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Who You Callin’ an Old Man?

 

Conversation has perennially buzzed around the topic of who Ray Shero can get to play with Sidney Crosby, over and over, ad nauseum. Hockey talking heads felt semi-optimistic about the acquisitions of Chris Kunitz and Bill Guerin, but it always seemed that these guys were what could be obtained for now; after all, Guerin was in his waning years, 38 at the time he picked up and moved off the Island to the southwest corner of the Keystone State.

Even at the end of a fairy tale Stanley Cup-winning season, speculation was whimsical regarding Guerin, given his age. He played his 1,200th NHL game against the Anaheim Ducks a little over a month ago, just 6 days shy of his 39th birthday.

Well, “The Old Man” has proven to this point that he can not only “hang” with the young guns, but do it with relish night in and night out. In the last handful of games, he has begun to develop a nifty passing style that has helped Sir Sid net a few pretty goals. He breaks the plane of the offensive blue line and quite beautifully slides a pass with not too much speed but just enough on the tape of Sid’s blade. It’s a subtle move, almost mesmerizing to watch as it happens. Keep an eye out for it.

Does he have the legs? You betcha. He’ll tear off up ice in a foot race to try to negate an icing against his team. He’ll haul “ice” to jump in an odd-man break like he’s Tyler Kennedy.

What about his eyesight and his reflexes? Sharp as a tack and spry as a spring. Case in point: the game-winning goal against the Philadelphia Flyers where Sergei Gonchar broke out of the Pens’ end with a blistering tape-to-tape stretch pass to an already flying Sidney Crosby, and who should be coming on strong along with the Pens’ captain, doing his version of the Center Drive? Big Billy Guerin. Sid’s slapper disappeared under netminder Brian Boucher’s pads, but as Guerin’s momentum carried him across the front of Boucher to the left post, he caught sight of the puck and with lightning reflexes, beat Boucher to scoop the puck into the net.

OK, so exciting prose is fine, but what about the stats to appease the skeptics? Hold on to your hat:

• Tallied 6 points in a recent 8-game-stretch (2G-4A), posting his 8th goal of the season against the home game against the Flyers.
• In 51 regular season games with the Penguins, he’s accumulated 33 points (13G-20A).
• Currently ranks among the top 15 in the league with game-winning goals, his latest against the home Flyers game.
• As of the New Jersey game, he is 3rd in scoring on the team (9G-13A for a +7) behind two of the Four Horseman: Crosby and Malkin, and in a footrace with the third, Jordan Staal.
• His (22 points, 9G-13A) just nudged him ahead of Staal (21 points, 10G-11A for a +6) in what seems to be a friendly, healthy, informal competition between these two. Who better to help a young center along in his development?
• He’s posted 5/11 goals-attempts in games that went to a shoot-out with one of those goals deciding the game in the Pens’ favor.

And then there are the intangibles. Pittsburgh fell in love with the eccentric, crocodile-eyed, health nut Gary Roberts not so long ago. Talk was that Roberts was the grizzled veteran needed in a locker room of youthful, inexperienced guys, but Roberts’ disposition could only go so far. Roberts’ exuded the presence of a tightly-strung guy. Guerin brings a nice balance of experience and even-keeled temperament that perfectly nurtures a young captain without smothering him. Guerin simply looks comfortable in his own skin and content with his role on this team. It’s not what he says so much as it is how he carries himself.

Evidence of this is his steady pace of point production and the more obvious feel that he’s at a point in his playing relationship with Sid that they are now reading each other much like Jordan Staal and Tyler Kennedy. Guerin and Crosby are now in concert with each other where it is natural and no longer academic. Guerin is also doing more in front of the net in both even-strengthed and man-advantage situations. Guerin keeps Sid loose and the rest of the team follows. Cementing that bond is the fact that “The Old Man” thinks nothing of dropping the gloves and making an impressive showing to the defense of his team mate, whoever he is.

The prediction here is that Bill Guerin has found a home where he can see himself finishing his career with his head held high. Anyone who was either at the Stanley Cup parade on that sunny June day or was watching it on a TV, could hear the chants of the crowd at the end of the line when Guerin took his turn at the podium. It was a very clear, resounding, emphatic repetitive chant of  “One more year!!” It will be a year-to-year, season-to-season evaluation, but as much as Pittsburgh fell in love with #13, he too seems to have fallen in love with the ‘burgh, gaining a new lease on hockey life as he told WTAE’s Sally Wiggin on parade day, “My heart said I want to come back here.”

