We've Got Some New Guys

Here's a quick list of guys from whom the Penguins got signatures in recent days after scoring deals with Miroslav Satan and Ruslan Fedotenko: they got renewals from forwards Kris Beech, Ryan Stone, and Connor James; and new contracts with forwards Bill Thomas, who happens to be from the great city of Pittsburgh (Take that, Ryan Malone! :P), Matt Cooke, Adam Henrich, and Janne Pesonen, and defensemen T.J. Kemp, Ben Lovejoy, and 6'6", 220-pounder Joey Mormina, about whom we will speak today.

You see, the day the Mormina signing was announced, I got an email from new Friend of The Show Jennifer B. Here's an excerpt:

Hey there-

Just wanted to pop you off a quick note to congratulate (and curse) your team for signing Mormina. He's going to be sorely missed here in Albany [snoop: Just in case you didn't read the article I linked Mormina's name to above, he previously played for the AHL team the Albany River Rats].

Meet one of the new guys, Joey Mormina.

Of course I was intrigued, so I wrote her back asking what was so special about Mormina. She responded - and then some! She sent me some pictures she took of Mormina over this past season (all the photos in today's post are courtesy of Jennifer), some links, and her own opinion about the huge defender:

I like that he's gi-normous and a hard hitter. I've enjoyed watching him play here. I don't, however, like that now (if he stays in Wilkes Barre) he'll be hitting US. ;-)

[...]

As for my own personal observations on Mormina, he was an enormous (no pun intended) part of the Rats' success last season. I've also noticed that, although a formidible presence on the ice, he's not one to just randomly drop the gloves. He seems to have a clear grasp of what's worth it and what's not.

[...]

I don't know if Mormina will end up playing with Sid or if they'll keep him in Wilkes Barre, but he's a well spoken, intelligent player. Either way it's an excellent addition to the Penguins organization.

Mormina takes a break.

She included a set of links to articles written by Phil Janack of the Schenectady Daily Gazette. Two of the articles back up her points, and one has an interesting bit of trivia in it. The first article she sent was a summary of Mormina's contribution to the River Rats' 2007-08 season. The article was written in April, long before he became a Penguin:

When they needed him most, the Albany River Rats' biggest player came up, well, big.

[...]

The 6-foot-6, 220-pound Montreal native, in his third pro season, evolved into a trusted and valued leader down the stretch, dressing as a captain or alternate for 22 of Albany's last 25 games.

Mormina (on the far left) is a giant of a man.

The second article she sent laments Mormina's loss:

I'm not sure how this one happened. The 6-foot-6, 220-pound Mormina, who recently turned 26, was a huge part of Albany's success last season. He played in all but three of 87 regular-season and playoff games, setting a pro career high with four goals and matching another with 13 points.

More important, he was rock solid on the blue line, particularly when the team was ravaged by injury and recall, and logged incredible minutes in the top pairing throughout the first-round series with Philadelphia. He was easy-going, well-liked and respected in the room, even serving as one of Albany's rotating captains toward the end.

[...]

This one is going to hurt not only because the Rats lose a very good player, but lose him to one of their biggest division rivals.

It really seems like signing Mormina was a fantastic acquisition for us and an unexpected exit for the River Rats.

In this shot, Mormina is to the right of goaltender Justin Peters.

Finally today, here's the article with the trivia - he played against the Penguins in his first game in the NHL:

Defenseman Joey Mormina had an eventful night in his NHL debut. He hit the post with a shot in the first period, then broke the nose of Pens' forward Jeff Taffe in a second-period collision.

Big, BIG thanks to Jennifer for the emails, the links, and sharing her photos with us. :)

Repeat After Me - "In Shero We Trust"

After the lows (the shocking news of Marian Hossa's departure) and highs (Geno's 5 year extension) we went through yesterday, it looks like we've got another reason to celebrate today. We've locked up the Flower!!! From TSN.ca:

A day after signing core players Evgeni Malkin and Brooks Orpik to long term deals, the Pittsburgh Penguins took care of their goaltender on Thursday.

Sources tell TSN Marc-Andre Fleury has signed a seven year, $35 million extension.


The deal includes a no-move and limited no-trade clause that triggers in 2010-2011

The no-move prevents the Penguins from placing Fleury on waivers, while the limited no-trade still allows for some flexibility with Fleury controlling the list of teams he would consider in the event Pittsburgh wants to trade him.

SWEET! :) For this one, I'll send you over to The Flower Shop for a little celebratory post from good Friend of The Show Loser Chris.

