Legitimate Penguin Fans what is your assessment of how well Ray Shero has done?

Question

Are the free agents to your liking? If so anf if not please explain. Are there any players excluding Hossa you think the Penguins should have acquired or reacquired?

Answer 1

LITY!..  nice one.

Shero has done what he feels is best. Remember he was limited to what VETS and players he could take in Free Agency (Satan, Fedotenko one year deals) due to his needing to have some Cap Space available to extend Malkin, Staal, Kennedy and Talbot next summer. I think he has done better than most GMs would have done if they were in his situation.

Answer 2

Well my father and mother were not married when I was conceived, so I guess that makes me an illegitimate Penguin fan.

My opinion on Shero frequently shifts back and forth, but right now I am moderately pleased with him, since the only bad thing to happen so far in free agency was not his fault.

Answer 3

It's too early to tell.  He seems to be doing a very good job at talent evaluation and cap management so far though.  I would have liked to have kept Malone, but not for the price he commanded.  Rutuu would have been nice to keep, but oh well.  Who is the new instigator gonna be though, Rutuu was one of the best at it.

I really questioned the Hossa for Espisito, Christiansen and Armstrong deal last year, but it was worth it since it got us to the cup finals, still it would have been nice to keep him.  I'm not sure what the rub was with Hossa that he went to Detroit for less money though.  

Conklin is not a big loss.  He was huge last year, but I doubt he could repeat his success.

Still, signing Malkin to a reasonable long term deal while he had that ridiculous offer from Omsk ($35mil tax free) on the table.  Signing Fleury to a good long term deal, getting Orpik after the c**p that Therrian has put him through, and getting Crosby to sign for significantly less money than Ovechkin.  The cap is looking to be in good shape and the team looks to be relatively intact.  We have a good crop of kids brewing in the minors.  I really can't complain too much about Shero at this point.

Answer 4

Oh, I love copy and pasting. Here's an answer I wrote a few days ago. Sorry if it's long.......I sometimes don't know when to shut up.

Right now we're looking at a line up of this sort of.....

(?????) - Crosby - Satan

Fedotenko - Malkin - Sykora

Dupuis - Staal - Kennedy

Godard - Talbot - Cooke

Gonchar - Eaton

Whitney - Orpik

Letang - Gill

(Scuderi, and Sydor)

Fleury

Sabourin

....Ok, so there's one hole. But I hear we signed some Finnish boy. I'm still waiting for an actual announcement of this. His name is Janne Pesonen.....player over in Finland for a while, and was drafted by the Ducks a few years ago.

I really think the Pens should possibly try and sign Brendan Shanahan if he's not asking too much. But I don't see that happening......

I've also heard rumors that they're trying to get rid of Sydor to free some cap space, but that's nothing but a rumor right now.

Now I don't want to be a homer or anything, but the Penguins will be GOOD next year. Everyone needs to relax. They still have the core together signed long term (Crosby, Malkin, Fleury, Whitney, Orpik and they're working on a long term extension for Staal)

Now Hossa was like dessert. It's great to have, but you don't need it. The Penguins are still a highly talented team whether the haters see it or not. Do I think they can seriously compete this year? Yes I do. Now do I want to jinx them by saying that? No I not....lol.

Well, at first I was pissed. We lost Malone, Roberts, Hossa, Conklin, Hall, Laraque, Ruutu.....anyone else? Phew.

But does no one realize what Shero has done here? He kept the "core" together when everyone said it was impossible.

Impossible you say? Well........Fleury is locked down for 7 years now, Malkin for 5, and Orpik for 6.

So now that is Crosby, Fleury, Whitney, Malkin, and Orpik who are all locked down. Not to mention Shero is currently working on locking Staal down.

When Shero resigned Mark Eaton, I'll admit I was breathing fire, cursing like I know many people were, but Eaton is a good defensman (if he can stay healthy) and defense wins the cup....I'm not going to lie.

Resigning Dupuis was a very smart move. Yeah Dupuis may not be a big name guy, but he's great to have on the PK and he'll be a helluva 3rd liner next year.

Now Satan and Fedotenko.........Now Satan I've been joking around about since early Feb. when I realized Satan would be a UFA this summer. I've always liked him as a player and kept jokingly saying "Oh Shero needs to sign him!" Not really meaning anything.......well he signed him, and unlike a lot of people....I LIKE IT. Satan didn't do so hot last year, but did anyone else see his team? He was on the Islanders for Christ sake. Of course he wasn't outstanding. I can't wait to see him on the wing beside Sidney!

