Read up on the Pensburgh contest details
The Pittsburgh Penguins finalized their roster yesterday, sending both goaltender John Curry and forward Janne Pesonen down to the WBS team for good. In addition, Jeff Taffe was placed on waivers, while perpetually injured and traded forward Kris Beech was placed on unconditional waivers, as it is rumored he has an interest in venturing to Europe. Best of luck Beech. Don't let the door hit you on the way out - it'll probably sideline ya for three to five weeks.
According to the Tribune-Review, Petr Sykora is still pretty banged up. Not only was he sick for most of the overseas trip, but Sykora is also trying to heal up from a groin injury. He will not be in the home opener Saturday against the New Jersey Devils.
For some reason Paul Bissonnette was unsettled with wearing the number 67. He will now rock the number 16, formerly worn by Erik Christenson. You can now reset your "this is pointless" meters for the next installment of random, low-impact information.
Following in suit with yesterday's post about the Penguins first line/power play, the Trib-Review has an interesting article up about the PP. Then they go on to cry a bit more about Gonchar and Whitney.
Fact: The power play converting at a disgusting 7.1 percent while in Europe and took a total of 18 shots on 14 chances. Not fun.
Here's a bit of insight as to why we never see Letang shoot as often as we'd like him to. He choose quality over quantity, which is really something you can't hold against the guy.
"You don't want to take a shot just for taking a shot. You want to get a good rebound or a good shot outside. You don't want to just spend a shot on net and have the puck be back in your zone because of a bad shot."
Kris Letang
Trib-Review
Personally, I'm all for the quantity over quality right now. The Penguins are notorious for trying to lace the perfect pace when a shot on net would easily stand as the better choice. Go blocker side and hope there's a rebound.
John Buccigross over at ESPN ranks the Penguins second in the East - even without Gonchar and Whitney. GASP. I don't recall Buccigross ever doing any wrong by the Pens. And hey, at least he didn't pretend his buddy Barry Melrose has a real chance this year. I admire that.