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Friday, 01 July 2011 15:15

Written by Seth Rorabaugh

According to TSN, the Penguins have signed former Predators forward Steve Sullivan to a one-year contract worth $1.5 million. In 44 games this season, Sullivan scored 22 points (10 goals, 22 assists). In nine playoff games, he scored three points (two goals, one assist).

Sullivan, 36, is a 14 year veteran who has also played the Devils, Maple Leafs and Blackhawks. A ninth-round pick in 1994, Sullivan, 5-foot-8, 161 points, has appeared in 890 career regular season games and scored 685 points (266 goals, 416 points).

A back injury forced Sullivan to miss parts of the 2006-07 season, all of 2007-08 and the first half of 2008-09. Following extensive surgery and rehabilitation, he was able to return midway through 2008-09 and won the Masterton Trophy for dedication to the game.

Sullivan has reached the 20-goal mark nine times in his career but hasn't done it since 2006-07 when he scored 22.

He missed 38 regular season and three postseason games in 2010-11 due to groin and "lower-body" injuries.

Sullivan was a member of the Predators while Ray Shero served as assistant general manager prior to joining the Penguins in 2006.

He averaged 16:01 of ice time per game during the regular season in 2010-11. He was fourth on Nashville with an average of 2:43 of power-play time during the regular season.

EN Says: This is a shrewd signing by the Penguins. Sullivan has the skill set to be a top six scoring winger. But injuries and a mostly defensive style employed by the Predators have limited his production the last few seasons. If he can stay healthy and stick on a line with Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin, he can easily reach 20 goals. But those are big ifs.

And if he doesn't work out, its a one-year deal worth a relatively small amount. There's nothing to worry about past next summer.

Sullivan has some good speed and is solid with the puck, but given his size, he can be knocked off it easily. Additionally, he's a good citizen in the locker room by all accounts having served as an assistant captain in Nashville.

He's also competent in the shootout having gone 9 for 28 (32 percent) in his career.

He can be found on Twitter at @sullivan26.

Some highlights:

-Sullivan is kind of famous for an incident during his time in Chicago when he was heckled by a fan in Colorado after suffering a facial injury. Later in the game, that same exact fan was struck by a puck. Sullivan took advantage of the opportunity and returned the favor:

(Photo: Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

Comments (14)

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written by Disgruntled Goat, July 01, 2011 - 03:20 PM

How does that help? We need a scoring right wing, not an undersized 36 year old left wing.

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written by Okel Dokel, July 01, 2011 - 03:24 PM

I think this was a signing for the PowerPlay and to help develop some of the younger guys. He is good in the room, but injury prone.

Too bad Pierre McGuire likes the signing

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written by Louder_Is_Best, July 01, 2011 - 03:34 PM

That's a good bit of money for an injury-prone guy who is up there in age....

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written by tennpen, July 01, 2011 - 03:39 PM

this sucks. i live near Nashville and go to several Preds games a year, Sullivan is too small and injury-prone. when he came to the Preds from Chicago he was awesome, had a HT his first game here i think, but that was a long time ago. i would rather RS pony up 3 mil a year for Jagoff than 1.5 for Sullivan. how does this help the DB gameplan of "play in their zone and wear them down"???? geez, this day is sucking all over

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written by Bones, July 01, 2011 - 03:49 PM

*t's all about perspective:

I'd rather roll the dice on Sullivan at $1.5 mil than see $1.8 of the cap go to Talbot for the next 5 years.

No way would I have supported giving Jagr $3.3 million. The whole idea behind taking a chance on him was that it could be done for the relatively cheap price of $2 million. If I'm a Flyer fan I'm not happy that signing a 39 year old that hasn't played NHL hockey in 3 years likely took them out of the running to re-sing Leino.

Sullivan has as many question marks as Jagr does, but he also costs less than half and there are no questions regarding his character.

Like everything else, it's a gamble.

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written by tennpen, July 01, 2011 - 03:54 PM

good points but IMO the ceiling on Sullivan isnt as high and the guy is VERY brittle, this is Mike Comrie all over again. i get the character, good locker-room guy and all that but it wouldnt surprise me at all if he is on IR by Christmas

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written by Bones, July 01, 2011 - 03:58 PM

*t could easily happen tennpen. Sullivan has had some significant injuries. Anytime a hockey player has back issues you have to be concerned. Nobody knows that more than Penguin fans...

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written by tennpen, July 01, 2011 - 04:04 PM

RS has been "rolling the dice" for 3 years now and the team still doesnt have what i would consider even one legit proven scoring winger - its all a bunch of has-been or might-be or never-were type players for little money to fill a hole for a season or two. i get those players dont grow on trees but i also dont get trying the same strategy over and over with the same results.

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written by Bones, July 01, 2011 - 04:16 PM

True, but when you have all the money tied up in three centers, a goalie, and 4 d-men there isn't going to be much left to fill the wings.

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written by tennpen, July 01, 2011 - 04:26 PM

yes, Paul Martin is the only contract im not a fan of. if you take his $5 mil and 1.5 for "rental winger A" there is the money for a 30-35 goal guy and sign a lower-price d-man or play a young guy. maybe it would just be trading one problem for another - i dont know

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written by tennpen, July 01, 2011 - 04:58 PM

the logic seems to be if a guy plays with 87 or 71 he will just score goals by default. i think playing for the Pens could possibly make a 35-goal guy a 50, but not a 15-goal guy a 30, and those 15-goal guys are what RS signs to low-money low-risk deals, seeming to hope that the players around him and the system will turn them into snipers. ideally this team would have a steady stream of young creative wingers coming up from the minors, then when they got too expensive trade them for high picks and repeat. but that obviously isnt happening and they seem hell-bent on drafting d-men every year so the only other option where they dont have to give up players in a trade is to sign a free-agent stud winger. to me the Pens biggest problem is they arent taking advantage of 87 and 71 playmaking ability without guys who can finish to complement them.

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written by KRC, July 01, 2011 - 05:27 PM

Great another injury prone player. Our entire season was blown last year with injuries. Now we're gonna pay $1.5 million for Glass Joe?

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written by espo33, July 01, 2011 - 05:40 PM

Bones-agree with you on the Jagr thing. Also we offered $2M and they let other teams get involved to make it $3.3M. I am glad Shero didn't go back and forth like that. Jagr said he wanted to come back and well this just proved he doesn't. I don't see how his uni is retired now. If it is done they showed do it during a game this season so the whole place can just boo him.

Sillivan is a good goal scorer for sure, just hope he is healthy. I think he is top 6 and is placed with Malkin to start. He is also right handed, which is good for the PP.

Kunitz-Crosby-Dupius (by default)
Neal-Malkin-Sullivan
Cooke-Staal-TK
Adams-Letestu-Asham

I hope Jeffrey's knee gets better.

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written by GenoSid, July 02, 2011 - 12:06 AM

If healthy, Steve Sullivan is a great fit here.

He'a a right shot, he has skill and while not big, is fast. If Chris Conner can play for us, then Steve Sullivan certainly can.

But staying healthy is a very big IF, of course.

When he gets hurt, though, we have Tangradi.

Sullivan will take Tangradi's 26, most likely. Eric will then take Max's 25.

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