The Pittsburgh Penguins announced that defenseman Kris Letang was signed for four more years and seriously it’s about time Ray Shero started shoring up the Penguins defense for the future or for next year which ever comes first. The Sergei Gonchar vs Ray Shero signing has taken center stage and because of that there hasn’t been much talk about how the Pens could lose not just their core defense, but also their main prospects next year. All 8 of the players that have seen time on defense in a Pittsburgh Penguins uniform are unrestricted free agents next year.
With the signing of Letang, the Pens now have 3 defensemen signed for next year, Orpik, Goligoski and Letang. It has been reported that Kris Letang got $3.5 million a year by ESPN. Rob Scuderi got a contract last year with LA for $13.6 million for four years and he was an average defenseman, which they are finding out about now with his no goals 10 assists. Though Letang is less experienced than Scuderi, I would take him for $14 mil for four years ahead of Scuderi any day of the week
Here is the players salaries and next years status:
Here are the Pittsburgh Penguins defensive stats so far this year:
| GP | G | A | PTS | +/-“ | PM | |
| Sergei Gonchar | 57 | 10 | 34 | 44 | -7 | 49 |
| Alex Goligoski | 63 | 7 | 24 | 31 | 5 | 22 |
| Kris Letang | 67 | 3 | 24 | 27 | 3 | 47 |
| Brooks Orpik | 68 | 1 | 23 | 24 | 9 | 62 |
| Mark Eaton | 73 | 3 | 11 | 14 | 4 | 26 |
| Jay McKee | 59 | 1 | 9 | 10 | 6 | 54 |
| Jordan Leopold | 14 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 2 |
| Ben Lovejoy | 12 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 8 | 2 |
| Deryk Engelland | 9 | 0 | 2 | 2 | -2 | 17 |
| Nathan Guenin | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -2 | 0 |
Additional Reading:
Penguins Sign Defenseman Kris Letang to Four-Year Contract
It’s time to start shoring up the Pittsburgh Penguins Defense
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