Martin for Volchenkov?

[shmenguin]

scuds doesn't take vacations throughout the season like martin. aside from what martin does or doesn't do on the ice, i don't like having guys on the team who don't feel the need to show up every night. i was happy we got rid of talbot for that reason.

Could argue Scuderi was taking a vacation until his contract year.

not really..

scuderi's development was very linear. he was terrible in 06. he was mediocre in 07. he was capable in 08. he was very good in 09. he didn't have a moment of regression during his entire stay in pittsburgh.

[Pavel Bure]

scuds doesn't take vacations throughout the season like martin. aside from what martin does or doesn't do on the ice, i don't like having guys on the team who don't feel the need to show up every night. i was happy we got rid of talbot for that reason.

Could argue Scuderi was taking a vacation until his contract year.

not really..

scuderi's development was very linear. he was terrible in 06. he was mediocre in 07. he was capable in 08. he was very good in 09. he didn't have a moment of regression during his entire stay in pittsburgh.

Really? He was pretty bad his first couple years. He didn't become serviceable until late 08. He was average in 09 but was very good on the PK. I still shudder at the years with Melichar. Scuderi got about 1M more a year on his contract because of the cup run. As did Orpik and many others. Lets not make Scuderi out to be some great shutdown guy. He was a 3rd pairing PK leader that with Gill routinely got trapped in his own end during even strength.

[Idoit40fans]

I wouldn't want either contract. That said, I think Scuderi's is a better value and even if they were a wash, I would just rather have the smaller cap hit. Either way, calling Scuderi a 3rd pairing player is just dumb. He's an anchor playing 20+ minutes per game on the second best defensive unit in the league.

[shmenguin]

Really? He was pretty bad his first couple years. He didn't become serviceable until late 08.

that's exactly what i said. he was bad when he was a rookie, improved a little but not much his second year. became at least serviceable in his 3rd year and became the player he is now in 09. most would agree that the player he is now is pretty damn good.

just because he was terrible when he was starting out in the NHL doesn't mean he took vacations throughout his career like martin (the original point).

[sil]

I wouldn't want either contract. That said, I think Scuderi's is a better value and even if they were a wash, I would just rather have the smaller cap hit. Either way, calling Scuderi a 3rd pairing player is just dumb. He's an anchor playing 20+ minutes per game on the second best defensive unit in the league.

Agreed...but LA's best forwards also backcheck on a regular basis.

[shmenguin]

I wouldn't want either contract. That said, I think Scuderi's is a better value and even if they were a wash, I would just rather have the smaller cap hit. Either way, calling Scuderi a 3rd pairing player is just dumb. He's an anchor playing 20+ minutes per game on the second best defensive unit in the league.

Agreed...but LA's best forwards also backcheck on a regular basis.

scuderi playing 20+ minutes on any team is enough evidence to prove the salient point. the fact that it's a team with an elite defense is just hammering it home.

[columbia]

Scuderi averaged 20+ minutes for the Pens, in the 2008-09 playoffs.