Penguins Ink Michalek, 4 Years, $20 Million

With Gonchar quickly signing a three year deal with Ottawa, the Pens had some big shoes to fill, and they responded by adding Zbynek Michalek to their blueline with a long-term contract that will pay him $20 million over five years.

“Once Sergei Gonchar refused a final offer from the Pittsburgh Penguins and went to Ottawa, GM Ray Shero quickly set his sights on both Paul Martin and Zbynek Michalek as replacements.

After negotiating with both, it was Michalek that ended up inking a four-year, $20 million deal with the Penguins leaving them with a little over $7 million in cap space per CapGeek. As Seth Rorabaugh pointed out, Michalek’s shot-blocking abilities is something that the Penguins expected out of Jay McKee a year ago, but the veteran defenseman ended up watching from the press box down the stretch.

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review’s Rob Rossi Tweets that despite the signing of Michalek, the Penguins aren’t completely out of the Paul Martin Sweepstakes. With $5 million per year looking like the asking price for Martin, Shero can still swing thatand leave enough room to add a winger and spend right at the cap according to Rossi.

Pittsburgh deeply missed the defensive presences of Hal Gill and Rob Scuderi this season and with offensive-minded blue liners Alex Goligoski and Kris Letang expected to step up in the absence of Gonchar, Shero’s priority this off-season was to bolster his defense corps and with plenty of room under the cap remaining, it looks like there will be more to come.” {Puck Daddy}

Not a bad price for guy with so much upside and potential. In the 2008-2009 season, Michalek led the entire league in blocked shots, and while his point production isn’t huge, he’s great in his own end, and can fill up the occasional power play. It’s a solid move by Ray Shero, and it minimizes his cap hit for what will likely end up being a cornerstone for the Penguins defense for years to come.