Confirmed Signing with Link: [PIT] Penguins re-sign Matt Cullen to 1 year deal

[bossram]

Cullen was a very useful player for the Pens last year during their Cup run. Good to see him back. Can do much worse that him in at your 4C slot.

 

[Chuck Norris Trophy]

Mother****ing yes! I was so sure he was going to end his career in Minnesota but no, at least not yet. He was an absolute beast last season for the Pens. So happy about this.

 

[Elvs]

From what I can find, the only USA born players to play more NHL games are Chris Chelios, Mike Modano, Phil Housley and Jeremy Roenick.

Talk about good job of Cullen to be #5 on the list, since he's never even reached 50 points in a season.

 

[spintheblackcircle]

Is Cullen the "best" average player ever?

If that makes sense.

 

[Vitto79]

At that price if he all of a sudden stinks oh well so why not 1 more year

 

[NotYou]

Cullen said today that Pittsburgh was his preference all along and the way Rutherford spoke about it, he made it sound like his re-signing was fait accompli for some time. His boys seemed to be a strong factor as well, they became Penguin crazy last summer - they even got their schooling done with a private tutor inside the Penguins practice facility - and Cullen said when he told them they were going back, they ran inside their rooms and got all their Penguins gear on.

I don't know that it would have mattered much.

I mean it's not particularly meaningful that he or the team said he always wanted to sign with pit. He's not gonna say "yeah I really wanted to go to mn but Fletcher was a ***** and wouldn't sign me so I guess I'll stay here"

 

[Le Magnifique 66]

Good job JR, Cullen is a great team guy and a solid 4th liner with still some great wheels despite his age.

 

[Jaded-Fan]

I mean it's not particularly meaningful that he or the team said he always wanted to sign with pit. He's not gonna say "yeah I really wanted to go to mn but Fletcher was a ***** and wouldn't sign me so I guess I'll stay here"

If my choices are the player and organization is lying or the local reporter, well given the low opinion that I have of hockey writers who we have seen make up things as click bait in the past, my money is on the player.

GMJR for that matter has the worst poker face in all of sports. He is incapable of dissemination. Often to his detriment.

 

[Shady Machine]

Is Cullen the "best" average player ever?

If that makes sense.

I'd say he's certainly up there. To be an effective NHLer for that long is really impressive.

 

[Shady Machine]

If my choices are the player and organization is lying or the local reporter, well given the low opinion that I have of hockey writers who we have seen make up things as click bait in the past, my money is on the player.

GMJR for that matter has the worst poker face in all of sports. He is incapable of dissemination. Often to his detriment.

Nah. Russo is probably the best beat guy in the game. He had exclusive interviews with Cullen this summer. If he said Minny made an offer to Cullen, then it probably happened or Cullen's agent told him it happened and Minny didn't refute it.

 

[Luigi Lemieux]

Great signing. He's still a beast on that 4th line, and gets a lot of tough defensive minutes. Big reason why Sullivan has no fear putting up the pens 4th line against other teams 1st line.

 

[ThatGuy22]

Nah. Russo is probably the best beat guy in the game. He had exclusive interviews with Cullen this summer. If he said Minny made an offer to Cullen, then it probably happened or Cullen's agent told him it happened and Minny didn't refute it.

Russo is pretty clear when he's speculating or when he's reporting fact. And he's been saying in a very matter of fact manner, that literally all Minnesota had to do is make the offer and it would be done in 10 minutes. There is corroboration of this from Mark Parrish, who does local radio in the Twin Cities now and is one of Cullen's best friends from their days back at SCSU.

Russo has also clear, that if Pitt made an offer, Cullen would probably stop waiting for Fletcher, and that Cullen has had 3 offers on the table from other teams besides MN and Pittsburgh for months, waiting for one of MN/Pitt to step up.

Pittsburgh did it first, and got the deal done. Good on them. No idea why Fletcher wouldn't pull the trigger on such an obvious move.

 

[ThatGuy22]

I'd say he's certainly up there. To be an effective NHLer for that long is really impressive.

I saw a stat on Twitter that he has the most points in NHL history, for a player that's never had a 50 point season. That's pretty remarkable.

 

[57special]

Is Cullen the "best" average player ever?

If that makes sense.

Good way to put it.

