Penguin Hits And Happenings

Since Pittsburgh Penguins' GM Ray Shero signed free-agent defensemen Paul Martin and Zbynek Michalek to long-term contracts, he's continued to kick around for a free agent forward or another depth defensemen with the approximate $2 million dollars in cap space he has left to play with.

Former New Jersey Devils' and Anaheim Duck Rob Niedermayer was someone the Pens were looking at up front, but he signed a one-year deal with the Buffalo Sabres yesterday for just over $1 million, so he's out of the picture. Personally, I'm not bothered. For as solid as he remains defensively, I'm not sure Nieds is a good fit for Pittsburgh's up-tempo, skating style of play.

Beyond that, Pittsburgh has kicked tires on former Dallas Star Mike Modano and former Atlanta Thrasher Maxim Afinogenov. They've also made a quick inquiry into the camp for winger Raffi Torres, and been on the receiving end of one from Mike Liut, the agent for Jeff Halpern.

Modano coming to the Penguins probably isn't very realistic. He's 40 years old and, while he produced 14 goals last season, multiple reports have him either playing for the Detroit Red Wings -- from whom he has received a contract offer -- for one final season, or just retiring.

Afinogenov is a curious inquiry. He produced over 60 points last year in Atlanta and had a strong season, but is a historical underachiever. He could succeed or fail just as easily, and that's what makes him a risk.

As far as Torres and Halpern are concerned -- the Penguins aren't meaningfully chasing Torres. They simply touched base with his agent once. Shero hasn't responded to Liut, which suggests they aren't overly interested in Halpern either.

Meanwhile, Shero still hasn't ruled out bringing RW Bill Guerin back, as I reported here a few days ago. Billy G may end up being Pittsburgh's best option, but as I said before last season, the wheels are going to fall off for him at some point -- you just don't know when. At that juncture, a team has to evaluate whether Guerin can be effective in a 3rd or 4th line role. With his diminshed speed, that's a questionable proposition, and that's probably what's holding the Penguins back on Guerin thusfar. We'll see where that goes.

If I were to put Guerin's chances of returning around 30%, I'd say they are about half that for LW Alexei Ponikarovsky, who remains a free-agent. The market hasn't given Poni the multi-year, decent dollar contract he was looking for, so his best approach might be to try a 1-year deal in the hope of parlaying a strong season into a more money and term. That could leave Pittsburgh an option for him, but to be honest, I don't think there's a ton of interest on the part of both sides in reuniting again. For the Penguins, he's likely to be a last option.

Beyond the NHL level, Shero has bolstered the team's organizational depth recently, with 3 signings of players who will likely play in Wilkes-Barre for the coming season.

Yesterday, defenseman Steve Hutchinson was brought into the fold. He played for the Dallas' Stars American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate in Texas last season. He's 6' 2" and has some offensive upside, but isn't as good in the defensive zone. In 135 career NHL games with Dallas, the Carolina Hurricanes, Tampa Bay Lightning and Nashville Predators -- where Shero got to know him -- he has 12 goals and 38 points.

Another player Shero recently signed was LW Brett Sterling. He's mostly played with the Chicago Wolves of the AHL, and was in Atlanta's organization last season. Sterling brings some skill to the table, but is undersized at 5' 7".

Finally, Shero signed free agent forward Ryan Craig, formerly of the Lightning. Craig is solid on his skates at 6' 2" and 22o pounds and plays a gritty 2-way game. He's been at the big-league level before, and has 31 goals and 63 points in 184 career NHL games in the last 5 seasons. He had 45 points in 73 AHL games for the Norfolk Admirals of the AHL last year.

All three of these players were signed to one-year, two-way contracts, and of the three, Craig probably has the most potential to be a call-up. With his Craig-Adams-like style of play, he has the potential to suit up in a checking line role for Pittsburgh. We'll see.

The Penguins made a few other off-ice moves yesterday, announcing that they have retained former assistant coach Andre Savard in a pro scouting role, and promoted Derek Clancy to Director of Professional Scouting. Those two -- along with Kevin Stevens -- will continue to handle the team's scouting of players at the professional level in and around the National Hockey League and Europe.

Finally, I read a report that the Penguins intend to interview former Pen and fairly highly regarded AHL coach Randy Cunneyworth for their open assistant position later this week. He'll join both Mike Ramsey and Barry Smith, who also were interviewed for the job.

As I think I've mentiond in this space, I expect the Penguins to made a decision on their assistant vacancy sometime within the next 1-2 weeks.

More soon.