Sep 30 2008
(That's Swedish for "Greetings from Sweden.")
Shelly Anderson checks in with some photos of the Penguins' adventures in Sweden. They had a scavenger hunt of some sort.
-From left to right, Pascal Dupuis, Bill Thomas and Darryl Sydor
assembling an IKEA storage box. It's apparently cheaper to go directly
to the manufacturer than to the IKEA store in Robinson. You eliminate the middle man that way.
-From left to right, Paul Bissonnette, Miroslav Satan, Sidney Crosby and Rob Scuderi working on their
IKEA project.
- Marc-Andre Fleury's appetizer plate at Gondolen Resturant. They had to try to
pick out which food item wasn't Swedish. That is easily the coolest looking plate ever.
-Maxime Talbot getting his Leif Ericson on:
-Talbot apparently has no faith in the acquatic rescue services offered in Sweden:
Sep 30 2008
Sergei Gonchar and Ryan Whitney will both be on the shelf for quite a while. Fine. Nothing can be done about that now.
So what do the Penguins have left in the cupboard?
Plenty.
When Ray Shero re-signed Mark Eaton back on July 1, many questioned the decision to bring back a player who spent much of his previous two seasons on injured reserve. With some of the Penguins other needs in free agency at the time, why devote a decent chunk of change to an oft-injured defenseman?
Two months later, Shero's looking like a genius. Granted, he couldn't have foreseen what would happen to his two most prolific defensemen before the season started, but he saw the value of having depth. With Eaton and Brooks Orpik back in the fold, the Penguins ensured they would have nine NHL-caliber blueliners in the organization. Without Gonchar and Whitney, the Penguins still seven solid reliable players they can dress on the blue line.
Think about that. On most nights, someone like Rob Scuderi or Darryl Sydor will be a healthy scratch. And it won't be for a lack of ability. It will simply be a numbers game. Assuming Michel Therrien goes with six defensemen most games, someone full of potential like Alex Goligoski or the mammoth Hal Gill will be watching the game in a suit in the press box depending on who's healthy, playing well or if Therrien likes a certain match-up.
We're in no way suggesting that the Penguins aren't a lesser team without Gonchar's or Whitney's obvious talents. It would be delusional to suggest otherwise.
But things aren't exactly that bad. This isn't like the 2006-07 season where an injury to Mark Eaton forced Josef Melichar or Alain Nasreddine into the lineup. Things were so bad that season, Shero acquired AHL legend Joel Kwiatkowski at the trade deadline.
If they Penguins can survive lengthy injuries to Sidney Crosby and Marc-Andre Fleury, (two far more valuable players) they're more than capable of treading water without Gonchar and Whitney.
If we had a gun put to our heads right now, our pairings on defense for the Penguins would be:
- Kris Letang-Hal Gill - It worked well after Gill came from Toronto and became acclimated with the Penguins' system. Letang's skating ability helped negate Gill's relative lack of mobility.
- Alex Goligoski-Mark Eaton - Stick the inexperience rookie with a steady, responsible veteran. The past two seasons the Penguins placed Gonchar with Eaton at times and that allowed Gonchar more freedom in the offensive end. You could apply the same thinking in regards to Goligoski's lack of experience.
- Brooks Orpik-Rob Scuderi/Darryl Sydor - We'd stick Orpik with Goligoski, but Orpik can be a little irresponsible at times when he thinks a big hit is possible. In this case, you can stick a safer, more reliable player like Scuderi or Sydor with Orpik. We would alternate Scuderi and Sydor based on match ups. Scuderi offers a safe, defensive presence. Sydor can do more offensively with the puck.
Granted, this conversation is a little silly considering Therrien sticks with any combination on the ice about as frequently as Ashton Kutcher makes a good movie. But this is a cheap and easy way for us to encourage you to post a comment and make our blog seem more popular than it is. So have at it. Post your defensive combinations down below.
(Photo: Pete Diana/Post-Gazette)
EMPTY NETTER ASSISTS
Penguins
-More on Gonchar's injury.
-People don't care about Sidney Crosby in Sweden.
-Ruslan Fedotenko is playing on a line with Crosby and Miroslav Satan.
-Dave Molinari takes a look at the Penguins' roster.
-The Penguins will allow fans to watch Saturday's season opener at Mellon Arena.
-All 11 players the Penguins cut from their NHL roster, including Kris Beech and Ryan Stone, cleared waivers and rejoined the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.
-The Wheeling Nailers signed forwards Erik Johnson and Mark Nebus.
Atlantic Division
-Islanders defenseman Chris Campoli and Andy Sutton are dealing with some injuries.
