Pens Opening Night PREVIEW....Gametime Baby!!!

- Sometime after 7:30 pm, the Pens will begin their march for a Stanley Cup repeat, when they face off against Marion Gaborik and the "new look" New York Rangers. The championship banner will be raised tonight as well, and Rangers coach Tortorella wants the players to sit on the bench during the presentation in hopes of acquiring some motivation for the game, and the season as well.

- Fleury's save on Lidstrom in the winding seconds of game 7 still sticks in mind when I think of a Pens game. Tonight though, a new season will start, with some new faces sprinkled in thru the lineup. But the core of the team, Staal/Geno/Sid/Fleury/Gonch, they're all still here.
The Rangers on the other hand, have completely revamped themselves in the off-season, particularly with the forwards. They managed to trade Scott Gomez and his ridiculous $10 mil/yr contract and get some value in return, with young forward Chris Higgins. They signed flashy forward Marion Gaborik, who if healthy can put up 40-50 goals this year in an up-tempo offensive system.


- The Rangers also brought in Vinny Prospal, Ales Kotalik, and Donald Brashear. Ranger fans still haven't accepted Brashear into the community quite yet after his nasty hit on Betts last year in the playoffs. The Rangers now have a ton of offensive talent to be able to play in a Tortorella type system. But their strength remains on the backend with Girardi, Staal, and Redden.

- Enough of the Rangers, let's talk about those Pens. Crosby will be in the lineup although he's not 100% healthy. He's been hampered by a groin problem he suffered in a pre-season game against the Blue Jackets. Talbot will also be out for the contest, in fact he'll be injured until the beginning of November. Unfortunately Chris Bourque will not make his Pens debut tonight, but more likely tomorrow against the Isles. Godard's enforcing presence will be needed because Brashear will be playing for the Rangers. The NHL's top pest, Mr. Sean Avery, will also sit this game out with an injury.

The Lineup looks like this:

Kunitz-Crosby-Guerin
Dupuis-Malkin-Fedotenko
Cooke-Staal-Kennedy
Rupp-Adams-Godard

Orpik-Gonchar
Eaton-Letang
Mckee-Goligoski

Fleury

Pens pick up School-uhhhh and Bourque off waivers...Roster at 23

-I predicted the Pens would go after Skoula sometime in July, not in September, a couple of days before opening night. Skoula was placed on waivers on Monday by the Blue Jackets and a day later the Pens picked him and released a series of their own players: Bayda, Conner, Bissonnette, Engelland and Guenin. Bayda agreed to a 2-way contract on Monday which means he can be sent to WBS and play with the big team as well. Only Bissonnette has been lost from the waiver wire so far.

-Bayda worked hard enough in pre-season to earn a spot on the roster, but I guess Shero has other plans. Skoula isn't your household defenseman name but he's very solid in his own zone. I liked him a lot in his Colorado days where he won a Cup and since then he's been playing for 9 seasons and averaging 80 games a year. As a 7th defenseman, he's an excellent luxury to have. This year's Philippe Boucher if you will. Shero was looking for that 7th D-men to be a veteran player for some time now, thus youngsters Engelland and Guenin didn't fall into the Pens plans.


-As the roster was trimmed down to 21, the Skoula signing plus the Chris Bourque signing bring the roster up to 23, where it needs to be. Bourque is the son of hall-of-famer Ray Bourque and at only 23 the kid's got a lot of potential. He hasn't gotten the chance to play everyday at the NHL level, limited to only 12 games and 1 goal to show for it. But the Pens have now filled out the roster and Bourque could be on the 3rd line playing alongside Staal/Cooke on Friday or on the 4th line with Rupp and Godard. Fact is, he should get more playing time than he did in Washington.

