The Pittsburgh Penguins haven’t had a terrible summer.
They added Tomas Vokoun to give them one of the best goaltending duos in the league and re-signed Sidney Crosby. Plus, as painful as it must have been to trade Jordan Staal to the Carolina Hurricanes, getting Brandon Sutter, Brian Dumoulin, and Derrick Pouliot (via Carolina’s eighth overall 2012 pick) in return wasn’t bad, given the circumstances.
All the same, the Pittsburgh Penguins also missed out on superstar free agents Zach Parise and Ryan Suter and the odds of Shane Doan joining the squad aren’t great.
“We have interest. But he has made it clear he wants to stay in Phoenix,” Penguins GM Ray Shero said, via Josh Yohe.
Doan’s agent has made it clear that his client will sign before Sept. 15, but nothing has been announced yet.
If Doan does end up back in Phoenix, then it looks like the Pittsburgh Penguins roster is pretty much set. They do have an explosive offensive trio in Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and James Neal, but their scoring depth is questionable.
Still, given that the Buffalo Sabres offered Doan, who will turn 36 in October, a four-year, $30 million contract, maybe missing out on him will prove to be beneficial for Pittsburgh in the long-run from a salary cap perspective.
“You’re never totally satisfied with your roster,” Shero added. “I really liked our roster last year. Then you saw what happened in the playoffs.”