After Hossa bailed for Detroit, we begged for a winger for Sidney. Well, now Shero got us two - the Pens signed Miroslav Satan and Ruslan Fedotenko to patch the hole Hossa left. Also from TSN.ca:

Both deals are one-year contracts, with Satan earning $3.5 million next year and Fedotenko $2.5 million.

Miroslav Satan
(From Wikipedia: The proper Slovak pronunciation of his name is "SHAH-than", but North Americans usually pronounce it "Shuh-TAN".)
Haha, I've always used the latter pronunciation. I didn't realize it was incorrect until I searched for the best way to type out the pronunciation for you and found this information... Whoops!

Satan, twice selected to the All-Star game, scored 16 goals and added 25 assists in 80 games last season for the New York Islanders. The native of the Czech Republic has 685 points in 947 career NHL games.

Ruslan Fedotenko
(pronounced ROOS-lahn FED-uh-TENK-oh)

Fedotenko marked 16 goals and 17 assists in just 67 games last season, also for the Islanders. Fedotenko was sidelined for parts of the year with a knee injury.

Maybe neither one is a comparable match to Hossa, but they're both pretty good players in their own rights. Remember that both Sid and Geno have the uncanny ability to make guys around them better players (Tampa Bay is about to find this out with Ryan Malone), so I think these two guys will fit in nicely. It looks like Shero did have a few backup plans after all, so we'll just have to wait to see how this all plays out in the end. Shero's next move may just be a contract extension for GRONK! No matter what happens, the Pens are going to have a different look next season, and sometimes different is better. :)

Before I forget, both the Saint and Geno are up for ESPY awards. Some of you mentioned it in the comments sections of the last couple of posts, but I keep forgetting to add it to a post. Now you guys need to VOTE FOR SID AND GENO!!! (Use my link - the one on the Pens' website is broken.) Thanks to Friends of The Show Narmeen A. and Susan W. for sending me the emails that reminded me to post this! ;)

You can thank Friend Bobby T. for this picture. It's from the latest Hockey News. Click it to enlarge it for the wallpaper size.

Friend Jennifer B. sent in a tip for us:

Didja know that there is a free Penguins podcasts on itunes? It's called Penguins Rink Rat Report. If you put that in the search box when the results come up you'll want to hit "subscribe" it should give you access to all the podcasts for the entire 2007-2008 season. The most recent podcasts are interviews with each of the draft prospects and then one from today with Ray Shero. There's no way for me to give you a link, unfortunately so if you have trouble finding it let me know. I do know that even if someone doesn't have an iPod, you can access iTunes and download the podcasts.

I highly recommend downloading iTunes and subscribing - there are some really good interviews on these Podcasts.

Also - don't forget to send in your pictures for our TSCS Summer Project! I'd love to see some pics of you guys sporting your Pens gear in front of exploding fireworks, hint hint! But remember, the only "requirement" is that you have something Penguins-related in a picture with something related to your city, state, province, and/or country.

Thanks to all the Friends who helped out with today's post!

You Take The Good, You Take The Bad

...you take them both and there you have the facts of life...

(Haha, just so you know, my Inbox is blowing up as I type this.)

First, we're starting with awesome news: GENO IS OURS FOR 5 MORE YEARS!!!!!!!!!! Suck on that, Russian hockey team willing to pay him more money than God! Rumor has it that Geno's deal mirror's Sid's deal. :) :) :) :) :) This is a HUGE relief considering that over the past 24 hours, it almost seemed like ALL the players were looking for work elsewhere.

YYYYYEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Haha, last year we were so worried that the Pens would be moving to Kansas City that we didn't see it coming this year when they moved to Tampa Bay! :P Let's review: scout Greg Malone, his son Ryan Malone, Gary Roberts, and Adam Hall made deals with the Lightning, Jarkko Ruutu is now an Ottawa Senator (borrows line from Michelle: Et tu, Ruutu???), while Ty Conklin and Marian Hossa signed contracts with the Detroit Red Wings.

Robs is now playing for the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Bugsy's also now a Bolt - an overpaid Bolt, but a Bolt nonetheless.

Hall is one more flightless bird headed south for the winter.

Ruuuuuuuu, however, is northern bound.

Sid is shown at a practice with Conks, who's going to Detroit with Hossa.

Okay, so Marian Hossa is no longer a Penguin. That's bad enough, but the fact that he's now going to be sporting the logo of the team that handed us our first Stanley Cup Finals loss is just unreal. I realize that the NHL is a business, but this move cuts like a knife. What bothers me most about this is that he proclaimed his allegiance to the Pens and made statements to the press that he'd take less money to play for a good team, only to take a one year $7.4 million deal with the Wings. Well, now I have one more reason to hope that Detroit doesn't win the Stanley Cup next season.

