SoCalTrjn wrote:not if the new salary basement is higher than what they could afford to pay before.
did every team in 03/04 had a team salary of over 35 million?
I believe the basement is $21 million. They might be able to get by with a low payroll for now since they have a lot of guys on their first pro contracts. I believe the new entry level maximum is less than a million dollars. The Pens will have Crosby and Malkin under contract for a few years and they will only cost them $2 million combined.
Right now, the Pens have only 7 guys under contract for just under $6 million...which includes Recchi and it doesn't include Fleury. Throw in Crosby and Malkin...they'll have 9 guys for about $8 million and Fleury probably isn't making more than a $1 million. Mario won't overpay himself to stay on board so they could have 11 guys under contract for somewhere between $11 and $14 million. I think the Pens can go out and try to add another scoring forward...like a Kovalev or Palffy for $4 or 5 million.
The excitement surrounding the team will get fans to the arena and to the fact they have two of the biggest names in the sport on their team means they could do well in merchandising. Imagine how many people will sport a #87 or #9 Crosby jersey around the Steel City? I think as long as Crosby is half of what everyone is expecting him to be, they'll have a player to build around for the next decade. The Pens may be scratching by for a couple years but they get their new arena and Crosby becomes one of the biggest stars in the league, they'll be a big deal again.