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Prospects Camp Set to Open Sept 9th

The Pittsburgh Penguins’ annual propsects camp will be conducted in Kitchener, Ontario, from Tuesday, September 9th, through Monday, September 15th.  The camp will open with 4-days of practice, followed by a 3-day series of games against prospects from the Florida Panthers, Ottawa Senators and the Toronto Maple Leafs. 

The prospects camp will be led by Wilkes-Barre/Scranton coaches Dan Bylsma and Todd Reirden.  As was the case last year, the Pittsburgh Penguins’ management, coaching and training staffs will be well represented at the camp.  Among others, Penguins’ coach Michel Therrien and GM Ray Shero will be on-hand to assess the talent in the sytem.  Two young players that they will likely be watching are defenseman Alex Goligoski and winger Luca  Caputi.

Alex Goligoski caught management’s attention during last season’s playoffs by scoring 28-points (4G, 24A) in 23-games, setting a new AHL playoff scoring record for defensemen.  He also tied the AHL record for points in a playoff season by a rookie.  Depending on how the Darryl Sydor situation works out, Goligoski could potentially be an early season backfill for Ryan Whitney who will miss the first couple of months while recovering from foot surgery. 

Luca Caputi also made a name for himself last season by scoring 51 goals in 66 games for the Niagara Ice Dogs of the Ontario Hockey League.  With the Penguins’ depth at wing remaining a question heading into the fall, he could find himself being called upon in the regular season to round out the team.

In all, the Penguins will send 24 players to prospect camp.  This includes the following 7 defensemen, 14 forwards and 3 goaltenders (click on any name for more detailed info):

Defensemen:

• Jonathan D’Aversa
• Alex Goligoski
• Alex Grant
• Jason Legault
• Ben Lovejoy
• Jake Muzzin
• Elgin Reid

Forwards:

• Aaron Boogard (RW)
• Luca Caputi (LW)
• Corey Cowick (LW)
• Jean-Michel Daoust (RW)
• Tommy Goebel (RW)
• Joey Haddad (RW)
• Dustin Jeffrey (C)
• Nick Johnson (RW)
• Cedric Lalonde-McNichol (C)
• Mark Letestu (C)
• Nathan Moon (C)
• Casey Pierro-Zabotel (LW)
• Keven Veilliux (C)
• Tim Wallace (RW)

Goaltenders:

• David Brown
• John Curry
• Patrick Killeen

For a complete and current listing of the young players that are “in the system” for the Penguins’ organization, go to NHLPens.com–>Rosters–>In the System.

On September 16th, immediately following the Prospect Camp, the Pittsburgh Penguins’ veterans will report to training camp.  More details about the Penguins’ training camp will be provided when released by the team.

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Ryan Whitney Sidelined for 3+ Months

In a surprise development, Pittsburgh Penguins’ defenseman Ryan Whitney underwent surgery on Friday to correct a left foot misalignment that he has secretly been dealing with for some time.  The procedure, an osteotomy, is a surgical operation whereby bone is cut to shorten, lengthen, or change its alignment.  It usually involves taking out a wedge of bone near a joint to correct the alignment and alleviate pain.  The typical recovery time for a procedure like this is 3-5 months, which means (at a minimum) Ryan Whitney won’t play for the Penguins until mid-November.

According to Bob Rossi of the Pittsburgh Tribune Review, Whitney “stunned” General Manager Ray Shero and Coach Michel Therrien when he revealed the problem to them during post season meetings and told them that he had pretty much played the whole season on one skate.  Rossi noted that some teammates, including Siney Crosby and Brooks Orpik, were aware that Whitney was struggling with the problem during the season.  Apparently Whitney had been dealing with the pain since the opening round of the 2007 playoffs against Ottawa.  Despite the use of orthotics and other non-surgical alternatives, Whitney was unable to find relief from the problem.  It is unclear whether the team training staff was cognizant of the full impact of Whitney’s condition on his skating ability. 

 

As one of their top defensemen, the Penguins will certainly miss Ryan Whitney at the beginning of the season.  However, the Penguins have developed significant depth at defense and will be starting training camp with 7 quality, proven d-men that include Sergei Gonchar, Mark Eaton, Brooks Orpik, Kris Letang, Hal Gil, Rob Scuderi and Darryl Sydor.  There has been a lot of speculation that Darryl Sydor has requested a trade, and that options were being looked at.  One might expect that the Whitney situation could alter any early movement of Sydor.  Sydor’s fate may rest upon how well top prospect Alex Goligoski performs in training camp.

