Defenseman sign in Penguins to two-way contract

Alexandre Picard, the one who played 43 games with the [url= http://www.jerseysamples.com] cheap jerseys [/url] Montreal Canadians last season and scored three goals, signed in The Penguins defenseman to one-year contract. Picard is an experienced player. He has played NHL games with the Montréal Canadians, Ottawa Senators, Philadelphia Tampa Bay Flyers and Carolina Hurricanes.

Picard began his career for the Halifax Mooseheads of the [url= http://www.jerseysamples.com] jerseys shop [/url] QMJHL. The team was highly successful while he was there, even helping them got the President’s Cup. In fact, following that season, he was one of eight players chosen in 2003 HNL Entry Draft. However, he was among several players traded to the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles, and returned to the Mooseheads for his final season in the QMJHL, but they had a short post-season berth. After that, Picard went to Philadelphia, and began to work with the Philadelphia Phantoms who won the Calder Cup. When teammate Randy Jone was injured in the second game, he was signed to an amateur tryout contract to fill the roster spot. So, Picard played alongside veteran John Slaney in about a dozen shifts in games three and four to help the Phantoms sweep the Chicago Wolves. A month later, the Flyers announced that they had signed Picard to a three year contract to fill the spot left on the Phantoms roster by Patrick sharp. So, Picard played his first full professional season for the Phantoms, and also played six games for the Flyers. He was also called up backup for the Flyers during the 2006 Stanly cup playoffs.  Picard began the 2006-2007 NHL season with the Phantoms, but after just six games, he was called up to replace the injured Mike Rathje and began his rookie season in the NHL. Picard proved he could stay in the NHL when, on February 1, 2007, he recorded five assists in a game against the New Jersey Devils, nearly tying the franchise record set by Eric Lindros. Picard was dealt to the Tampa Bay lightning on February 25, 2008 (along with a draft pick), for forward Vaclav Prospal. On August 29, 2008, Picard was traded to the Ottawa Senators along with Filip Kuba and a first round draft pick for Andrej Meszaros.

Along with Ottawa's second round pick in the [url= http://www.jerseysamples.com] NHL Jerseys wholesale [/url] 2010 NHL Entry Draft, On February 12, 2010, Picard, who had been a healthy scratch for much of the season, were traded to the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for matt Cullen. On July 5, 2011, Pittsburgh Penguins signed Picard to a one year, two-way contract with the worth $600,000.

Ray Shero's top priorities now: Sidney Crosby& Jordan Staal

With two years remaining of the contracts of <a href="http://www.jerseysamples.com/">nhl jerseys</a> Sidney Crosby and Jordan Staal, signing the star centers become general manager Ray Shero's highest priority. He believes that the Penguins will be a Stanley Cup contender even without making a splash in free agency this summer, while making room for Crosby's and Staal's eventual extensions.

Shero appears to have given the Penguins <a href="http://www.jerseysamples.com/">jerseys shop</a>, as currently designed, a two-year window to win a championship. Summer of 2013 could see a dramatic face-lift because so many players -- Crosby, Staal, Matt Cooke, Tyler Kennedy, Pascal Dupuis, Craig Adams, Mark Letestu and Ben Lovejoy -- become free agents, except Chris Kunitz, the only one standout to become a free agent next summer.

The Penguins have spared room under the salary cap <a href="http://www.jerseysamples.com/NHL-Jerseys/">NHL Jerseys on sale</a> -- $2.1 million, to be exact -- but don't expect them to make many inquiries into the free agent market the rest of this summer .The Penguins generally want to stay about $1.5 million under the salary cap -- $64.3 million this coming season. That means if they want to make a move, it likely would be a role player, such as their moves last summer when they respectively signed Arron Asham and Mike Comrie in August and September.

After weeks of speculation, the Penguins would sign the star of yesteryear in <a href="www2.gliet.edu.cn/tuanwei/newweb/new/lyvi/">Jaromir Jagr</a>, the team opted to stand pat, largely because their stars of today -- Crosby and Evgeni Malkin -- are expected to return healthy to next season's lineup.The Penguins are convinced they could have won a Stanley Cup last season had it not been for injuries. Shero said, the key to our team is getting Crosby and Malkin back. Their returns figure to give the Penguins a bigger boost than anyone in the free agent market could have produced. Getting Sid and Geno back will be so huge for us. Bylsma, the NHL's reigning Jack Adams Award winner, is excited about the prospect of thinking with his lineup. He said we're never chasing a bad matchup. He also will be tempted to place Malkin and Staal on the same line. The strategy worked during the 2006-07 season but never got off the ground last season because of injuries."I don't think you can say 'Malkin as a winger failed' because Malkin as a winger never was tried with Crosby and Staal in the lineup," Bylsma said. The Penguins signed former Atlanta defenseman Boris Valabik to a two-way contract worth $550,000 at the NHL level. Rather than seek an overhaul, Shero and Bylsma simply want their team healthy. It may be all the Penguins really need.