Pittsburgh is in the running to host the 2011 Winter Classic, with the thought being that PNC Park, with it's visually appealing backdrop of the cityscape being the first choice.  Another reason why: the NHL has to setup and perfect the ice on the impromptu rink -- a process that can take weeks.  The Pittsburgh Steelers season didn't end until January 3rd last season, and there's the possibility of playoffs too.  The Pirates never need the fieldd anytime after September, and that's a lock!

Another heavily rumored site for the NHL's Winter Classic has been spanking new Yankee Stadium.  They're hosting boxing matches there and with decent success at Chicago's Wrigley Field and Boston's Fenway Park, it's only natural the NHL would look to complete the trifecta of baseball stadiums with the obligatory stop in the Bronx.

Not so fast my friend.

The  new college football bowl game to be held at Yankee Stadium starting in 2010 will be called the Pinstripe Bowl, with New Era as the title sponsor.

Last September, the Yankees announced the bowl game that will feature teams from the Big East and Big 12 conferences. The leagues have a four-year agreement in place, as does New Era.

A quick scan of the Yankees website says the game is expected to be played "sometime in between Christmas Day [Dec 25th] and New Years", which would leave only hours for a turnaround to a January 1st hockey game.  That just doesn't seem very likely, even for the NHL's awesome ice crew, to be able to make a quality and safe sheet of ice even under the most ideal of circumstances.  Which in winter, in New York, you might not have in the first place.

So call it a hunch, but for as long as Yankee Stadium has a bowl game (at least four years), they will not be able to host the Winter Classic.

There are still a ton of other sites with interest in the WC, including probably several other spots in the Greater NY/NJ area that could pull the event off, but with one marquee venue out of the running, the odds have to get a little bit better for the Pittsburgh Penguins to host hockey's biggest regular season game.

Given the Penguins tight-to-the-cap situation, as well as Ilya Kovalchuk's desire to maximize his contract/test free agency (possibly in the NHL as well as the KHL), there wasn't any traction for him getting dealt to Pittsburgh.

But now that he's been dealt not only to an Eastern Conference rival, but a division leader in the New Jersey Devils it raises the obvious question -- do the Pens need to answer?

After the jump...

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From Tim Sassone of the Daily Herald:

Are the Blackhawks stepping up their efforts to acquire a defenseman for the stretch run?

There were plenty of rumors Monday pointing in that direction.

There were eyebrows raised in Pittsburgh on Monday night when defenseman Jay McKee was a healthy scratch against Buffalo. Could McKee be headed to the Hawks?

The 32-year-old McKee is a 6-foot-3, 210-pound physical, stay-at-home defenseman who interested the Hawks last summer before he signed as a free agent with the Penguins for only $800,000 after being bought out by St. Louis.

Sounds like wishful thinking, eh?  Behind the jump let's look at the 4 key reasons why Chicago won't be getting Jay McKee for the 2009-10 season.

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Here's a juicy rumor, courtesy of the very well-established and regarded Bob McKenzie from TSN:

...many think that team [Ray Whitney] is waiting on at the deadline is none other than the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Whitney might look pretty good patrolling Sidney Crosby's wing in the playoffs. He certainly fits the bill of what the Penguins need - a goal-scoring winger with clutch qualities and Stanley Cup experience.

But sources say Pittsburgh has yet to inquire about Whitney and even if the Penguins did, they are not likely to be able to offer up as much as Los Angeles was prepared to give Carolina.

Ray Whitney has a no-trade clause, he has to agree to any trade before it takes effect.  McKenzie also states in his article that the 37-year-old Whitney demanded a three year contract extension from LA in order to accept the trade.  If that's his stance with Pittsburgh, he won't help the champs defend their title.

Even though McKenzie is a good writer with a ton of great league sources, the days of "Player X would love to play in Pittsburgh" dates back to Paul Kariya supposedly joining his Olympic buddy Mario Lemieux, and so on and so on.  We've heard for a long time of a laundry list of players that would love the chance to play for the Penguins....and it usually never happens.

I think a key part in the article is "Pittsburgh has yet to inquire".  Though Whitney is a scoring winger that still has something to offer, apparently (if you believe this report), it hasn't gotten serious yet.

In terms of a pure rental, Ray Whitney fits Pittsburgh's needs better than perhaps any available player on one of the few teams destined to be "sellers" at the deadline.  What remains to be seen is if Shero will be interested in him before another team sends Carolina king's ransom (and enough pressure) to make a trade first.

From TSN:

The Pittsburgh Penguins and Sergei Gonchar have opened up discussions on a new contract.

The defenceman's agent JP Barry met Penguins general manager Ray Shero Tuesday in Calgary.  The two sides began preliminary discussions that focused mainly on term.

The 35-year old Gonchar, who signed a five-year deal with the Penguins coming out of the lockout, is set to become a free agent at the end of the season.

Not unusual or unexpected.  The two sides have discussed the matter before, but decided to put off talk for a while.   JP Barry is based in Calgary, so with the Penguins swinging through town it was only natural (and encouraging) that Ray Shero stop by and a have face-to-face conversation.

Rumors have stated Gonchar is looking for a long-term (3 or 4 year) contract at or about his same average salary of $5 million.  It's unknown how true that might be, but obviously for a 36 year old veteran like Gonchar -- the longer of a term he can negotiate on these guaranteed deals, the better for him. 

