penguins free agents
FORWARDS
- Matt Cooke — Keep. Cookie is a good, aggressive forward. We need him and Brooksie when Godard isn’t in the lineup (which is most of the time).
- Bill Guerin — Keep, probably. He’s expensive, but he offers a mature, fatherly presence to the team that the captain cannot. That said, if Gonch sticks around, it’s possible he could fill that position.
- Alexei Ponikarovsky — Let go. There is no need to explain why. His time with the Pens was terrible. Bad fit. The Pens need to stop signing big name forwards before the trade deadline. They never fit in.
- Ruslan Fedotenko — Let go. I have no doubt he’s still got it in him, but he just doesn’t seem to work in the Pens lineup.
DEFENSEMEN
- Sergei Gonchar — Keep. Easily the most important free agent to hold onto. Unless a seriously good replacement can be found, there is just no way the power play won’t degrade without him slapping them in from the point.
- Mark Eaton — Keep. Unless we can get Scuderi back! Eaton’s a good defensive player. More reliable than he’s given credit for, because he’s always there.
- Jordan Leopold — Keep. So promising. It was gutting to see him sidelined by a concussion just when he was heating up. He’s got a lot of potential that would do very well to be released in a black and gold uniform.
- Jay McKee — Keep. He’s affordable, and he gets the job done when he’s called upon. Still, wouldn’t be terribly upset to see him go, either.
