Official 09-10 Penguins Thread

hells ya! lol.

J-Bo and Phaneuf would be an interesting D pairing

Gill to Montreal

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=283437

The Montreal Canadiens appear to be ready for life without Mike Komisarek, signing veteran blueliner Jaroslav Spacek to a three year, $11.5 million contract and defenceman Hal Gill to a two-year, $4.5 million contract.

Spacek, 35, is coming off a three-year, $10 million deal with the Buffalo Sabres and scored eight goals and 45 points in 80 games last season.

The Rokycany, Czech Republic native will be entering his 14th NHL season in 2009-10. He played in a total of 701 career regular season games in the NHL with Florida, Chicago, Edmonton, Columbus and Buffalo, tallying 303 points (73 goals, 230 assists).

The 5’11", 204-pound defenceman was a fifth round selection by the Panthers, 117th overall, in the 1998 NHL Entry Draft. He joined the Sabres as a free agent on July 5, 2006.

Gill, 34, helped lead the Pittsburgh Penguins to a Stanley Cup victory last month in an 11-year career that included stops in Boston and Toronto.

More to follow.

Pens add Mike Rupp

In a somewhat surprising depth signing, the Pittsburgh Penguins have added gritty winger Mike Rupp for two seasons at $800,000 according to many credible sources on Twitter. (UPDATE: It’s on TSN’s free agent tracker now)

The Penguins already have Matt Cooke, Jordan Staal, Tyler Kennedy, Pascal Dupuis, Craig Adams and Eric Godard as bottom line forwards, as well as many promising young players, so the addition of Rupp is a curious one.

But injuries happen and Rupp, a 29 year old veteran of 335 NHL games, ought to add a little depth. Rupp has just 27 career goals and 26 assists, so don’t expect him to add much more than that. Rupp has shifted into an enforcer role lately, getting into 16 fights this past season according to hockeyfights.com.