Get used to seeing him in a red shirt. (>_<)

Who knows what's going to happen in the next couple of days, but GM Ray Shero has got some serious work cut out for him. Losing Malone, Roberts, Hall, Ruutu, and Conklin might have stung a little less if Hossa had decided to sign on the dotted line. But now, well, this leaves Shero with some serious gaps to fill.

The most pressing issue now is that, without Malone and Hossa, Sid is in desperate need of a winger. Pascal Dupuis worked well on Sid and Hossa's line, but the majority of the production from that line came from Sid and Hossa. One name that has been tossed around in the past two days to fill that now vacant spot is Jaromir Jagr. There's no doubt he would be a skilled candidate able to capitalize on the Saint's mad play-making skills, BUT Double J comes with more baggage than Pittsburgh International. It goes without saying that a lot of Pens fans are still smarting from that "I feel like I'm dying alive" fiasco. Though, at the end of the day, it doesn't matter what the fans think about a player - if he is the best fit for the group, he should be brought into the organization.

When Jags was a Pen, he was all business in the front, but all party in the back.

With that said, this is also the guy that called our captain a whiner and a diver. Could Sid get past that and be able to develop chemistry and play well with someone who attacked him in the press? Could Jagr swallow his pride and relinquish his position as captain to be second banana to someone whom he clearly doesn't respect? It's definitely an intriguing idea, though I don't know how likely it is to happen.

On the plus side, IFHSA™ is not a Penguin! He has signed a 4 year, $15.5 million deal with the Dallas Stars. Haha, sorry, Stephanie S.!!! You have all of our condolences. ;) Well now the Pens should be able to offer Brooks Orpik and Marc-Andre Fleury a little more money to get them to stay. And the Pens picked up forward Eric Godard to a 3 year deal worth $2.25 million.

DON'T GO, BROOKSIE!!!

Flower's arbitration hearing will be coming soon unless [*fingers crossed*] they can work out a deal.

We're just going to have to take a deep breath and wait. Ultimately, I still believe the Pens will be okay. We've got Sid until 2013, and now Geno until 2014. We're super lucky to have not just one elite player willing to sacrifice for the sake of his team, but two. Shero should have no trouble building a great team around them. :)

Bugsy Makes A Deal

I didn't get a chance to post yesterday because at 1:00pm I was picking up the newest member of our pack - another Greyhound we named Connor - and last night I was at my parents' home celebrating my mom's birthday. Here's a picture I took a few hours ago of our boys all being lazy lumps:

Clockwise from the top - Logan, Baylee (he's a Golden Retriever - the Greyhound rescue we work with has dubbed him an honorary Greyhound because he's now got 3 Greyhound brothers), Connor (the new guy - isn't his coat beautiful?!), and Link

My parents live in an area where their cable provider has Pittsburgh news channels. We were watching KDKA news at 11pm when I found out that Ryan Malone had signed a deal with the Tampa Bay Lightning. I couldn't believe it when I heard the reported terms of Bugsy's deal (from The Sporting News):

Ryan Malone has signed a $31.5 million, seven-year contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The 28-year-old will reportedly earn between $7 million and $8 million in each of the first two years of the contract.

The Lightning traded a third-round pick in the 2009 draft to the Pittsburgh Penguins for exclusive negotiating rights with Malone and forward Gary Roberts on Saturday. According to reports late Sunday, Roberts had signed a one-year contract with the Lightning that could be worth as much as $2 million.


Last week the Lightning hired Greg Malone, Ryan's father, as their head pro scout.

WHAT?! The deal Gary Roberts scored was in line with what I figured he'd be getting, but Ryan Malone's deal is insane. I'm not hating on Malone now that he's no longer a Penguin, but the only explanation for this deal is that Tampa Bay must have more money than they know what to do with. Think about this - the Lightning are paying him almost as much as the Penguins are paying the league's best player for the next two years. MISTAKE.

No wonder Ray Shero didn't really try to stop Bugsy from leaving - Shero would much rather spend that money on a player who is actually worth $7 million next season. I have to admit that I'm quite shocked that Tampa Bay is willing to pay Malone so much money. Only time will tell if it turns out to be a sound investment on Oren Koules's part. For some perspective, check out Illegal Curve's analysis of the deal here.

I'd love to hear what you all think of Bugsy's deal. Do you disagree with me? Is Bugsy worth the big bucks? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

Tampa Bay Lightning Acquire Rights To Two Pens

From NHL.com:

The Tampa Bay Lightning have acquired the rights to left wings Ryan Malone and Gary Roberts from Pittsburgh in exchange for a conditional draft pick in 2009, owners Oren Koules and Len Barrie announced.



