Crosby signs 5-year contract extension

UPDATED 10:49 AM:
This is now official, as reported by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

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The Penguins have signed center Sidney Crosby to a five-year contract extension. The deal is worth $43 million, an annual salary-cap hit of $8.7 million.

It will take effect in the 2008-09 season.

"Sidney has proven himself to be a dynamic player and team leader at a very young age, and it is exciting news for our franchise and our fans to have him under contract for the next six seasons, through 2013," said Fred Shero, the Penguins executive vice president and general manager.

"When you've got a guy who leads the league in scoring and wins the MVP award at the age of 19, you know have someone very special. But Sid also is a tremendous asset for this organization as a leader in the dressing room, and as the face of our franchise in the community. And the fact that he wants to be here long-term is a great statement about the city of Pittsburgh and our organization," Shero said.

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According to the ever-famous anonymous hockey blogger, Eklund, over at HockeyBuzz.com, the Pittsburgh Penguins have agreed to a 5-year contract extension with young phenomenon Sidney Crosby estimated to be worth in the neighbourhood of $45 million, or, $9 million per season.

"Sid The Kid" became the youngest player ever to win a scoring title last year by scoring 36 goals and adding 84 assists to capture the Art Ross, the Hart, the Pearson and on top of it all, being part of the Eastern Conference's First All-Star team.

CROSBY FIVE YEAR EXTENSION AGREED TO
I just spoke to Brian Metzer who will be posting shortly, but he is hearing that the the deal is somewhere in the neighborhood of 5 years, 45 million.

Brian will be posting a blog shortly in "Blogging the NHL."

A source confirmed to me that the Penguins have agreed to a five year extension in the neighborhood of 9 per season, and since Sid is still under contract for the upcoming season that means 6 more years of Sid in steeltown.

Great work as always by Brian.

There's absolutely no way Crosby would have made anything less than that ghastly big amount the Penguins just handed him, if anything, he made less than what some teams would be willing to give him should he have hit the open market someday.
I know this IS Crosby we're talking about, the next "Great One" crap and all, but seriously, how much longer is this "new NHL" going to go on if top-talent players keep commanding this kind of amount?

And what about next year? Dany Heatley and Patrick Marleau will both likely break the bank should they hit unrestricted free-agency, and where does that leave the rest of those second-tier quality players?

It leaves them salivating with the idea of applying a hefty price tag to any team that wants to pick him up, with the top talent gone, basically raising the market price to a whole new level the NHL SHOULD NOT be going into.

Let's imagine this is a decent forward with many available options and teams seeking him speaking:

"Hey, Heatley just signed a 7-year/$60 million deal! That makes other teams who lost out on him come to me!
Hehe, with that kind of attention shift, I can really ask for more money now that they'd be willing to bring someone in like me since they totally failed to get Heatley!
KACHING!
I'll be seeing green for the rest of my life, and who cares where I end up now as long as they give me the $$$$$$"

I wonder why we had this lockout in the first place and why fans like you and I spent an entire year lamenting the loss of hockey only to be treacherously close to falling back into that hole we all thought the NHL climbed out of two years ago.

And I shiver to think that so many players have "Decent forward"'s mentality as mentioned in my make-believe quote above.

$$$$$$

--BBR

Quoi! Claude Julien fired...again?!

This is out of nowhere, really, Lou Lamoriello today fired his head coach Claude Julien.

Julien was fired mid-way through the 2005-2006 season by the, guess who, Montreal Canadiens.
The Canadiens were in the midst of a slump that saw them fall desperately out of a playoff spot; Jose Theodore's shoddy goaltending was the reason to blame, but in hockey, you don't blame your players, you blame the coach.

The Canadiens and Bob Gainey had no problem with Julien, but the team needed a major shakeup and they thought by firing the coach they would do that.

The New Jersey Devils are not in need of a desperate shake-up.

1 year and 3 months later, Claude Julien gets canned again.

Just a day after leading his team to a 3-1 win over the Boston Bruins and regaining posession of the top spot in the Atlantic Divison (recently taken over by the surging Pittsburgh Penguins), Lou Lamoriello insists there were no "personal circumstances" involving the Ontario-born coach's dismissal.

"It came to a point where, were this decision not made, I would not be doing my job," Lamoriello said.

Call me vulgar if you like, but, what the hell?

The Devils have suffered a small funk recently, emphasis on small, which resulted in them in a dismal 3-7 record, but they pulled their act back together, by winning 4 of their last 5 and taking over the Atlantic Division lead and the no.2 spot behind the Buffalo Sabres in the Eastern Conference.

But really, what the hell?

The guy leads his team to a 102 point season with a 47-24-8 record and he can't hold onto a job.
I don't think it's a question of "making a decision" Lou, you didn't have to make any decision, you could've left him where he rightfully belongs and merits, behind your team's bench.

Oh and so what, a few players complain to you about his tactics and you go ahead and fire him?

And looky here, this isn't the first time Lamoriello's done this, I don't know what he feels and how he feels about certain GM's, but I think it's bull that there were no personal circumstances to this, how else can you explain it?

"I don't think we're at a point of being ready both mentally and (physically) to play the way that is necessary going into the playoffs," Lamoriello said outside the Devils' deserted locker room at the Continental Airlines Arena. "I am not saying that is going to change. But I think there has to be better focus going forward."

Maybe there were no personal circumstances, maybe Lamoriello just didn't like Julien's coaching manner.

Oh but for God's sake, your team goes in a slump and comes back strong and you think they're not ready for prime time?

His team manages to win 4 of their last 5 without Brian Gionta, John Madden and Patrick Elias, but, which probably caused Lou to overreact, have lost 8 of their last 15 overall.
Nevertheless, Lamoriello's record last year, after assuming the coaching duties from Robinson, was a great 32-14-4 (a .680 winning percentage).

Maybe the bizarre move had nothing to do with Julien, and he was just upset at his team's effort over the month of March.

Something's sure to come out in the next few days, and until then, good luck Claude Julien, you are a very underrated coach and a great person.

Lou Lamoriello's a smart guy, but I don't think this was a smart move.