During the summer when the Penguins and Jordan Staal began contract negotiations Staal was seeking a R.J. Umberger (4yrs Р$15 million) type of deal. Staal and his agent Paul Krepelka won out today as the Penguins signed Staal to a 4 year Р$16 million deal. During the summer the Penguins initial offer was 4 years Р$13.5 which was declined and the two sides began working off of that deal. Recently talks centered around a 2-3 year deal with the Penguins offer in the $3.3 million range and it appeared Staal would sign a short term deal but Staal’s camp countered with a four year deal. Krepelka who represents Ryan Whitney and Jordan Staal used the same ploy with Staal that he used with Whitney. During the Whitney negotiations Krepelka made it known that three teams were going to make an offer sheet to Whitney. The Penguins went a few more years than they wanted because of that. In these negotiations, sources tell me Krepelka used the idea of a RFA offer sheet to his advantage again to get the Penguins to increase their offer to $4 million per season.
Now the Penguins have over $20 million tied up in three centers
Sidney Crosby $8.7 million per season
Evgeni Malkin $8.7 million per season
Jordan Staal $4 million per season
Penguins Lineup for tonight’s game
As I wrote over the weekend, the Penguins have talked about using Jordan Staal on wing again and tonight he will get that chance with some injuries upfront.
Staal – Crosby – Kennedy
Satan – Malkin – Sykora
Cooke – Talbot – Goligoski
Wallace – Jeffrey – Godard
Hal Gill will be a healthy scratch for the third consecutive game