“We said earlier this week we would be aggressive in our pursuit of free agents in order to win and compete,” Koules said. “This trade today doesn’t guarantee anything, but we believe it gives us a leg up in our attempt to sign these two impact players.”

OOOOHHHH BOY, Tampa Bay is going to be gooood this coming season. The Penguins picked up a conditional draft pick in 2009 for the trade. If the Lightning is able to sign Bugsy, the Pens' draft pick will be Tampa Bay's pick in the third round. If the Lightning cannot sign him, the Pens' will get Dallas's fourth round pick.

Yikes! I'm not looking forward to having either of these guys on the opposite bench. But it's just part of the business, and now I will take this opportunity to wish the best of luck to both Robs and Bugsy. Thanks for everything. You'll be missed.

Thanks to grriamafrog for leaving the link in the last post's comments section.

(LATE EDIT: In the event the NHL.com link isn't working, here's a link to this story on TSN.ca.)

No Good News - Yet

The Pens' salary cap for the 2008-09 season will be $56.7 million. Evidently, Brooks Orpik wants a bigger cut of it (from The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette):

The Penguins found out yesterday that they'll be able to spend $56.7 million on players during the coming season. They also learned that they still haven't offered defenseman Brooks Orpik enough of that money to convince him to stay. ..."We did receive an offer, which we turned down," Gross said. "But we're still talking."

This doesn't necessarily mean that Orpik's not going to sign with the Pens. It's likely just the beginning of an offer/counteroffer process for Orpik to see how much money he can squeeze out of Ray Shero and for Shero to see how much of a discount Orpik is willing to take. Still, with all the uncertainty surrounding this team with 12 guys set to become UFAs on Tuesday, it sure would be nice if Orpik signed a contract over this weekend.


Evgeni Malkin, on the other hand, still plans on offering the Penguins a discount, despite the recent decisions made by Marian Hossa and Gary Roberts (also from The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette):

...management's personnel plans took a hit when right winger Marian Hossa informed the team he plans to explore free agency July 1, likely shrinking the chances he will re-sign from nominal to pretty much nil.

That almost certainly will bring about a major adjustment to the Penguins' offseason plans, but what it did not change was Malkin's willingness to take a reduced salary -- probably something in the neighborhood of $8.5 million -- for the sake of the franchise.


"Evgeni understands that some players will not stay for many reasons," said J.P. Barry, his agent. "He simply hopes that his approach helps the team either re-sign existing players or bring in new players so they can be one of the best teams in the league.

"We have provided Ray our proposal and I will continue to speak with him this week as he works at putting together the best team possible, given salary-cap constraints."

I've come to the conclusion that even if none of the 12 UFAs re-sign with the Pens this summer (a highly unlikely scenario - I'm sure we'll get to keep at least one, haha!), if we can get a contract extension signed, sealed, and delivered to Geno, this off-season can still be called a success.


The Pens will be okay. Shero has proved time and time again that he knows what's up. He'll be able to fill gaps left by Hossa and (probably) Malone. Just look at what he's done in the past. Last season, Shero brought veteran Robs in to show the very young, inexperienced Penguins what discipline, commitment, and grit really are and how to achieve longevity in the NHL. This season, it was clear Sidney needed a winger capable of capitalizing on his unmatched play-making ability, so Shero orchestrated the coup that scored Hoss at the trade deadline. I have no doubt that Shero will be able to come through for the team again.


[*Sigh*] So let's review what we know so far:

• Gary Roberts & Kris Beech = basically gone.
• Ryan Malone & Marian Hossa = one foot out the door.
• Brooks Orpik = undecided.
• Jarkko Ruutu = talks are set to begin before July 1.
• All the rest of the UFAs = ???
• Evgeni Malkin = more wanted than Osama bin Laden.

Sidney Crosby = A PENGUIN UNTIL 2013.


I guess it's not all bad, eh? ;)

A Hockey Grab Bag

I've got a plethora of stuff from several Friends of The Show, but first I wanted to let you know that the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review has some status updates for us: Brooks Orpik is hoping to work out a longterm deal with the Pens. :)


But that article has some unpleasant news, too:

The Canucks also plan to chase left wing Ryan Malone, who said last week he will exercise his unrestricted option.

Vancouver likely cannot offer Hossa $8 million annually over five years - the deal he is believed to be seeking - but would bid high for Malone, possibly more than $5 million annually on a long-term contract.

What I don't understand is, if it's supposedly not about the money, why is a $40 million, 5 year deal better than a $50 million, 7 year deal? Well, here's a possible explanation for that:

...Hossa told Pittsburgh reporters two days after the Stanley Cup final that he would "take less to play on a good team."

