More photos » by Gene J. Puskar - AP

Another feather in the cap of Dan Bylsma: organizational transparency.

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Wonder why the Penguins could import three minor league defensemen and hardly miss a beat?  Quotes from today's PG shed some light on it.  Ben Lovejoy said:

"When I first got here, I had a meeting with Dan [Bylsma]. He told me there's one faceoff play where there's a bit of a nuance from what we do down in Wilkes-Barre. It's one faceoff play, and that's it." 

Nate Guenin added:

"Everything is the same, it's awesome because when you get called up and you're put in that situation, you feel comfortable because all the terminology's the same, and it makes the transition that much easier.

More photos » by Frank Gunn - AP

Max hopes to return to the lineup soon, likely with 90% less facial hair than this pic from the Finals depicts.

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Plenty of people around these parts have been commenting with news on Max Talbot's return to the lineup.  We learned last week that Superstar was cleared for contact and edging closer to a return.  Rough speculation had him pinned at maybe another 7 - 10 days.  Again that's sheer speculation.  As you'll learn after the jump, even Max never set an exact return date for his recovery.  Though he does admit that he's progressing nicely and feels his return is near.

As always with these great translations I have to thank Pensburgh reader Becky.  Her word-for-word effort keeps us all in the loop with the latest Max Talbot and Marc-Andre Fleury news straight from their own keyboards. 

Take the jump to read Max's latest installment.

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More photos » by Gene J. Puskar - AP

Business.

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Good news on all fronts as Evgeni Malkin is reportedly a game-time decision for tomorrow's rematch against the Boston Bruins.

According to a recent post on NHL.com, Geno will give the morning skate a go and decide whether or not he's game ready:

"(My shoulder) feels great.  It’s not sore, no pain. We’ll see (Saturday) at the morning skate. Maybe I’ll be playing. (Saturday) is a big day for me. We’ll see after practice how my shoulder feels and if it feels good then I’ll play."

NHL.com

You had to assume something good was in the works when the Penguins announced this morning that they were sending Chris Conner back down to WBS.  On a similar injury report, Max Talbot is a little over a week away from returning as well.  Max was cleared for contact in yesterday's practice, clearing one more horrid red jersey from the crowd.

I suppose we all want some sort of magical return -- a goal or two, maybe one on the PP.  Do you think Malkin's return will bring an immediate impact?

It looks like Brooks Orpik may be missing some time, as the Penguins have (or will soon) call up defenseman Ben Lovejoy from Wilkes-Barre.  Jonthan Bombulie reported just earlier tonight on his twitter account:

Ben Lovejoy is not on the ice for warm-ups. Safe to assume he's going up.

For salary cap reasons the move may not be official until tomorrow, but Pittsburgh wouldn't hold Lovejoy out if they didn't need him in the NHL.

Brooks Orpik's undisclosed injury was being looked at today, no official word on what the prognosis was, but without Orpik the Pens would only have five defenseman, making another minor league call-up a necessity for tomorrow night's game against the New Jersey Devils.

Lovejoy recorded a plus/minus of +42 last season in the AHL, top in the league.  He was limited in training camp by a shoulder injury that shelved him early in the regular season.  However he has played the last seven games in Wilkes-Barre, posting 2 goals, 1 assist and a +2 rating.  Lovejoy has two career NHL games (both last season).

If Orpik is knocked out of the lineup, your starting six Penguin defenseman tomorrow night will only include one member of the Stanley Cup winning team from just five months ago (Mark Eaton).  The other five will be Lovejoy, 1 game NHL veteran Deryk Engelland, Alex Goligoski, Martin Skoula and Jay McKee.

Who did you expect, Janne Pesonen?  That's right folks, the city of Pittsburgh is taking a page out of the Buffalo Bills' book in marketing a cereal.  You've heard of Flutie Flakes (maybe), you've heard of the more recent addition Terrell Oats (perhaps), now feast your eyes on Pittsburgh's own brand of cereal, City of Champions.

To me this was just too funny not to share.  Plus I was looking for any reason to temporarily distract our collective attention away from the injuries mounting up in the Pittsburgh camp, so this will do for now.

I consider myself an avid collector of random pieces of Penguins merchandise.  This includes, but is not limited to, the Mario Bun, Jaromir Jagr's peanut butter and a Clark bar that congratulates the Penguins for their back-to-back Cup wins in the early 90s.  Don't get me wrong, I also have a few solid pieces like a Jagr auto'd plaque and a few Mario Starting Lineups, but I try to vary it up as much as possible.  A surprised "What the hell?" when someone checks out the collection is almost certain.

