Let's get a bit of a change of pace and talk about the future of this team.
First of all, there is a great deal of discussion regarding the salary cap for 2009-2010. It may go down from $56mil to $55mil due to the economy, and the player's union may demand a 5% raise (Which would raise it to $58.8mil).
its tied to revenues. some say flat (optimistic) some say as much as a 5m decrease. the union cant demand a 5% increase mid cba...
So far, this is what the Pens have penciled in for 2009-2010 (Salary info is
here)
Kunitz-Crosby-???
???-Malkin-???
Cooke-Staal-Kennedy
Dupuis-Talbot-Godard
what you see here is two 8.7m Cs playing with 2m wingers. and staal and his 4m contract playing with sub 2m players.
Sarge-Orpik
Letang-Eaton
???-???
Fleury
???
Cap hit: $47,335,000
Players we are losing:
Guerin ($4.5 mil)
Satan ($3.5 mil)
Sykora ($2.5 mil)
Fedotenko ($2.25 mil)
Boucher ($2.5 mil)
Hall Gill ($2.075 mil)
Scuderi ($713k)
Garon ($1.1 mil)
Restricted Free Agents:
Goligoski ($984K)
Bill Thomas, Abritration Eligible ($525K)
So, the Pens need to fill in three top-6 forwards, a bottom pair of defensemen, and a goalie in with only $8.665mil if the cap stays static or $7.665 mil if the cap goes down. That's a pain in the butt.
So, what do we do?
1. Re-signing Sykora for RW on Malkin's line: Sykora wants 3 years, $3mil a year with a NTC. He can get $4mil on the open market. I really want him to stay, and I know Malkin does too (Malkin has apparently really opened up since Sykora has come on to the team).
2. As far as the left wing on Malkin's line goes, Luca Caputi may be ready for the NHL by next season physically. However, there are a great deal of mental questions regarding Caputi. He is a legit power forward, but he still needs to pack on some weight. He's 6'2" to 6'3", but he is only 185 pounds.
he doesnt pack much power into his frame. ready maybe, as a pure f1 power forward, not at this point.
--- Staal had a similar problem when he came into the league. As a rookie, he was 6'4" 200 lbs and fast. As a sophomore, Staal packed on 20 lbs and slowed down a great deal. However, this year, he's the total package.
lets be frank, staal last year played on the pp, the pk and played against the top line every night. that should be taken into consideration. the situations may have been a little to "rich" for jordan.
--- But back to Caputi. He has 16 goals and 25 assists for W-BS this year in 58 games with a +3. However, it should be noted that he went down to Wheeling for a disciplinary issue, meaning that he may not be mature enough for the NHL in terms of mind and possibly body (2 goals and 1 assist in 3 games for Wheeling). He was called up to the NHL for a 5 game stint this year, scoring a goal on his first shift on the 4th line. Hence, he is the only player in history to score a goal at the NHL, AHL, and ECHL history to play on all three levels. Wheeling Nailers fans will always remember how he helped beat rival Johnstown and hated every minute of it.
YouTube - Luca Caputi First NHL Goal (HQ)
3. If Caputi doesn't work out, Eric Tangradi may. Eric Tangradi was acquired by Ray Shero in the Ryan Whitney deal and he also has the skillset to be a power forward at the NHL level. Measuring in at 6'4" 221 pounds, Tangradi is (Or was, the last time I checked) 2nd in the OHL scoring race with 38 goals and 50 assist in 55 games, behind only soon-to-be-2009 #1 overall draft choice John Tavares.
However, you can tell he's from Philly. Tangradi was suspended just a while ago for throwing a water bottle at a referee. And, there was also this incident at the WJC (Say hello to the afore mentioned Tavares)...
YouTube - Tavares Scores A Beauty, Tangradi Clips DiDomenico from Bench, Della Rovere hits JVR
Shero has stated that he believes Tangradi will be ready for the NHL next season.
tangardi is a big body, im not sure if he is "nhl ready" for next year. i dont have youtube at work but im 99.9% sure i know the incident. the one when jt and crew skate by the bench after jts highlight reel goal? what was jt doing skating by the bench like that? dumb move. granted classless hack job by tangardi in flipping his stick out at the eyes and some epic acting with the injury(what was it a sniper)? and then jvr gets slammed into the stancion. this is one issue i have with no fighting, that bs doesnt fly if they are allowed to drop the gloves, jt and crew dont cruise the us bench post goal celebration and tangardi (likely doesnt) throw his cheap shot.
4. As for defensive pairings at the bottom, one can expect that Hal Gill will not be re-signed. Boucher should be gone too. Scuderi will probably be asking for $1.5mil (+15 this year), so who knows how that will go. Goligoski should be re-signed and put at the third pairing with either Scuderi or...
plenty of 6/7 type dmen are available, that shouldnt be a hard pick up. the key will be what type of 6/7s they want.
5. Ben Lovejoy. The diamond in the rough defensive player, much like Scuderi was. Played two games for Pittsburgh this year. Measures in at 6'2", 214lbs. 7 goals, 21 assists, and an insane +41 rating in 65 games at W-BS this year. With his ability, he would easily be able to play as a bottom pairing guy for the Pens if Scuderi wants a lot of money.
6. As for Fleury's backup, either John Curry (Set the W-BS wins record, 2-10 with a 2.40GAA this year in Pittsburgh, dominating the AHL) or another guy under $1mil should work.
7. As for Crosby's RW, it's gonna get messy. The prospects are a year away, so we only need a one year fill-in there. Guerin would work if he comes in at a low price. But, he may ask for a tad bit more than we can pay. However, if he takes a pay cut, I'd rather keep Guerin that try and find someone through free agency and get stuck with a Satan situation again.
like is said those wings likely will have to be filled with 2m type palyers due to cap issues. matching that guy/youngster with sid will be interesting.
--- By the way, Satan had 1 goal and 3 assists in his first game at W-BS.
Overall, the cap situation is going to be very messy. If the cap goes up by 5%, we should be safe, able to re-sign Scuderi, and able to re-sign Guerin as well (If he comes in at, like, Sykora's $3mil price for one year). If the cap stays static, Shero will manage it and we'll be fine. If the cap goes down, expect a lot of problems.