Winning is an addiction that many players obviously just cannot beat. I say this in light of another member of the Penguins Stanley Cup winning team taking less than market value to stay on board with the team.

Ruslan Fedotenko left a number of multi-year, multi-million dollar options on the table to agree to terms on a 1 year, $1.8 million dollar contract with the Penguins. This is astounding, as it seemed that Fedotenko wanted a multi-year commitment from the team. An even bigger surprise is the dollar amount. He not only took less than market value, but he took less than the $2.5 million dollars he was making last season.

The move ensures that the top three lines from last season are intact.

This is purely speculation on my part, but I believe that Shero made it clear to Fedotenko that he might be able to do something with longer term and more cash next summer. Though he has a ton of work to do before the 2010 season, the situation isn't quite as tight as it was this summer. Maybe something along the lines of a 2 year, $2.8 million contract. Time will tell, but it is very clear that skating with number 71 and having a chance to win meant an awful lot more to Fedotenko than green.

The Penguins also inked this year's version of the Pittsburgh Kid. It seems that they do that each year, first it was Ryan Malone, then came Bill Thomas... this time around, Nate Guenin.

The Sewickley, Pennsylvania native appeared in one game with the Philadelphia Flyers during the 2008-09 season while spending the majority of the year with the Philadelphia Phantoms of the American Hockey League (AHL), posting 14 assists along with 95 penalty minutes in 62 games with the Phantoms this past season.

The 6-2, 210-pound defenseman played 12 career games in the NHL with the Flyers since 2006, recording two assists and six penalty minutes while collecting a plus-2 rating. The gritty blueliner made his NHL debut in Philadelphia versus the New York Islanders January 18, 2007. In three seasons with the Phantoms, Guenin registered 43 points (seven goals, 36 assists) and 333 minutes in penalties while appearing in 207 career games in the AHL. Guenin collected one assist and a plus-2 rating in 12 career post-season contests with the Phantoms in 2007-08.

One online scouting report of Guenin has this to say...

ASSETS: Has the size and aggressiveness teams love from the back end. Is a solid team-first player with stay-at-home qualities and a mean streak.

FLAWS: Must prove capable of playing in the 'new' NHL without taking bad penalties. Needs to work on his mobility and decision-making in order to play regularly.

Guenin will be in the mix to fill that 6 or 7 defenseman slot.

The Penguins also made a couple of front office moves this morning. Tom Filzgerald has moved into an Assistant to the GM role with the team. His role as an assistant coach on Dan Bylsma's staff was very hard on he and his family.

“Tom is an extremely valuable member of the Penguins organization and this new role will capitalize on his ability to deal with young players throughout our system.” Shero said. “We gave him the opportunity to return as an assistant coach, but Tom wanted to enable his wife and four children to continue to live in Boston, and he expressed a strong interest in working in the front office. He’ll work closely with me and Assistant GM Jason Botterill and will be a go-to guy in a lot of areas.”

Dan MacKinnon has been promoted to Director of Player Personnel.

Overall, it was one of the busiest days of free agency thus far. Look for Shero to continue fishing, as he now has a little more flexibility than he did yesterday to plug the remaining holes on his blue line.

Ahem, Jay Mckee, Ahem...

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