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New Arena Groundbreaking at Center Ice

The big news in Pittsburgh this week was the groundbreaking ceremony for the new multi-purpose arena that will become the new home of the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2010.  The groundbreaking ceremony took place at the new arena’s center-ice location on 14 Aug 08.   The arena, which will replace the aging Mellon Arena, is being built across the street from the NHL’s oldest venue between Centre and Fifth avenues.   Pennsylvania Governor Edward Rendell, Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, Pittsburgh Penguins Owner Mario Lemieux, Chief Executive Officer Ken Sawyer, and Team President David Morehouse were among the officials on hand for the ceremony. 

The new $290M arena will seat 18,087 hockey fans, approximately 1,100 more than Mellon Arena and will include a 500-car parking garage, surface parking lot and event staging area.  The new arena is scheduled to be complete just in time for the start of the 2010-11 season.  While one could argue that it will be “the house that Sid built”, the Penguins were long overdue for a new arena.  Nonetheless, the hockey renaissance being experienced in Pittsburgh right now with all of the youth and talent has certainly helped seal the deal to get the new arena started. 

In a surprise statement at the groundbreaking ceremony, Mario Lemieux admitted that the ownership never intended to follow-through on their threats to move the franchise out of Pittsburgh if the arena funding didn’t materialize.  Instead, Lemieux noted that the threat was a a negotiating tactic to put more pressure on the city officials, and that the trips to Las Vegas, Kansas City were “just to go, and have a nice dinner and come back.”  The tactic worked, as it motivated the Governor and the Mayor to get the deal done.  Governor Rendell stated that the project would not have happened without the financial revenues from legalized gambling, which are expected to pay a large portion of the costs, including $7.5 million a year for 30 years.

Mario Lemieux also put aside speculation that he would sell his majority share in the team ownership in the near future, saying  “As long as the ownership group is having fun and putting a good product on the ice, I’ll be here for a while.”  A good product indeed!  The ownership group has also benefitted from a franchise record 67 consecutive home sellouts and a 99% season ticket renewal for the upcoming season.  Ken Sawyer noted that a statue of Lemieux will be erected in his honor at the Plaza entrance of the new arena, reflecting all that he has done for Penguins hockey.     

Some goodies on the new Arena can be found at the New Arena Website, to include:

• Fact Sheet
• Planned Amenities
• Comparison to Mellon Arena
• Drawings/Renderings
• Video Fly Through

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NHLPens.com Uses PicApp

Recently we started using PicApp (http://www.picapp.com) to serve up quality, professional photographs here at NHLPens.com.  PicApp is a FREE service that enables us to display images taken by some of the worlds best photographers and agencies like Getty Images.  PicApp has millions of photos to choose from that are updated continuously with new, relevant images (for example, in-game hockey photos are usually available right after the game is complete!).  The beauty of PicApp is you can use the images without having to worry about copyright infringement or paying large licensing fees that are unaffordable for the average hobbyist blogger, like myself.  PicApp does this by including a small, inobtrusive ad at the bottom of each image.  If you run a blog, I recommend you take a look at PicApp as a way to “pretty up” your posts with relevent professional photography.  The following are two examples of PicApp imagery taken at the Olympics today:

Top 5 Reasons the Penguins Will Excel in 2008-09

Over the past month, there has been a lot of chatter that the Pittsburgh Penguins lost their best chance at the Stanley Cup by losing to the Detroit Red Wings this past season.  Assertions have been made that the Penguins gave up too much in the off-season to be competitive for the cup again in the coming season.  Many have highlighted the acquisition and subsequent loss of Marian Hossa and the departure of Ryan Malone as the main points in their argument.  In fact, the Penguins are poised for another phenomenal season and have a better chance of being a cup contender this season than they did at this point last season.  The following are the top 5 reasons that the Penguins will excel again this coming season:

