Faceoff Factor

Mid-August Monotony

Matt Bodenschatz | Pittsburgh Penguins

Aug 8, 12:20 PM | Hype this story!

It’s mid-August, the dead of summer in the hockey world, and I’m itching to write about something…anything.

So, since the Penguins’ summer transactions are all but complete and since I’ve had plenty of time to reflect on the roster movement, it’s time to make some sense of it all.

Clearly, the summer hinged on forward Marian Hossa, a name Faceoff Factor’s Mike Adams can’t even bring himself to type. When he made his decision to migrate to Detroit, Penguins general manager Ray Shero had his work cut out for him.

It appeared that Shero was willing to sacrifice offensive depth to have that elite winger for Crosby, but the plan fell through, and the idea of depth seemed a bit more attractive.

Enter former New York Islander forwards Miroslav Satan and Ruslan Fedotenko. Marian Hossa, they are not. Yet they bring experience and talent to an already top-heavy team anchored by Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.

Both on one-year, affordable contracts, Shero has a plan that they will play at a high level with dollar signs twinkle in their eyes.

Compared to some of the names thrown around as Pittsburgh possibilities, Satan and Fedotenko may not seem like the best fits, but the key is short term contracts, as Malkin’s contract will kick in next season, eating a big chunk of the available cap space.

By signing two top-liners to one-year deals, Shero has the flexibility to rework his roster next year, after all of his core players have their non-rookie contract cap hits.

Moving along, we saw the departure of Ryan Malone and Gary Roberts via trade. Let’s face it, neither was returning to the team, so even a minimal return was worth it.

Roberts’ best days are far behind him, and his mentoring ability likely has run its course on a team that no longer is considered inexperienced after falling just two wins shy of the Stanley Cup.

Malone, obviously, will be missed, but realistically, his $4.5 million cap hit is at least $1 million away from sanity. At his price, I wouldn’t even want him on the Penguins’ roster.

I wasn’t truly surprised until Jarkko Ruutu and Adam Hall departed. I always felt Hossa would stay, but I knew it was far from certain, especially considering the financial commitment involved. But Ruutu and Hall make minimal money, at best.

I guess I just assumed both would return, especially since the Penguins lost considerable grit and experience in the Malone/Roberts trade.

Shero made up for the loss of Ruutu with the addition of superpest Matt Cooke, who fights less, but brings more to the table in terms of talent. Not only will he fill Ruutu’s roster spot, but he should also serve as an improvement. Even so, I’d prefer not seeing Ruutu in a Senators uniform.

And, on lesser level, losing Georges Laraque stung. Sure, he rarely fought anyone other than the heavyweights, and his gentleman personality often seemed more of a hindrance than an advantage. His replacement, Eric Godard, may not have the overall skill to eat up as much icetime as Laraque, but he will fight anyone at anytime, an attitude that surely will serve as a deterrent to anyone thinking of targeting Crosby, Malkin or any of his other teammates.

Aside from the old faces who departed and the new faces who were brought in, I have to give a tip of the hat to Shero for his keen eye in negotiations with Malkin, Marc-Andre Fleury and Brooks Orpik, not to mention Pascal Dupuis and other depth players, such as Jeff Taffe, Kris Beech and Bill Thomas.

Because of such shrewd singings, the Penguins will be in solid shape not only to contend for the playoffs, but for the Stanley Cup for at least the next five years.

Right now, I have two concerns with this team. First, they lack a true force in the faceoff circle. Hall was the closest thing the Penguins had to a faceoff specialist, and with his departure, it leaves a cast of average, at best, centers in terms of taking the draw. With veterans such as Michael Peca, Stu Barnes and others on the free agent market earlier this summer, it seems Shero missed the boat.

I also think he missed the boat with regards to team toughness. The Penguins, by no means, were overmatched by any of their opponents last season, but they also weren’t necessarily the most physical team to play against.

Fedotenko will not bring similar physicality to the top two lines that Malone did, and Crosby still is without a net-crasher/physical presence on his wing.

Like last season, I don’t believe the Penguins will be pushed around, but I also don’t think they’ll have as much muscle to push around their opponents.

Overall, I am satisfied, if not very happy, with the offseason roster movements. By default, the Penguins are better than they were last year at this time, as the young players are a year older and a year more experienced.

And let’s remember, the team that takes the ice during the first day of training camp will not be the team that enters the playoffs. Shero will do some tweaking here and there throughout the season, and we might even see a nice-sized trade, though nothing even remotely close to the magnitude of the Hossa trade.