Craig Adams Wants A Raise

This is a little late, but better late than never. Craig Adams seems to want a raise from his 1 year deal of $550,000 that he made last year. This throws a wrench into The Pond's reasoning behind the Penguin free agents of this summer. This probably throws an even bigger wrench in to Ray Shero's plan leading up to the NHL's free agency beginning almost a month from now.  

Craig Adams is a the type of guy that will fit into virtually any NHL team's roster. What he lacks in point production (4G 11A) he makes up for on the penalty kill and during the limited time that fourth line is deployed on the ice. Craig Adams has become a penalty killiling specialist and routinely sacrifices life and limb to block shots when the Pens send a player to the sin-bin. He led the Penguin forwards with an average of 3:05 of short handed ice time. He was a major factor in the penalty killing sitting at the top of the league during the regular season. Replacing Adams on the penalty kill would be harder for the Pens to do than many believe, but Ray Shero does have some options, and with the salary cap ceiling slated to increase for the upcoming season, seeing Craig Adams lace up the skates for the Penguins during the 2011-12 season is a possibility.


The decision may down to whether the Pens would like to retain the services of Max Talbot. As mentioned above, Craig Adams made $550,000 last season and Talbot, who is also an unrestricted free agent made $1.05 million. Talbot and Adams both fulfill similar roles on the ice for the Penguins. Off the ice and in the locker room, Talbot is a character guy that many believe is an essential role to the dynamic of this team. However, in this NHL, with the salary cap as it is, it is a tough decision for general managers such as Ray Shero to pay a player on character alone, when there is another guy who may be able to do the job on the ice more efficiently and at a cheaper cost.


This is the situation in Pittsburgh. Why pay a fourth liner a million dollars when you can give another a raise that likely will not cost that much? If they give Adams a few hundred more thousand, and give him a multiple year deal, then you would think there should be no problem in signing him. Again this is the NHL, and there may be a GM willing to give Adams more than the Pens can afford. Signing Adams with a raise over Max Talbot would be a logical move for the Pens, and one that would be beneficial if they want to have the great success on the penalty kill that they did last season.  


From a Post-Gazette article it seems as if there is no ill-will between the two sides as Ray Shero had this to say on the Adams situation:

"We had some discussions, and I met with him one on one," Shero said. "We'd like to re-sign him, but, at this point it's not quite there. But we'd like to have him back, and he'd like to be back. Everything's very cordial."

 Hopefully a deal can get done before July 1st.