-Why was Bourque released? Isn't he a top prospect? The Capitals have had this ongoing issue of trying to deal forward Michael Nylander. Now it turns out he might be a healthy scratch to start the season in favor of some guys much less accomplished than Bourque. Capitals nation is very angry at this specific player going on waivers, especially when he's going to a conference rival in the Pens. Biz Nasty (Bissonnette) has departed for Phoenix and he will be missed. He played with a ton of energy and was a spirited fighter who was always fun to watch. Biz will replace some of the antics and passion that Phoenix lost when another former Pen, Danny Carcillo left town.


-The Pens roster is now officially set and with Crosby healthy (ish) i'm amped up for opening night on Friday. Who will/could be scratched? Dupuis/Adams? Bourque? I'm predicting Bourque will play in the Islander game on Sat night as it will be a back to back situation. Ray Shero has done an excellent job with the waivers this week in picking a quality veteran D-men and an up and coming NHLer in Bourque. As much as we wish it was Rene Bourque from Calgary, we'll stick with this one in the meantime and see what damage he can do. At 5'8 and 180 lbs, Bourque isn't the biggest or toughest guy in the world but he's an extremely fast skater, and his 21 g/52 assists (including 21 pts in 22 post-season games) with the Hershey Bears of the AHL are evidene of that.


In Ray Shero we trust...

Pre-season ends with another loss, this time to the Wings in Motown

-If Jason Williams (pictured above) is the best player on the ice in a Wings/Pens game, you know something is wrong. As was the case Sunday night at the old Joe Louis Arena, where only 3 months ago the Pens shocked the world by dominating the Wings on their own home turf in game 7. Only this game featured no Zetterberg, Lidstrom, Ozzy, Geno, Sid, or Gonch. Although Franzen and Datsyuk were in the lineup and both had very good games.

-Jordan Staal was given the assignment of centering the 1st line with Kunitz and Guerin. He did a good job but he also had 4-5 great looks at the net (including a penalty shot) and he wasn't able to convert on any of those chances. One positive was his faceoff winning %, which was 61% on the night. The Pens were clearly the better team in the 1st period and seemed like the more solid overall team for the majority of the game. But there were way too many stupid penalties. Orpik, Adams, Guerin, etc. The Wings scored 3 PP goals on the night and that was basically the whole story: penalties penalties, and more penalties.

-It was fun seeing a 4th line of Godard Bissonette and Rupp muck their way on the ice against the likes of WW II vets Kirk Maltby and Kris Draper. There were plenty of scrums in this game, Franzen and Letang were going at it and then Guerin comes in and starts punching and Kunitz just tackles Franzen from behind and stars wailing punches. Orpik and Maltby were also going at it throughout the game, Adams and Draper were jawing, and the funniest moment was when Godard tried to get Mattias Ritola (young 'spect) to drop his mits. The ref broke it up before anything went down, but Godard still got a good punch away on him.


-Chris Conner has shown some good speed and forechecking thus far during the pre-season. Whether he makes the team or not is still in question, I think Bayda has the edge on him because of his size and strength. Conner is much quicker but he is also muscled off the puck very easily by opposing players. At 5'8 it's going to be hard to be succesful in the "new" NHL, unless your name is St. Louis or Gionta or some other guys. Defenseman Nate Guenin is the lock to get the #7 Dmen spot. Lovejoy hasn't been impressive at all this pre-season and on top of that, he's now injured.


-I know it's the pre-season and Sid/Geno/Gonch weren't even playing but still the Pens should've had a better effort, particularly the D-men and the PP. The Pens have had problems scoring on breakaways/shootouts for the past couple years. I'm not talking about scrubs like Adams who had a backhand sail far and away on a 1 on 1 chance in this game, I'm talking about Geno, Sid, Staal, and the list goes on. These are top notch players performing atrociously on breakaways, doesn't make sense. The Pens did show a lot of toughness in this game, Godard was out to kill someone and one camera angle showed the most angry and mean looking face a man could ever have. I think Godard was mad Detroit didn't have an enforcer, who would fight him?

