Last Dance for the Mellon...Pens vs. Habs. Game 7

You just aren't going to win very many games spotting the other team four goals and only starting to play 28 minutes in.  Just a disaster of a game that you could sort of feel coming after Crosby took a real borderline boarding penalty 10 seconds in.

Kudos to Montreal for capitalizing on seemingly every single bounce/breakout they got all series. Thats what you need to do in the playoffs as an underdog and they did it to perfection. I would call them the favorites against either Philly or Boston.

I thought the Penguin defensemen could not play any worse than they did in game 6.  I was wrong.

Did the long seasons and short offseasons the last two years slowly catch up with the Pens as this year went on? Tough to say.

And that's enough of this painful game. Being a Pirate fan, its always fun to look to the future instead of the latest disappointment. So, let's take a knee-jerk look at who will stay and who will go....Remember the Pens are tight against the salary cap (and will be for years to come). They have to spend on free agents/role players very carefully:

Contract numbers/statuses courtesy of NHLnumbers.com


Goalies: No changes.

Defense: Thankfully there should be a good bit of turnover. Defensive Defensemen should be high on the shopping list.

-The only guys under contract are Orpik, Letang, and Goligoski.

-Gonchar would certainly have to take a paycut to stay. Not sure how much he has left at this point as he looked awfully slow most of the year while still being great on the powerplay. About 10% chance he stays.

-Mark Eaton/Jay McKee are 50/50 to come back. Mark Eaton is not worth 2 million a year in the Pen's cap situation. I think you could find similar players for closer to McKees salary.

-I think they try to keep Ben Lovejoy. He was very solid in limited chances this year.

-I keep Leopold if you can keep his salary in the same neighborhood. If not, he is gone.

Offense: Minimal but important changes. Basically, the revolving door of wingers continues. The faith (or lack of) in guys like Letestu, Tangradi, and Jeffrey will help dictate what route they go.

-I can't imagine the Pens have any interest in bringing Ponikarovsky or Fedotenko back.
-Guerin retires or comes back here. I lean toward retirement.
-Cooke is a guy that I would make a priority to resign, but I see some team making him "an offer he can't refuse" that the Pens can't match similar to what happened with Scuderi last year.

Will the Pens be back in the Stanley Cup hunt next year? With the right tweaking and a refreshed core, they absolutely should be......