Arron Asham re-signs with Pittsburgh Penguins to a one-year, $775,000 contract –NHL offseason Update
Pittsburgh Penguins continued its offseason business on Wednesday as it not only offered a deal to the legendary Jaromir Jagr, but also re-signed forward attacker, Arron Asham, to a one-year, $775,000 deal before he became an unrestricted free agent on Friday,
July 1.
71st overall pick of the 1996 National Hockey League (NHL) Entry Draft by Montreal Canadiens, Asham played his first year with Penguins last season.
He signed with the Pittsburgh team after he became an unrestricted free agent on August 20th, 2010, as Philadelphia Flyers refused to accept his demands after reaching the 2010 Stanley Cup Final.
Asham played 44 games with Pittsburgh last season in which he picked up 11 points, 5 goals and 6 assists, and surprisingly scored the most goals, 3 in 7 games, and an assist during Penguins’ seven-game series against Tampa Bay Lightning in round-one of the
2011 NHL Playoffs.
The Canadian native from Portage La Prairie, Manitoba, could not play the whole season due to various injuries, including upper-back and concussions, but returned in the playoffs to make a big impact.
Throughout his career, Asham has played 692 NHL games with teams like Montreal Canadiens, New York Islanders, New Jersey Devils, Philadelphia Flyers and now Pittsburgh Penguins.
Before the major league, he was a right winger for Red Deer Rebels of the Western Hockey League (WHL) and Fredricton Canadiens, an American Hockey League (AHL) franchise.
In between seasons, the 33-year-old continues to play for Quebec Citadelles, but has not since 2005.
Pittsburgh Penguins received a major boost with the expected comebacks of players like Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. Retaining players like Arron Asham will not only be beneficial immediately, but also in the long term for a Stanley Cup.
Penguins is also looking to negotiate with Jaromir Jagr, and adding him for a year will surely make it one of the higher expected teams to make a run at the championship with the firepower it will have.
Rankings do not matter to Pittsburgh, since it is all about the playoffs’ status in the end.
Penguins also re-signed goalie, Marc-Andre Fleury, in the prior days, which shows where it is headed.
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