase over last season's $56.8 million cap.


Nice jump there. we might be players after all.

[Merman1983]

Chicago to send Byfuglien, Sopel, Eager and Akim Aliu to Atl for 24th overall pick, 54th overall pick, Marty Reasoner and Jeremy Morin.

[Captain Chaos]

2010 NHL Entry Draft: Rights to Dan Hamhuis traded to Pittsburgh
By Brandon Worley  prohockeytalk.nbcsports.com
Fri Jun 25,2010 11:05 PM ET

Paul Holmgren just announced to the media here at the draft that the Philadelphia Flyers have traded the negotiating rights to Dan Hamhuis to the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for a third round draft pick in the 2011 Entry Draft.

So essentially, the Flyers traded away Ryan Parent for at 2011 third round draft pick. There's likely to be more to the trade, but for now that's the info we have.

I'd say that was a win for the Flyers.

The hangup with Hamhuis signing in Philadelphia had nothing to do with money or the length of the contract, and more to do with Hamhuis wanting to be considered at least a top four defenseman. In Philadelphia he would have been top four, but CSNPhilly's Tim Panaccio told me that he wanted to be formally labeled the #3 defenseman before he signed.

Apparently the Flyers weren't willing to make that commitment.

Wow, I can't believe Shero would give up a 3rd round pick if he wasn't absolutely sure Hamhuis is signable.  I've never heard of a player being hung up on what his "lable" within the organization is.  I hope that doesn't mean that Hamhuis is a total douche with a diva complex.  In any event, so long Sarge, it was a great run.  Thanks for the memories.  As usual, Shero is taking care of business.

I also like the pick of Beau Bennett with the 20th pick.  He was ranked 17th overall by TSN so the Pens got a little value with the pick.  I was really hoping that Austin Watson would still be there at 20 just for his size alone (6' 4", 185) but Nashville jumped on him 2 picks earlier.