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Sunday, 03 July 2011 12:14

Written by Seth Rorabaugh

The Penguins have signed former Thrashers defenseman Boris Valabik to a one-year two-way contract.

Valabik, 25, spent all of 2010-11 in the AHL splitting time between the Chicago Wolves and the Providence Bruins. In 59 games, he recorded 11 assists and 189 penalty minutes.

A first-round pick in 2004 (No. 10 overall), Valabik (6-foot-7, 245 pounds) last played in the NHL in 2009-10 when he appeared in 23 games for the Thrashers and recorded two assists.

In 80 career NHL games, the native of Slovakia has seven assists and 80 penalty minutes.

Penguins might remember Valabik for an incident involving Sidney Crosby when Crosby punched him... uh... low... during a scrum midway through the 2008-09 season.

EN Says: This is a signing for the sake of organizational depth. Valabik will come to training camp and will get a chance to compete for the bottom two defensive spots but we have a hard time seeing him ending up on the NHL roster barring injuring.

Valabik is pretty much as advertised. He's a big body who plays physical. But he's not much of a skater and he offers next to nothing offensively. He's an AHL version of Hal Gill.

With the Penguins losing Corey Potter and Andrew Hutchinson to free agency, they needed to sign a veteran blue liner for the sake of organization depth.

-A few highlights. The guy will fight:

Comments (3)

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written by D Sanchez, July 03, 2011 - 02:03 PM

At least we'll have a guy to suit up for the Isles games.

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written by GenoSid, July 03, 2011 - 07:28 PM

Chara looked like absolute garbage his first few years in the league.

Not saying he could be Chara one day. But he could possibly be a legit #6 or 7 NHL defenseman one day, especially with better coaching than he ever got in the Atlanta system.

Nice signing. Between him and McDonald, we are filling our system with guys still young enough to be a little intriguing.

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written by GenoSid, July 03, 2011 - 09:42 PM

For all the attention that has been given to our rival Flyers...

The far more serious threat is our other rival, the Caps.

Vokoun for $1.5 million after the Flyers 3 ring circus to land Bryzgalov. You can debate who is better, it's close. You cannot debate which team got the best deal.

The Varlamov trade might be the biggest hose job ever. A first rounder (almost certain to be a lottery pick) and a second for a brittle backup who showed one good run in his career????????? When they could have had Vokoun for nothing. Greg Sherman is hands down the worst GM in hockey.

Joel Ward is exactly the type of player the Caps need if they want to win. Great player.

Hamrlik is old, but if he replaces Poti, they are better for it.

Word is they are shopping Green or Semin hoping to trade one of them.

If the trade nets more Joel Ward types...the Caps could be a very legit threat.

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