PensBurgh: FanPosts

Pens Camp

steelcitykid — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 13:40:42 -0000

Hi. I am new to this site, but I am a diehard Pens fan. With training camp approaching I just want to ask you guys who you think we should look out for (some suprises making the roster Pesonen, Caputi, Goligoski) and also when Will Daryl Sydor be traded before the season starts (if at all) ???

Also Jordan Staal can fit the role of a Ryan Malone. I would love to see him up on the line of Malkin or Crosby as a winger instead of a trird line center (which he quietly did a fantastic job at especially in the playoffs)

Fantasy Hockey - last call?

JDMaker1 — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 14:07:09 -0000

Yahoo opened up their leagues for fantasy hockey this week. Wanted to make another call for interest before I send out the info on how to join up. So if you're interested in playing just drop a comment and I'll add you to the list. If anything, at least looking for an even number of teams so we can do a head-to-head league without having someone sit out every week.

Even if you're new to the site or just check in occasionally, we'd love to have you on board for the fun.

Don't be shy.

If anything I'll try and swing one more call in about 2 weeks if we can't fill out the league just yet.

FrankD

[9:30 am] - Four spots left

Original post by JDMaker1...updated, edited and promoted over the past two weeks.

The league holds 12 teams

Who we have so far:

FrankD
JDMaker
JDunman
WolfpackSteelersfan
Dayna
Ahtrap
Stros Bro
Cool Hand

Vote for Pensburgh on NHL arena

FrankD — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 22:24:35 -0000

Our buddies over at The Sens Army are up against Pensburgh this week in a blog war - I guess you could say. I don't really know the point of the so-called battle, but the least we can do as a site is try and win it. So, go here, vote for Pensburgh and I promise all Penguins fans will be spared in a quest for world domination.

Sens fans? Eh, that's another story.

Countdown Added

FrankD — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 18:29:57 -0000

I've added a countdown to the site that ticks down to the season opener in Sweden. I had tried to find one that would remain subtle and at the top of the page, but nothing really appealed to me. Then I wanted to find one that would fit in the left sidebar, but they were all too cheesy for me. I finally found one (thanks to Steel City Sports Fan) that really caught my eye and got the job done. Check it out under the fanposts and lemme know what you think.

Pittsburgh Penguins' Ryan Whitney Out For Start of Season

hockeyjenn — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 06:00:49 -0000

Promoted from fanposts : FD

According to the Trib, Ryan Whitney will be out until at least January. Apparently, he went through the entire 07-08 season with a bad left foot. He had surgery to repair the problem on Friday. Here is the link to the story . Hopefully, the surgery was sucessful and he will be ready to go better than ever in January. The good thing is that the Pens are solid on defense.

Pittsburgh Penguins sign 19-year-old Corey Cowick

FrankD — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 15:41:47 -0000

It's an amateur contract, so no reason to cuh-ray-zee over it. But it's still awesome when you see a 19-year-old kid get an opportunity like this with a big club, especially the Penguins.

The real gist of this is that he's not exactly signed by the Penguins, but instead had his rights signed over to them. In other words, no one can lay claim to him while he sits under the Penguins' radar.

Full story from the kid's Orleans paper available here.

My favorite quote?

After he received a bunch of calls from his mom, he called her back:

"She said it was urgent, so I called her from the car and that's when she told me that Pittsburgh had called a bunch of times so I called my agent and he said that the Penguins wanted to offer me an amateur contract," says Cowick, who was passed over by the NHL during the 2006 draft.

I guess it's just amazing to me that a 19-year-old can say, "So I called my agent..."

NHL 2K9 Demo Out

JDunman — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 03:56:06 -0000

I'm not a big fan of video game demos, really. I hate getting into a game only to have it crap out on me just as it's getting good with a message informing me that it wants my money. However, when I noticed NHL 2K9 on the new demo list on the Playstation Store, I decided to give it a try.

Last year, I picked EA's NHL 08, and despite some bugs here and there (replays not matching the plays, wrong players going to the line in cutscenes) the game was outstanding. Innovative controls and a learning AI that had me screaming at my TV more often than not. Come to think of it, I didn't even give 2K8 a try.

The demo for 2K9 has the tried-and-true controls for a hockey game. The kind we all got used to as we took the Penguins to the Cup on our Super Nintendos and Sega Genesises (or Genesi?). I had forgotten just how much fun simple controls could be. As I took the Pens against the Red Wings (only two teams available in the demo) through one period of hockey (all that the demo allows), I had a lot of fun. And yes, the one-timer seems to still be impossible to stop.

For the record, goals from Letang and Sykora took me to victory in my first outing.

The thing that really has me excited, though, are the features. Those of us who have stuck with EA's franchise through the years probably have realized that little by little every extra feature has been cut out of the game. There used to be bonuses you could unlock and tons of extras that would have you trying to play the game in certain ways. No more - they didn't even have retro jerseys last year. Only the new ones that just debuted and the previous years.

2K Sports hockey has always been loaded with extras, and I think that's what's going to sell me on the game this year. If I long for EA's controls, I'll pop in last year's game, but unless they have some kind of selling point (like 2K9 promising playoff beards - or bears, if you ask Frank), I'll pass.

