Attn: Pittsburgh Pens....I can play....sign me!

Over the past few weeks and days the Pittsburgh Penguins organization has been in an absolute frenzy. The obvious reason is that nearly half of the team was eligible for Free Agency and while the Pens knew that the roster would change next year, few people knew just how much.

Gone are Hossa, Malone, Ruutu, Roberts, Hall, Conklin and perhaps a few more as well.

The only good news thus far is that Malkin has been given a 5-year extension and they were able to keep Pascal Dupuis, who is quickly becoming one of my favorite players. We also snagged a 6-year suprising deal with D-man Brooks Orpik who is a strong defender with tons of hitting power. Pens also added to their grinder-line by signing Calgary's Eric Godard, which is a nice touch to keep our physical game under tap, but we need offense!

While these might be good things it doesn't change one VERY important fact: the roster is thin! We need wingers and we need em bad! Crosby and Malkin are in desperate need of sniper players in order to excel at their playmaking game, we need players like Patrick Elias from New Jersey or Chicago's Martin Havlat, or perhaps Tamba Bay's Martin St. Louis.

Now that we have tons of money (since we lost a huge chuck of players) it would only make sense that we seek after some wingers and a right-handed defender. I was really hoping we might be able to snag free agents Wade Redden or Brian Campbell.

There are even talks about the Pens getting Jaromir Jagr or Markus Nasland, which I think that perhaps Naslund would be a nice addition just for the experience that he brings, but Jagr is too close to the end of his career and has an awkward history with Penguin fans.

So the "core" of the Penguins are in tact, which is a great thing, but we do need some fresh players to get the right combination if we want to make it to playoffs again next year.

Right now the lines are looking short:
Crosby, Dupuis and WHO?
Malkin, Sykora and WHO?
Staal, Talbot and WHO?
Godard ????
Will Laraque stay?