For Shero's part, he's got to consider the salary cap as a whole, since he already has about $42 million for 14 players set aside for next season.  Shero must also weigh Gonchar's value; there's no doubt he's the #1 defenseman in Pittsburgh and the team plays much better with him than without him.  But at what price and how long?  That is the question that needs to be answered.

Dialouge is a good thing though, better to be communicating regularly than have an impasse or a lot of quiet time as the clock ticks towards July 1. 

From the Sporting News:

Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal says the defending champion Pittsburgh Penguins are unlikely to keep star defenseman Sergei Gonchar when his contract runs out after this season because of salary cap considerations.

Matheson points out that Gonchar will be 36 years old and the Pens probably won’t want to invest the approximately $15 million it will take to keep him for three more years.

Nothing against a reputable guy like Matheson, but he's way up in Edmonton which makes it a little questionable how much insight he might have on Pittsburgh negotiations.  That said with possible connections to agents, players or other sources, perhaps he does know a little something.

Whether or not to renew Sergei Gonchar's contract will be the Penguins biggest question in the coming months.  He carries a hefty salary, but he performs a vital role playing #1 defenseman minutes in all situations.  Durability's been a concern of late and youngsters like Kris Letang and Alex Goligoski have shown flashes of brilliance, but not the conisistency and steadiness that Gonchar strives in.

Free agency is a strange beast -- see Wade Redden getting an average of $6.5 million over six seasons just two summers ago -- so it's impossible to say that Gonchar couldn't fetch what he's allegedly asking.

On the other hand, Gonchar and his family seems very comfortable in Pittsburgh, he's on a very good team and is a respected guy in the room.  He's made a handsome sum of money in his 16 year pro career, perhaps the money issue may not be as important as reported.  Money is always a key, but it's not always the only factor.

For the Penguins part, as we mentioned: Pittsburgh has been basically a .500 team WITHOUT Gonchar in the past two seasons and they've been sensational with him.  To lose him would be damaging, to say the least, but over-extending him (in terms of years on the contract or money) is far from ideal.  "Know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em" and that.

The Sergei Gonchar --and Letang -- negotiations will be some of the most interesting off-ice developments for Ray Shero to manage in the upcoming months.  Let's see how it goes and whether or not there's any validity to this report from Canada.

The search for the next general manager has been narrowed, and apparently Pittsburgh Penguins assistant GM Chuck Fletcher is one of the finalists for the position...

With the help of a committee that includes former Wild CEO Jac Sperling, owner Craig Leipold has weeded down a list of nearly 30 applicants to a handful of men who bring vastly different perspectives to the job, multiple league and team sources say.

The short list includes Pittsburgh Penguins assistant GM Chuck Fletcher, TSN and NBC color analyst Pierre McGuire, longtime NHL GM and coach Pat Quinn, Nashville Predators assistant GM Paul Fenton and Wild acting GM Tom Lynn.

While other unidentified candidates possibly could emerge, sources say the two considered frontrunners have interviews lined up.

Fletcher, 41, is expected to be in town later this week, while it's believed McGuire, 47, will interview today.

Fletcher is seen as a "rising star" amongst league executives and many expect it's only a matter of time before he is handed the reigns of an NHL team as GM.  With the Penguins, Fletcher has been Ray Shero's right-hand man, with many responsibilities including being in charge of the ship down in Wilkes-Barre.

If it comes down to Fletcher against the ca-razy television analyst Pierre McGuire, could there be much doubt that the Pens will have a vacany in their front office soon?

If you look at any rumor you'll likely see the reference of  "a source."  Said Source is likely the anonymous insider who has a tip or lead to make them and others think a rumor is in motion.  Sometimes (rarely) these things come true.  Other times (often) they fall flat.

In this particular case, my "source" is not anonymous.  I will admit it doesn't have a pulse, but it remains a source nonetheless.

The source: Pensburgh's sitemeter.

This isn't the start of a rumor, but instead an effort to put some minds at ease.

Allow me to elaborate.

First off, this alleged "Penguins trade rumor" is not only the product of people's own speculation but it also combines a light sense of paranoia.  I say this with confidence, based solely on evidence that Letang's scratch in last night's game eluded to an unhealthy amount of Google searches for things like "Penguins trade Kris Letang" and "Letang traded."  

This isn't the first time Tanger's been a scratch.  Yet as the trade deadline edges closer, uneasy minds begin to wander.

Hooks Orpik and I were shooting some e-mails back and forth after last night's game.  I think he summed it up best:

Letang is only 21 years old and most defensemen his age haven't yet made it to the NHL, let alone played 123 games like he has.  Plus the added value of him being a right-handed shot that moves the puck really well just makes him that much more valueable.

Right on Hooks. 

This isn't the sort of trade that will likely manifest this season.  On one hand Letang is young and talented, but on the other he's still shaky and inexperienced.  His growth within the system is affordable ($685K this season, $625K next) and perhaps the first step to building a foundation that may affirm his position on the blue line for years to come.

Let's face it - Sergei Gonchar isn't exactly a rookie anymore.  One day someone will need to fill those skates and replace some firepower on the power-play.  At 34 years old Gonchar still has another season under contract.  There's a likelihood that this poses as the perfect time for a kid like Letang to learn from the best.

It's interesting to see how fans are handling the current state of the Penguins.  Everyone wants a solution and immediately sees a healthy scratch as the start of a trade rumor.

I'd like to think I'm right when I say Kris Letang is going nowhere.