Pittsburgh Penguins GM Ray Shero targeting alternatives to Zach Parise, Ryan Suter -NHL Update
With Ryan Suter and Zach Parise out of the free agency market, Pittsburgh Penguins and general manager, Ray Shero, are looking to target their alternative players as the prospects list shrivels up.
Minnesota Wild certainly shocked the National Hockey League (NHL) after signing both top prospects to mammoth $98 million deals over the next 13 years, forcing Pittsburgh Penguins and many teams with similar aspirations to look elsewhere.
Pittsburgh Penguins lost a top-level forward, Jordan Staal, this offseason as the player refused to re-sign with them and joined brother, Eric Staal, in Carolina with Hurricanes by signing on to a 10-year deal.
"It took four days and we respect the process; they're both obviously really good players and they both ended up with the same team in Minnesota," Shero said during a conference call. "Zach is a really good two-way player, and we thought he'd be a really
good fit here in Pittsburgh, short- and long-term. Same thing with Ryan Suter, a top defenseman -- these guys are hard to find.”
Pittsburgh Penguins played their part and offered ‘very competitive offers’ to both Suter and Parise, but as the players were looking to become leaders on a struggling team, the Sidney Crosby-led club could not secure them.
"We never got close to anything like that, in terms of any kind of verbal agreement or any sort of negotiation," Shero added. "It became pretty apparent over the course of a couple of a few days that Ryan probably wasn't coming this way.”
With Evgeni Malkin playing the centre position, Pittsburgh Penguins were looking to use Zach Parise on the other side of Sidney Crosby, which definitely would have made them an unstoppable trio wrecking havoc on the ice.
But it was the hockey Gods that stopped this monopoly from happening and giving the players to the struggling, looking-for-a-turnaround, Minnesota Wild club.
Now, it is reported that GM Shero is looking towards Rick Nash, as he remains to be traded for but giving something valuable is not what he is planning on doing.
Pittsburgh Penguins are certainly a top-level team and with a few more quality additions, the postseason just might get as easy as the regular season is for them.
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