I'm An Accountant And I Still Can't Figure Out The Math

In a surprising move, the Pittsburgh Penguins re-signed Ruslan Fedotenko today to a 1-year deal worth $1.8 million. What's surprising is the fact that Fedotenko, if you believe the internet rumors, was being heavily pursued by a handful of teams, including the Minnesota Wild, who seemingly would have paid him more money. In fact, in what is becoming a trend with this team, Fedotenko took LESS money to come back here for another run. He made $2.25 million last year on a one year deal, coincidentally enough, also signed on July 3rd.

Fedotenko, despite what critics had to say, had a solid year with career high numbers for assists (23) and plus/minus (+18) while tying his second highest point total of his career (39). A broken hand sidelined him for over a month which derailed a season that might have seen him score career highs across the board. He really proved his worth in the playoffs where his ability to score big goals was evident and his past Stanley Cup winning experience proved immeasurable. He ended up tied for fourth on the team in scoring (14) and first on the team in plus/minus (+9) on his way to a second Stanley Cup in a five years.

So why did he come back?

"We had a great run last year. We played really well and won the Cup," Fedotenko said. "That's what you play for. I felt that with 95 percent of the team coming back we we will have another strong season. I wanted to be on a good team. We had good chemistry in the locker room. I want to win another Cup. I believe we can do it again."

When asked about his second straight free agency experience he said:

"We were looking at a couple different options. You want to be on a winning team and compete to win the Cup. I feel like it's everybody's dream is to win the Cup. We did it last year. So let's try to do it another year. I stayed to hopefully win another one."

I was going to speculate on the reason for his return before I read those quotes but it is seemingly apparent that he wanted to come back to try and win it again. Enviro believes he has an understanding with Shero that if he performs even better this year that he will re-sign him again next year for more money and a longer contract. That seems like a big risk for him, but it is a calculated risk. Under Therrien, Fedotenko didn't get a lot of work with Evgeni Malkin on the second line. It wasn't until Dan Bylsma took over that he started to get quality time with better offensive players. He scored 5 goals and 13 assists with a +11 rating in the 25 games under Bylsma. Take that over an entire season and he might end up with a 60 point season. His stock will really rise then. Add in the possibility of another Cup win and he is on course to hit the jackpot.

In addition to the Fedotenko signing, the Penguins announced they have signed Pittsburgh-born defenseman Nate Guenin to a one-year contract. From their web site:

The 6-2, 210-pound defenseman played 12 career games in the NHL with the Flyers since 2006, recording two assists and six penalty minutes while collecting a plus-2 rating. The gritty blueliner made his NHL debut in Philadelphia versus the New York Islanders January 18, 2007. In three seasons with the Phantoms, Guenin registered 43 points (seven goals, 36 assists) and 333 minutes in penalties while appearing in 207 career games in the AHL. Guenin collected one assist and a plus-2 rating in 12 career post-season contests with the Phantoms in 2007-08.

It appears as though the Penguins are going to try and sign one veteran defenseman and have a bunch of AHL guys try out for the 6th or 7th spot on defense. At one time Rob Scuderi was that guy so here's hoping we find another one.

All in all it was a pretty good day for Penguins hockey. Welcome back, Ruslan.