And Fedotenko I'm happy with.

Now yes it does hurt losing Hossa and what not, but what I've been saying since it happened "s***w them". Hossa didn't want to be here? Fine let him leave. I'd much rather have Miroslav who wants to be here than Marian who would rather jump off the wagon. Good ridance Hossa, and I hope you had the time of your life.

ADD: Shero has actually handled everything very well. A lot better than most people would have.

ADD: Nips is right....look for Shero to remove Sydor. I was going to say that, but he beat me to it. I've been hearing for a few days now that Shero is going to try.....nevermind....I already said this in the answer.

Answer 5

I'm going to take a couple quotes from my favorite blog.

The goal of a GM DURING the offseason is to make his team better than it was heading INTO the offseason.

The addition of Hossa last season was an unplanned risk that you take in the salary-cap era.

We knew it was a long shot to sign him. Let's forget that it even happened.

Isn't it fair to say that the Penguins' starting lineup this year will possibly be a step or two ahead of the starting lineup that took the ice on October 5, 2007?

Over the course of the past year, Shero has replaced players that were painstakingly trying to match their potential (Christensen, Armstrong) with proven scorers (Satan, Fedotenko).

The Pens' blue line has not looked this good in a long time.

Shero has replaced Laraque with a younger, more agile suitor. (Godard)

We all loved Ruutu, but Cooke can do the job.

A Fathead sticker of Dave Tippett can score 15 goals on a line with Malkin and Sykora.

But again, any team without Marian Hossa has no chance of being good.(sarcasm)

Sure, there are question marks. Every team has them going into a season.

And if Janne Pesonen can replace the energy left from Hall's departure, that would be beautiful.

But the Pens have bigger plans for Pesonen, most likely.

All-in-all, I am frankly quite satisfied.

P.S. I am an illegitimate Penguin fan, hope my opinion still counts! =)

Answer 6

I feel that Ray Shero has done well. To be honest, I was happy when I heard that Ryan Malone left. I never liked him. I wish that Roberts and Hossa would have stayed, but oh well. What's done is done. The Pens will always be great, with or without these players.

Answer 7

http://www.timesonline.com/articles/2008...

He's right, Shero let 12 players get to free agency this year.  Way too many.  I suppose he's doing the best he can.

Answer 8

I'm digging Satan a lot. & Cooke just because he has a mouth that he's not afraid to use.

I think Ray Shero should regret letting Ryan Malone and Jarkko Ruutu leave. & If Fleury starts slacking, he's going to regret not resigning Conklin and having to put Sabu in..... I hate Sabu.....

I'm actually glad we didn't sign Hossa. We didn't NEED him, although it would have been NICE to have him. That left us with a lot of money in the end, that we needed to sign the other important players.

Answer 9

Are there illegitimate Penguin fans?

Answer 10

Not a Penguins fan, but  I dont think the players they brought in, are good enough to fill the skates of the players they lost. PLus there is chemistry, and bringing in a bunch of nice names, doesnt always get the job done. I think some Penguin fans want to win so bad, they cant see the truth. Alot of guys left, for a reason. Is it coaching, is it egos, or something in the locker room that caused these guys to go???

Answer 11

All in all, I am moderately pleased with Shero.  Basically we lost Hossa to lock down Malkin and Orpik for the foreseeable future, while I dont like losing his 2 way abilities, I think it was for the greater good.  With the exception of still having to fill Adam Hall or Gary Roberts role, I think we have done a decent job.  I liked Ruutu but think we replaced him with a guy that has the same attitude and more scoring ability. Laraque for Goddard is a wash.  Losing Conklin may hurt a little more than expected if MAF gets another injury...but Sabu did hold the fort down in his absence.  I hope we trade Sydor or Whitney and grab another winger or stay at home D.

As for why everyone left, I feel it was for bigger paychecks.  Laraque isnt worth over a million a year, neither is Ruutu.  It seems that the players that left were bought at their peak price since they were just on a SC team.  If Detroit had more marginal FA's available this year, I'm sure you would have seen the same thing with those players.

At the end, I expect us to be fighting for another division title and top 3 playoff seed by the end of next year.

Answer 12

I think Ray Shero made a huge mistake by not re-signing Ruutu & Conklin.

I do like the fact he signed Satan & Cooke..

I think it should be interesting to see how they perform next season.