According to
this article in the Post-Gazette, the Penguins issued qualifying offers to six of their restricted free agents. They include:
- Colby Armstrong
- Ryan Malone
- Brooks Orpik
- Marc-Andre Fleury
- Jani Rita
- Niklas Nordgren
More surprisingly, the players they didn't tender offers to (thus making them unrestricted free agents) include:
- Andy Hilbert
- Konstantin Koltsov
- Tomas Surovy
- Andy Chiodo
along with players acquired via late season trades:
and some minor leaguers:
- Ben Eaves
- Cam Paddock
- Drew Fata
- Alex Rouleau
- Andy Schneider
Now, what is noteworthy about all of this? Well, here are a few things I've come up with:
- Any of the guys that were non-tendered could be back. The only thing this means is that they're unrestricted free agents and free to sign with anyone (including the Pens, should that be mutually agreeable).
- I'm pretty surprised they're letting Hilbert and Koltsov go. Both of them seemed to really hit their stride late in the season, and Koltsov especially seems suited to the new NHL with his speed and tenacity. According to the article, Hilbert isn't against coming back.
- Surovy didn't show too much while he was here, but he seemed to have a strong Olympics, and he is relatively young. Hopefully he'll come back, but his agent said he might go to Europe.
- Some of the moves were admittedly because of financial constraints.
- Most sickeningly (is that a word?), the Penguins have absolutely nothing left from the Mark Recchi and Ric Jackman trades. I know they tendered Nordgren, but from what I understand, he's playing in Europe. They probably tendered him as a formality to keep his rights. Craig Patrick really didn't do very well on his trade deadline moves.
Free agency is right around the corner. It will be interesting to see how things shake out. Don't expect the Pens to do much of anything early on, but if they see a chance, I wouldn't be surprised to see them jump at it. They have some definite holes on their roster to fill.
1 comment:
I'm was pretty shocked that they cut the number of contracts so quickely like that. Most of these are understandable, but Konstantin Koltsov?!?! I thought he hit his stride, too. When he played on the 2nd line with Malone and Leclair, he seemed to really open things up for them. He might not scored a lot but he helps other people to do so. Not to mention his penalty killing. Anybody remember the game where Andre Roy took like a 7minute penalty at the very end of the game? And we killed it off? I credit that one to Koltsov most of all. He'll probably go somewhere else and we'll regret it.
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