-With those two dinged up, the Islanders claimed defenseman Thomas Pock off waivers from the Rangers.
-Flyers goaltender/shooter tutor Antero Niittymaki is healing quickly from his hip injury.
Northeast Division
-Despite his groin injury, Canadiens enforcer and former Penguin Georges Laraque plans on being ready for the season.
-Bruins forward Phil Kessel and Peter Schaefer are dealing with hip flexor issues.
-New coach Ron Wilson isn't exactly setting the bar too high in Toronto.
-Maple Leafs forward Jamal Mayers feels fortunate to be playing for his hometown team.
-Toronto's first-round pick Luke Schenn made his case to make the Maple Leafs' roster out of camp with a nifty shootout goal last night. (2:50 mark)
-The Sabres are going to
rely on defenseman Craig Rivet quite a bit this season.
Southeast Division
-The Lightning put former Penguins forward Michel Ouellet on waivers. Why do we have this urge to put a Mr. Yuck sticker on Ouellet and to tell Michel Therrien and Ray Shero to stay away?
-Apparently, the parents of Thrashers first-round pick Zach Bogosian aren't concerned with gas prices.
-Thomas Thewes, the co-owner of the Hurricanes, passed away.
-The Hurricanes demoted former Penguins forward Matt Murley to Albany of the AHL.
-Capitals forward Mike Green needs to prove he deserved the big pay raise he got this summmer.
Central Division
-The Blackhawks have put goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin on waivers with the hopes of unloading his $6.75 million salary off the book.
-Good thing the Blackhawks signed goaltender Cristobal Huet. He gave up seven goal on 22 shots to the horrid Blue Jackets in a 7-1 loss last night.
-Blues defenseman Jeff Woywitka is dealing with a foot injury.
-The Lightning traded forward Nick Tarnasky to the Predators for a conditional draft pick.
-Today's "Jim Ballsillie is going to buy the Predators and move them to Ontario" rumor is not true.
-Detroit forward Pavel Datsyuk is dealing with a groin injury.
-Red Wings coach Mike Babcock doesn't believe in Stanley Cup hangovers.
-Before he did the same to Pittsburgh, Detroit forward Marian Hossa spurned Atlanta.
-The Blue Jackets are looking for someone to man the point on the power play.
-Columbus forward Raffi Torres will be out six weeks due to a separated shoulder.
Northwest Division
-The Wild put former Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins forward Krys Kolanos on waivers.
-The Flames have made forward Todd Bertuzzi an alternate captain.
-Calgary defenseman Adrian Aucoin relizes his time with the Flames could be coming to an end.
-Canucks forward Kyle Wellwood has been doing Pilates or something.
Pacific Division
-Los Angeles demoted goaltender Jonathan Bernier.
-The Kings allegedly offered former Sharks defenseman Sandis Ozolinsh a tryout which he turned down.
-Rookie forward Kevin Porter, last season's Hobey Baker Awards winner, is making an impression with the Coyotes.
-Stars forward and former Penguins Landon Wilson is trying to prove he still belongs in the NHL.
-The Ducks demoted former Penguins Eric Boguniecki and Ross Lupaschuk to Iowa of the AHL.
Patrick Division
-ESPN's head content overlord (we have no idea what position to give him) wants to bring the NHL back to the World Wide Leader.
-After reading this article about the lack of coverage the NHL gets from other newspapers around the country, we fell very fortunate to be doing Empty Netters.
Sep 29 2008
ESPN is reporting Penguins defenseman Sergei Gonchar will undergo surgery on his dislocated left shoulder and will miss 4-6 months.
EN Says: Well that's certainly not good. Combine that with Ryan Whitney's injury, the Penguins are missing out on a lot of offense from the blue line. But the Penguins have a ton of depth at the position. Even with Whitney and Gonchar out for extended periods of time, the Penguins still have seven NHL caliber defensemen in Mark Eaton, Hal Gill, Alex Goligoski, Kris Letang, Brooks Orpik, Rob Scuderi and Darryl Sydor.
We're not saying any of those seven are on par with Gonchar or Whitney in terms of offensive output. The Penguins are definitely a lesser team without both of them. The power play will probably suffer the most with Gonchar's absence. There's no question. But the Penguins' depth will help offset the loss somewhat.
If this were the 2006-07 Penguins with Josef Melichar and Alain Nasreddine getting top six minutes, this would be a much larger problem.
(Photo: Dave Sanford/Getty Images)
Sep 29 2008
The Red Wings are just signing everyone.
No word yet if Barack Obama drafted Marian Hossa ahead of Sidney Crosby in his fantasy league.