If you're looking to add a box to your collection then you can pick one up at PLBSports.com. So far it's only available online, but later this month it will also hit the shelves in Giant eagle stores.  There is also a contest out there offering up a chance for two fans to meet up with Max Talbot and Hines Ward, fittingly featured on the Steelers' version of the cereal.  Check out the details here, because you know adding an autographed box of cereal to your memorabilia collection is just about as unique as it can get. 

The fat man in me is curious to know what this tastes like, but the collector in me will not so much as crack the lining on the box.

More photos » by Gerry Broome - AP

A freak injury will keep Cam Ward out of the Carolina lineup for at least a month.

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I know, it's a Penguins blog.  So why am I writing about two goaltenders from two other teams?  Because, without praising any sort of injury to another player or team, it merely shows that the Penguins aren't the only team dealing with injuries early on.  Misery loves company, right?

Sure, it's bad enough the Penguins are facing an uphill battle in the face of all the recent injuries to big names like Evgeni Malkin, Sergei Gonchar and most recently Kris Letang, but there may be a similar issue with a few other teams around the league.   I'm highlighting two in particular in this post, based strictly on the fact that two teams in the East are trying to manage without a number-one goalie.

Last week I tossed together a post that highlighted the list of injuries for each team.  Most of the guys listed are still on the shelf, but two recent additions may more or less pose as a balancing act in the East.  In other words, as banged up as the Penguins are, they're not the only ones fighting through the bug early on.

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More photos » by Pablo Martinez Monsivais - ASSOCIATED PRESS

Alex Ovechkin left last night's game against Columbus with an undisclosed upper-body injury and is currently listed as day-to-day.

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Injuries are just part of the game, and no one would know that better than Penguins fans.  Last season, before the first regular season game of the year, the Pens were without the likes of Sergei Gonchar and Ryan Whitney.  If you recall, all the talk early on was focused on how the Pens would manage without them, what fans could expect from this "new guy" Alex Goligoski and whether or not the team could hold it together long enough to even squeak into the playoffs.

Without going into extreme details, we don't need a reminder on how the season ended. 

However, as noted by a few writers around the Pittsburgh media world, this season is off to a similar start.  Injuries to Evgeni Malkin, Sergei Gonchar and Tyler Kennedy leave the Pens in a position where the coaches are juggling lines yet again.

But Pittsburgh isn't the only team dealing with this problem right now.  Atlanta, Boston, Vancouver and recently Washington are just a few other teams hit by the injury bug.  Plenty of big names across the league are going down with injuries, some serious, others day-to-day.  Before you go naming Mike Rupp as the Maurice Richard Trophy winner of the year, take the jump and see what team's around the league are dealing with.  Keep in mind it's a long season and most of these guys are going to be healthy before December.

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--Swine flu cases are piling up; Colorado's Peter Budaj, Edmonton's Ladislav Smid, NY Islanders' Doug Weight,  Washington's Quinton Laing have all been diagnosed in recent days.  It's probably only a matter of time before a Penguin (or one of us) catches it.  So far though it doesn't seem like a player has spread it to his teammates, so hopefully team officials can continue to keep it bottled up.

--If you were wondering, Crosby didn't hit goal #9 until November 28th last season (his 22nd game of the year).  He gets to that mark October 28th in the 12th game of the year.  Of course, to be show the whole picture, Crosby had 12 assists through his first twelve games last year, this season only 5 helpers.  Playmaking's still probably the biggest tool in the box, but Crosby's penchant to drive the net and bury the damn thing himself has carried over from the playoffs.

--Jersey fouls make the world go 'round. [Puck Daddy]

--Are the Sens gonna piss off Erik Karlsson by demoting him to the minors? [The Hockey News]

--James Mirtle talks about hot starts and sends me to a dictionary to see what the heck the word "ephemeral" means.  Worth a read, for sure.  Colorado might be in danger of falling apart like Ottawa, Montreal or Buffalo have in years' past, but you'd think the defending Stanley Cup champs have the experience (and talent) to avoid those pratfalls. [From the Rink]

--Finally, Seth from Empty Netters sums it up pretty well:

"That was easily the team's best performance of the season. And it was still far from perfect. That's how scary the Penguins are right now. They aren't even close to playing their best right now yest they're still winning games with relative ease.

Imagine the Penguins with Sergei Gonchar, Tyler Kennedy and Maxime Talbot in the lineup? Imagine the Penguins with a power play running at full efficiency. This will be a scary team if it gets everything running at 100 percent."