-Next Friday night I expect to see Geno and Sid fully recovered from their groin strains and in the lineup against the Rangers. What an opening night, ay? The banner gets raised, Godard will likely fight Brashear, Avery will get punched by someone, and Geno will have a hat trick. Management has some tough decisions to make regarding the roster and who gets cut/sent down. Curry was sent down shortly after the game so that signifies Brent Johnson as the backup goalie on opening day. Conner, Bayda, and Guenin are the top candidates to break the lineup, which two stay still remains in question.

Stay tuned for more news tomorrow....

PensBuzz is back!!!...Who are some new Pens?...Are the Leafs the new Flyers?

No the guy above is not Dan Onorato (future Governor of PA). It's camp invite Ryan Bayda. The name should ring a bell considering it was Bayda who elbowed Letang in the face at the end of game 2 in the East. Conf. finals this past spring. The game was a 7-4 smackdown by the Pens over the Canes and I will always remember the fight Satan had with Eaves shortly after that Letang melee. Satan looked like Donald Brashear and was wailing punches faster than you can say Stanley Cup.

Bayda has an excellent chance of making the Pens roster as the last forward. He plays with an edge and adds a lot of grit as well. The Canes hardly ever played their 4th line in the Pens series so it was hard to get a good assesment of his game. But coach Dan Bylsma has spoken very highly of Bayda the first couple weeks of training camp. He specifically likes his sound two-way game and ability to complement all 4 lines.

Several players have been very impressing during camp, most notably Eric Tangradi. Tangradi was acquired as the centerpiece of a deal along with Chris Kunitz, for Ryan Whitney in mid February. He played alongside Crosby Tuesday against the Jackets and he had two assists, a couple huge hits and was making something happen on every shift. At 6'4 and 220, there's not much to dislike about the potential of 22 yr old Tangradi. He is expected to start camp in WBS but if more impressive pre-season games start appearing he could fill in nicely for Max Talbot on the 2nd line. I doubt it will happen, but you never know.

The Pens strength going into the season will be at the forward position. Dupuis, Rupp, Godard, Bayda, Jeffrey, Adams will all compete for jobs on the 4th line, and that is great to see. The defense on the other hand isn't as strong as it has been in years past. There are no Sydor/Boucher esque veterans in the 7th/8th positions. Lovejoy has had a very weak camp so far and I don't think management wants Lovejoy playing minimal minutes in the big's. Send him to WBS for a little bit longer to perfect his skills. Gogo(alex goligoski) has had an excellent pre-season so far, as has Kris Letang. What the defense lacks in physicality and size they make up in speed and puck moving ability. Gogo, Letang, Gonchar are tremendous at it, and Mckee/Eaton aren't so bad either.


The story is simple, Phil Kessel wanted big money the Bruins weren't able to pay him without damaging the core of the team. Kessel didn't want to take less and instead the 40 goal scorer was shipped for a couple 1st round picks and a 2nd round pick to Toronto earlier this week. A couple hours later he signed a long term deal for $5.4 mil/yr. This is very odd that they traded him to a division rival team who's improved drastically over the offseason, but it's better to get something for him than to let him walk for free. Bruins GM Chiarelli also had the issue of re-signing Savard for next year once he becomes a UFA. Kessel won't be able to play until November because of shoulder surgery. But this will definetely give the Maple Leafs an elite offensive player they don't have and haven't had since well, Alexander Mogilny? HAHA, sad but maybe true.

The Leafs are packed with talented mid-tier wingers who have potential but no numbers to prove it. Kessel has a resume with his 20 goal then 40 goal seasons the past couple years. He's a sniper with speed, and wait he's only 21. Having a guy like Kessel will make the current Toronto wingers that much better. Grabovski, Kulemin, Hanson, and Tlusty are immensely talented but they've lacked the proper role models during their time in Toronto. Kessel is a winner and a gamer, the type of player GM Brian Burke loves. But he doesn't fight? It's ok neither did Selanne but Burke liked him.

