Grading Day 3 of free agency
The signings continued during Day 3 of the free-agency period. Here's a look at the deals of the day:
Satan
Fedotenko
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Penguins sign forwards Miroslav Satan ($3.5M) and Ruslan Fedotenko ($2.5M) to one-year deals
To borrow a well-worn phrase from our friend and longtime hockey fan Chuck Dickens, this has been the best of times and the worst of times for Pittsburgh GM Ray Shero.
Shero has discovered, like all GMs whose teams roll to the Stanley Cup finals and beyond, that managing success is often an onerous task.
On the plus side of the Penguins' offseason ledger, Shero managed to sign Marc-Andre Fleury and Evgeni Malkin to long-term contract extensions.
Fleury signed a seven-year extension at $5 million a year. If that doesn't prove the Penguins believe the 23-year-old Fleury is "the man," nothing will. And with good reason. Fleury was terrific as the Penguins rolled to their first Stanley Cup finals berth since 1992, technically sound and mentally tough in just his second playoff experience. Malkin signed a five-year extension that mirrors what captain Sidney Crosby signed a year ago. Malkin will earn $8.7 million annually when the deal kicks in after the 2008-09 season.
Shero also managed to retain the rights to solid stay-at-home defenseman Brooks Orpik (a six-year deal worth a very manageable $22.5 million).
But it hasn't been all roses. While waiting to figure out what Marian Hossa was going to do -- he ultimately bucked the trend and signed a one-year deal worth $7.45 million with Detroit on Wednesday -- the Penguins missed the boat on a number of top-notch replacements for top forwards Ryan Malone and Hossa.
True, now Jordan Staal likely will get a chance to play more power-play minutes and perhaps slide onto the wing with either Malkin or Crosby at times, but there were some talented wingers who signed elsewhere while the Pens were in Hossa-hold mode.
Kristian Huselius signed with the Columbus Blue Jackets shortly after Hossa left the board. Radim Vrbata went to Tampa. Michael Ryder went to Boston. Nikolai Zherdev went to the New York Rangers via trade, and Sean Avery signed with Dallas.
What did Shero end up with? Well, let's call Miroslav Satan and Ruslan Fedotenko Plans F and G.
Fedotenko has some size and playoff experience, having played a key role in the Tampa Bay Lightning's Cup run in 2004 (12 goals, including three game-winners). Satan is the more talented of the two and is a perennial 30-goal man. If he plays with Crosby, the sky's the limit.
You have to remember that Malone really didn't take off as a top player until this past season, so his departure looks more significant now than it would have at the start of last season. It's possible Fedotenko will flourish in a similar role. But no matter how you color it, Fedotenko/Satan for Hossa/Malone is a downgrade. How significant a downgrade? That remains to be seen.
Free-agency grade: Fedotenko, C+; Satan, B-
Blake
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Sharks sign defenseman Rob Blake to one-year, $5 million deal
The San Jose Sharks may still end up with Dan Boyle, but if GM Doug Wilson is trying to patch the big hole left by Brian Campbell's departure with Rob Blake, well, that's leaving a lot of space around the edges. No disrespect to the 38-year-old Blake, who has 1,127 regular-season games and 702 points under his belt, but signing a one-year deal worth $5 million doesn't make the Sharks any faster or any younger. At this stage, he doesn't take them appreciably closer to being the Cup contender many have considered them to be for the past three seasons.
Blake is still a presence both on and off the ice, but his point totals have dipped over the past two seasons. That may be a function of playing on a bad team in Los Angeles or it may be Father Time creeping up on him, or a bit of both. If Blake were simply the finishing touch to the Sharks' offseason plan, this wouldn't be as big a question mark. Perhaps the Sharks will fill the Campbell void and Blake will be settling back into a role better suited to him. As it stands now, though, Blake is too little of what the Sharks need.
Free-agency grade: C
Naslund
• Rangers sign forward Markus Naslund to two-year, $8-million deal
The more the Rangers do, the less it looks like there's going to be room for captain Jaromir Jagr in the fold next season. A day after adding dashing, enigmatic forward Nikolai Zherdev and young center Dan Fritsche to the lineup, the Rangers signed 35-year-old veteran forward Markus Naslund to a two-year, $8 million deal. The only reason to sign Naslund is to play the wing on one of the Rangers' top two lines with Chris Drury or Scott Gomez. With Jagr taking his time in deciding whether to return to the NHL or jump to the Russian elite league, it looks like the ship has sailed in New York for five-time NHL scoring champ Jagr.
This move has old-time New York Rangers written all over it. GM Glen Sather has bestowed a deal on a man who managed all of 25 goals last season and is a shadow of the player who posted 104 points in 2002-03.
Last summer, Naslund's former linemate, Todd Bertuzzi, got exactly the same deal with Anaheim, and Ducks GM Brian Burke recently bought out Bertuzzi after one miserable campaign. Is Naslund's tank similarly empty or is his decline in productivity and fall from relevance in Vancouver a reflection of a team that has settled into a New Jersey-like offensive trance? The Rangers hope there's something left, especially if Naslund ends up being the de facto new Jagr. Remember, Jagr was the Rangers' best player down the stretch and through the two playoff rounds. If Naslund is Jagr's stand-in, that's definitely a move that's Off Broadway.
The Rangers also signed former Sabres defenseman Dmitri Kalinin, 27, to fill a gap left when they traded Fedor Tyutin and Christian Backman to Columbus for Fritsche and Zherdev on Wednesday.
Free-agency grade: Naslund, C+; Kalinin, B-
Scott Burnside is the NHL writer for ESPN.com.
