PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday signed goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury to a seven-year, $35 million contract, the third long-term deal with one of their younger players in two days.
Penguins general manager Ray Shero called Fleury "one of the elite goaltenders of the game" and said he was instrumental in helping the team reach the Stanley Cup finals.
"He is extremely gratified to be part of the Penguins core going forward," Fleury's agent, Allan Walsh, told The Associated Press. "The contract shows a lot of confidence the team is placing in him and Marc is making a statement to all that Pittsburgh is where he wants to be playing."
The Penguins also signed forwards Ruslan Fedotenko and Miroslav Satan on Thursday.
Fleury was eligible for arbitration and a hearing was scheduled for later in the month, but the Penguins made no secret they considered that a formality as Shero continued to negotiate a long-term deal with the goaltender.
Fleury's signing came a day after the Penguins signed two other players to long-term deals. Center Evgeni Malkin signed for an average of $8.7 million over five years and defenseman Brooks Orpik signed a six-year, $22.5 million deal.
Fleury, the No. 1 overall draft pick for the Penguins in 2003, helped the team to the Eastern Conference championship before a six-game loss to Detroit in the Stanley Cup finals.
Fleury's strong play down the stretch capped a season that saw him start slowly and then miss three months with a high-ankle sprain. His regular-season record was just 19-10-2.
In the playoffs he was 14-6 with a 1.97 goals-against average, a .933 save percentage and three shutouts.
After struggling early in his career, Fleury came into his own in 2006-07, when he won 40 games in 67 appearances, the first Penguins goalie to win more than 40 since Tom Barrasso did it in 1992-93.
Fedotenko signed a one-year contract. Financial terms weren't announced, but a source told ESPN.com that the deal is worth $2.25 million.
Satan signed a one-year deal worth $3.5 million.
Fedotenko, 29, scored 33 points (16 goals, 17 assists) and led the New York Islanders with eight power-play goals in 67 games last season. Satan, 33, had 16 goals and 25 assists in 80 games with the Islanders last season.
"Miroslav brings skill, experience and size to our hockey team," Shero said in a statement. "He is a player that has put up very good offensive numbers in the NHL. By playing with our core group of forwards he should only be able to build upon those numbers and provide offense for our hockey club."
The Penguins focused on Satan and Fedotenko after learning they would not be able to sign Markus Naslund, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported on its Web site Thursday.
1 comment:
So you can say the Pens made a deal with Satan? LOL!
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