Comrie Lands in Pittsburgh

With the potential of not having Jordan Staal ready to go for the start the season looming, the Penguins added a little more depth down the middle by signing unrestricted free agent forward Mike Comrie to a new 1-year deal, worth the league minimum of $500,000.  With this signing, the Penguins can have Comrie in the middle on the 3rd or 4th line and can also give them some flexibility as a winger, where he could also jump up on the top two lines, if asked.

2010 was not a great year for Comrie, who lost 30 games to a bout of mono between November and January and was limited to a total of 43 games with the Edmonton Oilers. In those 43 games, Comrie did score 13 goals and 8 assists for 21 points, almost giving him a 0.5 points per game scoring ratio, which isn't too bad.

With the Penguins, Comrie has an abundance of uses that is at coach Bylsma's disposal, so Comrie could be anywhere from top line winger down to 4th line centre and knowing Comrie's consistency record, he'll likely be jumping all over the place in the line-up.  I would hesitate to give him a ton of points, because he is so flexible in where he can play, I would rather assume that Staal would have first shot at being a top line winger than Comrie, just for more potential of points and chemistry.