Toronto has become a worse version of the Flyers as this pre-season has clearly showed. They are taking cheap shots, taking runs at players, fighting and providing no skill whatsoever. Sound familiar? Oh yeah those guys from Philly do a lot of that. But they actually have some skill in Carter, Richards, Briere, and even Hartnell to some extent. The Leafs don't have much skill, well unless you saw Niklas Hagman's moves last night you might disagree and I won't blame you.
But I looked at the box score for the Leafs/Flyers game last night and there were a combined 19 penalties (3 fighting majors) thru 1.5 periods of play. So apparently the strategy in hockey has now become one in which you win by going to the penalty box as much as possibe. Where's Bobby Clarke when you need him? He would approve of this hockey strategy.


Exelby and Laperriere got into a couple bloody affairs last night, Orr(above)/Cote as well, and even Leafs sniper Lee Stempniak of all people. But the point is, it's sad to see these teams just muck it up the whole time and play stupid Canadien hockey. Yes the Flyers improved their defense by adding Pronger, but they lost 51 goals in production from Lupul/Knuble and they have Emery starting in goal. Which means you don't know if he'll be Patrick Roy one night or Dany Sabourin the next. The Leafs did improve a lot on D, with Exelby/Komisarek/Beauchemin, but this team has a ways to go before it can be compared to the Ducks cup team Burke built a couple years ago.

How weird is it to see a Senators team without Danny Heatley on it. Instead they have Michalek, Cheechoo, and Alex Kovalev. Have they improved from last year? I think yes, they now have two deep scoring lines and if history tells us anything, it's that Kovy plays very well every other year, so we're due for a spectacular season from the man once called "Le Magnific" in Montreal. Boy oh boy do I miss Kovy from the Pens days, Kovy/Straka/Lang that was a sexy 2nd line. Comrie and Hilarry Duff is also sexy but we won't get into that.

The Pens face the Canadiens tomorrow night, the game will be on the NHL network and I will have a preview ready for that tomorrow afternoon.

It's good to be back.

-M to the Bizzle

Pens Sign Goalie Brent Johnson ...Prospect Camp Begins!!!....Sykora goes off on Bylsma?

Finally some Pens News as former Washington Capitals goalie Brent Johnson has now signed a 1 year contract sought to be worth around $650k. The exact terms are not yet known but they're roughly in that range. The Pens were after goalie Curtis Samford before he signed with Montreal a couple days ago. Shero was also in talks with goalie Kevin Weekes but Johnson turned out to be the best option. Johnson will compete with rookie goalie Curry for the backup spot this fall and this was the plan all along.

It goes underlooked that Johnson posted a 12-6-2 record with a 2.81 gaa and .908 save percentage. Now 32, Johnson has been a backup throughout his NHL career (Phoenix, St. Louis, Washington) and he has done a great job at it. Fleury will be getting a lot of playing time as expected this year and Johnson is a very solid backup to have. He's not Dany Sabourin who was exported to Edmonten earlier in the year and then for some god awful reason the Bruins signed him a couple weeks ago. Remember now, the only good game Sabourin had last year was in Boston when he stoned the Bruins in a 2-1 victory and had like 42 saves.



The Penguins prospect camp started on Monday and it will run until Sunday July 26th. Highly anticipated prospect Eric Tangradi will be participating although his wrist is not quite 100%. Tangradi was acquired in the deal that sent Ryan Whitney to Anaheim and Chris Kunitz back to Pittsburgh. He is expected to have surgery next week per writer Brian Metzer. Several other Pens prospects are getting high remarks, including Brian Strait, Luca Caputi, Dustin Jeffrey, Eric Tangradi, and '09 first round pick Simon Despres.

