BLUE LINE
New Faces: Pens Add Veterans
By Bob Grove

There will be plenty of unfamiliar faces on the ice when the Penguins open training camp, as the roster includes 16 players signed to Pittsburgh contracts for the first time. But the team is hardly in upheaval; among the new players, only right winger Petr Sykora and defenseman Darryl Sydor are expected to be on the opening night roster.

"Adding the players we've added," general manager Ray Shero said after signing those two veterans, "I like our group. We're still a work in progress, no doubt. But we're an improving team, and I think that's going to make us a competitive team."

Coach Michel Therrien's group also includes another former unrestricted free agent in goaltender Dany Sabourin, but he's no stranger to the Penguins. He was arguably the best goaltender in their camp last fall before being lost on waivers to Vancouver.

Shero's summer was otherwise filled by signing Therrien, Sidney Crosby and Ryan Whitney to contract extensions, re-signing a half-dozen restricted free agents, filling out his scouting and front-office staffs and welcoming 14 other players expected to begin the season in the American Hockey League or ECHL.

Those include goaltenders Ty Conklin, David Brown and John Curry; defensemen Alex Goligoski, Mike Weaver, Jonathan D'Aversa, Mark Ardelan and Deryk Engelland; and forwards Tim Brent, Jeff Taffe, Aaron Boogaard, Chris Minard, Nathan Smith and Mark Letestu.

Eight players who skated for the Penguins last season were not re-signed this summer, including goaltender Jocelyn Thibault, defensemen Josef Melichar, Eric Cairns, Micki Dupont and Joel Kwiatkowski and forwards Michel Ouellet, Nils Ekman and Ronald Petrovicky. Chris Thorburn, meanwhile, was traded to Atlanta.

Sykora, 30, who led Edmonton with 22 goals last season and has scored 20 or more goals in eight consecutive NHL seasons, took a bit of an unusual approach to joining the Penguins by having his agent call Shero at 12:01 on July 1, the first day of free agency.

"He's got a great release, a great shot, and I really think he'll be a good fit for the top two lines," Shero said of Sykora, who won the Stanley Cup with New Jersey in 2000 and reached the Finals with Anaheim in 2003. "He gives us another element on the wing, and he's played the point on the power play. He's always been a real good player in the playoffs."

Sydor, 35, also has a playoff pedigree, having won the Cup with Dallas in 1999 and Tampa Bay in 2004.

"If I'm not out there getting hit, battling, getting in people's faces. . . I'm not the biggest guy, but if it's a slow game then I'm not doing something right," said Sydor, who joins the Penguins from Dallas and could be partnered with 20-year-old Kris Letang, who is also expected to make the team out of camp. "I need to skate, move the puck and be physical - that's my game."

The 27-year-old Sabourin played only nine games behind Roberto Luongo in Vancouver before signing a one-way contract with Pittsburgh that all but guarantees his status as the backup to Marc-Andre Fleury. He has played only 14 NHL games while Conklin, who signed a two-way contract from Buffalo, has played 76.