So the moral of the story - if you have a gaming system that can, go check out 2K9's demo and get a little revenge for the Pens.

Screen shot 1

Screen shot 2

Screen shot 3

Jerseys - White vs. Dark

JDunman — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 04:03:21 -0000

Promoted From Fanposts - FD

You may have gathered that the offseason has gotten somewhat dull. And by 'somewhat' I mean 'very'.

So while we're all watching (and being entertained by) 'top' videos, I thought I'd take the opportunity to ask this one question:

What do you think about home jerseys being dark and away jerseys being light?

Personally, I prefer the original way - and that's why my Pens jersey is bright white. That, and it was a gift from my brother, who holds the very same principal with his beloved Avs.

What do you prefer?

Poll

Which jersey do you prefer?

Pens get Danny Richmond for Tim Brent

JDunman — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 18:58:26 -0000

From the official page:

The Pittsburgh Penguins have acquired the rights to defenseman Danny Richmond in exchange for the rights to Tim Brent, it was announced today by Assistant General Manager Chuck Fletcher.

Richmond, 23, appeared in seven games with the Chicago Blackhawks during the 2007-08 season. He scored 14 points (two goals, 12 assists) along with 156 penalty minutes in 40 games with the Rockford IceHogs of the American Hockey League (AHL), ranking third on the club in penalty minutes.

Good times.

Pensburgh cameo on Die by the Blade

FrankD — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 13:04:30 -0000

D.O. from Die By the Dlade (the Buffalo Sabres blog on SBN) has put together a great post on a Buffalo/Pitt rivalry - if there really is one. He asked me to chime in with my own personal memories of the two teams.

PS - you'll love the first one (video included)

Die by the Blade

Stop by and share your own memories of the rivalry, even if it has already been mentioned at DBTB.

Keep your eyes open

FrankD — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 15:37:18 -0000

Rumor has it the schedules are hitting team sites today. I didn't hear of any kind of time we can expect them, but if I had to guess I'd say before 5:00.

Go Pens Go Pens Go Pens Go Pens Go Pens Go Pens Go Pens Go Pens Go Pens Go Pens Go Pens Go Pens Go Pens Go Pens Go Pens Go Pens Go Pens Go Pens Go Pens Go Pens Go Pens Go Pens Go Pens Go Pens Go Pens Go Pens Go Pens

Pens Sign Two AHL Studs

JDMaker1 — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 13:10:59 -0000

NHL Notebook: Two AHL stars sign Penguins add both with one-year deals Wednesday, July 09, 2008 From local and wire dispatches [From the Post-Gazette website]

Penguins assistant general manager Chuck Fletcher said the Penguins signed forward Adam Henrich and defenseman T.J. Kemp to one-year contracts.

Henrich, 24, a 6-foot-4, 225-pound forward, scored 51 points (24 goals, 27 assists) last season between the Norfolk Admirals of the American Hockey League (AHL) and the Wheeling Nailers of the ECHL. Henrich also had 122 penalty minutes between the two clubs.

He has appeared in 145 career games in the AHL, registering 69 points (27 goals, 42 assists) along with 230 penalty minutes. Henrich, a native of Thornhill, Ontario, was originally selected by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the second round (60th overall) in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft.

Kemp (5-11, 197) appeared in 73 games for the Springfield Falcons (AHL), notching 46 points (8 goals, 38 assists)..

A native of Pickering, Ontario, Kemp has played in 152 career games in the AHL, scoring 84 points (13 goals, 71 assists) along with 104 penalty minutes. Kemp appeared in 14 games in the 2007 Calder Cup playoffs, notching seven points (two goals, five assists) and 12 penalty minutes in 14 games.

Both very interesting pickups. Henrich sounds like a Ryan Malone type player; he's big and can score. Kemp, on the other hand, is a smaller D-Man (at 197lbs). I'm not sure if that makes him Gonchar like or what.

I voted for Penguins three times for the ESPYs

ahtrap — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 21:59:27 -0000

http://promo.espn.go.com/espn/specialsection/espys2008/?addata=2008_espti_xxx_xxx_xxx_xxx

The above is a link to the ESPY ballot at espn.com, also reachable via a link on the front page of that site. I ended up voting for some of your guys, or your team on three separate occasions, just letting you know in case you needed to give your guys a boost.

By contrast, I can only recall voting for a red wing related choice once.

Heck, I even voted for Crosby as the best hockey player, over Pavel Datsyuk. Had Zetterberg been on the ballot, I would have voted for him, but not Datsyuk.

For your convenience, in case you just want to fill out the ballot sections related to the Pens, Crosby's up for his winner against Buffalo in the winter classic under "Hummer nothing else like it" category, both he and maklin are among the nominees for best NHL player. The third instance was under "Best Finish", for the 3OT game 5 to stave off elimination, which I think could have been nominated under best game, too, even though nothing is touching the Super bowl.

That said, it was nice to cast a (however hopeless) ballot for the Wings as Best Team.