 

[Riptide]

I mean it's not particularly meaningful that he or the team said he always wanted to sign with pit. He's not gonna say "yeah I really wanted to go to mn but Fletcher was a ***** and wouldn't sign me so I guess I'll stay here"

Agreed. And that's not even getting into how awful many of the local guys are (reporting wise). Even if what he's telling us is the truth, there's really nothing else for him to say that doesn't sound bad.

It's like when Crosby says he likes playing with whomever the coach gives him as wingers. Inside he's probably going WTF... but he sure as **** can't say that to the press.

 

[Goose312]

Cullen said today that Pittsburgh was his preference all along and the way Rutherford spoke about it, he made it sound like his re-signing was fait accompli for some time. His boys seemed to be a strong factor as well, they became Penguin crazy last summer - they even got their schooling done with a private tutor inside the Penguins practice facility - and Cullen said when he told them they were going back, they ran inside their rooms and got all their Penguins gear on.

I don't know that it would have mattered much.

What did you expect him to say? "Yeah I wanted to go home to MN but they didn't offer me a deal, so I figured I should go with my 2nd choice. Really glad to be here guys..."

Not even saying the Pens were really a 2nd choice, but if they were he's never going to admit that.

 

[Dying Alive]

What did you expect him to say? "Yeah I wanted to go home to MN but they didn't offer me a deal, so I figured I should go with my 2nd choice. Really glad to be here guys..."

Not even saying the Pens were really a 2nd choice, but if they were he's never going to admit that.

So instead of just saying he was glad to be back in Pittsburgh he went out of his way to say that the Pens were always his first choice, he turned down more money to go elsewhere, and his kids would come back tomorrow if they could?




I mean, you can choose to think that he's just being polite by gushing the same things to multiple reporters but he's going back to the mostly intact team he just won the Cup with and likely retiring next year to wherever he wants to live, I'm not sure why it's hard to believe that the Pens were his first choice in terms of where to play hockey. It's not like it makes a difference either way. I'm sure either team would have made him happy.

 

[Habs 4 Life]

In the games I watched Cullen was one of the most important players for the Penguins in their Cup run, no brainer for them to bring him back! Solid move and depth for them to have such a player.

 

[nomorekids]

Really strange, he was just a square peg in Nashville. He was bad offensively, bad defensively, just never seemed to fit, despite prior relationship playing with Lavy. I honestly thought he was done, but I"m happy for him regardless.

 

[topshelf15]

Makes perfect sense for both team and player ,Cullen has been very good for that team .Thinking he is more lookng towards retirement after this next season ,rather than bounce around the league at his age anymore.Solid signing

 

[Jaded-Fan]

In the games I watched Cullen was one of the most important players for the Penguins in their Cup run, no brainer for them to bring him back! Solid move and depth for them to have such a player.

The Pens third and fourth lines had both regular season and playoffs two to four times the points of the third and fourth lines of every team that they played in the playoffs.

While doing the job that third and fourth lines do, absolutely shutting down some of the best players in the NHL when they could be paired against them. When not, like away from home, the Pens' top two lines played the other teams to a draw. Yeah, Crosby did not score much at times, but neither did Ovechkin or the other Caps being counted on, and back and forth. The Pens' possession numbers were ridiculous. One of the better stat guys did a chart showing the amazing job that Cullen line did in limiting possession of the top lines of opposing teams at one point during the playoffs.

Those kind of numbers were the special sauce for the Pens that makes them almost impossible to keep up with and Cullen was a very key part of that, especially in the shut down role. That scoring was gravy.

Crosby and Malkin were the decoys.

Limiting the other team to less than ten shots a period for most of the playoffs, often under 15 shots for the first couple of periods, five shots in that final period when the Sharks were down that won the cup, and goals from guys like Cullen, Rust, Sheary and Bonino, Bonino, Bonino won the cup.

 

[Extra Texture]

Hell yes. Getting the band back together.

 

[Jaded-Fan]

As an example, and the stat guy I was referring to looked at one game in the cup finals which was a microcosm of what Cullen brought to the table and how much the Pens relied on him and his line in that shut down role with Defensive Zone responsibilities:





The goals were simply gravy. That he scored at all with those heavy defensive responsibilities is amazing.

 

[ThatGuy22]

Really strange, he was just a square peg in Nashville. He was bad offensively, bad defensively, just never seemed to fit, despite prior relationship playing with Lavy. I honestly thought he was done, but I"m happy for him regardless.

He had a 40 point season and one and an 82 game pace of 34 point season in Nashville. More or less what he's always been.

 

[Lebowski]

Great news for the Pens. He's been amazing for them.