(Photos: Carlos Osorio/Associated Press)
UPDATE: Not to turn this into a political blog, but...
UPDATE: You know what? You might as well just vote for Ralph Nader....
(Kudos to the various EN readers who sent us the last two Palin pictures.)
EMPTY NETTER ASSISTS
Penguins
-Should the Penguins use Evgeni Maklin or Sidney Crosby on the penalty kill?
-The Penguins are ripping up Stockholm.
-Charlie Daniels wrote a song about Janne Pesonen once. He just changed some of the words. We think.
-The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins cut 13 players.
Atlantic Division
-Former Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins forward Kurtis McLean was among 16 players demoted by the Islanders to Bridgeport of the AHL.
Northeast Division
-A shootout goal by former Penguins forward Alex Kovalev lifted Montreal to a 3-2 win against Florida.
-Kovalev recently appeared on some French Canadian show. Other than the parts where Kovalev speaks English, we really have no idea what's going on here:
-The Sabres have put forward Maxime Afinogenov
back on their top line.
-The new rebuilding Maple Leafs look like the same old cruddy Maple Leafs.
-Senators forward Daniel Alfredsson will be living a dream next week.
Southeast Division
-Former Penguins forward Gary Roberts had a goal and an assist for the Lightning in a 4-1 preseason win against Berlin Eisbaren in Germany.
-Hurricanes forward Matt Cullen was tagged pretty good by Flyers defenseman and Hopwell native Nate Guenin in the first period of a preseason game last night. Carolina sat Cullen for the remainder of the game for precautionary reasons.
-With Mathieu Schneider on board, the Thrashers now have a pretty good group of top-four defensemen.
Central Division
-Red Wings coach Mike Babcock allegedly began recruiting former Penguins fowrard Marian Hossa as early as the handshake line following Game 6 of the Stanley Cup final.
-The Red Wings will unveil statues of Alex Delvecchio and Ted Lindsay.
Northwest Division
-The Avalanche demoted former Penguins forward Nathan Smith to Lake Erie of the AHL.
Pacific Division
-With defenseman Mathieu Schneider jettisoned to Atlanta, the Ducks, as expected, re-signed forward Teemu Selanne to a two-year deal worth $5.5 million.
-The Sharks will be giving forward Patrick Marleau more freedom this season.
Sep 28 2008
"It's their rink, it's their ice, and it's their (expletive)
town. But tonight we got our fans with us! They spent their own dough to get
here, and they came here to see us! All right, let's show 'em what we got,
guys! Get out there on the ice and let 'em know you're there. Get that
(expletive) stick in their side. Let 'em know you're there! Get that lumber in
his teeth. Let 'em know you're there!"
-Reggie Dunlop
If you couldn't be motivated by Reggie Dunlop, you had no business
on a rink.
The New York Times
actually had an "obituary" for Dunlop.
-You can read a real obituary for Newman here.
EMPTY NETTER ASSISTS
Penguins
-If the Penguins hope to win the Stanley Cup, history isn't
exactly working in their favor.
-Sidney Crosby is old.
-A look at the past 40 Stanley Cup runners up.
-Five things to watch for with the Penguins this season.
-Paul Bissonnette is a survivor.
-The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins beat Binghamton
in another preseason game, 3-1.
Atlantic Division
-Devils forward Barry Tallackson had successful surgery to
correct an irregular heart beat.
-Former Penguins forward Jon Sim is having a good preseason
with the Islanders.
-The Flyers played their final game in the Philadelphia
Spectrum last night.
-Several of Philadelphia's
former captains said good-bye to the Spectrum.
Northeast Division
-Ottawa
re-signed 94-year-old defenseman Luke Richardson.
-The Senators demoted forward Brad Isbister and former
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton forward Matt Carkner.
-Ottawa coach
Craig Hartsburg reunited the Senators' "Pizza" line of Daniel Alfredsson, Dany
Heatley and Jason Spezza.
-The Senators are going to have a bit of a home-ice
advantage when they play the Penguins in Sweden
to start the season.
-Rookie Bruins forward Blake Wheeler has been impressive
this preseason.
-Maple Leafs coach Ron Wilson said goaltender Justin Pogge
is not ready for the NHL.
Southeast Division
-Tampa Bay
forward Vincent Lecavalier will test his shoulder out for the first time today
since injuring it last season.
-New Lightning forward Radim Vrbata isn't getting off to a
good start in Tampa Bay.
He was already demoted off the second line.
(Last note).
-Lightning owners Len Barrie and Oren Koules don't exactly
do things conventionally.
-The Capitals were no fluke last season.