Penguins’ Mid-Summer Update

It is another short off-season for the Pittsburgh Penguins, although this summer is much better than last for the players and their fans.  A year ago, the team was licking the wounds of a Stanley Cup championship lost and the loss of a not so insignificant portion of their roster to other teams at season’s end.  This summer, the players are enjoying the fruits of their labor as the Stanley Cup Champions and celebrating their day with Lord Stanley’s Cup, reflecting upon their accomplishments with their families, friends and home town fans.  What a difference a year makes!  It will only be a brief pause for celebration, however, as the next season will soon be upon us and the Penguins will have to return to the business of competing for the prize once again.

It has been an eventful summer so far, as Ray Shero has masterfully navigated the challenges of the NHL salary cap with a handful of players who have sacrified pay for the chance to stay with a championship team.  First, Shero retained the services of veteran stalwart Bill Guerin for another year at less than half of his 2008/09 $4.5M  salary.   Guerin agreed to a $2M contract in lieu of testing the free agency market or considering retirement.  It turns out that playing on a line with Sidney Crosby, voted the NHL’s best player for the 3rd year in a row by ESPN fans, is worth the cut in pay.  “I’d be lying if I didn’t say that was one of the big reasons I wanted to stay,” Guerin said of No. 87.  “It’s so much fun to play with him.”  At the same time, Shero pulled the trigger on a 2-year deal with Craig Adams, signing him at $550K per year (slightly below his $600K salary last season).  Shortly after signing Guerin and Adams, Shero again pulled off the seemingly improbable by signing Ruslan Fedotenko to a 1-year contract worth $1.8M, a $400K pay cut over last season.  “I think it says a lot about Bill Guerin, Craig Adams, and Ruslan Fedotenko to want to come back here and be part of this group,” general manager Ray Shero said.  And as a fan of the game, I have to agree.  It says something very special about this team, and even more so about the championship spirit of these players.  These are the kinds of players you want on your team. 

In the loss column, the Penguins will play next season without the services of Rob Scuderi, Hal Gill and Mathieu Garon.  Scuderi signed a three-year deal worth $13.6 million with the Los Angeles Kings, a price tag that the Penguins couldn’t match under the realities of the current salary cap.  Hal Gill signed a 2-year contract worth $4.5M with the Montreal Canadiens.  Finally, Mathieu Garon signed a two-year contract to back up Columbus goalie Steve Mason for more money.  The Penguins responded to the losses on the blueline by signing free agent Jay McKee to a 1-year, $800K contract.  The Penguins snatched McKee up at a significant bargain after he was bought out of the final year of his $4.5M annual contract with the St Louis Blues.  Earning $2.67M next season from his buyout, McKee could justify the modest salary from the Penguins for a chance to regain his prestige and worth on a championship team.  It was a win-win signing for the Penguins, who see a lot of upside potential in McKee, especially at such a bargain price.  Known for his shot-blocking ability, McKee fell out of favor with the Blues who were in need of a quicker puck-moving defensemen.  A first round pick by the Buffalo Sabres in 1995, McKee anchored the team’s defense in their 1999 run to the Stanley Cup finals.  The Penguins will likely rely on the services of Alex Goligoski and John Curry to pick up the slack left by the Gill and Garon deprtures. 

The Penguins have also picked up rugged forward Mike Rupp from the New Jersey Devils for a 2-year stint.  At 6′ 5″ and 230 pounds, Rupp adds some more grit to a team that already included the services of Eric Godard.  While we don’t expect Godard to be moved, Rupp could unseat him as the team’s most feared enforcer.  Rupp will earn $800K this coming season and $850K in the following year.  The Penguins also signed Dallas Stars right winger Chris Connor to a 1-year deal to add depth to the organization.

The Penguins will open the 2009/10 season on Friday, October 2, against the New York Rangers.  It will be the final NHL season opener for the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Mellon Arena’s 48-year history as they will play the following season in their new arena.  The third Stanley Cup champions banner will be raised to ceiling of the Mellon Arena rafters during the season opener, in what is likely to be a night of mixed emotions in the old igloo. 

 

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