I touched on this earlier on Twitter, but I wanted to put my thoughts down here as well. For some reason, a lot of Penguin fans have gotten it into their heads that the team should go after Zach Parise, which would be a colossally stupid idea.
Has everyone forgotten what happened in the playoffs? The Penguins have no trouble putting up goals, and will not lose a step by shipping out Staal. The early exit falls directly on the shoulders of the defense and goaltending. End of story. Adding another all-star scoring forward will do absolutely nothing to remedy that.
Vokoun should help shore up the goaltending, but what about the defense? Now that Michalek has been shipped out, the blueline is thinner than ever.
If Shero goes after any big name free agent, it has to be Suter. I understand that there is a ton of young talent in the Pens’ system, but that does nothing to help them win now.Even if Despres sticks in the NHL this year, the D corps is largely the same group of guys that folded like a goddamned beach chair, and fixing that has to be priority number one. More offensive firepower with a huge price tag is the last thing they need.
