2010 Steelers Preview 1.0: Free Agents

Greetings, children, and a happy new year from our dysfunctional family to yours. We have fully recovered from our hangovers the holidays and are looking forward to another year of astute observation in all the things you care about, so long as you care about the same things we care about. Otherwise, you're a douche.

They tell me in that blur that was the first weekend of "the year before the year before the Mayan Apocalypse" that the Steelers won, but were eliminated from the playoffs amid other teams' key wins or losses. That saddened me at the time, from what I remember, and the knowledge is presently doing so yet again.

So, in a way to sort-of get over the fact that football season is over in our great city, we glanced at the list of Steelers who are up for free agency, and compiled a list of who we think should stay, who we think should go, and who we think should be kicked down that random hole in Sparta.

Here is the list of the prominent Steelers who, pending negotiations, are up for Free Agency: Tyrone Carter, Ryan Clark, Casey Hampton, William Gay, Travis Kirschke, Willie Parker, Jeff Reed, Daniel Sepulveda, Willie Colon and DeShea Townsend. Some of our commentary below is cross-posted from a reply I made to friend of the blog's Champsburgh, a blog you should be checking out because they're smarter than you. Okay, off we go:

- Let Tyrone Carter go. He is turning 34 this year and is in the twilight of his career. We can nab another cornerback in free agency, if need be. Truth be told, we better be drafting another cornerback in the first few rounds anyways, because I think Ike Taylor's flash in the pan years are about over.

- Willie Gay should stick around. His poor performance this year may actually help in contract talks. Remember how rocky Troy Polamalu's start in this league was? Gay is 24 and, with a push, has the potential to light things up in the secondary.

- Ryan Clark should be re-signed because of how cohesive he and Troy make the defense. He was frustrated and made some stupid comments this year; but who could replace him? I would like to see him make more plays when the ball is in the air, rather than just laying big hits on a receiver who has already made a catch. Still, letting Clark go would be high-risk, low-reward immediately.

- Peace out, Jeff Reed. He's old and I don't think necessarily reformed in his ways. Don't expect the Rooneys to offer him an extension, and don't expect us to care. We see him taking a job working with Joe Francis, traveling around to college towns and creeping out underage girls.

- Sepulveda needs to stay. So long as our special teams collectively gets its shit together, Sepulveda's punts have been a breath of fresh air next to those lobs that Berger used to put up last year. Danny is clutch, and can kick the ball and hit if called to action.

- So long, Deshea. He'll be 35 next season, and I don't really know what he could do to remedy the Steelers' pass defense. Actually, Deshea should retire. I would rather see DeWayne Washington back in the secondary than see Deshea back there. He has a great attitude and pretty good vision, but is pretty worthless in most coverage packages. In being a defensive back, you need to be a) young or b) fast as all hell. Deshea Townshend is neither of these things.

- I wish we could fire Willie Colon. I would rather take my chances drafting an O-line man and starting him as a rookie, but knowing the Rooneys' forgiving stance on linemen, I see Colon sticking around. He could be replaced, though, and is most definitely the weakest link on that line. He is the Rico Fata of that Offensive Line, next to Max Starks' Ryan Whitney.

- I would like to see Willie Parker offered a contract, and I see the Rooneys doing so. Unfortunately, based on Rashard showing flashes of LT this season, Parker is going to have to take a pay cut to stick around, something that is improbable when dealing with a running back with two Super Bowl rings. Parker has been frustrated with the Bruce Arians offense (as we all have - oh yeah, FIRE ARIANS) and I can see him leaving. Sad, because Parker is a good guy and a dependably speedy running back.

- Hampton is another player that I would like to see re-signed but will probably be cut loose. The Steelers have not liked his volatile weight issues, and his playing style is a little extreme. He is always on the verge of an injury. But guess what? The man is still a beast and is going to the Pro Bowl this year. I say sign Hampton, especially in light of other defensive woes.

- I like Travis Kirschke, but the man is 35. He is always hurt, and his on-again, off-again status is affecting would-be replacements. I would like to see our drafted D linemen (like Ziggy Hood) get polished. I respect veteran players, but in a position like the D line, we need a young guy to match the veterans in Kiesel, Smith and Hampton. Let Kirschke go.

That is all for now. We will be returning (as well as with quasi-regular posting again) with a 2.0 feature regarding potential draft picks. Until then, thank you for toughing it out on this long ass post. Go Pens.

Scuds to LA

So long Bobby Scuds... According to the Post Gazette, Pittsburgh Penguins defensemen Rob "The Piece" Scuderi has agreed to a contract with the Los Angeles Kings. Terms are unknown, but are believed to be four years at 3.4 million per year.

