Pens Points: Friday, I’m in love

Getting to be slim pickens out there, anytime you want to make that trade would be pretty cool, Gentleman Jim.

Former Penguins assistant coach Tony Granato will be the head coach for the Team USA Olympic team. Seems like as good a choice as any American hockey coach that currently doesn’t have a job. [Puck Daddy]

Let’s upset people on a Friday, here’s Marc-Andre Fleury’s new mask! At least it’s still black and gold so you can still live in denial for a little while longer (since I won’t post the other picture of him in full gear)

The Pens put another career in a body bag, this time we say fare well to Mike Fisher. [TSN]

Travis Yost thinks the Hurricanes gamble in Scott Darling is a good one to take. [TSN]

The Metropolitan Division will be tough again this year. Still pretty amazing that last year it had 3 of the top 4 regular season teams in the league all from the same division. [All About the Jersey]

Nino Niederreiter’s new contract doesn’t have a no-trade clause because his outlook was basically that he doesn’t want to stay on a team if they would be wanting to trade him. Will it start a new trend? I doubt it, players don’t have a lot of control in the big scheme of things, I would keep as much of it as possible if I were in their shoes, lest you get shipped off across the North American continent at any given moment while your wife is 8 months pregnant, or something. Noble outlook by Nino, but probably not one I would take, if given the leverage. [Hockey Wilderness]

It’s only August and the poor Coyotes have already suffered a loss. Teenage sensation Jakob Chychrun injured his knee in training, had surgery and there won’t be an update until camp next month. Doesn’t sound promising for the immediate future. [NHL.com]

A pretty interesting look at what a hypothetical 32-team NHL might look like if Quebec were to be added as a future expansion team. [Litterbox Cats]

Also a DVR alert - our friends at NHL Network tell us that a certain two-time winning rookie Stanley Cup winning goalie could be featured on Sunday night’s show. And, I’m sure many more Pens to follow in the weeks to come.