Winter Classic II: The Reckoning

JDunman — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 14:23:44 -0000

I posted this over at Mile High Hockey since their moderator hates the idea of a Winter Classic on the hallowed grass of Wrigley Field. According to this ESPN article, it looks like an announcement will be made for this season's Winter Classic, pitting the Red Wings against the Blackhawks at Wrigley Field.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=3476329

While last year's Classic (which you may remember) had over 70,000 in attendance, Wrigley's capacity for baseball games is about 41,000. Perhaps the historic field itself will make up for the difference.

I had heard talks about the Pens being in this year's as well, and I have to say that I did not like the ideas. Before you doubt my passion for the team, I just think that the added hype of the Winter Classic should be used to showcase the NHL's talent, and not depend on the star power of one team. As long as it's not a blowout and has good levels of excitement (like, say, a 2-1 shootout victory) this one shouldn't tarnish the name that it gained last season.

I hope.

Mark Recchi signs with Tampa Bay Lightning

FrankD — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 09:16:32 -0000

A lot of teams, when they dub the process 'rebuilding' at least, take an awful lot of time to turn things around. But on paper it would seem the Lightning are trying to do it all in one offseason.

So now it's kind of funny to consider Mark Recchi. Not because the idea is exactly outlandish, but because he now joins Ryan Malone, Gary Roberts and Adam Hall as guys who rocked Penguins uniforms last year.

Personally, I thought the guy would retire. And if I didn't know better, I'd say Roberts lured him over to TB.

From what I can see, the Lightning still have a crucial hole in goaltending. But then again, I'm not exactly a big fan.

Are the Lightning going to be for real this season, or does it just look 'pretty' on paper?

Pittsburgh Penguins sign 26-year-old Finnish forward Janne Pesonen

Stros Bro — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 00:22:37 -0000

From here

The Penguins announced today the signing of forward Janne Pesonen to a one-year, two-way contract, as mandated by the NHL's transfer agreement with Finland.

Pesonen, 26, led the Finnish Elite League with 78 points (34 goals) in 56 games last season, and added 16 points (seven goals) in leading Oulu Karpat to its fifth league championship.

The 5-foot-11, 180-pounder -- a ninth-round draft pick of the Anaheim Ducks in 2004 -- has spent his entire career in the Finnish Elite League, where he was named Rookie of the Year in 2004 and playoff MVP in 2007.

"Pesonen is a quick, skilled player that has had much success in the Finnish Elite League," Penguins general manager Ray Shero said in a released statement. "We look forward to watching him perform at his first NHL training camp."

Satan and Fedotenko???

JDMaker1 — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 18:07:42 -0000

Also today, the Penguins have agreed to contracts with free-agent wingers Miroslav Satan and Ruslan Fedotenko, both of whom spent last season with the New York Islanders.

Contract terms were not immediately available.

Satan has outstanding goal-scoring ability but has been criticized for being a no-show in some games.

He is coming off one of his least productive seasons, with just 16 goals and 25 assists in 80 games on Long Island.

Fedotenko had 16 goals and 17 assists in 67 games in 2007-08.

The Penguins are believed to have focused on those two after learning they would not be able to sign ex-Penguin Markus Naslund.

Well we got Satan . . .

Penguins complete Fleury deal, get 2 free-agent wingers

Thursday, July 03, 2008 By Dave Molinari, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Fleury

hockeyjenn — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 18:04:56 -0000

Courtesy of Rob Rossi of theTrib:

Fleury and the Pens have agreed to a 7 year deal worth 35 mil.

It will hopefully be official later today.

Here is the link:

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/penguins/s_575876.html?source=rss&feed=8

I am glad to see that this deal is in the books. With all of yesterday's drama this is a nice change!

Have a great day hockey fans & enjoy the rest of day three!

ESPN Magazine Ranks Mario Lemieux

FrankD — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 23:39:58 -0000

In a recent post up on ESPN the magazine's site, writer Ted Bauer ranked the top 500 Canadian athletes of all time. Ranked number one was, as you can imagine, Wayne Gretzky. Rocket Richard landed in second, Gordie Howe third and Bobby Orr fifth.

But where did Mario land?

291 out of 500.

Yeah.

Steve Nash, as good an athlete as he is, should not rank at 187.

Here is the note beside his name:

Great player, no doubt. Won titles, no doubt. Helped save hockey in Pittsburgh, no doubt. Issue: in ten years, he'll be replaced in both Canadian and Pittsburgh hockey lore by…

Dany Sabourin - of course.

Looks like it for Laraque

JDunman — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 23:33:00 -0000

According to this Tribune article, Laraque is talking like he's already gone - that the signing of Eric Godard signaled the end of his Pens tenure.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/penguins/s_575544.html?source=rss&feed=8

As of now, Laraque is still unsigned. If you've seen any of my posts on fights, you know that I will miss Laraque a lot, but I do agree that there is no need for an overabundance of goons...er...enforcers. With the loss of Jarkko Ruutu, I thought perhaps they would have room for both, but I suppose we'll see. I'd hate to see Laraque pound on a Pen next season.