Strait will likely start the year down at WBS, he's a BU grad and a terrific looking defenseman. Jeffrey will compete for a 4th line spot on the roster and one name getting a lot of recognition is Ben Hanowski. He's a 6'2 200 lbs 19 yr old from Minnesota, who had 74 goals in 35 games his senior year of high school, pretty ridiculous. A very promising future for the Pens in Caputi, Tangradi, Strait, Despres, Kevin Veilleux, Nathan Moon, and now this Hanowski kid.



Last week a Czech newspaper had an interview with former Pens forward Petr Sykora. Some may call him Petr Suckora, especially with the last third of the season that he had. But Petr Gun has always been a sniper and an important player throughout his NHL career. He still had 25 goals last season even though it seemed more atrocious than Satan's, at least it ended up worse. Sykora got burnt out and couldn't adjust to Bylsma's uptempo system. But Bylsma's system involves both aggressive offense and responsible defense, as well as forechecking. Sykora is a terrible defensive player and he doesn't forecheck well. He's much older than he was in his days of greatness as a New Jersey Devil.

But Sykora said in the interview that Bylsma was out to get him from day 1. Bylsma was a 4th liner for Anaheim while Sykora was a 1st liner on that team when they played together 2002-2003. This is a ridiculous statement if he really thinks this. The reason Sykora got benched in the playoffs was because he wasn't producing. He wasn't doing the things he's good at, aka scoring goals when Geno finds him wide open in the slot. I can hardly remember Sykora even getting a shot on goal in the Philly series or the last 33 games of the reg. season (in which he had 5 goals). Everytime he would shoot it, his stick would break, he would get crushed by a hit or the puck would get deflected in the stands. This is because he's slow, old, and his hands aren't as quick as they once were.

Even when Sykora was inserted back into the lineup in the Detroit series (game 6), he had a 3 on 2 chance midway through the game, and Crosby dished him a pass, he was wide open and of course the shot was deflected god knows where and his stick broke, again. He did have an important block in that game which ended up breaking his foot. Sykora was an important player for the Pens, especially on the power play. But the new NHL involves a lot of speed and the teams that succeed have players that can play well in both zones. Look at Detroit, Zetterberg and Datsyuk will go down as two of the best two-way players ever when it's all said and done. Even Franzen, Helm, Filipula, and Hudler are all solid defensive players. Satan replaced Sykora because he was able to do the little things we needed from a 4th line guy: forecheck, hit, dump it in, and score some timely goals. Mind you the breakaway goal in Game 1 vs. Carolina was a beauty and a goal I'll keep in mind for many years to come.

But I have this to say to our old buddy, Petr Sykora: Thank you for your Game 5 goal in 3 OT against Det. last year and thanks for being such a classy guy and friend of Geno and the rest of the team. You had a great playoff run last year but this season things changed. Youth and speed defeated veteran savyness and experience. Now stop sounding off on Bylsma, pack your bags and go to the KHL aka The Retirement League, where they'll pay you $3-$4mil for doing exactly what you did here: break sticks, shoot in the stands, and miss wide open opportunities.

Back from Europe....Recap of Recent Pens Signings

Sorry for the lack of updates boys and girls, but I was away on vacation and slightly lazy. But here we are and I've got a boatload of updates.

Last week the Pens signed defenseman Jay Mckee to a 1 yr contract worth $800k. The Pens needed a D-man after Gill and Scuderi left and GoGo was the only one who took a spot. Mckee is a veteran presence at 32, he's been a leading shotblocker for many years in the league but he's had some injury problems of late. He did play 69 games last season with the Blues, but a combined 89 games the previous two seasons. He's an excellent shot blocker, can dish out some big hits, and is an excellent stay at home type guy.

The type of player Mckee is, in some ways reminds me of both Gill and Scuds. He does the little things very well defensively. He helped the Blues become a top 5 PK unit this past year. And comparing him to Gill, you can see that he's a big guy at 6'4 205 lbs, but he actually punishes people, Gill's to slow to do anything physically. Best of all, Mckee is used to playing in an uptempo offensive system from his days in Buffalo. He had his best years there, including a cup finals birth against Dallas in '99. Don't be surprised to see him switch numbers from his current #77 to his Buffalo #74.

