Free Agency Day 1 Dinnertime Update

The Penguins have signed unrestricted free agent giant Mike Rupp, formerly of the New Jersey Devils, to a 2-year contract worth about 850K per season.

Rupp gives the Penguins another physical forward, although the talk is that Rupp's arrival may be just the precursor to a deal which would send RW Eric Godard, LW Pascal Dupuis and perhaps even defenseman Mark Eaton out of town in a move designed to try and save some salary cap space.

Meanwhile, Hal Gill signed with the Montreal Canadiens this afternoon for 2 years and 4.5 million.

I'm surprised Gill got an offer quite that high and it certainly wasn't one the Penguins could match. They were going to ask Gill to take a pay cut to stay.

At this point, I'd say it's at least an even money bet that Rob Scuderi will return. Word is that he has received offers from at least 3 teams, including the Minnesota Wild, Dallas Stars and Montreal Canadiens, but his agent said this afternoon that the Penguins were "definitely" still in the mix and that it was "very possible" that he might return. Of course, a lot of that may hinge on whether the Penguins are able to move the salary they seem to be trying to move (see above).

By the way, I'm told Scuderi rejected Montreal's overture, but that the Wild and Stars remain in play. They both supposedly offered deals in the 4 year range for a total of 13/14 million.

A decision might come from Scuderi's camp tonight, although it seems that former Canadiens defenseman Mike Komisarek may have just signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs and that could have a bearing on teams that make a pitch for Scuderi, since Komisarek was really the big chip on defense that so many teams may have been waiting to fall into place.

This could put the New York Rangers in the picture for Scuderi. They were known to be chasing Komisarek.

Meanwhile, what happens with Ruslan Fedotenko is anyone's guess.

Rusty is said to be in talks with several teams, and while the Penguins have apparently not fallen completely off his radar, I'm not getting a strong feel that the Penguins are actively chasing him. I think Pittsburgh is still in the mix to retain him, but only time will tell how that bears out.

Mobile updates tonight, if necessary.