Anyone who has watched Penguins hockey for the past few years has always seen Bobby Scuds play his game, and play it damn well. While not the greatest offensive talent to lace up the skates in Mellon (He had 3 regular season goals in 300 games), he was solid in his own end and simply got better year after year.

This year's Stanley Cup Finals brought Lord Stanley's Chalice to Pittsburgh. It also brought about Scuderi's huge pay day with this one shift.



While Rob has said many times he would give Shero & co. the final shot at re-signing him, there is no way the Pens can afford that contract. They only have just under 6 million left for this coming year and they still need to sign another winger and prepare to extend Sergei Gonchar and Kris Letang next year. All of that with a falling cap.

It will be interesting to see what Mr. Shero does to fill the hole left by the now "missing piece" but we here at The Rustbelt Tramp stand behind him. So long Rob Scuderi, thanks for everything.

Go Pens.

Hockey Blog Outsourcing 1.1

With the NHL free agency period less than 24 hours away, we would like to take a moment and give you some news from around the Pens organization.

Bill Guerin will be wearing the garb of the flightless bird next year.
This is good news for the Penguinos who could use the veteran forward for another year... And I'll be damned if Billy doesn't look 10 years younger skating along side Sid.

Craig Adams will also be wearing the garb of the flightless bird... but for two years.
Another good move by the wise and wonderful Ray Shero. Adams isn't a goal scorer, but his grit is easily a good enough reason to keep him around for a year or two... And damn cheap I might add.

The boys over at Faceoff Factor caught up with Penguins Prospect Eric Tangradi.
Tangradi came over as part of the joke Ryan Whitney trade and has created quite a stir among obsessed avid fans in the 'burgh. Kudos to Jesse Marshall and co. for the exclusive.

The Penguins have made offers to John Curry, Ben Lovejoy and Tim Wallace.
Seth Rorabaugh is better than you or your mother. Great move for the Pens and definitely the end of Phillipe Boucher and Mathieu Garon. Look for both of them on the ice next year. Heads up to the Glorious Empty Netters for the late night find.

You thought it was all said and done

While hockey season is over (I think Pittsburgh won the cup), the off season is here. The NHL entry draft takes place on June 26th and 27th. Less than a week after that is the beginning of the free agency period.

This is the time of year when trade rumors swirl just as much if not more than right before the trade deadline. Who wants to pick up a few more draft picks? Who wants to trade some away in hopes of landing that one player who will help lead their team to Stanley Cup glory?

All this (and lack of true employment) have led us to take a look at the numbers and crunch some ideas for what could be the Pittsburgh Penguins of 2009-2010 and beyond. We'll start off with cap numbers:

While it is not set in stone (the collective revenues of the league have not been tallied yet) the league cap number should be right around $55 million so we will stick with that number.
As it stands right now, the Pittsburgh Penguins cap number will be $47.3 million for 2009-2010. That is of course if we drop all our free agents and their salaries which isn't going to happen.

Much has been made about the amount of money tied up in Crosby (8.7 mill), Malkin (8.7 mill), Fleury (5 mill), Staal (4 mill) and even Brooks Orpik (3.75 mill). Well this is the year when that will all come to fruition with Malkin, Fleury and Staal all starting their new contract numbers.

At the same time we lose the big numbers of Sykora (2.5 mill), Guerin (4.5mill), Miroslav Satan (3.5mill), Ruslan Fedetenko (2.5 mill), Phillippe Boucher(2.5 mill) and Hal Gill (2.1 mill). Lost yet?

Also on the unrestricted free agent list is Rob Scuderi. The authors of this blog have thought highly of Scuds for quite some time now and his performance in the Finals put him in to another pay scale. He is a clutch shut down defensemen and is only getting better.

Along with those boys are a bunch of AHL'ers, some of whom will be given every shot to make it to the big club in the fall. Of interest is Alex Goligoski, Ben Lovejoy, Paul Bissonnette, John Curry and Tim Wallace. These guys are all restricted free agents and we fully expect them to be Pens again next year.

Moving along... Fight me if you will but here is what I see happening over the summer to our beloved flightless birds. Sykora, Satan, Boucher, Gill and Garon will all leave. That frees up $11.6 million in cap space from those players alone. We have been saying for some time that Sykora is going to finish up his career in Russia and while his agent is saying otherwise Petr may head back home to play out his twilight years. Either way he and Satan will not suit up for the Pens next year. Sad to say in Sykora's case.

Boucher is expendable and will be replaced by Alex Goligoski in the fall. He is much younger, cheaper and far more talented in the offensive zone, and has shown flashes of being able to confidently stand people up at the blue line. Gill is a bit more of a loss in this author's opinion (notice I did not say we as some authors of this blog disagree with this sentiment). Yes he is slow, yes he put a few goals in behind MAF himself, but he has excellent reach, is great on the PK and spends the majority of his ice time in front of the net. He will be missed when he is gone which most likely will be now rather than later. Ben Lovejoy will be used much like Goligoski was this year to replace the injured and shake things up when necessary.

