Change changing places, root yourself to the ground: Who's coming, who's going?
Will the Pens find a partner for Kris Letang on Sunday?
-- Just a quick post today. I hope you don’t get annoyed by my bringing different takes to obvious situations. I could’ve easily written about Sidney Crosby signing his deal only, but you can get that information from about a thousand different outlets. That’s why I think it’s interesting and important to gain perspective on situations. For the Crosby story, I pointed out Mario Lemieux’s past. To me, it’s interesting that No. 66 broke the bank with his deal back in 1992, while his former tenant signed for much less than his market value. It begs the question why he did it and I tried to present some possible explanations.
-- Moving on, Colby Armstrong has to pass through waivers after his buyout in Toronto goes through. Would you want him back in Pittsburgh at a cut-rate cost? He’s laid some lumber for the Maple Leafs since leaving town, but for the most part proved to be a bust.
-- Bob Pompeani of The Fan in Pittsburgh interviewed the Tennessean’s Josh Cooper on Saturday. Cooper was the Nashville writer who reported that the Preds could have interest in Paul Martin several days ago.
Pompeani asked Cooper about Alex Radulov. Cooper said that Nashville wants to part ways. He said that Pittsburgh might be the only fit that would keep Radulov from leaving the NHL for the KHL. Radulov is apparently good friends with Evgeni Malkin. There was no discussion about Radulov’s playoff benching for staying out too late before a game, but Cooper did mention how Radulov was out of shape and ill-prepared for the NHL when he came back over.
Would you want to take a flier in Radulov?
-- For some reason, I watched the first period of the Pens-Flyers playoff game Saturday morning. Right off the bat, Marc-Andre Fleury allowed a juicy rebound the Flyers failed to capitalize on. Philly’s Wayne Simmonds slew-footed the Flower and no penalty was called. That seemed to get Fleury off his game. Later in the first, he tripped a forward around his own net and was fortunate no penalty was called.
Fleury also chose to stick handle a pop-up dump-in rather than glove it. It was like he was afraid to come out of his net. As a result, a Flyers player retrieved the puck from behind Fleury and set-up a scoring chance. This was before Pittsburgh had given up a goal in the series.
I didn’t realize the ease with which Philly was able to get Fleury off his game and worry about things other than stopping the puck.
Zbynek Michalek was caught out of position and gave up a breakaway to Jaromir Jagr. Jagr’s never been great on breakaways or shootouts and missed. What was more disturbing about Michalek is that after Fleury froze a puck on the side of the net, Scott Hartnell came in with a late tap on Fleury’s glove and Michalek totally let the incident go by without doing anything or getting in Hartnell’s face.
Kris Letang was amped up. He needs a partner that can settle things down because he plays out of control too often.
Jordan Staal delivered the best pass and check of the period, setting up Tyler Kennedy for the team’s second goal and crunching Claude Giroux along the boards. He will be sorely missed.
-- A day before free agency and nothing is clear. I would be more than happy if the Penguins didn’t get Zach Parise or Ryan Suter, just from a payroll philosophy standpoint. Pittsburgh already has Crosby and Malkin in rarefied salary range and I’d rather see the team employ five competent NHLers than two studs like Parise and Suter for the same cost. Sounds crazy, I know, but I don’t want to put too many eggs in one basket and would prefer to see the roster spread the wealth. Of course, it’s easier said than done. The Pens have to move some defense in order to balance the offense.
What do you want to see done?
The names that most frequently pop up, besides Parise and Suter, seem to be Parenteau, Allen, Prust, Doan. I do not want to see the Pens give big money to Filip Kuba. He had a good year but I’m not a big fan of his.
What are you looking for going into free agency frenzy?
*****
Treasure life!
JT
Pittsburgh Penguins Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»