free agency: so far

Naslund and Kalinin are gone, having signed with the Rangers (ugh...). Jason Williams and Ladislav Nagy are the lone survivors still on my list, both all but guaranteed that they won't be Pens when the season begins. With the acquisitions of both Miroslav Satan (pronounced Shah-tan) and Ruslan Fedotenko, I seriously doubt either of my predictions from my original list will be headed to the Steel City. Satan fills the gap (but not the shoes of) Hossa created when he bolted. I always thought of Fedotenko (going back to his days with the Flyers) as a player that Ryan Malone should mirror. I firmly believe that Jordan Staal will benefit the most from Malone's departure, especially on the power play, but the Fedotenko signing certainly eases my mind if I ever worried about Bugsy leaving.

Now, my attention is turned firmly to some Finnish star - Janne Pesonen. I'm eagerly awaiting a write-up about him from some Pittsburgh-bias periodical so that I can finally get excited about him. Reports have Pesonen agreeing to terms with the Pens a few days ago, with a contract signing imminent. The important thing here is that he led the league in scoring last season. What league? Some league in Europe. Way too complicated to spell and too dulling to google. I wish there were more hype surrounding him.

My next question is what the heck is Pavol Demitra's deal? Surely he's got an offer or two after almost a week into free agency. Somebody's going to overpay for his services. I'm just glad it won't be the Pens. Hopefully it'll be somebody in the Atlantic! (heh heh heh...)