In goal John Curry is more than capable when it comes to backing up MAF. He will sign another deall and Caron will hit the road to go find some other team to back stop for a bit. While not quite as experienced, Curry has shown he is solid between the pipes the past two years in Wilkes-Barre Scranton and posted a 2.38 GAA with a .913 save percentage last season.

Now that our blue line back to goal is set...

As far as Fedotenko and Guerin are concerned I can see them both coming back to wear the black and gold. Tenk will most likely get a slight bump in his $2.25 million salary and sign for 2 years. Bad ass Billy G on the other hand is the tricky point. He is far from young, but seems to have picked up one hell of a step playing along side Sid this post season. Not to mention the fact that if you were at the parade or watched it on TV, both fans and Geno alike were cheering for "one more year". I could see Guerin taking a slightly smaller deal to play one more year on Sid's wing in hopes of back-to-back cup runs. Or maybe I'm just fucking nutty.

When it comes to replacing Sykora and Satan, this falls squarely on the shoulders of some AHL'ers first. Luca Caputi, a 2007 draft choice, will more likely than not make his way to the steel city in the fall. He is a power forward, and in his brief stint with the parent club this past season, he showed fans just what he is capable of doing when thrown on a line with Crosby. In our opinion he will see time on Geno's wing instead with Fedotenko on the other side. The question mark is Eric Tangradi. The 6'4" winger that came over as part of the Ryan Whitney deal and while he is still getting comfortable in his own skin he put up 88 points in 55 games this season playing for the Belleville Bulls of the OHL. He was injured in the playoffs this season when his hand was lascerated and required surgery. What happens next with him is up in the air until he is fully recovered. Satan's replacement will most likely come in the form of Ryan Stone, Tim Wallace, Conner James or Pittsburgh's own Bill Thomas. Time for these prospects who have been in the system for a few years to have a real shot and with Danny B. as coach, I'm sure he has one or two in mind.

To throw another wrench in the works, the NHL draft is another time of trades and deals that could change everything in a heartbeat. The latest news out of Ottawa is that Dany Heatley wants out... now. GM Bryan Murray is working the phones to try out this trade and see what can happen come draft time, which brings me to an interesting thought... Heatley in a Pens sweater.

Now before you start screaming at your computer just wait... I know we're right up against the cap... after crunching the numbers on the list of players I just gave you it'll be tough to bring everyone back let alone add someone, but let's look at this from a hypothetical view point. Besides we have Ray Shero on our sides and who knows what that man has in the works. Heatley has 4 years left on his six-year, $45 million contract which will hit at $7.5 million next year. Ouch. But this guy also had 39 goals and 72 points last year... nothing to just pass off. Here's the deal. Jordan Staal has a VERY nice $4 million a year cap hit... something this author has considered trade bait from the moment he was offered the contract. While he is a good forward with great potential, do we really need $22 million tied up down the middle? I think not. Jordan Staal and a conditional 2nd round pick in the 2010 draft for Dany Heatley. Not nearly as crazy as it sounds, and if this happens you can plug him in with Geno or Sid and not bring back Guerin or Tenk, and the best part is we'd have him for 4 years!

The downside to this idea? The cap. While it seems the NHL has weathered the storm for this year, that is because the economic downturn happened late enough in the season that sponsorships and company suites had already been purchased. That will not be the case for this coming season which could spell disaster for the 2010-2011 season. A drop in cap space would make this deal an utter disaster and would be troublesome for the Pens and a good majority of the teams in the league with little to no space (see also: Detroit Red Wings). This can possibly be avoided by re-opening the Collective Bargaining Agreement and fudging with some of the Player's Association rules, all of which can happen at any time, but we won't get into that long and complicated mess right now.

Also on draft weekend Penguins fans will get to see Shero make choices in each and every round... yes, that's right... we actually have picks this year! Seven of them to be exact. Hopefully we'll stockpile a few forwards (see also: WINGERS DAMMIT!) and anything else GM Ray Shero sees fit. It will be nice to see Shero use a full draft again and pick up some talent for the future. We have some great, young talent waiting in the wings (pun unintended) but we always need to keep the flow alive.

That's it for today... a look at the 2009-2010 Penguins... please note the author of this post, while a hockey fanatic, has no ties to the Pittsburgh Penguins and talks out of his ass more often than not. Stay tuned up to and including the draft and free agency for more looks inside the Penguins organization.

**EDIT** The Pittsburgh Penguins and Alex Goligoski have agreed on a three-year contract worth $5.5 million. Gogo's new cap number is $1,833,333. Jesus couldn't they have fucking rounded that?