This is my first FanPost, so I'll apologize for poor formatting right off the bat. I'm also lazy, so pardon misspellings and skipped words.

My first team was build with guys who were outperforming their cap hits. It was great until I realized 18 players would be RFA or UFA within two years. I redid the team with some longer term guys to give my team some stability, then made some cuts to get a little flexibility. Disclaimer: I didn't bother with any advanced stats or pay attention to the LD/RD thing. Without further ado:

CapGeek Link

Projected Lines:

Forwards

Ilya Kovalchuk - Derek Stepan - Blake Wheeler

Josh Bailey - Nicklas Backstrom - David Backes

Steve Ott - Sean Couturier - Todd Bertuzzi

Colton Gillies - Eric Belanger - Jordan Nolan

Scratches: Colin Greening, Tim Jackman

Defense

Duncan Keith - Francois Beauchemin

Tom Gilbert - Andrej Sekera

Justin Faulk - Marc-Andre Bergeron

Scratch: Simon Despres

Goalie

Roberto Luongo

James Reimer

Teams with no players used: BOS, COL, FLA, MON, NSH, PHX, SJS

Draft Compliance

2011 - 1st

2010 - 2nd

2009 - 1st, 7th

2008 - 1st, 2nd

2007 - 1st

2006 - 1st, 4th

2005 - 7th

2004 - 1st, 3rd

2003 - 2nd

2002 - 3rd, 4th

2001 - 1st, 2nd

2000 - 1st

1998 - 3rd

1997 - 1st

1996 - 4th

1993 - 1st

Undrafted (1)

Short Term Analysis

CapGeek lists this 23 man team with $5,506,705 under the cap. That leaves more than enough space to handle injury call-ups and make a deadline deal or two. Offensively, I've got Kovy locked down as an elite sniper, with Stepan to center. I've also a pair of big wingers in Backes and Wheeler. Backstrom is signed for a few years, and Bailey's cheap and should be good for 40-50 points with those linemates. The bottom 6 guys are a mix of young players like Couturier and veterans like Bert. Ott can always jump up into the 2nd line if need be.

Keith and Beauchemin will be the tough minute guys, Gilbert and Sekera will be able to hold as the 2nd pair. MAB is an injury risk, so I'd like to shelter him a bit and roll him out for the PP. Faulk and Despres are young, but project to fill in when Sekera/Gilbert deals are over.

Despite what Canuck fans will tell you, Luongo is still a good goalie, and I'm hoping Reimer will do well enough in limited starts to regain form/push Luo.

Long Term Analysis

In year 2, I'll have 12.3 million to fill 6 spots. Only MAB is a UFA, with Stepan, Wheeler, Bailey, Gillies, and Nolan as RFA. Stepan, Wheeler, and Bailey are all due for raises, and in that order. Gillies and Nolan shouldn't command huge raises, if at all. If nothing else, there are always cheap players on the market to fill those roles. If Bergeron can't be resigned to a cheap, short term deal, Despres moves out of the pressbox and takes over.

In year 3 (2014-15,) Couturier, Faulk, and Despres are my big RFAs to resign. It'd be nice to give Couturier around Jordan Staal money, too early to know how much the Dmen will earn. My top 6 should be settled, so once those RFAs are done, I'll just need to replace some bottom guys.

Overall, I've got some elite talent signed to longer deals, I'll just have to get the young players I want to keep signed in the first two years. The core should stay together for a while.

Final Thoughts

• With all the talent the Pens have, my pick came down to Craig Adams and Despres. Despres made it after I had to give up Slava Voynov due to the draft rule
• Forwards who can play point on PP like Kovy and Stepan will probably have to due that more than I'd like, especially is Bergeron does get injured
• Given their projected roles, Belanger and Reimer cap hits that are pretty high. They both have 2 years left, and they're not albatross contracts, so if they can play reasonably well, I can live with it.
• I probably should have picked guys with s specific system in mind, but as I mentioned at the top, I'm lazy. This team won't have the "Wow Factor" of some other the teams, but Darrell Sheets is an idiot anyways.