Inside The Penalty Box 06.16.08: Penguins Starting Busy Offseason

Posted by Neil Borenstein on 06.16.2008

The Pittsburgh Penguins have a plethora of moves that need to be made this offseason, pegging Ray Shero the most active general manager this summer. With only two weeks left before the free agent market opens, Shero is busy making some important moves in hopes of escaping this offseason in one piece. In this edition of Inside The Penalty Box, Neil Borenstein looks at what the Penguins have done thus far, in addition to the Islanders continuing their streak of brainless moves and the Bruins potentially cutting one of their veterans.

Start Of A Busy OffseasonShero, Penguins Begin Dealing With Many Offseason Transactions

Photo Credit: www.thesunblog.comRay Shero of the Pittsburgh Penguins is this offseason's busiest general manager.

The Pittsburgh Penguins figured to have a busy offseason even before the Stanley Cup playoffs began. The sheer number of free agent eligible players, in addition to two young cornerstones entering the final year of their entry-level deals next season, had general manager Ray Shero pegged as the busiest general manager this summer. The fact that the team exceeded expectations by coming within two victories of winning the Stanley Cup only escalated the value of the players Shero must now deal with as the free agent market opens for business in just two weeks.

Though they aren't all high-priority, the Penguins have a total of 16 unrestricted free agents (three of which are Group VI) and four restricted free agents. The fact that Evgeni Malkin and Jordan Staal have only one year left on their rookie deals before potentially entering restricted free agency – a danger zone in this era of the NHL – next summer makes it essential for Shero to pay them some attention this year. With 15 players under contract for next season and only four in 2009-10 as of this writing, Shero has a lot of decisions to be made, the most critical of which have to be dealt with before July 1 in order to avoid further complications by other teams.

Shero knows this and has already begun to act. The first of what is sure to be a flurry of activity in Pittsburgh this summer was making sure their 23-year old netminder couldn't see even in a single offer sheet next month. The Penguins filed for arbitration with Marc-Andre Fleury. Such a move means Fleury is guaranteed to be a Penguin next season (unless the team is reluctant to accept the decision) and Shero has a little bit of time to sit down and negotiate a long-term contract with Fleury before the earliest possible hearing date of July 20. The goaltender should not be placed too far on the backburner. But with so many players needing Shero's attention, it's nice to know one of the big chips this season doesn't need to be dealt with at this very moment.

Some big name forwards do need to be handled immediately, however. And Shero is starting to get on that. The three biggest names that need attention now and are reportedly getting it are Marian Hossa, Ryan Malone and Malkin.

According to a blog post on The Columbus Dispatch Web site, the Penguins recently offered Hossa a deal believed to be in the range of seven years and $50 million. A response from Hossa is expected within the next few days. It's difficult to figure what Hossa is going to decide. On the one hand, he does want to stay in Pittsburgh and understands doing so will require a willingness to accept less money than he could probably receive elsewhere on the open market. However, if accurate, this deal pays Hossa $7.15 million per season – only $15,000 more than he made on last year's salary and at least $850,000 less than he could get if he pursued unrestricted free agency. Granted, the Penguins are making up for the money aspect of the contract in the years department. But I don't think other teams would oppose offering him seven years and dangling at least another $6 million in front of him. So, Hossa's word is really going to be put to the test here. What Pittsburgh is offering is by no means a terrible deal considering its situation. But Hossa can definitely do better.

Photo Credit: Yahoo! Sports/Getty ImagesMarian Hossa and Evgeni Malkin were the Penguins' second and third leading scorers, respectively, in 20 playoff games.

Whatever he decides within the next few days is going to affect Shero's strategy toward handling Malkin and Malone. Malkin will be pursued either way. The money might just change depending on Hossa's decision. In Malone's case, this is an either/or situation for Shero. Either he keeps Hossa or Malone. If Hossa declines, Malone's chances of staying in Pittsburgh increase. However, if Hossa is cool with remaining a Pen at a cheaper rate, than Malone can kiss his days in Pittsburgh goodbye.

There's a chance Malone might begin the negotiation process before July 1 even hits. The Columbus Dispatch blog reports that the Columbus Blue Jackets have an interest in acquiring the exclusive negotiation rights of Malone and/or defenseman Brooks Orpik, with more attention being paid to Malone. This is actually a pretty good idea for both teams. Pittsburgh can pull a second or third round pick out of the deal, while the Blue Jackets have a window of time to be the sole negotiators with a player they want. And while it's no sure thing Malone still won't explore free agency, I'm sure the Blue Jackets would only agree to make a move of that nature if there was some indication that Malone was serious about trying to work out a deal with them. I don't necessarily think Malone is the right player the Blue Jackets need to be pursuing, as he's going to cost at least $5 million a season and doesn't fill the center role they desperately have to add this offseason. But if a hard-nosed winger who can score a bit is what they really want, Malone won't disappoint and will be a solid addition to their lineup. Either way, we should have a better idea of what Pittsburgh intends to do with Malone once Hossa makes a decision.