-The Thrashers were grateful to have some space under the
salary cap. It let them acquire defenseman Mathieu Schneider.
-For some strange reason, Panthers defenseman Bryan McCabe
is feeling more comfortable in South Florida than Toronto.
-Former Penguins forward Jeff Daniels brings experience as head coach of the Hurricanes' AHL affiliate, the Albany River Rats.
-Hurricanes forward and former Penguin Dan LaCouture didn't
fare too well in a fight with Flyers forward Arron Asham last night:
Central Division
-Forget about Plum. Did you know Blue
Jackets forward R.J. Umberger
went to Ohio
State?
-The Blue Jackets and Predators
have quietly developed a
physical rivalry.
-The Blackhawks
are keeping Patrick Kane at right wing.
-Blues defenseman Erik Johnson
isn't exactly crazy about
being called a liar.
-Today's "
Marian Hossa chose Detroit
over Pittsburgh" story is brought
to you by
Mike Zeisberger of the Toronto
Sun.
(
It was yesterday's story actually.)
Northwest Division
-The Avalanche have welcomed forward Brian Willsie back.
-The Canucks have something going with the Pavol
Demitra/Mason Raymond/Taylor Pyatt line.
Pacific Division
-Stars defenseman Trevor Daley is looking for more playing
time.
Adams Division
-If you're not a fan of those vague, non-descript injury
reports NHL teams are notorious for, you probably don't want to click this link.
Sep 27 2008
The Penguins cut forward Connor James and defenseman Danny Richmond and sent them to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
We didn't expect James to make the team's roster out of camp, but we still hoped he would. He always seems to find a way to be on the wrong end of a pretty nice check at least once a game.
Sep 27 2008
Maple Leafs defenseman Carlo Colaiacovo found an interesting way to score a goal last night. Shoot it off Kris Letang's face and hope for a good bounce:
Additionally, Hall Gill bruised his knee in the first period and didn't play in the final two.
We're of the opinion the Penguins should just dress 18 forwards for their preseason exhibition game against Jokerit in Finland because they're running out of defensemen. We don't know if there are rules that specifically forbid a coach from not dressing a player who is listed as a defenseman on the roster, but we'd much rather see Jeff Taffe back there than Letang or any of the other Penguins blue liners who could risk injury.
Honestly, Ray Shero should just pack Alex Goligoski, Mark Eaton and company in
refrigerator boxes,
fill it up with
bottled water,
Fruit Roll-Ups and
Styrofoam peanuts and ship the entire defensive core to Sweden in that fashion
via DHL.
EN reader Mark Scumaci spotted
the highlights for us.
SCHNEIDER TO ATLANTA
-The Ducks finally moved defenseman Mathieu Schneider sending him to the Thrashers in exchange for defenseman Ken Klee, forward Brad Larsen and minor-league forward Chad Painchaud.
EN Says: Good move for each team. The Ducks found Schneider expendable with Scott Niedermayer's return last season and needed to find some salary cap space in order to bring Teemu Selanne back. They were able to move him and pick up two NHL caliber players and a minor leaguer for him. It wasn't an ideal situation, but Brian Burke found a way to make it work.
Larsen's a feisty energy guy who can drop the gloves on occasion. He'll fit in well with Anaheim.
Klee is a stay at home defender who is willing to play the body. We're not sure why the Ducks agreed to bring him on considering they have quite a few NHL caliber defensemen on the roster, but as we're seeing with the Penguins' rash of injuries, it's probably never a bad thing to have too many healthy blueliners.
Even after dumping Schneider's salary, the Ducks are still a little snug against the cap.
While Schneider won't turn the Thrashers into a playoff contender, he does improve them quite a bit. He provides a veteran presence at a position sorely lacking it in Atlanta. Additionally, he still can provide offense. He has reached double-digit figures in goals every season since 2001-02. Schneider is one of the best skating defensemen in the league. Watching a power play unit with him and Ilya Kovalchuk will be fun to watch.
(Photo: Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
EMPTY NETTER ASSISTS
Penguins
-Ruslan Fedotenko can't grow a playoff beard because of Chernobyl.
-Paul Bissonnette fought his second Maple Leafs player this week. Last night he went with Ryan Hollweg:
-Brooks Orpik
is apparently scared of Toronto defenseman Carlo Colaiacovo's shot. (
Kudos to The Pensblog for the find.)
-Nino Musitelli and Luca Caputi scored goals for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in a 2-1 preseason win against Binghamton.
-The AHL Penguins killed 11 power plays last night.
-With the NHL Penguins having a lot of injuries on defense, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton's Jon D'Aversa could benefit.
-The Wheeling Nailers signed forward Matt Grennier.
