By Dave Molinari
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com
Friday, July 04, 2008
Peter Diana/Post-GazettePenguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury makes save against the Islanders at the Mellon Arena.
It was, for Miroslav Satan, an epiphany of sorts.
There he was, in his recently built home on Long Island, watching the Penguins battle the New York Rangers in Round 2 of the Stanley Cup playoffs this spring, when it struck him.
"I just said to myself, 'There's a team I have to play for,' " Satan told Penguins general manager Ray Shero. "I hope I can be there.' "
And now, against considerable odds, he will be.
The Penguins signed Satan and fellow winger Ruslan Fedotenko, both of whom spent last season with the New York Islanders, to one-year contracts yesterday, shortly after word leaked out that goalie Marc-Andre Fleury had agreed to a seven-year, $35 million deal.
Satan, an accomplished goal-scorer with excellent hands and instincts, assumed a prominent place in the Penguins' plans only after right winger Marian Hossa left for Detroit as a free agent Wednesday and Markus Naslund, who eventually joined the Rangers, made it known he wouldn't be signing here.
Satan is coming off a disappointing season -- 16 goals and 25 assists in 80 games -- that ranks among his least productive in the NHL and did nothing to shake his reputation for being a no-show at times.
Those who know him, though, say it actually reinforced a fundamental truth about Satan: That he doesn't like to leave the lineup for any reason, even if it means concealing an injury from the team medical staff.
Which is why he played the final half of last season on a sprained knee and much of the previous one with a broken bone in his foot.
"A lot of players would have just stopped playing and healed up the knee," said his agent, Allan Walsh.
Satan is, at least for now, the top candidate to open the 2008-09 season on Sidney Crosby's right side. Crosby will be the best center Satan, 34, has worked with and likely his best set-up man since a brief stint with Doug Weight in Edmonton early in his career.
"Satan should be able to play on the top two lines," Shero said. "That would be the goal. He'll be a good power-play guy. He's got the size, he's got the skill, he's got great hands."
He also has a salary of $3.5 million, while Fedotenko will get $2.5 million.
Fedotenko got 16 goals and 17 assists in 67 games on Long Island last season. Shero declined to predict which niche he will fill because "he can play anywhere in the lineup."
He scored the championship-clinching goal when Tampa Bay won the Stanley Cup in 2004 and is capable of spectacular performances, but he also can be a non-factor for extended stretches.
Adding Satan and Fedotenko took Shero out of the market for top-six forwards as free agency enters its fourth day, although he continues to investigate the possibility of signing a third- or fourth-liner or two.
"I've talked to a couple of guys," Shero said. "But, if nothing happens, that's fine."
He might have mentioned to those guys that if they join the Penguins, they can expect to play in front of Fleury. Even if they stay a long, long time.
"Marc, at 23, made a statement by signing a seven-year deal," said Walsh, who also represents Fleury. "The statement is, this is where I want to be."
While Fleury's contract is the longest Shero has negotiated, Fleury said he had no qualms about making such a commitment. In fact, it was his idea.
"That was my first goal, when I talked to my agent," Fleury said. "I just told him that I loved the city, the organization, the guys on the team."
The contract will pay him $3.5 million in each of the first two years, $5.5 million in the next three and $5.75 million in the final two.
After the first two seasons, a no-movement clause that bars the Penguins from removing him from the major-league roster kicks in, along with a limited no-trade clause. That allows Fleury to designate eight teams to which he would not accept a trade.
Not that trading him came up in the conversation much yesterday.
"I think he's the best young goaltender in the game," Shero said. "He's another guy who could have gone to arbitration and gotten a one-year deal, and maybe an offer sheet [as a restricted free agent] next year.
"He made it clear to us that Pittsburgh is the place he wants to play."
Just like Miroslav Satan.
NOTES -- Shero floated the idea of giving center Jordan Staal some work on left wing next season but did not commit to it. ... Shero did not rule out trading a defenseman at some point, but said, "I've always said you need 10 who can play [in the NHL]. Right now, we have eight." ... Georges Laraque, replaced as the Penguins' enforcer by Eric Godard, signed a three-year contract worth $4.5 million with Montreal.
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