Ducks Let Penner Walk

The Anaheim Ducks have let Dustin Penner march on to whiter pastures as he is on his way to Edmonton to play for the Oilers. The Ducks will receive a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd round draft pick as compensation and that #1 could be a top-ten pick. As long as Niedermayer doesn't announce his retirement tomorrow - thereby shedding the necessary cap space - then this is the right move for the Ducks.

They still have to sign Perry and Getzlaf before anyone can toss an offer sheet their way next year. They also have a spot or two to fill at forward for this year though that's likely waiting to have a rookie step in. Bobby Ryan perhaps? Or perhaps Teemu will take a hometown discount to come back and defend the cup.

I didn't think the Ducks would match this offer since it meant shedding a lot of salary. I wasn't the only one as I think the majority of bloggers didn't see the Ducks matching this one - and a lot thought Lowe was nuts. Nuts he may be as Penner could fade into oblivion after one decent, full NHL season under his belt. But hey, he'll fade away as a millionaire.

Oilers Sign Penner to Offer Sheet

It was just reported on tsn.ca that Kevin Lowe has tendered an offer sheet to RFA Dustin Penner and he has signed it. At a price of $21.5M over 5 years, it's kind of deal Penner couldn't pass up and the kind of offer that the Ducks may be forced to pass over.

Anaheim only has $2M in cap space at the moment with their $7M dollar defenseman still pondering whether he will retire or not. Brian Burke has stated he will match any offers to Penner but what GM would say "Offer away, we won't match."

The compensation to the Ducks would be a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd round pick. So Burke has some interesting options to weigh as we all wait for the profanity-laced press conference that will come once Burke has made his decision.