By now you're no doubt read the news that Hooks dished out earlier about the Pens sending Chris Bourque to waivers. I think situations like this are always unique, even more so in the case of a younger player that just doesn't seem to pan out. On one hand you really want to see the guy do well and benefit the team. As a fan you hope the guy under the radar can get his game on track and no longer be a negative factor on the ice. But unfortunately this isn't always the case and at some point, likely in the wake of a plummeting fan-approval rating, all hope is lost and a guy like Bourque is perceived as harming the team's progress more than helping. Once you lose the fans it's only a matter of time before you lose your spot on the roster. To quote the movie Gladiator, "Win the crowd and you will win your freedom."
In either case, it still remains unclear if any other NHL team will claim Bourque, although a healthy bunch do suspect Washington will come out to play again. After all, his departure from DC as part of a cap space move left a lot of the Washington faithful in a fit of, retrospectively speaking, unwarranted despair. In comparison to the current comments around the interwebs, look how "happy" the Pens fan base is to see him go to the waiver wire.
I think a recent comment from Pensburgh's very own Ulf Murphy embodies a solid fan perspective on the matter:
On a human level, we wish him well and hope he lands on a team that allows him the time to develop some kind of scoring touch in the future. Worst case scenario for him is that daddy made alot of money, so I don’t feel too bad.
From a rabid fan perspective, he was the worst player in a Penguins uni for the last 3+ years. I am pissed off on how long the Penguins let him continue to make the same bad plays, offensively, without doing this MUCH MUCH sooner. I would have rather seen ANY other player from WBS get called up than to continuosly watch this bum attempt to play this beautiful game.
After the jump, Chris Kunitz and Alex Goligoski take strides toward returning.
Still no exact date set for the return of either Chris Kunitz or Alex Goligoski, but according to the Post-Gazette, Dan Bylsma remains optmistic (and he likes the word "progressing" to describe it):
On GoGo: "There isn't a timetable on him yet, but he's positively progressing," Bylsma said.
On Kunitz: "He is progressing, but it's a situation where we don't want to [regress]. We want to keep going forward and be cautious. We have to keep in mind that we have 40-plus games to play yet this year. We're taking it slow with him."