"I only read where Marian said that," Ray Shero said. "He never said that to me."

Hossa - WTF?!

Looks like Shero's going to have to go wing shopping for Sidney...

My former co-conspirator from Taking One For The Team, good Friend Loser Chris, has started a new project called The Flower Shop. It's a blog dedicated entirely to our young netminder. Chris recently posted an in depth analysis that compares Marc-Andre Fleury's performance to date to what the top goalies in the NHL had accomplished by age 23. It's a must-read!

Frank D. over at Pensburgh.com is having a contest to win a prize:

Jack Falla's most recent work, Saved, is a fictional story of John-Pierre Savard, a veteran goaltender for the Boston Bruins. Through his years of hockey, JP Savard has experienced love, loss, grievance and rebirth. It's the story of two grown men pursuing their boyhood dreams of hoisting Lord Stanley high above their heads. As the two continue to tally up the seasons, put wear and tear on their bodies and fight through the late stages of their career, the dream starts to become a reality that pits the two "brothers" in a friendly yet competitive civil war.

Jack Falla was kind enough to donate not only his time, but also a signed copy of his book as a gift to the readers of Pensburgh, SBNation and hockey blogs in general.

Head on over to Pensburgh.com to enter.

The guys over at The 2 Man Advantage have a new video clip. I won't ruin it for you. All I'll say is that there's a few NY Islanders players, Hungry, Hungry Hippos, and Jenga in the first 30 seconds.

Lexie101 happened upon Kris Letang at the airport:

Okay now i have to say that i am pretty lucky! I was picking someone up from the airport and we were just walking around and i saw letang! I had him sign my shirt (penguins shirt)! The ONE time I do not have my camera with me I see a penguin!AHHHH! He was having trouble with finding his bags so while his little helper was looking for his bags we said he could come talk to us and he did! And he told me right to my face that geno is not going anywhere! He is going to a golf thingy [the Mario Lemieux Celebrity Invitational] on wed. with Sidney and Max but we did not stay long enough to see those two which is depressing :(

Here's the autograph she got:


I know we settled the Geno v Gino thing, but Laurel K. sent in this picture of a new T-shirt from Reebok and I wanted to share it with you:

Yet one more piece of evidence in favor of the E.

Brandon started an online petition aimed at trying to persuade Marian Hossa to resign with Pittsburgh. Click here to sign it.

Christine sent in an article she found that details why the Pens were glad they didn't win the Cup...

Michelle D. designed this wallpaper for us:

Click to enlarge.

Just a reminder - keep sending in your pictures for our TSCS Summer Project. I've gotten quite a few, and all I have to say is you guys are so creative! Keep 'em coming!!! (Special note to our international Friends: You guys need to catch up! So far the majority of the photos I've received contain the red, white, and blue...)

Thank you, thank you, thank you to all the Friends who contributed to today's post!!! :)

Mr. Roberts' Neighborhood Isn't Pittsburgh Anymore

From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

What Would Gary Roberts Do?

Move on, apparently.

Rick Curran, who represents Roberts -- a veritable folk hero in his season-plus with the Penguins -- said yesterday that Roberts will continue playing, but not in Pittsburgh.

"He very much enjoyed his time there," Curran said. "But he understands that Ray [Shero, the Penguins' general manager] has a number of items on his agenda that would take priority."


Curran added that Roberts, 42, "most definitely" intends to continue his career and will decide where after reaching unrestricted free agency next Tuesday.

UGH!!! Pens fans with ThePensblog.com WWGRD wristbands = STUNNED. It was a good run, though, and I think what Robs taught our young Pens (specifically the Saint) in the time he spent here was invaluable beyond measure. He is legendary for his diet and workout regimens, and his passion for the game at age 42 showed the youngsters what commitment really means.

Thanks for everything, Gary. You will be missed.
(Photo courtesy of Friend of The Show Lexie101.)

Thanks to Friends of The Show Lexie101 for the picture and Stephanie S. for sending in the link.

PROOF!!!

This came to me a few minutes ago courtesy of Friend of The Show Sooska:

I took a screen shot from the HERE a few minutes ago and photoshopped it only to draw a line and circle and add the text. The rest of the image is unchanged. Go to the site and see for yourselves. On Geno's page the menu is in the lower left. The file of the screen shot is attached. Please note it says GENO- not Gino. Nike says it is Geno, therefore God Gary says it is Geno.

