It's Official: Penguins Sign Pesonen

Finnish LW Janne Pesonen formally signed his one-year deal with the Penguins yesterday, further bolstering Pittsburgh's scoring punch on the wing following Marion Hossa's departure.

As I believe I have said before, I really like this signing by Ray Shero. Only time will tell what type of impact Pesonen will have -- and whether it's in Pittsburgh or Wilkes-Barre -- but it's a low-risk, high-reward signing because it's a two-way deal.

Pesonen has the skills to play on the top line if he is willing to get his nose dirty. Last time I checked, the Penguins could use a LW there. I don't doubt that, in a best case scenario, Pittsburgh would love to see him play there. If he doesn't stick in that spot, he could see 3rd line duty, either next to Jordan Staal if they keep him at center, or perhaps even Mad Max Talbot. Either way, I'm definitely anxious to see him in camp, which is only about 2 months away.

At this point, I don't expect the Penguins to make any additional moves of note in free agency. They continue to sign players to add depth to their minor league system -- as they did yesterday when inking defenseman T.J. Kemp and forward Adam Henrick -- but that's been a staple of Shero's MO since arriving.

Even though hockey fans are getting into the dog days of summer, there's still plenty to talk about, so over the next month or so, I hope to periodically hit on a handful of subjects here, including burning questions for the team going into next season, how the rest of the Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference positioned themselves -- for better or worse -- to compete with the Penguins, and a lot more.