1. The Core is Intact:  Despite the loss of Hossa, Malone, Roberts, Conklin, Ruutu, Laraque and Hall, the Penguins have kept their core young stars intact.  This team was built around a young, talented core that includes Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Marc-Andre Fleury, Jordan Staal and Ryan Whitney.  All of these key players remain in the lineup, and all have been signed to long-term deals with the exception of Jordan Staal who could be signed to a long-term deal in the coming months.  Crosby, Malkin and Fleury have already proven themselves as elite players in this league.  Jordan Staal is on the cusp of a breakout season after posting less than expected numbers last season, but playing a masterful defensive game.  This group of players is the core of the team around which the supporting cast has been built. 
2. Youth, Experience, and Confidence:  The core talent of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Marc-Andre Fleury are just 20 (soon to be 21), 22, and 23, respectively.  Jordan Staal is just 19, Kris Letang is 21, and Ryan Whitney is 25.  These players are still approaching their prime and will only get better in the seasons to come.  Normally with youth comes inexperience and lack of confidence, as was the case over the past two seasons for most of these players.  However, this team gained a tremendous amount of experience and confidence last season as they battled through key injuries to the lineup to come out near the top of the league during the regular season.  Evgeni Malkin, Jordan Staal, Kris Letang and Ryan Whitney were all put in clutch roles while the team played with an injury-riddled lineup, and they all matured and delivered in the process.  In the playoffs, the Penguins went 12-2 through the first 3-rounds of the playoffs before losing in the Stanley Cup Finals.  These young players have learned what it takes to get to the playoffs, and what it takes to go the distance.  They have lived it first-hand.  They will be a better team next season because of it.


3. Offensive Talent:  The Pittsburgh Penguins finished 7th in the league last season in goals for.  This was accomplished despite Sidney Crosby, one of league’s top offensive threats, out of the lineup for the last half of the season and Jordan Staal under-achieving in his offensive play.  Evgeni Malkin took the opportunity to come into his own and had a career season as a result, powering to the top of the league in points.  This coming season, the Penguins will look to have a full season’s service from the double-threat of Crosby and Malkin.  If Crosby and Malkin can both remain healthy, they will likely finish at or near the top of the league in scoring.  The swing factor next season will be Jordan Staal.  I am anticipating that he will break out of his sophomore scoring slump and put up a 25-30 goal season, partially closing the gap left by Ryan Malone.  Petr Sykora will continue to be a sniper on wing with his stellar shot.  Add to the mix newly acquired Miroslav Satan and Rusty Fedetenko, and I expect that the Penguins will best their offensive production from last season, despite the loss of Ryan Malone.  Note that Marian Hossa was not a key contributor in the Penguins’ regular season success, scoring just 3-goals for the Penguins in 12-games.
4. Goaltending:  Marc-Andre Fleury had a slow start last season.  Just after he was starting to return to form and gain some momentum in early December with 4-straight wins, he suffered the high-ankle injury that sidelined him for much of the latter part of the season.  When he returned in late February, few people expected him to be able to bounce back from the injury and lengthy time-off.  He quickly silenced any critics, however, by coming back and playing 13-games to end the season going 10-2-1 and giving up just 18-goals for a 1.38 GAA and impressive 0.945 save percentage.  He then went on into the playoffs and posted a 14-6 record while giving up just 41 goals in 20-games for a 2.05 GAA and 0.934 save percentage.  There is no question that Marc-Andre Fleury is an elite goaltender in this league and that he can perform under the pressure of playoff hockey.  The goaltending of Marc-Andre Fleury is sure to be a key factor that this team will rise to the top of the league again next season. 

5. Defensive System:  Had I said this last season, I would have been laughed at.  Last year I even called out the Penguins’ defense as their biggest shortcoming prior to the start of the season.  Some people still may not believe in the Penguins’ defense, however, over the course of this past season I have become a believer in the defensive system put in place by Coach Therrien that the team plays so well.  The key to the Penguins defensive system is not just the defensive corps itself nor the strategy employed, but the fact that the entire team embraces and plays it.  As a result, it has been effective for the Penguins and flexible enough to allow the offense to kick in when turnovers and scoring opportunities present themselves. 

There is plenty to be excited about if you are a fan of hockey, and even more so if you are a fan of Pittsburgh Penguins’ hockey.  Look for the Pittsburgh Penguins to return to the ice this fall hungrier than ever before to win.  For the reasons noted above, as well as many other reasons, they are poised to excel again this coming season and for the next several seasons to come.

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