Orpik turns down Pens offer

Brooks Orpik turned down the Pens contract proposal made yesterday. The details of the contract are not known, but it was thought to be a multi-year deal worth about $3 million annually. He earned slightly below $1.1 million last season. Orpik's agent Lewis Gross confirmed that Orpik did receive an offer and that it was turned down. He says the two sides are still talking. Ray Shero did not comment. You can read the articles from the Post-Gazette and Trib here and here.

The NHL announced Thursday that the salary cap has increased to $56.7 million for the 2008-09 season. The cap increased 12.7 percent from last season's $50.3 million. Gary Bettman had predicted a $3 million increase previously. Overall attendance was up for the fourth consecutive record-setting season and is said to be one of the reasons for the dramatic increase, as well as the strength of the Canadian dollar. Each team must spend at least $40.7 million on player salaries. The individual salary allowance is now $11.34 million this season. You can read the article on the Trib here. Looking at that $11.34 million, Crosby and Malkin look like a huge bargain. The Pens and fans are lucky for those "hometown" discounts and team first attitudes.

Puck Daddy blog over at Yahoo! has an article on Brooks Orpik and how he is a defensive defenseman. Pittsburgh's own version of Scott Stevens. Read it here. We're also being lazy since it's almost 3 am, so today's YouTube comes courtesy of Puck Daddy. At the end of the post above there is an interview with Brooks Orpik. He's shirtless ladies, so if that makes you want to click, more power to ya!

PG's NHL Notebook.

We hope the Pens can make some good deals and retain Orpik and a few others. It's been all bad news so far, but we're still trusting Ray Shero has a good plan in place. Only time will tell. But we're really hoping for Orpik right now so we can get our Free Candy t-shirt from The Pensblog Store.