After working out deals to re-sign veteran wingers Mark Recchi and Gary Roberts over the weekend, the Penguins have 16 NHL and minor-league players besides Ouellet and Penner set to become unrestricted free agents Sunday.
Of those, Shero said defenseman Rob Scuderi is the only one the team is trying to re-sign before Sunday.
Others, including defensemen Josef Melichar and Alain Nasreddine and backup goaltender Jocelyn Thibault, could re-sign with the Penguins during the free-agency period.
Many of the rest -- defensemen Eric Cairns, Wade Brookbank, Matt Carkner, Micki Dupont, Joel Kwiatkowski, Richard Litner and Wade Skolney; forwards Nils Ekman, Niklas Nordgren, Ronald Petrovicky and Libor Pivko; and goaltender Nolan Schaefer -- won't be back.
We have to admit, we're a little surprised by some of the names on the list. Sure, guys like Joel Kwiatkowski, Eric Cairns and Niklas Nordgren were total wastes of roster spots. Nils Ekman never got the job done.
Micki Dupont may not have turned many heads last year when he got the call, but he had a solid season in the AHL last year, and we thought he could possibly push for a spot on the Pens roster in the coming season. Thibault hitting the market probably won't be a bad thing for him, but we think it will hurt the Pens. He played very well last season and may be looking for the #1 job elsewhere, but the Pens still need someone who can play as well as Thibault did to cover any lapses in Fleury's game.
It could be an interesting summer...
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