Sergei Gonchar signed with the Ottawa Senators on July 1 around 12:30 EST, ending a five-year stint with the Penguins. Thirty minutes later, rumors arose that defensemen Paul Martin was extremely close to signing a deal with the Penguins, and expressed heavy interest in the team since last season. However around 1:15, the Penguins rumors were turned to another high-profile defensemen who was somewhat under the radar.
Enter Milan Michalek. Michalek ended up signing for five years, $4M a season. Almost thirty minutes after Michalek signed, ESPN first broke the tension between Martin and the Penguins and announced that he signed a five year, $25M deal ($5M a season).
The Penguins were obviously the talk of free agency with these moves. They not only solidifed their defensive core for the next five years, but managed to get pretty good deals out of players who could've made more money elsewhere. Michalek was positioned to make anywhere from $3.5M - $4.5M a season, and Martin was rumored to make $5.5M - $6.5M a season.
First of all, let's review the players that the Penguins have got:
Paul Martin: Martin in a short-term descrip ...
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Article written by Joe Boogaard
Penguins Bolster Their Defense: Sign Michalek and Martin
July 2nd, 2010 by Joe Boogaard Leave a reply »
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