More Pens free agent news

Michel Oullett won't be the only one we won't be seeing next season.

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...

Pens extend offers to free agents

The Pittsburgh Penguins have made offers to 6 free agents. They've announced Michel Oullett and Andrew Penner will not be getting offer sheets and will become UFAs on Sunday.

We're looking forward to not seeing Michel Oullett in black and gold come September.

Recchi and Roberts staying with the Pens, Toskala and Bell headed for TO

Gary Roberts and Mark Recchi have signed 1 year contract extensions with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The Leafs acquire Vesa Toskala and Mark Bell from the Sharks for some draft picks.

Great news for Pens fans.

Raycroft seemed to take a lot of heat from Leafs fans, despite matching Ed Belfour's franchise record for wins last season. Having Toskala there to challenge him should help the Leafs between the pipes.

Quick update

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports on some of the Pens' free agents. No contract for Petrovicky, but no word yet on if Joe Melichar will be back? Clearly, we're not NHL GM material, and Ray Shero hasn't led us astray so far, but if Joe Melichar is back on the Pens blueline next season and Petro is testing free agency, we see that as a problem. We're anxiously awaiting the outcome of the Roberts/Recchi talks as well.

Robert Lang won't be back in Hockeytown.

Why is the owner that has been ruining the Boston Bruins now the chairman of the NHL Board of Governors?

Speaking of the Bruins, after not talking for days after TSN reported Claude Julien will be behind their bench, they've made it official today.

The thought of players being awarded penalty shots for being hauled down in the neutral zone does not sit well with us.

Pavel Bure gets no respect.

Flyers sign Hartnell and Timonen

TSN has reported that the Philadelphia Flyers have dealt the first round pick they got for Peter Forseberg back to the Preds for the rights to work out a deal with UFAs Scott Hartnell and Kimmo Timonen.

It's an interesting deal. One I certainly didn't see coming. It worked out well for the Flyers, as the pick they used to make the deal belonged to the Preds initially anyway. And Nashville (Hamilton?) gets a first round pick for 2 free agents that otherwise would have walked anyway.

Hartnell was expected to attract a lot of attention come July 1st because of his age and potential in addition to his established skills. Bringing Timonen in was supposed to help, or replace Joni Pitkanin, depending on which rumor mill you believe.

Hartnell will be bringing in $25.2 million over 6 years, while Timonen will be making $37.8 million in that time frame.