-Random YouTube Find of the Day: Former Penguins forward Rick Tocchet make former Rangers defenseman Jeff Beukeboom flip out
(Insert snide little gambling joke here.)
Atlantic Division
-The Rangers ended the comeback attempt of forward Petr Nedved by cutting the free agent forward from his tryout. And the talent pool of our ex-Penguins fantasy league grows even smaller.
-Former Penguins forward Bryan Trottier is digging his job as director of amateur scouting with the Islanders.
Northeast Division
-The Canadiens are kind of a big deal in Quebec.
-Maple Leafs prospect Chris DiDomenico apparently got under the skin of Sidney Crosby.
Central Division
-Red Wings forward and former Penguin Marian Hossa compared Detroit's Pavel Datsyuk to Sidney Crosby. No word yet if he said Datsyuk was cooler than Crosby.
-The Swedish Red Wings (that sounds like a really corny band name) will meet Sweden's king, Carl IVI Gustaf, today.
-Former Predators forward Martin Gelinas is looking for work.
-The Blues are treating their fans right.
-Blues forward Lee Stempniak wants to forget about the 2007-08 season.
Northwest Division
-Avalanche forward Milan Hejduk is dealing with a back injury.
-Apparently former Penguins forward Guillaume Lefebvre has a chance to make the Oilers roster as an enforcer.
-Wild goaltender Josh Harding is officially our favorite backup goaltender. He put images of his childhood friends on the mask he will wear this season. In the past, Harding has masks with images of pink ribbons in honor of his sister who was dealing with breast cancer and a tribute to the victims of the I-35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis last summer.
Pacific Division
-Coyotes forwards Shane Doan and Olli Jokinen are sick of personal accomplishments. They want to start winning.
-Phoenix forward Joel Perrault is out indefinitely with concussion problems.
-New Sharks defenseman Dan Boyle played well in his preseason debut for San Jose.
Sep 26 2008
Goals by Kris Letang and Matt Cooke in the final 3:46 lifted the Penguins to a 5-4 comeback win in Toronto. The Penguins also got goals from Janne Pesonen, Mark Eaton and Sidney Crosby.
Hal Gill did suffer a bruised knee, but according to Dave Molinari, team officials said the injury is not serious. He only recorded a total of 3:48 of ice time, all of it in the first period.
-Letang and Brooks Orpik led the Penguins in ice time with 26:23. Jordan Staal was second with 23:23.
-Paul Bissonnette and Crosby led the team with three shots.
-Bissonnette did engage Toronto forward Ryan Hollweg in a fight during the second period.
-Eaton and Letang each led the game with four saves.
-Crosby finished with one goal and one assist while Ruslan Fedotenko had three assists. Alex Goligoski had two assists.
-The Maple Leafs outshot the Penguins, 40-25. Toronto had a 29-25 advantage in faceoffs.
-Defenseman Tomas Kaberle led Toronto with a goal and two assists.
-Game summary.
-Event summary.
(Photo: Nathan Denette/Canadian Press)
Sep 26 2008
The Penguins signed forward Tyler Kennedy to a two-year extension today.
EN Says: Nice move. Kennedy showed he's a guy who can be a key contributor in the mold of Maxime Talbot almost. He can chip in the occasional goal, forecheck, provide energy, drop the glove on occasion and be responsible on defense. Kennedy is the type of role player the Penguins need to surround Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Jordan Staal and Marc-Andre Fleury with.
(Photo: Getty Images)
Sep 26 2008
A free broadcast of tonight's Penguins game in Toronto will be available through the Maple Leafs' Web site. However, an official with the Maple Leafs told us the broadcast is only available for those in the Toronto or Southern Ontario markets.
For what it's worth, the Penguins offered a similar broadcast through their site for Wednesday's game and we were told it was only available to folks in the Pittsburgh broadcast market. EN readers from Kentucky and Georgia told us they were able to view it.
If the video broadcast doesn't work, you can always listen through the Web site of CFMJ-AM, the Maple Leafs' flagship radio station.
No live blog on our end tonight. We'll be stuck in the office unfortunately.
UPDATE: Sidney Crosby will play tonight.
Other Penguins in the lineup include forwards Miroslav Satan, Pascal Dupuis, Jordan Staal, Ruslan Fedotenko, Bill Thomas, Janne Pesonen, Matt Cooke, Max Talbot, Tyler Kennedy, Paul Bissonnette, Eric Godard, defensemen Brooks Orpik, Mark Eaton, Hal Gill, Kris Letang, Alex Goligoski, Danny Richmond and goaltenders Marc-Andre Fleury and Dany Sabourin.
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