The Pittsburgh Penguins had a lot to do this off-season and they accomplished quite a bit. They re-signed a few key free agents and picked up a few more as well. Now that the team is hanging around in Pittsburgh, their old friend Stanley may come up for a visit as well.First on the list of things to do was getting defenseman Ryan Whitney locked up for the long-term. Six years at a price of $4 million per year is fairly long-term. He had himself a breakout season and should be a pillar of strength for the Penguins down the road.
Next, they found themselves signing a new back-up goalie in Dany Sabourin. Sabourin played a handful of games behind Roberto Luongo in Vancouver and played pretty well when his name was called. Sabourin's stock as a back-up goalie has just gone up a bit, as he'll see a few more games with the Pens.
As good as Ryan Whitney is now, he still has some room to grow and so the Penguins went out and signed up a mentor for the young buck. Darryl Sydor signed on with Pittsburgh and should provide some veteran leadership to the team. Sydor's stock should rise from his 21 points last season... I should imagine that anyone who plays on a team with Crosby and Malkin should have some points just handed to them.
Experience was also on the docket for the forwards as well... Petr Sykora signed with the Penguins on Monday to a 2-year deal. Sykora had a decent year in Edmonton last season and could provide Malkin or Staal a decent winger to play with. 20+ goals shouldn't be a hard target to reach for Sykora this season.
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