by Dave Molinari, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette , Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Sure, the Penguins lost both halves of their shutdown defense pairing of Rob Scuderi and Hal Gill, but still have four established defensemen -- Sergei Gonchar, Brooks Orpik, Mark Eaton and Kris Letang -- coming back, along with the highly regarded Alex Goligoski.

If they succeed in adding another veteran defenseman such as Jay McKee and work out a deal with restricted free agent Ben Lovejoy, their blue line should be pretty solid when training camp opens.

The Baby Penguins , conversely, already know that they will have to replace two of their top four scorers from 2008-09 and are virtually certain of losing a third.

Jeff Taffe, who was their No. 2 point-producer with 25 goals and 50 assists in 74 games, accepted a two-year deal with Florida while Chris Minard, who ranked fourth on the club with a team-record 34 goals and 23 assists in 54 games, signed with Edmonton.

What's more, forward Janne Pesonen, who led the Baby Penguins in scoring with 32 goals and 50 assists in 70 games, seems certain to move on. The chances of him re-signing with the Penguins all but vanished when winger Ruslan Fedotenko agreed to a one-year deal worth $1.8 million Friday.

That kind of turnover isn't unusual at the minor-league level -- players who are productive there often move on to other organizations offering more money or a better chance to play in the NHL ---- and the Penguins already have made a move to replace some of the offense they have lost in Wilkes-Barre.

Chris Conner, a 5-foot-8, 180-pound right winger who spent the past three seasons in the Dallas organization, accepted a contract yesterday.

Conner, 25, had 16 goals and 12 assists in 30 games with Peoria of the AHL, along with three goals and 10 assists in 38 games with the Stars. He has seven goals and 14 assists in 71 career NHL games.

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