(CLICK TO ENLARGE)

I think we can safely put this controversy to rest and concentrate on the rumors of his trade. Pensgirl told me last night she had been alerted to a rumor that our boy Geno had already signed with a team from Tokyo for all-you-can-eat-sushi. This rumor has credence since we all know for a fact, as he stated it openly on Inside Penguins Hockey, that his favorite place to eat in Pittsburgh is Umi in Shadyside.

That's very difficult to argue against! Looks like it's CASE CLOSED for good on the Geno v Gino issue! :) And speaking of Geno's alleged possible relocation, it turns out that Ray Shero was actually listening to some of the offers being sent his way, though he ultimately didn't accept any of them. Check out this article that details what Geno's agent has to say about the coveted star's future:

Sidney Crosby cracked the door open last July.

Evgeni Malkin wants to rip it from its hinges next month to allow teammates - specifically impending unrestricted free agent Marian Hossa - a clear path toward long-term futures with the Penguins.


Malkin's agent, JP Barry, said Friday his client would follow the precedent set by Crosby last summer and sign a long-term extension at less than his presumed market value to provide the Penguins salary cap space necessary to remain a Stanley Cup contender.

I believe the words you're looking for are "BOO" and "YAH." But, as they say, you've got to take the good with the bad: Unfortunately, talks with Marian Hossa have broken down. He has decided to decline the Pens' offer for a longterm deal in favor of trying his luck in free agency. (>_<) Evidently, "[Ray] Shero said he is 'not optimistic and not pessimistic' about keeping Hossa." Okaaaaaay...

Sid will definitely still need a winger if Hossa leaves, but I'm so glad Geno wants to stay!!! This photo of Geno comes courtesy of good Friend of The Show Teka of Talk Hockey To Me. She took the photo in Philadelphia when the Pens met the Flyers on 11-10-07.

Oh, and in HOLY SCHMIDT news, the Philadelphia Flyers traded Pittsburgh native Penguin killer R.J. Umberger to the Columbus Blue Jackets. Here are the details of that trade:

The Flyers received the Blue Jackets first round pick (19th overall) and third round pick (67th overall). The Blue Jackets also received the Flyers' fourth round pick (119th overall) in the deal.

Umberger, a graduate of Plum High School, was a restricted free agent that the Flyers were having difficulty re-signing because of the salary cap. The Blue Jackets will now have exclusive negotiating rights with Umberger until July 1, when other teams can make a contract offer that the Blue Jackets would have to match or risk losing him.

Umberger and the Saint play in Philadelphia on 01-13-07.

Umberger ...was a restricted free agent that the Flyers were having difficulty re-signing because of the salary cap.

Hmmm, do you think that had anything to do with the fact that the Flyers had no money to spare after shelling out $10 million to Danny Briere?

Finally, in draft news, the Pens picked up right wing Nathan Moon, and goaltenders Alexander Pechurski and Patrick Killeen in the 4^th, 5^th, and 6^th rounds, respectively. Don't forget to keep working on our TSCS Summer Project! I've already gotten some really good ones. :)

Big thanks go out to Friends Sooska (for sending in the PROOF! screenshot) and Teka (for the shot of Geno).

Geno's Not Going To Russia

Poor Geno. Everyone in the media seems ready to put him on the next train and ship him out of Pittsburgh. This morning, I was greeted by emails with links to this article from Sportsnet.ca:

Russia's Continental Hockey League is hoping to make Pittsburgh Penguins star Evgeni Malkin the world's highest-paid hockey player to the tune of $15 million per season according to a Toronto newspaper.

That's a lot of freaking cash!!!

According to the Toronto Star, several teams in Russia's revamped hockey league are prepared to offer Malkin a multi-year deal worth $12.5 million a season. The offer would be equivalent to at least a $15 million per year in the NHL, where players have to pay state (or provincial) and federal taxes.

$15 million a year?!! I don't think any one of us would have blamed him if he'd chosen to go after that kind of cash. But there's one problem: The IIHL has just released a statement saying, in short, that the offer was NOT made to Geno and this story is just B.S. (from the Pens' website):

Although the International Ice Hockey Federation does not usually issue statements following unsubstantiated media reports, the IIHF finds it principally important to address the newspaper story (Toronto Star, June 20) that reports about the Russian league allegedly preparing an offer to Pittsburgh Penguin player Evgeni Malkin, who is under contract with the NHL-club.

Geno scores in Russia. Imagine actually seeing this in person. AMAZING!

...we are confident that the report is not substantiated.

There you have it. No matter what anyone in the media says, I continue to believe that Geno won't be going anywhere. If - I said IF, people! - a trade was in Geno's future, I can't possibly imagine a good enough reason why Ray Shero would do it this summer. I find it extraordinarily difficult to believe that Shero would give up one of the best players in the world while he still costs under $1 million per year.

