The Big Three, Part Two

The two men pictured are two-thirds of this potential Tampa Bay Lightning Big 3: Redux; the third is, of course, Pittsburgh newcomer Marian Hossa.

According to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, the Penguins have offered Marian Hossa a long-term deal to the tune of $7 million and change per year, for the next 7 years.

If Hossa were to accept these terms, I can see two very different viewpoints regarding this deal.
The logic that the Pittsburgh brass seems to be following is that Hossa's playoff performance and chemistry with Sidney Crosby is worth their commitment, especially if he's interested in staying in town for less money than he could command in the free agent market.

On the other hand, Pens faithful have cause to be wary that the amount of money slotted to be tied up in Crosby, Hossa, and Malkin will soon be at the expense of role players like Staal, Talbot, or Sykora; or even sooner in the cases of UFAs Malone, Ruutu, and Orpik.

It seems to me that the issue here is whether the Penguins think that a championship is just around the corner or further down the road. Tearing through the playoffs (at least until running into a claustrophobic Detroit defense in the Finals) would suggest that they are missing very few pieces to their Stanley Cup puzzle; which is why this long-term Hossa deal boggles my mind. No one needs to be reminded that the Lightning's salary cap woes contributed to their post-Cup decline, and the Penguins seem to be treading a similar line, only without the championship pedigree.

I wouldn't argue that Hossa is a great hockey player and adds a ton to the Pittsburgh attack and special teams play, but, I will say though that he is only one man.

As of now, Crosby will be making $8.7 million a year and Gonchar is making $5 million. Adding Hossa's $7 million to that makes $20.7 million every year, split between three guys. That's almost half the cap!

What's going to happen a year from now, when Evgeni Malkin and Jordan Staal become RFAs? Next season, the Penguins will owe Malkin 3.8 large for his services. Barring a huge dropoff in production, he'll surely command a much larger salary in free agency. Maybe the Russian who fought through such a complicated process to play for Pittsburgh in the first place will keep his salary demands low to stay in Steeltown, and maybe he won't, but the Pens only have one more season of discounted Malkin before both parties are faced with difficult decisions.

Staal, who'll make $2.2 million next season, is in a similar situation. His two-way play makes the Pens one of the deepest teams in the NHL at center, though a third-line center behind Crosby and Malkin could easily see second-line minutes, and money, somewhere else.

My humble opinion is that Staal's skill set is perfect for third-line and special teams play, and he's one of the best in the game at them, but I certainly wouldn't blame the guy for wanting the chance to do bigger and better things in a different colored jersey.

Maybe Cup rings on the fingers of all the aforementioned players will make this speculation irrelevant, though I think that even if the Pens do win it all next year, they won't be able to keep the band together. There is already talk on the blog-o-sphere of Ryan Malone heading out to Columbus, where he and Rick Nash might just make for a pretty intense power play unit.

Whatever happens to the Pens in the coming years, the salary cap is certainly doing its intended job.

(Originally posted at http://bleacherreport.com/articles/29992-the-big-three-part-two-pittsburghs-cap-caper )