Tuesday, July 03, 2007
By Dave Molinari, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Penguins general manager Ray Shero announces the signings of defenseman Darryl Sydor, right winger Petr Sykora and Dany Sabourin as well as re-signing defensemen Rob Scuderi and Ryan Whitney yesterday at Mellon Arena.
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Penguins general manager Ray Shero locked up the veteran defenseman he had been seeking when Darryl Sydor accepted a two-year contract early yesterday morning.
Secured what he hopes will be a consistent goal-scoring winger by giving Petr Sykora a two-year deal.
Found the partner he wanted for goalie Marc-Andre Fleury when Dany Sabourin agreed to return here after spending last season in Vancouver.
Now, he can focus on a challenge any GM would love to have: Negotiating a contract extension for the best player in the world.
Discussions with agent Pat Brisson on a new deal for Sidney Crosby could begin this week, Shero said yesterday. And they won't necessarily drag on for long.
Most likely, they will amount to Shero figuratively, if not literally, handing Brisson a blank contract form and asking that a dollar amount and duration be filled in. The hard truth is that when dealing with a player who already has done so much for his franchise -- and who is the cornerstone of its future -- management has no significant leverage.
"I'm not sure what the expectations are going to be," Shero said. "We'll more listen than anything, and we'll see where we end up. I think the thing that's clear is that we want to keep Sidney for as long as we can, or as long as he wants to stay."
The NHL's labor agreement allows Crosby to earn 20 percent of the team's salary-cap ceiling -- $50.3 million for 2007-08 -- and he isn't likely to get a penny less unless he voluntarily accepts a reduced salary to enhance management's chances of keeping the Penguins' exceptional core of young talent intact.
Such a gesture probably would not be welcomed by the NHL Players' Association because it could have a chilling effect on other players' earnings -- who would want to be the guy who had to argue that he's worth more than Crosby? -- but it's conceivable that Crosby would settle for less than he's entitled to.
While Shero is negotiating with Brisson, he will be trying to reach agreements with five restricted free agents: Forwards Colby Armstrong, Tim Brent, Erik Christensen and Maxime Talbot and defenseman Ryan Lannon.
"Signing our own players is the most important thing for our franchise, moving forward," Shero said.
The restricted list was pared from six Sunday, when Ryan Whitney accepted a six-year contract that includes a bump in pay each season. His salary will rise from $2.5 million in 2007-08 to $3 million, $3.5 million, $4.5 million, $5 million and $5.5 million.
Around the same time, defenseman Rob Scuderi, who would have been free to negotiate with any team at noon, agreed to a two-year deal worth $700,000 in 2007-08 and $725,000 the following season.
"There were just too many good things in Pittsburgh going on for me, personally and team-wise," Scuderi said. "When you step back and look at the whole situation, maybe I left a little money on the table, but I'm willing to sacrifice that for a chance to win and be part of something real special."
Scuderi apparently will be the only unrestricted free agent from the NHL roster to stick with the Penguins. Shero said he doesn't expect any of the others -- Josef Melichar, Jocelyn Thibault, Ronald Petrovicky, Nils Ekman, Eric Cairns, Joel Kwiatkowski and Alain Nasreddine -- to return, although he did not rule out re-signing Petrovicky.
Shero said he wanted to bring Scuderi back because "our coaches love him," and they obviously think highly of Sydor, too, considering they didn't balk at giving him a deal worth $2.5 million in each of its two seasons. Those are the same terms for which Sykora signed.
"There were a few teams kicking tires, but Pittsburgh stepped up," Sydor said.
Shero cited Sydor's ability to move the puck, along with his reliability and experience, as the primary reasons he wanted to bring him in.
"He can give us some quality minutes," Shero said.
Sykora, meanwhile, will be counted mostly on to generate goals, although it remains to be seen whether his center will be Crosby or Evgeni Malkin, his teammate in Russia during the NHL lockout.
"He's got a great release, a great shot," Shero said. "I really think he'll be a good fit on our top two lines."
Sykora's defensive work is the major flaw in his game, but Shero tried to downplay concerns about that.
"He's a diligent defensive player, I believe," he said. "I think he's aware. He cares, defensively. Is he [four-time Selke Trophy winner] Bob Gainey? I don't think so."
NOTES -- The Penguins have four goalies -- Fleury, Sabourin and college products David Brown (Notre Dame) and John Curry (Boston University) -- on their organizational depth chart and would like to add a fifth. Nolan Schaefer, an unrestricted free agent acquired from San Jose at the trade deadline, remains a possibility, but likely will move on if another club offers him a one-way contract. ... In addition to a goalie, the Penguins are receptive to the idea of adding a depth defenseman and/or a faceoff man via free agency.
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