In Malkin's case, we're not going to know anything until July 1, when the collective bargaining agreement allows the two sides to start negotiating an extension. The Sports Network in Canada reports that Malkin truly believes an extension will get signed once he and the team are legally allowed to start talking about it. He doesn't want a ridiculously long deal, such as the 13-year contract country-mate Alexander Ovechkin inked during the season. Instead, he is looking for something in the five- to six-year range. Malkin also said he doesn't need to surpass the $8.7 million per season Sidney Crosby will make in extension, which kicks in starting next season. That point is somewhat countered by TSN, who claim a target deal for Malkin is in the five-year, $9 million per season range. Until July 1, we're not really going to know the kind of cash we're dealing with. But it's safe to assume that Malkin isn't going to cost the Penguins any less than $8 million a year on a five- to six-year commitment. And honestly, the Penguins really don't have a choice here. They need to hold onto Malkin and it's not a good idea to let him begin the 2008-09 campaign, let alone next summer, without an extension.

Pending Hossa re-signs on the offer made by the Penguins and Malkin agrees to a best-case scenario extension of five years at $40 million, the Penguins are still left in one hell of a pickle cap-wise. Using a $56 million salary cap, which is the high end of what's believed to be next year's cap figure, Crosby, Hossa and Malkin would make up about 42 percent ($23.85 million) of the team's payroll once Malkin's extension would kick in for the 2009-10 season (of course, we don't know what the cap number will be that season yet, but work with me on this.) On the surface, it doesn't seem horrendous because, hey, there's still $32.15 million for the rest of the team. But that doesn't take into consideration Ray Whitney's $4 million cap hit until 2013 ($27.85 million) and the fact that Fleury eventually needs a long-term deal and Staal hasn't even been discussed yet. And yes, that's still just six players. So, even if Shero makes it out of this offseason alive, he's still got one hell of a mess on his hands to deal with for many years to come. Unfortunately, I don't think this clan can stay intact for much longer than another round of contracts each. Eventually, something has to give and somebody has to go. And maybe that's why Malkin is only interested in a five- to six-year deal. Perhaps he sees unrestricted free agency in his not-so-distant future.

I guess that's beyond Shero's control this summer, though, considering all he needs to worry about right now. Five or six years down the line is not particularly at the forefront of his concerns, regardless of how much GMs constantly need to think about the future. At the present time, it seems Shero has things under control, starting with a smart move filing for arbitration with Fleury and getting an offer out to Hossa with some time left to make a decision on what to do with Malone. It's going to be interesting to see what happens going forward in Pittsburgh, but Shero's doing a good job making sure the team doesn't implode right before our very eyes.

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Long Island Circus Open For Business: Just when you think the New York Islanders can't top their latest failure at trying to appear as a legitimate NHL team, they go ahead and pull out another crazy ass idea. According to TSN.ca, just one year after buying out the final four years of center Alexei Yashin's contract at a rate of $2.2 per year over eight, the Islanders are actually considering bringing him back. Just sit on that one for a couple of seconds.

Sure, this isn't as bad signing a player to a 15-year deal. And it's sure as hell no worse than naming a backup goaltender with no previous front office experience as general manager. But just one year after being deemed not good enough to be a part of the organization so much that they were willing to pay him and take a cap hit for absolutely nothing, it seems just a bit absurd to bring Yashin back. This is especially true when Yashin doesn't appear to be the one initiating this and, according to his agent Marc Gandler, seems focused on the monetary end of this new Long Island epiphany.

Now, this isn't so much a knock on Yashin's talent. I mean, sure, he has practically no emotion at this point and isn't going to be a leader for the Islanders. But he was just about a point-per-game producer in his last NHL season two years ago. Last season, he played with Yaroslavl of the Russian League and scored 43 points (16 goals, 27 assists) in 56 games, adding eight goals and six assists in 16 playoff games. That's some solid production from a 34-year old constantly knocked for losing a step.

But the Islanders interest in bringing him back is based on two reasons – owner Charles Wang is friends with him and the team is panicked over Mike Comrie being their leading scorer last year with only 49 points. Now, the former is just plain dumb and Wang should sell this team before he completely destroys it. But the latter is also pretty illogical. Don't go back to what failed the last time just because you need scoring. Hello! The free agent market opens in two weeks. I know this might be tough, so let me try and break it down. There are these hockey players that, starting on July 1, are eligible to be negotiated with by any of the league's 30 general managers. If a player and general manager come to an agreement, that player becomes a part of that GM's team upon signing a contract. Come on Garth Snow – are you keeping up?!

There are plenty of options for the Islanders to pursue in free agency that they don't need to go after Yashin, who only wants the money and is probably better suited closing out his career in Russia at this point. When will this team ever learn?

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Bruins Buying Out Murray?: Glen Murray's days with the Boston Bruins could be over. There's talk, according to The Boston Globe that the Bruins are considering buying out the final year of Murray's deal, which calls for him to earn $4.15 million. The 35-year old right wing was drafted by the Bruins in the first round of the 1991 entry draft and has spent a total of 10 seasons with the team. He had stints with the Pittsburgh Penguins and Los Angeles Kings, as well.

This move is in the best interest of the Bruins. It's rough to say goodbye to somebody who's with the organization as long as Murray. But after the 17-goal season he had last year and the fact that the injury bug bites him more often at this stage of his career, the Bruins really need to spend his $4 million salary elsewhere. If he were still suiting up for at least 70 games and posting at least 30 goals, then this move wouldn't be called for. But his play is diminishing and the Bruins need to move forward without him.

Murray will definitely land a job somewhere else. He'll have to take a pay cut and maybe accept a third line job on a good team. But Murray's tenure in the NHL isn't going to be over once the Bruins cut him. Whatever team grabs him just needs to realize that he's going to miss some time over the course of the season and his best scoring days (the ones next to Joe Thornton) are long gone.

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Until next week, you have just been Inside The Penalty Box!

~ Neil Borenstein