With the draft done the Penguins now have to concentrate on two days of intense negotiations with three free agents they would love to resign. Now, as much as I like each of these players and the roles they filled this year, none of them are that important that the Penguins should give up the sod farm to sign them. However there is no disputing that each of them fits well into the Penguins system and have played well with the team Chemistry.

First up is Rob Scuderi. It appears that Scuderi will not be signed to a contract by the July 1st deadline and will test free agency to see what teams will offer him. A deal with the Penguins would probably be $2 million a year (at most $2.5) for two or three years. Someone will probably offer him $4 million because that is what happens to free agents who are coming off a Stanley Cup victory especially ones that played the way Scuderi did. The problem is that teams have to consider that the salary cap only went up $100,000 next year and believe it or not will probably not increase much the next year after that and may even go down depending on the economy. These realizations may keeps teams at bay from offering such huge contracts to a defenseman that while he is a good shut down guy is not irreplaceable.

Scud will likely see who offers him the big money. If it is a perennial looser he may forgo it to come back. He may also decide to come back if the offers from other teams are not much more than $2.5 million or even $3.

Well, what about Ruslan Fedotenko? It is amazing how playing along side of someone like Evgeni Malkin can make teams that last year wouldn’t touch Fedotenko with a 50 foot pole all of a sudden have an interest in him. Ruslan was a good forward playing for a bad Islanders team however and people got to see what he was really capable of this year. Rumors are that the Penguins offer to Feds was not where either he or his agent wanted it to be and it is doubtful that the Penguins will budge much on their offer. Fedotenko will also likely test the free agent market to see what he is offered.

Then there is Billy Guerin. Guerin’s hefty salary this year means that in all likelihood to return he would have to take a million dollar pay cut to stay with the team and would probably only be offered a one year deal on top of that. Guerin’s gritty but old. He has another year or two left on his aging frame and someone is bound to offer him comparable money to what he was making this past season. The question is does Billy want the money or does he want to win?

Well, we will have to see.

Now here is the real problem for each of these players. If they decide to play the game of testing the free agent market they could loose out. The Penguins are not going to sit around and wait. They will be tendering offers to other free agents when the market opens up and there are players out there to be had in the Penguins price range. The question is whether or not the Penguins see them as a better fit for less money than any of these three.

The double edged sword can cut either way so be careful guys.

Blue liners were on the Penguins menu in this year’s NHL entry draft taking four defensemen with their seven picks.

30th overall the Penguins nabbed Saint John’s defenseman Simon Despres who was fairly highly ranked as a skater coming in (8th among North Americans) and is a big presence on the blue line.

Then in the second round and with the 61st pick the Penguins tapped the son of former Penguins defenseman Ulf Samuelson in a move that probably stunned a lot of people. Samuelson according to what I have been told and even read in comments from the Ulfster himself did not think his son would go so high. Most people seemed to have Philip slated as a late third or fourth rounder. Philip will be attending Boston College next year so he is some time away from ever seeing NHL ice.

In the third round the Penguins nabbed Ben Hanowski, a Right Winger out of Little Falls Minnesota.

In the fourth it was a another Right Winger named Nick Petersen who plays for Shawinigan. But then it was back to defense taking Alex Velischek in the fifth. If that last name sounds familiar, it should. He is the son of Randy Velischek who played ten years in the NHL for teams including New Jersey. Randy was never known for his offense, putting up Hal Gill like numbers but his son is definitely more offensive minded.

With their second pick in the fifth round the Penguins selected center Andy Bathgate out of the OHL who is the grandson of Andy Bathgate who played for the Penguins in 1967.

To round out the picks the Penguins took Viktor Ekbom, a defenseman from Sweeden.

Almost all of these guys have some rounding out to do before the Penguins will even think about tapping them for NHL experience.