Today is a sad day. I never really enjoy Free Agency because you know that the team is never going to be the same again. When you have a winning team like Pittsburgh did this year with both the Steelers and the Penguins, you realize that next year may be harder without core players who left for more money. *cough* Nate Washington, you bastard *cough* Scuds, what were you thinking?! I don't want to see the Pens struggling on defense next season because they lost Rob Scuderi to the LA Kings. He got a nice 4-year contract for about $3.5 mill each season. Most of our salary cap for the 2009-2010 season was already promised to the likes of Crosby and Malkin then used up by offering contracts to John Curry, Ben Lovejoy, Tim Wallace, Alex Goligoski (why?), Bill Guerin, and Craig Adams. Now, don't get me wrong, I love Billy G and think he deserved more than just a 1-year contract extension. As Geno said at the victory parade, "2 more years!" At least. The problem I have with Goligoski is that he's similar to other defensemen that we already have, ie. Kris Letang and Gonch. These guys are more like 2-way players in that they can carry the puck. While it's always nice to see a defenseman score a goal from the blue line, I care more about protecting our end of the ice. I don't know how affective Goligoski is on the Penalty Kill, but I'm sure he isn't anywhere near as awesome as Scuds. Do I really have to remind you of the amazingness that happened in Game 6 of the SCF this year? End of the game, literally seconds remaining, Franzen would have for-sure scored except Rob made a huge play to stop the puck from getting to the back of the net. He stopped the puck once with his stick and then again with his skate as Franzen tried to get it past Scuderi at least 3 times as Fleury was not directly in front of the net.
It was amazing. I am in awe of him every time I watch it because it never gets old. It will probably go down in history as one of the biggest plays ever. Rob Scuderi is... "The Piece".
Scuderi was part of the core of the Pens and I hate to see him go,
even if he will be closer to me in that he's moving to LA. What
gets me is that Rob said he had wanted to stay in Pittsburgh and
that he has never been one to run off to big money contracts. He
knows that some guys leave for more money and are stuck with a
losing team which is not worth it. Billy G and Craig Adams just
took paycuts because they're smart and they know that they'll be
sticking with a winning team who's got an amazingly talented core
that will be strong for years to come and who can win more Stanley
Cups. Yet Scuds went to Shero with his offer from LA and Shero
decided they couldn't match it so Scuderi is no longer a Penguin.
(It breaks my heart to type that out. I am devastated about
this.) To top it off we lost Hal Gill to Montreal. No more talk
of Hal Gill's pool skimmer. Sadness.
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