Where you goin'? Nowhere!

I'm not trying to poke any bears here, but I would think if Shero was looking for a way to save some room in the salary cap by unloading a center, he might want to look at trading Jordan Staal. (See? This is why I'm glad I'm not Mr. Shero!) Don't get me wrong - I like Staal well enough and he's a freaking beast on the penalty kill, but if money is going to be an issue, I'd MUCH rather part with the Gronk than Geno. Staal is good - good enough to demand millions. But Geno is elite. Without Geno and Ty Conklin, the Pens wouldn't have had a snowball's chance at even getting into the playoffs. And up until the Stanley Cup Finals, Geno along with the dynamic duo of Sid and Marian Hossa were the team's offensive one-two punch. If I was Shero, I'd be doing everything in my power to keep both Hossa and Malkin right now. And my bet is that he's doing just that.

I took this at the 04-02-08 Pens v Flyers game.

Now to lighten the mood a bit, our main man finds himself in TWO top 10 lists today! :) He came in at number 6 in the Wall Street Journal's Top 10 Athletes of 2008. (Noticeably absent - one hockey-hating golfer named Tiger.) The Saint earned the top spot in AskMen.com's Top 10: Athletes Under 21. Another great thing about the AskMen list: three spots are occupied by NHL'ers! :)

He tops our list!

Thanks go out to Friends of The Show Aisha V. and Vanny V. for the Sportsnet link, Daily Su for the Pens' website link, and to commenter Alyssa for the WSJ link.

Winter Classic II: Penguins in Lion Country?

First things first: You'll have to forgive me for the links to two of the following articles. CentreDaily.com archives their articles after only a short time of availability. The articles are then made available for their paid subscribers only. I am not a subscriber, and I am fairly certain most of you are not, either. So the links I've used below will direct you to Google's cached version of the articles. However, I'm not sure how long Google stores their cached pages, so make sure you check them out now if you're interested.

Siddo was in front of Geno (click to enlarge - you can only see Sid's shoulders).

Waaaaaaay back in December 2007, when all the hype for the highly anticipated Winter Classic was in full swing, I told you about reports that Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell proposed holding an outdoor game between the Pens and their cross-state rivals the Flyers at Penn State University's Beaver Stadium. It may seem to some like that idea has been forgotten, but here in central PA, this rumor has grown legs:

Gov. Ed Rendell wants to see an annual outdoor hockey game between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers at Beaver Stadium. He suggested the idea in a letter sent to the owners of both teams and the National Hockey League’s commissioner Gary Bettman.

Bettman discussed Rendell’s letter at a May 24 news conference, saying he didn’t “envision” a scenario where both teams would play annually outdoors, saying those events are “special and need to stay special,” according to a transcript.

“We’re not going to overdo it. The possibility of having the Penguins play the Flyers at some point in Happy Valley is intriguing and it’s on the list of possibilities that we are and will explore,” he said.

I must admit that I definitely agree with Bettman (WHAT?!) that having an annual outdoor game would definitely cheapen the experience. And if I'm being brutally honest with myself, I should also admit that I think the next outdoor game should be a few years from now and, in the interest of fairness, it should NOT include either the Buffalo Sabres or the Pittsburgh Penguins.

You have no idea how much I now wish I'd bought my new camera BEFORE the Winter Classic.

With that said, I don't think there are words in the English language to describe how excited I would be if the next outdoor game came here. But not everyone thinks it's as awesome an idea as I do. Why? In short, the region's weather and Beaver Stadium's parking (or lack thereof):

Two thoughts immediately sprang to mind on seeing Rendell’s request: Do you really think Central Pennsylvania’s weather will cooperate for you every year? And, more importantly, even for just a single game, where will everyone park?

While Penn State is certainly equipped to host a major sporting event in that stadium and in this town, where do the vast majority of football fans park? On the grass fields surrounding the stadium. Would you care to take your chances in one of those parking spots if there are a few inches of snow on the ground? Or if we’ve had several inches in December and it recently melted?

Plus, you cannot count on 30,000 students walking to the game from campus, like they do for football, because they would be on break and the dorms are closed, putting even more pressure on the parking situation.

Both of these are legitimate concerns. There's a saying here - if you don't like the weather, wait 15 minutes. It's cliché, but it's true. But the argument can be made that the weather is going to be a variable in any city that is chosen to host an outdoor game. Case in point: The weather in Buffalo switched back and forth between rain and snow throughout the entire game (haha, and the looooooong, careful drive home).

Our view of the National Anthems. I still can't get over how big the flags were.

