YinzPitt

Well, we lost a valuable part of our blue line yesterday.  Sergei Gonchar took 16 minutes to decide that the extra year was worth it and he took off for the Ottawa Senators.  With that, Sergei accepted a 3 year $16.6 million dollar contract.  Good for him personally, and it’s a shame with his leaving, a select few yinzer fans have gone on to bash Gonchar.

Gonchar had one slow year, his first.  The last 4 have been nothing short of prolific in terms of defensive scoring as well as responsibility.  Sure, he had a bad play-off series against the Montreal Canadians, but so did Evgeni Malkin, as well as Sidney Crosby.  There’s no need to solely lay blame on him for his appearance of quitting in game 7.  Everyone did.  That being said, good luck Sergei, here’s to seeing you in the play-offs, and beating your team mercilessly.

Sergei Gonchar and his epic slapshot.

Moving on, once Shero had found out that Gonchar signed with Ottawa, he went out and made it his priority to sign two of the top defense men in the 2010 NHL Free Agent market.  Shero signed Zbynek Michalek from the Pheonix Coyotes for 5 years worth $20 million.  Michalek is a steady defender, he’s basically Rob Scuderi but better.

Secondly, he signed a suitable Gonchar replacement in Paul Martin.  Martin who had spent his years prior with the New Jersey Devils, wanted to come to Pittsburgh.  Shero made it evident that Paul Martin wanted to be a Penguin for the long haul.  Which is great news, because there’s nothing better than having a guy dead set on being a Penguin even before he’s a Penguin.    Yes, he was hurt last year, broken forearm that our own Billy Guerin had provided.

Paul Martin, recent Penguins signing

Martin is a capable leader for the top powerplay unit until GoGo or Letang can get their heads wrapped around the situation.  Which is perfect because Martin immediately fills that giant hole left by Gonchar.  Martin is quick, a great puck mover, and has the ability to score goals from the point.  Absolutely perfect.

Let’s see what Shero had to say about the signings of both Michalek and Martin:

“This thing with Michalek came down right away. That was a guy we wanted to target,” general manager Ray Shero said. “It says a lot about Paul Martin – who had a lot of suitors out there – that he wanted to come to Pittsburgh, which made us feel good. It worked out quite well for us. With these two signing with our team, defense is an area of strength. Last year I don’t think it was.”

“I think we did really well. Since the end of the season I’ve met with the coaching staff and our pro scouts, the area we addressed, and I was pretty clear over the last couple of weeks about addressing our defense,” Shero said. “By getting Paul Martin and Zbynek Michalek, I think we’ve done that. We’ve got a great corps of defensemen right now that are signed for a number of years. They’re at the right age I think. That’s the area we targeted to improve our team the most. Today, from our staff and coaches standpoint we’re pretty thrilled.”

“(Martin and Michalek) should be real solid additions to what we already have in Brooks Orpik and Kris Letang and Alex Goligoski,” Shero said. “That is a real solid defensive corps. We’re looking forward to having them play the blue line for a number of years for us.”

Zbynek Michalek, now a Pittsburgh Penguin

Good news all around.  It’s great that he’s confident, and really with the way we have out corps signed.  It really is looking to be one one of the better defenses in the NHL in terms of puck movement and balance.  3 right handed shots, and 3 left handed shots.  Perfect.  Stability all around.

Here’s what Shero had to say about Paul Martin specifically:

“Paul is a really smooth skating defenseman, great stick, good defensively,” Shero said. “Offensive production might be a little bit better than what he’s had in the past. He’s a real solid all-around player. He can play lots of minutes, an effortless skater.”

Here’s what Shero said about Michalek specifically:

“Michalek is a right-handed defenseman that we really liked,” Shero said. “He’s 27 years old, a big body, 6-foot-2. He was really under the radar in Phoenix. He’s had a great career there. He was an under the radar swap with Minnesota a few years back, and he really blossomed in Phoenix under Dave Tippett. We’ve really liked him for a long time. Phoenix tried really hard to re-sign him. Unfortunately for them he became free. He was our first phone call today. We took care of that pretty quickly.”

Just wonderful, it’s awesome to see Ray Shero and the rest of the staff happy about the huge upgrades.  However, we’re left with $2 million in cap space and still need a winger for the forwards unit.  What is Shero going to do?  Oh yea, he explained that as well:

“We’re going to sit back over the next day or so and see what’s still out there from a forward standpoint,” Shero said. “This is something we’ve talked about for a month internally. We need to address our defense. I made it clear that we’d like to sign Dan Hamhuis and Sergei Gonchar. That didn’t happen. We’re really, really ecstatic to have Paul Martin and Zbynek Michalek. They’re at the right age and are under a long-term contract. I like the look of our defense today and moving forward.”

I’m incredibly happy that Shero pulled the trigger on day 1.  He made the team instantly better and more well rounded.  I really can’t wait for this Penguins season to start.  It really can’t get here soon enough.  Shero’s quotes taken from the Penguins.com site from his press release yesterday.

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