Penguins

With Salary Cap, Pens Have Tough Decisions Ahead

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ― With a core of young talent, the future is bright for the Penguins, but keeping this current team intact will be virtually impossible because many key players will be free agents this off season.

The Penguins have certainly come a long way in a very short period of time. Two years ago, they had the worst record in the game. Last year, they were the most-improved team and got to the playoffs.

This year, they emerged as the best team in the conference but not the best in the game. Now the assignment - how do they keep this team together as best they can given this new salary cap era?

After going down to the final buzzer and then some last night in Game 6, the Penguin season came to a sudden end - two games short of the ultimate goal.

Should the Pens make it back to the Stanley Cup Finals in subsequent seasons, it's very unlikely they will get there with the same group of guys.

"It's going to be tough like I said earlier, it's in the salary cap era, you have to pick your poison and that's what we'll be discussing in the next few weeks - see which direction we want to go and it's going to be tough, very tough to keep everybody but you know we have our core guys, young guys, are going to be with us hopefully for a long time - we just have to build around that," Penguins Owner Mario Lemieux said.

The Penguins have no fewer than 12 unrestricted free agents, including Marian Hossa, Ryan Malone and Brooks Orpik. They can all begin talking with other teams on July 1.

Goalie Marc-Andre Fleury is a restricted free agent which means he can get offers from other teams, but the Penguins have the right to match.

Fleury will certainly get top tier money.

"The part that sucks about hockey is you make such close friends and you know especially I think with great chemistry and everybody gets along good and tough to see these guys go - it's always tough," Fleury said.

There's also the matter of negotiating long-term deals with both Evgeni Malkin and Jordan Staal, which could limit what they do with their unrestricted guys.

President Dave Morehouse says he can't promise to keep everyone but he can promise to be a consistently winning team.

"We have the kind of organization that will do what it can to keep a winning team on the ice," he said. "And this ownership group has shown that they're willing to put money up to be successful."

Getting back to the Stanley Cup Finals is never guaranteed in the NHL. The 1993 Penguins were arguably the best team in the game when they got upset by David Volek and the Islanders. They never got back after that.

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