As for the parking situation, I'm pretty sure it could be worked out with a mandatory shuttle system. This town has more than a few parking garages. Local businesses might even want to get in on the act and close their stores down for the day (everyone's hungover on New Year's Day anyway, haha). Instead they could make a decent amount of money charging for parking spaces. Over the winter break, enough of the students return home for the holidays that perhaps even PSU could designate a few parking lots for ticket holders... Okay well, and maybe pigs could sprout wings and fly, but you get the point. Because of the number of students living here, there is a decent public transportation system, so shuttling fans to Beaver Stadium wouldn't be a difficult feat to accomplish at all. I can't wait to see how this all pans out. If it happens, I'm SO THERE. :)

Now I leave you with few links for tonight:

• Seth of Empty Netters drops some knowledge on the Ryan Malone situation.


• IFHSA™ gives us the nauseating quote of the day:
  

  "...and I'm rocking a straight Speedo all summer."

  Uncool. If anyone cares, he completed his Vogue internship.


• Frank D. of Pensburgh.com is using his summer break to take a look back and appreciate the Pens of the past. So, can you guess who the first entry is dedicated to? ;)

Thanks so much for your feedback on our TSCS Summer Project. I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone's hometown + Penguins pride!

More Geno & Hossa Rumors

I hope all the dads reading TSCS had a great Father's Day! My sister and I took my dad to see The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (confidential to the ladies → Ben Barnes alone makes it worth the price of the ticket. YOW-ZAH!!!), and then the 3 of us headed back to his house to join my mom for dinner. Since I seemed to have missed a lot while I was hanging out with my family yesterday, I'll try to get caught up:

Another day, another set of rumors! Friend of The Show Daily Su sent me this article from the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that, in short, makes the case that, maybe not this year, but eventually Evgeni Malkin will be leaving Pittsburgh. (A lot of you were discussing it in the last post's comments section yesterday.)

Though the two [Crosby and Malkin] appear to get along just fine, nobody can predict the dynamic over time when two elite-level players share the same locker room. This is especially true in hockey and basketball, where only five players (not including a goalie in hockey) share the playing surface at once.


Sometimes it works, as in the case of Joe Sakic and Peter Forsberg for several years in Colorado, or Gretzky and Messier with the dynastic Edmonton Oilers, or even Jaromir Jagr and Mario Lemieux of the mid-1990's.


Other times -- think Kobe Bryant-Shaquille O'Neal or Lemieux-Jagr after Lemieux's return from retirement -- the mixture implodes.


Every superstar athlete has an ego. If you're that good, you probably want to be regarded as the best, and you definitely want the ball (or puck) at critical moments.

As hard as I looked to find a point I could make that would make this all go away, author Joe Starkey has a point. I don't think circa 1991 anyone would have even entertained the thought that the Mario Lemieux/Jaromir Jagr story would have such an ending, so Starkey is correct in his point that no one - not even Sid or Geno - knows how the two will get along in the future. And another good point Starkey made was that the only reason that Geno is not the Pens' franchise player is because the Pens already have one in our title man. Whether that is something that drives Geno away remains to be seen. Basically all we as fans can do about it is sit back and enjoy the Sid and Geno show as long as we're fortunate enough to have them both.


Then there's the rumor that the Pens are offering a 7-year $50 million deal to Marian Hossa. All you Hossa fans can thank me, haha - over the weekend I bought my husband a Hossa t-shirt because I'm just that confident he'll stay. :P Seriously, though, that would be great to keep Hossa for 7 years, but at $7 million a year + Sid's $8.7 million a year + $7 to $9 million a year likely earmarked for Geno = nearly half the salary cap in 3 guys! This will make it much more difficult to hang on to key players like Ryan Malone and Brooks Orpik, for sure.


But if we've learned anything this season, it's that the Pens have an embarrassment of riches in talent at their disposal on their Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Baby Pens farm team. Recall that more than a few times guys like Connor James and Jeff Taffe were called up to help out when seemingly everybody but Michel Therrien suffered a high ankle sprain, and the Baby Pens had their own championship run for the Calder Cup, although they, too, lost in 6 games. No matter what happens this summer, we aren't going to have a mass exodus of all of our superstars. Ray Shero has shown time and time again that he knows what he's doing, so I guess the point I'm trying to make is that the Pens are going to be a good team for well into the future. Feel free to keep leaving your thoughts (and links!) about in the comments.


I'll end the day with a video sent in by Friend of The Show Pensgirl. It's highly likely our Northern Friends have already seen this on Hockey Night In Canada. But for anyone who hasn't, here's a video of Siddo's pre-game superstition stretching ritual.



Come back tomorrow for information about a TSCS Summer Project with which I will be needing your help... ;)