Mckee wasn't concerned about how much money the Pens were to give him. After all, he's getting paid $2.67 mil by the Blues next year for not even playing for them. He was bought out by the team earlier this month and the Pens took advantage. This is a terrific bargain and in terms of what Dmen were left who could fill the void of Gill and Scuderi, Mckee was the best option. Boynton was a little too pricey, Alberts too slow, Semenov is not proven, etc.


-The Pens also came to terms yesterday with defenseman Ben Lovejoy and Tim Wallace, both for two-way deals. Although Lovejoy's contract will be a 1 yr ($500k if he plays in NHL, $75k if in AHL) and Wallace will be a 2 yr with the same salary structure. Lovejoy has a real good shot at making the team but he'll most likely be the Pens 7th defenseman, the new Philippe Boucher if you will. Only Lovejoy has an immense amount of upside. Yes he's 25, but he had 31 pts in 76 games last season at WBS, and was constantly matched up against the opposing team's top lines. Wallace played in 16 games last season with the Pens and had a couple points. I like the grit and speed he adds to the team. He will drop the gloves and could land a spot on the 4th line this season.


Pens 2009-2010 Schedule update to come later tonight...

Pens Pre-Season schedule released...UFA Target Goes to Anaheim

The Pens Pre-Season schedule will be the following:

The Penguins’ 2009 pre-season schedule:

Friday, Sept. 18 Toronto AT Pittsburgh 7:30 p.m.

Monday, Sept. 21 Pittsburgh at Montreal 7:30 p.m.

Tuesday, Sept. 22 Pittsburgh at Toronto 7:00 p.m.

Thursday, Sept. 24 Pittsburgh at Columbus 7:00 p.m.

Friday, Sept. 25 Columbus AT Pittsburgh 7:30 p.m.

Sunday, Sept. 27 Pittsburgh at Detroit 5:00 p.m.


Scary to think that the pre-season games will begin roughly 2 months from now. The 2 games vs. Toronto will be especially exciting to watch because of the nastiness the Leafs have added this offseason. Exelby, Komisarek, and Orr all play with an edge and it's likely that Bissonette will be in the lineup for the Pens as well as Godard/Rupp, I can't wait!!! It's also interesting to see us play the Wings in a pre-season game, unfortunately it's at Joe Louis, but it should be fun to see the young stars audition for a final time before the team's rosters are finalized.

Speaking of scary, the Anaheim Ducks signed defenseman Nick Boynton to a 1 yr deal at $1.5 million. Boynton was at the top of the Pens list in terms of UFAs after Scuderi signed with the Kings. He's a gritty veteran D-men, who plays a mean game and has offensive skills as well. Oh well, the Ducks only get better now as Boynton will try to replace the physical play of Pronger (who left for Philly last week). The Pens continue to covet Jay Mckee and word is an offer has already been made. Shero is also talking to Alexei Semenov and even Dennis Seidenberg. Seidenberg is looking for something in the $1.5-$2.5 mil range so that might be out of the question.

The New York Rangers signed winger Ales Kotalik to a 3 yr/$3 mil deal. It was surprising to see Kotalik still a UFA 9 days into free agency, but that just tells you how deep the class was. It's a nice signing by the Rangers who lost some of their scoring with Antropov to Atlanta and Zherdev who is likely headed to the KHL or some other NHL team.


TRADE TALK: The Senators have been involved in trade talks with the San Jose Sharks the last week or so. Distraught winger Dany Heatley would be going to SJ and winger Patrick Marleau will likely be headed to Ottawa. Senators GM Murray is still trying to find a suitor for Heatley after he rejected a deal that would've sent him to Edmonton last week.