The Penguins made yet another move to solidify their future on Thursday, as they signed centre
Jordan Staal to a new 4-year contract extension, reportedly worth $16 million over the duration of the deal. Staal, 20, is in the final year of his entry-level deal with the Penguins and was just able to negotiate a new deal when the calendar flipped over and the team wasted no time.
Staal, a Draft pick of Larry's this season, has bounced back well from his sophomore season, where he only managed 28 points in all 82 games, by already chalking up 21 points in 40 games. He has really proved himself as the second or third centre, depending where Evgeni Malkin is playing, and a great teammate in Pittsburgh. If Staal can rack up over 40 points this season, he should be firmly established as a mid-to-high level fantasy prospect, especially if your fantasy pool runs deep in stats. If it's just scoring, he's only a mid-level player for now.
In theory, the Penguins will be hard-pressed to keep so many players signed at such a high rate of pay. Staal's $4 million cap hit that he will earn in the next four years will play some interesting games among the books. With
Petr Sykora, Miroslav Satan, Ruslan Fedotenko, Hal Gill, Dany Sabourin, Phillipe Boucher and
Rob Scuderi all scheduled to be Unrestricted Free Agents next season, it will be interesting to see who the team keeps and who they let go. The team has benefitted, cap-wise, from injuries to
Sergei Gonchar and
Ryan Whitney this year, but what are the chances of that happening again? Have those injuries given the team enough breathing room to even make a move or two at the deadline as well? The team will want to win this year with all this talent stocked up, but how far will they go to ensure it?
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