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The Penguins are taking on the Chicago Blackhawks tonight at the United Center for an 8 PM EST faceoff. The next time the Penguins visit Chicago it will not be at the United Center, it will be over at beautiful Soldier Field for an outdoor matchup. Over the course of today I will provide updates and information pertaining to this matchup at the top of the page here.
UPDATE 10:40 AM
The Penguins have hit the ice at Consol Energy Center for their morning skate, apparently they will travel to Chicago after the practice in Pittsburgh.
Chuck Kobasew, and not Beau Bennett, is currently skating with Crosby and Kunitz.
Beau Bennett will be skating with Sutter and D'Agostini.
Kunitz-Crosby-Kobasew
D'Agostini-Sutter-Bennett
Megna-Vitale-Jeffrey
MacIntyre-Sill-Payerl
This is nothing to overreact about, the two realistic spots for Bennett to start this year are on the left wing with Malkin and Neal, or playing third line with Sutter and D'Agostini. It is wise to give Bennett some time with his potential future linemates.
The plan is to have Jokinen have his shot with Malkin and Neal on Saturday.
Personally I still think Bennett has the upper hand in earning that LW spot on the Malkin/Neal line.
The defense pairings are as follows:
Despres-Niskanen/Samuelsson
Bortuzzo-Mikkelson
Engelland-Pouliot.
I think it is criminal that Steve MacIntyre takes away ice time from anybody, whether it is a preseason game or not. Completely useless.
The #1 PP unit is:
Kunitz Crosby Bennett
Pouliot Niskanen
This is Sidney Crosby's first appearance in Chicago since January 13, 2006 (h/t @ChrisKuc). That is incredible. One of the benefits of the new schedule is that every team will play in every city each year now. No reason a big time market like Chicago should have to wait 7 years to see a star like Crosby.
Here are the players that will be rostered for tonight's game in Chicago (courtesy of the Blackhawks official website):
Marian Hossa has re-aggravated an upper body injury and will miss all of the Blackhawks remaining preseason games. He hopes to be ready by opening night.
Due to the injury here are the Blackhawks line combos:
Bickell-Teravainen-Kane
Sharp-LeBlanc-Smith
Broadhurst-Saad-Hayes
Bollig-Kruger-Hartman
According to Penguins PR guru Jen Bullano today is Heach Coach Dan Bylsma's birthday. Happy Birthday Dan.
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Last week on the Hockey Central radio show former failed Columbus Blue Jackets GM Doug Maclean decided he would add some commentary about the Pittsburgh Penguins locker room situation from last year.
Here is what he had to say (transcription courtesy of The Pens Blog):
" ...It is going to be interesting what evolves in Pittsburgh. I've heard from too many people this summer that this was not a happy group at the end of the year last year......because of lots of things. Guys not happy with who they're playing with... some of the stars not happy with their linemates. It was not a happy operation...and I mean before they got beat out. I mean as it was evolving during the season..."
Personally I feel as though these comments are the result of an uninformed person just looking to bloviate.
So who were these unhappy players on the team? Crosby, Kunitz, or Dupuis? Malkin and Neal? Sutter? Letang? Martin and Orpik? Yeah, I didn’t think so.
The only guy who would fit Maclean’s description would be Jarome Iginla and he was wisely allowed to test free agency.
Forgive me if I don’t hold the opinion of somebody with Maclean’s track record in high esteem on this matter.
Pittsburgh Tribune writer Dejan Kovacevic sums the Maclean comments up nicely:
ESPN recently released their rankings of NHL players based on position. The three categories include the
top 100 forwards,
top 50 defense ,
and top 25 goaltenders . Additionally there was a ranking of the
30 NHL Head Coaches . As with any list there are going to be disagreements about some of the players who were included, where they ranked, as well as criticism for who was not included. Here are how the Penguins players fared in the rankings, don’t shoot the messenger.
Forwards
Sidney Crosby (1), Evgeni Malkin (2), James Neal (29), Chris Kunitz (44)
Here are some other notable players with Pittsburgh ties who were ranked amongst the forwards:
Marian Hossa (18) Brandon Saad (78), Jarome Iginla (83), and Brenden Morrow (99)
Defense
Kris Letang (8), Paul Martin (40)
Some other players I have deemed notable on the list include:
Jack Johnson (33), Alex Goligoski (43), and Sergei Gonchar (47).
The inclusion of Jack Johnson on this list is extremely comical to me. He is closer to being on the bottom 50 list than a top 50 list. He is one of the most
overrated and glorified bottom pairing defenseman in the league .
Goaltenders
*crickets*
No Penguins goaltender was included in the top 25. Personally I think Vokoun deserved a spot somewhere on the list. Fleury’s playoff failures in recent memory have certainly factored into being left out of the top 25. The folks who have compiled this list clearly do not agree with Dan Bylsma’s assertion that the Penguins have the best goalie tandem in the league.
Coaches
Dan Bylsma was ranked 5th overall and was slotted behind Joel Quenneville, Mike Babcock, Claude Julien, and Darryl Sutter. Go figure, the top 5 are the last 5 coaches to win a Stanley Cup.
After viewing the list, what changes do you feel are necessary?
Thanks for reading!
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