Therrien

PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Penguins' march to the Stanley Cup finals has paid off for coach Michel Therrien, who has agreed to a new three-year contract, general manager Ray Shero said Friday.

The deal includes a raise for this season and goes through the 2010-11 season.

"Michel has done a tremendous job with our team over the past two-and-a-half seasons, developing our young players while leading us to division and conference championships and the Stanley Cup finals," Shero said.

Therrien had one year left on his contract. Though they could have talked about an extension, Shero said that "based on the success we've had together, it was time to negotiate a new deal, starting with an increase in compensation for the 2008-09 season."

Therrien said Pittsburgh "is a great hockey city with an outstanding fan base."

"All of our players comment on how much they love playing in Pittsburgh, and I can tell you that our coaches love coaching in Pittsburgh," Therrien said. "We still have a lot of work to do, though, because we fell short of our biggest goal last season. Our goal is, and always will be, to win the Stanley Cup."