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Stats professor says Penguins overpaid for Scuderi

Rob Scuderi

When the Pittsburgh Penguins signed Rob Scuderi as a free agent this summer, fans loved lauded it saying it was a mistake he was let go four years ago. GM Ray Shero even said as much.

Did they get back on the bandwagon too late though? A statistics professor from St. Lawrence University thinks so.

Fluto Shinzawa of the Boston Globe spoke with Michael Shuckers and he says Scuderi’s underlying statistics say he wasn’t worth the four-year, $13.5 million price tag.

“That’s the one that sticks out to me this year,” Schuckers said. “Pittsburgh is supposed to be a team that’s fairly analytic. All the analytics I’ve seen suggest he’s well past his prime.”

The analytics he’s talking about is the Corsi rating. Scuderi’s wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t $3 million-plus per year good either. Scuderi turns 38 when the deal ends. In other words, the Pens may have paid up big for a guy heading into his declining years.

We’ve seen many defensemen play deep into their 30s and some into their 40s and maintain a top level of play. Scuderi could turn out that way. Maybe.

Considering Pittsburgh’s defensive issues last season, however, they’ll want Scuderi to just play defense and let guys like Kris Letang and Paul Martin worry about generating goals.

Follow @JoeYerdonPHT