The Pittsburgh Penguins took action to fill the gaps on the
wing left by the departures of Ryan Malone and Marian Hossa on Thursday,
signing right winger Miroslav Satan and winger Ruslan Fedotenko to one year
contracts.
Satan, who had 41 points in 80 games with the NY Islanders
last season, will earn $3.5 million, while Fedotenko, another ex-Islander, had
33 points in 67 games and will make $2.5 million.
Neither will fully replace what Malone and Hossa contributed
to the Penguins last season and will be seen as stopgap replacements, but at
least GM Ray Shero has addressed the lack of depth on the wing in the wake of
Hossa and Malone’s departures with a pair or decent free agents
This probably means we can scratch those speculations of
Jaromir Jagr and Markus Naslund signing with the Penguins.
Decent signings, but I would like to see more. I wouldn't rule Jagr out completley just yet. So far I haven't been bowled over with the Pens signings, Godard and these two, but they are good, if unflashy signings.
Well, Spector, I'm not so sure these guys don't replace Hossa and Malone. In regards to points, certainly Satan and Fedotenko can each match Malone's 50 points playing with Malkin or Sid. But remember, Malone had a banner year. (Robbie Brown was damn near an All-Star with Mario. Then what?) I truly believe he will flop in Tampa. My numbers may be a little off, but Geno had 100+ points and Malone had 51? His totals should have been higher if he was that good. Yeah, he's gritty, but we heard throughout the Finals was we couldn't keep up with the puck-possession of Detroit. These guys both possess the puck better than Malone and they're seasoned. And their numbers on the Islanders squad that was at the bottom of the league in GF don't equate to their skill level. I'm guessing that everyone in the locker room knew that Hossa was going to leave. That's not good for the "chemistry" we've heard so much about. The loss of Hossa doesn't really hurt. The Pens were near the top of the conference before picking up Marian for the last 12 games - that's with Fleury and Sid (many team man-games lost) hurt for an extended period. The Pens will still score, and with the development of some more of the young phenoms, look for this Pens team to play shut down hockey all year long. Everyone keeps saying that we can't do it with only Sid & Geno, but the Pens have tried the big names before, only to falter - Kovalev, Palffy, Ribitaille, Straka, Lang, the list goes on.
Fleury's happy. Sid's happy. Geno's happy.
Depth is good. That's what I want. Now I'm happy.
PS. 7-8 mil for Malone?
Last edited by misterlogic on July 3rd at 6:03 PM.
Satan....will be the best signing of all the FA....thank god Hossa is gone..overrated....and took the spot of Geno on the power play....my god...he should be sharping Genos skates....Satan, best scorer...strong at both ends...and playing with Sid...he could net 50...yes I said 50....Hossa...maybe 35...
Last edited by supersweeps on July 3rd at 6:05 PM.
Not bad signings. They both scored 16 goals for the hapless Islanders. Put them with the likes of Crosby and Malkin, and they will probably score around 20-25 each. That's about what Malone put up. Hossa didn't play for us during the regular season but a couple weeks, so throw his stats out and you've just exceeded Malone's output already. We'll be fine, defense is Rock solid now!
I'm Lyle Richardson, also known as Spector, Foxsports.com 's "Prince of Pucks".,which is based on the fact I live in Prince Edward Island, Canada and I couldn't think of a better byline. I've been an NHL hockey commentator since 1998 on my website, Spector's Hockey, and I'm a contributing writer for Foxsports.com , The Hockey News and Eishockey News. I'm also a regular on The Faceoff Hockey Show and a frequent guest on "The Late Crew" on The Team 1200 Ottawa.
