Pens Points: Taylor Chorney, come on down

Salary cap got the Penguins by the short hairs. [Post-Gazette]

But the team could be making a move depending on the status of Evgeni Malkin. [Tribune Review]

And, update, Taylor Chorney is the emergency recall, Malkin won't play tomorrow against Columbus but at least the team will have 12 forwards and 6 defensemen. [Penguins.com]

The Pens have officially re-assigned Kasperi Kapanen to Wilkes-Barre of the AHL, where it's expected he'll be staying down the stretch. [Penguins..com]

Kudos to Jason Mackey for I believe the first ever mention of "PDO" in a mainstream Pittsburgh newspaper. [Trib]

Sidney Crosby says "we were bad", David Perron says "we need to play harder". Talk is cheap. [PG]

And, bad news for the Pens came last night in the form of the Islanders Capitals taking points in the standings pushing both (at least temporarily) one point ahead of Pittsburgh. The Pens, however, have 1 game in hand on both, which is good- but only if they are able to win it. [NHL.com standings]

Breaking down the East where Detroit is in a 4-9-2 slump and could be in danger of dropping down to the Wild Card. The Red Wings are only 3 points up on Ottawa with each team having 5 games left. [Pro Hockey Talk]

It's a formality but official now: the New York Rangers are the 2015 Metropolitan Division regular season champs. Hopefully it treats them as well as it did the Pens last year. [Blueshirt Banter]

Crosby currently 4th in Kevin Allen's latest look at a very close race for the Hart Trophy for league MVP. [USA Today]

In what could be possibly pertinant for Saturday: Ryan Johansen's evolution in the shootout. [Jackets Cannon]

Looking to the Devils upcoming off-season. They project themselves to have only 3 top-6 forwards as of right now. Gonna be a long rebuild, methinks. [In Lou We Trust]

Mark Stone is throwing his name into the crowded Calder trophy race. [TSN]

Guess which country saw a coach strip half naked during a brawl. Hint: rhymes with Crushia. [Puck Daddy]

The defending champs helped their playoff hopes by killing Edmonton last night. [Pro Hockey Talk]