Big Day in Pittsburgh

A big signing day in Pittsburgh as they lock up their number one goalie and sign on two European forwards to fill the gap left behind by Marian Hossa. The summer, thus far, hasn't been too bad to the flightless birds.

The Penguins signed Marc-Andre Fleury to a long-term deal, paying him $35 million over the next seven years. Fleury backstopped the Penguins all the way to the Cup Finals and had himself a bit of a coming-of-age party in the playoffs. His numbers were very good in the playoffs and they weren't bad in the regular season after he came back from his high ankle sprain. Fleury could be a good bet to be a first round pick in quite a few hockey pool drafts. With his injury last season, he still managed to register 47 pool points, which could very well double if the Penguins play the way they did in the playoffs.

Up front, the team added both Miroslav Satan and Ruslan Fedotenko to 1-year deals on Thursday. Satan, 33, will earn $3.5 million next season, while Fedotenko, 29, will earn $2.5 million. Both players scored 16 goals for their previous teams last season, but will likely feature on the top two lines this season with Crosby and/or Malkin, which could very well up their production significantly.

Forwards	Defense	Goaltenders
Evgeni Malkin	Sergei Gonchar	Marc-Andre Fleury
Sidney Crosby	Ryan Whitney	Dany Sabourin
Petr Sykora	Hal Gill
Miroslav Satan	Kristopher Letang
Ruslan Fedotenko	Brooks Orpik
Jordan Staal	Darryl Sydor
Pascal Dupuis	Rob Scuderi
Maxime Talbot
Tyler Kennedy
Eric Godard

The Penguins are still in awesome shape for the rest of the season. They have joined the $50+ million club, but they have signed 19 players. Their current total sits at $51 million, which leaves them $5.7 million for four more players.

Marian Hossa will be a tough act to follow for both Satan and Fedotenko, but their teammates will be a huge help in accomodating them. Their signings might even be able to spread out the offense over two lines, instead of just having one superstar paired up with a centre. Of course, the team is taking into account the loss of Ryan Malone as well. Both Satan and Fedotenko could be considered a more pure breed of sniper, compared to Malone, so theoretically, the offense should be improved. Maybe just not 40-goal improved.