The Penguins were fairly quiet on the opening days of free agency. Then again, they had no choice. They entered with 17 players counting $51,218,000 against the NHL salary cap, which is set at $56,800,000 for next season.

Of bigger issue is their limited expiring contracts. Only $11,035,000 will come off against the 2010-11 cap, which is likely to shrink significantly because of a global recession and the weak Canadian dollar.

All the Penguins' big-name players are locked into long-term deals save for defenseman Sergei Gonchar, who will make $5,000,000 in the final year of his contract. However, the club wants to re-sign him and defenseman Kris Letang, who will become a restricted free agent after this season.

With those moves likely, the Penguins could not afford ...More