Shero Works His Magic

Earlier today, GM Ray Shero announced that the Pens had extended defenseman Kris Letang’s contract to a 4 year deal worth 3.5 per season. This caused an up roar on Twitter of fans who liked the extension and others who didn’t. This also brought up some issues regarding the resigning of Veteran defenseman Sergei Gonchar. Gonch, who over the last couple season has had to deal with injuries, is indeed a valuable piece to the Pens D and power play. He is a guy who is respected not only in the locker room but by the league and the fans. Now let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves here, we have no idea what Ray Shero could have in store for us regarding Sarge. Shero was quoted today by saying that the signing doesn't hurt negotiations with Gonchar at all, that this was part of his plan (via Brian Metzer's From The Point).





Gonchar had nothing but praises for Letang today saying,

“He can continue to improve by finishing those (scoring) chances he does have. He does a great job playing defense and is always in great position. It’s only when he jumps into offensive chances he has to work on finishing them.”












Letang, of course, was thrilled, “You always want to be in a town where you want to play. I think that I’d rather stay here and have fun. I fit in great with these guys, and I think that we are a family now. We’re all young and growing together. It’s a really important part of any team.”

He was interviewed by Mark Madden of 105.9 The X. I only caught part of the interview but in that part MM asked Letang, “What are you going to do with your money?” Letang was quick to respond saying, “Nothing. I’m not going to change anything, I going to stay the same.” It’s great to hear that a guy wants to stay and play for a city like Pittsburgh, who wouldn’t? The best part is this kid is only going to get better and that’s why Shero does what he does.





“I think that he is one of the better young defensemen in the league,” Shero said. “He's going to get better as a defenseman, and he shows leadership capabilities on and off the ice. We'll see what happens.”
Check out what HC Dan Bylsma had to say about the Letang extension as well as Captain Sidney Crosby.

Posted in: Kris Letang,Ray Shero,Sergie Gonchar