Penguins' Shero Plans on Qualifying Restricted Free Agents

More news coming out about the Penguins today, as Dave Molinari of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette is reporting that general manager Ray Shero plans on extending qualifying offers to restricted free agents Tyler Kennedy, Dustin Jeffrey, Robert Bortuzzo and newly acquired Harry Zolnierczyk.

Shero was quoted as saying, "I don't see us not qualifying anybody, at this point" which leads me to believe that restricted free agents in the AHL with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins will receive qualifying offers as well, namely forwards Riley Holzpafel, Brian Gibbons, Paul Thompson and Zach Sill.



If all the RFA's are retained (not counting the banished Kevem Veilleux), the Penguins will have 40 contracts on the payroll. The NHL-max on number of contracts is 50. Players who return to juniors don't count against the limit so take away Derrick Pouliot and Olli Maatta if they dont make the NHL roster out of camp and that leaves a maximum of 10-12 contracts the Penguins can hand out in free agency.

Below is the organization's complete list of restricted free agents, who must be tendered a qualifying offer before next Monday in order to be retained for next season and avoid unrestricted free agency:

Tyler Kennedy, Dustin Jeffrey, Robert Bortuzzo, Harry Zolnierczyk, Eric Hartzell, Brian Gibbons, Riley Holzpafel, Paul Thompson, Zach Sill and Keven Veilleux.