Moore should play well with Ruutu and Leclair... That means that Malone will probably make winger on one of the top 2 lines... We needed his PK as well. With Eaton, Moore and Malkin on the PK, the pens have seriously improved their worst weakness last year.
Also:
"PITTSBURGH The Pittsburgh Penguins have acquired left wing Nils Ekman and goaltender prospect Patrick Ehelechner from the San Jose Sharks in exchange for a 2007 second round draft choice, it was announced today by General Manager Ray Shero. The second round draft choice was previously acquired from the Carolina Hurricanes on March 9, 2006 in exchange for Mark Recchi."
Ekman should fit in well on Malkin or Crosby's line this year. Good trade for a top 6 forward who is proven to both produce and be highly responsible defensively. He is the best +/- man in the league the past 2 years. I think the goalie was just a throw in.
So now our lines look like this:
Malone-Crosby-Armstrong
Ekman-Malkin-???? (maybe this Libor Pivko takes this spot, or M. Ouellette, or Jordan Staal
)
Leclair-Moore-Ruutu
Stone (rookie)-Talbot-Roy
Gonchar - Orpik
Whitney - Eaton
Melichar - Welch - (looked awesome last year in his callup)
Cairns
M.A Fleury
T-Bo
I think Shero has done a great job improving the team speed, toughness and defense with his signings... Just adding Malkin to the team this next year is going to be huge!