--Peter Forsberg to the Pens? Here's the original story in Swedish, and here's the message board translation (so take with grain of salt):
DENVER. Pittsburgh Penguins have joined in the hunt for Peter Forsberg.
It is the last roumor that is now circulating here in Denver. - But I have not talked to Pittsburgh, says Foppa himself. Foppa himself does not even know if he will play this season, although he looked much better in yesterday's monster workouts in the Pepsi Center. Then he was on ice for two hours and the foot did not seem to bother him at all.
A healthy Peter Forsberg a dream player for most NHL clubs. He calls no supersalary, but just want to demonstrate to himself and others that he can still deliver in the NHL. Therefore he will fit in most clubs' salary cap.
Granato as coach
- Pittsburgh assistant coach Tony Granato will have contacted and want Foppa to the Penguins, "says Sportbladets source here in Denver. It is not an impossible thought. Tony Granato took over as head coach in Colorado 2002/03 season when Bob Hartley was fired from the club. It was also Foppa most successful season ever, when he won both NHL season and received the Hart Trophy as the NHL's most valuable player for his Law. However, Foppa says he heard nothing from Granato. - No, and I do not talk to anyone about the contract. In this mode, and may I do not talk to anyone. Even with the Avalanche. It may take me the day I decide to play in this case.
Ok, where to begin....#1 with all the waiver poaching, it seems almost impossible to think all 29 teams would let Peter Forsberg, no matter his health, go ahead and join the Pittsburgh Penguins this season. After December 15th, all the signings must go through waivers. There have been three signings (Evgeni Nabokov, Kyle Wellwood and Marek Svatos). Zero of the three have made it through. No way a rival team lets a team like Pittsburgh get a player like Forsberg.
Edit, since Forsberg hasn't played any games in Europe this season, and since he probably wouldn't be signing a two-way deal, he would not have to clear waivers to join an NHL team this season. Whoops!
Secondly, Forsberg's health isn't going to hold up. He's played 26 Swedish games since 2008. His foot is shot. It's hard to blame a guy for continuing to try and compete, but it's clear to seemingly everyone but Forsberg that his playing days are done.
Finally, Forsberg himself admits in the story that has had no discussions with Tony Granato or the Pittsburgh Penguins? Seems like this paper is trying to play the "Foppa to Pittsburgh" angle up a lot and turn no smoke into a fire.
More after the jump, including reading between today's lines, a nice Mike Rupp twitter story and a not-so-nice twitter story about a Penguin prospect's wife losing her mind...
Lines in practice this morning were as followed, per team reporter Sam Kasan:
Kunitz-Malkin-Dupuis
Cooke-Staal-Kennedy
Rupp-Talbot-Adams/Conner
Godard-Jeffrey-Tangradi
--That's gotta be about what you expect Bylsma to do. No one likes seeing that 4th line, but think about it. Even if Godard plays (which who knows who the scratch will be), he only plays 4 minutes a night. Jeffrey/Tangradi may get to see Malkin or Staal bump down and double shift with them. Now all of a sudden, it's not so bad, is it? Assuming of course that's how things shake out.
--Pieced altogether here's a cool story via hockey agent Allan Walsh's twitter:
Hockey players are just great guys! Heard a story about Mike Rupp of the Pens and something that happened in pre-game warmup....Rupper skated into the glass. A fan had a beer sitting on the edge of the boards+the beer spilled on fan. Rupper had a trainer go get $10.. From his wallet. Rupper wrote on the $10, "Sorry about spilling your beer, signed his name, taped $10 around puck and flipped it over glass...Fan caught puck, unwrapped $10, read it and gave Rupper a thumbs up! Now, that's class!
Why yes, Rupp is a client of Walsh's, how could you tell? Still, pretty neat story though and a nice move by Rupp.
--Sidney Crosby's on long-term IR. But don't panic, it's really a procedural move to give the Pens more cap space to replace Crosby with minor-league callups like Eric Tangradi and Dustin Jeffrey. Crosby is eligible to come off LTIR as soon as he is ready to return, so no biggie.
--Pensblog Eric caught the wife of a Penguins prospect bad-mouthing the organization for calling up other players to the AHL instead of her husband. The tweets and account has been deleted, but the damage has already been done.
Our take? Casey Pierro-Zabotel was drafted in the 3rd round in '07 affter he dominated lower level of juniors, but had yet to play in the CHL. It was a boom or bust selection. CPZ lead the Western Hockey League in scoring in 2008-09 and it looked like he might be a boom. But now the cracks show: he was one of the oldest players in the league at the time, and had the good fortune of playing on a line with an elite player who stepped right in the NHL in 2009 (Evander Kane). Since turning pro, CPZ has languished mainly in the ECHL and hasn't given much a reason to think his career's destined to advance past that. The "boom or bust" has pretty clearly gone bust.
Twitter's emotional and a biased perspective like his wife (his biggest fan) obviously boiled over inappropriately. Welcome to 2011. This really shouldn't cost CPZ his future with the Pens organization, his play has already booked him a ticket out of here sooner or later.