Penguins 2012 Free Agents

With the conclusion of the 2012 NHL Draft, which took place in Pittsburgh’s CONSOL Energy Center over the past weekend, the next major event on the league’s docket is free agency, which begins at noon Sunday, July 1st.

The Penguins created some extra cap space over the weekend with the trades of center Jordan Staal and defenseman Zbynek Michalek. Whether or not that translates into how active the Penguins are in the free agent market remains to be seen. However, it does at least provide general manager Ray Shero with some flexibility.

However, the Penguins will be pretty busy in the days leading up July 1st as the team works to reassess and possibly re-sign some of its their own unrestricted free agents.

“We have to make some decisions this week,” Shero said. “We have to take a look at our depth chart and make decisions on guys like Arron Asham, Steve Sullivan, (Richard) Park. We’ll do that this week and be in touch with their agents and see where that goes. We’ll make decisions leading up to July 1st as to how active we could be or if we’ll go in a different direction. This is all going to take place (this) week. We’ll have some meetings and we’ll formulate some sort of sensible game plan.”

Another two players of note are defenseman Matt Niskanen and forward Eric Tangradi. They are both restricted free agent, meaning they can't test the open market, but their contracts have expired (see bottom for more details on restricted free agents).

Here is a quick glance at the Penguins unrestricted free agents…


ARRON ASHAM

Position: RW
Shoots: R
Height: 5-11
Weight: 205
DOB: 4/13/78




2011-12 STATISTICS

TEAM	LEAGUE	GP	G	A	P	PIM
PITTSBURGH	NHL	64	5	11	16	76

NOTES:

• Recorded 95 hits despite playing only 64 games (1.48 hits per game).
• Posted 200th career NHL point (assist) Dec. 16 at Ottawa.
• Played 700th career NHL game Oct. 20 vs. Montreal.
• Missed 13 games with a concussion Jan. 17-Feb. 15.

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RYAN CRAIG

Position: C
Shoots: L
Height: 6-1
Weight: 215
DOB: 1/6/82




2011-12 STATISTICS

TEAM	LEAGUE	GP	g	A	p	pim
WBS	AHL	68	11	19	30	70

NOTES:

• Completed second full season with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of American Hockey League.
• Served second season as team captain.

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BRENT JOHNSON

Position: G
Catches: L
Height: 6-3
Weight: 199
DOB: 3/12/77




2011-12 STATISTICS

TEAM	LEAGUE	GP	R	gaa	s%	so
PITTSBURGH	NHL	16	6-7-2	3.11	.883	0

NOTES:

• Completed his 11th NHL season.
• Injury limited him to 16 games. Made solid return with 25 saves in a 5-3 Penguins’ win over a hot Sabres team in Buffalo on March 30.
• Held opponents to 2 goals or less in 7 of 16 appearances.
• Played 300th NHL game Dec. 3 at Carolina.

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STEVE MACINTYRE

Position: LW
Shoots: L
Height: 6-5
Weight: 250
DOB: 8/8/80




2011-12 STATISTICS

TEAM	LEAGUE	GP	G	A	P	PIM
PITTSBURGH	NHL	12	0	0	0	6
WILKES-BARRE	AHL	24	1	0	1	59

NOTES:

• Saw action in 12 games with Pittsburgh.
• Spent majority of 2011-12 season with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League.
• Posted 1 goal in 24 games with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

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COLIN MCDONALD

Position: RW
Shoots: R
Height: 6-2
Weight: 205
DOB: 9/30/84




2011-12 STATISTICS

TEAM	LEAGUE	GP	G	A	P	PIM
PITTSBURGH	NHL	5	0	0	0	0
WBS	AHL	68	14	35	49	41

NOTES:

• Appeared in 5 games with Pittsburgh.
• Played majority of season with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League.
• Named to AHL All-Star Game after finishing 3rd on team in scoring with 49 points (14G-35A).
• Notched 48 points (13G-35A) and plus-12 rating in 66 games in first season with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
• Led Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in goals (6) and points (13-tied) in the postseason.

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SCOTT MUNROE

Position: G
Catches: R
Height: 6-2
Weight: 210
DOB: 1/20/82




2011-12 STATISTICS

TEAM	LEAGUE	GP	R	gaa	s%	so
WBS	AHL	38	19-10-3	2.52	.907	5

NOTES:

• Completed first season with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League.
• Recorded 5 shutouts - which tied for 2nd most in the AHL.
• Won 100th career AHL game March 18 in 3-2 victory over Binghamton.

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RICHARD PARK

Position: RW
Shoots: R
Height: 5-11
Weight: 190
DOB: 5/27/76




2011-12 STATISTICS

TEAM	LEAGUE	GP	G	A	P	PIM
PITTSBURGH	NHL	54	7	7	14	12

NOTES:

• Provided veteran leadership and depth to team.
• Valuable on draws, winning 55.7 percent of his faceoffs (221-176).
• Contributed to NHL’s 3rd ranked penalty killing unit - which finished with a franchise-best 87.8 success rate.
• Scored 15th career shorthanded goal (and game-winner) Oct. 11 vs. Florida.
• Recorded 100th NHL goal Feb. 11 vs. Winnipeg.
• Played 700th NHL game Nov. 15 vs. Colorado. Played 100th game as a Penguin Feb. 21 vs. NY Rangers.
• Scored 4 game-winning goals, ranking 3rd (tied) on team.
• Recorded first career playoff point (assist) as a Penguin in Game 4 at Philadelphia.

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STEVE SULLIVAN

Position: LW
Shoots: R
Height: 5-8
Weight: 161
DOB: 7/6/74




2011-12 STATISTICS

TEAM	LEAGUE	GP	G	A	P	PIM
PITTSBURGH	NHL	79	17	31	48	20

NOTES:

• Completed first season with Penguins, playing in 79 games.
• Was pointman for team’s power-play unit. His 21 power-play points ranked 3rd on team.
• Recorded 7-game point streak Feb. 18-March 3 (3G-8A).
• Played 900th NHL game Oct. 22 vs. New Jersey (team that drafted him in 1994).
• Recorded 700th NHL point (assist) Dec. 23 at Winnipeg.
• Scored 2 power-play goals and totaled 6 points in 6 playoff games.

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JASON WILLIAMS

Position: C
Shoots: R
Height: 5-11
Weight: 192
DOB: 8/11/80




2011-12 STATISTICS

TEAM	LEAGUE	GP	G	A	P	PIM
PITTSBURGH	NHL	8	1	1	2	4
WBS	aHL	59	13	29	42	32

NOTES:

• Saw action in 8 games for Pittsburgh, notching 1 goal and 2 points.
• Played majority of season with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League. Totaled 42 points (13G-29A) in 59 contests in WBS.
• Led Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in assists (10) and points (13-tied) in 12 playoff games.

Note: Matt Niskanen, Eric Tangradi, Brian Strait, Carl Sneep, Robert Bortuzzo, Alex Grant, Cal O’Reilly, Alexandre Picard, Carl Sneep, Boris Valabik and Keven Vielleux are the organization’s restricted free agents since they are no longer considered entry-level, but do not qualify as an unrestricted free agent.

The Penguins must extend a qualifying offer to any of these players in order to retain their negotiating rights. The Penguins extended offers to Bortuzzo, Grant, Niskanen, Sneep, Strait, Tangradi and Vielleux. If a qualifying offer is made and the player rejects it, he or the team can file for salary arbitration to settle any contract disputes.

A team can take a player to arbitration once in his career and cannot ask for a salary reduction greater than 15 percent.