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NHLPens.com Now Enabled for Mobile!

NHLPens.com is now enabled for Mobile devices.  Simply point your mobile browser at http://nhlpens.com and the site will automatically detect a mobile browser and serve up the site in a mobile friendly fashion.  It has been tested to perfection on an iPod browser, but could potentially have some issues with different mobile browsing platforms. Please let us know if you experience any difficulties with this new capability by sending an e-mail to Paul@NHLPens.com.  Thanks and have a Happy New Year!  Let’s Go Pens!

Penguins Lines

We recently added a new page to the site to show the Penguins lines.  We did this after seeing that a significant quantity of searches were looking for the penguins lineup.  We suspect that this is mostly from fans of our opponents.  While we don’t always know what the coach is going to do on any given night, we have posted the generic lineup at http://nhlpens.com/team/penguins-lines/.  You can also navigate to it from the blog by clicking the “Team” navigation button and then “Lines”.  Hopefully this will satisfy the needs of those looking for that information.  I plan to add am additional table that shows depth at each position (to include AHL talent).  More to come!

NHLPens.com Prize Drawing Announced!

NHLPens.com will hold a random drawing from among all registered subscribers on 1 Nov 2009.  The winner will recieve the Pittsburgh Penguins 2009 Stanley Cup Champions DVD, absolutely free of charge (a $30+ value after shipping/handling)!  To be eligible for the drawing, simply enter your e-mail address in the “Subscribe” section of the website on the upper right hand side of the home page at http://NHLPens.com.  We will randomly select a subscriber on 1 Nov 09 to recieve the DVD and will post the name of the winner on the site no later than 7 Nov 09.   If you are selected as the winner, you will be notified by e-mail and your name and mailing address will be collected at that time. 

As a subscriber, you will get an e-mail notice anytime we publish a new post (2-3 times a week on average).  We will not sell or give your e-mail address to anyone!  If you are already an NHLPens.com subscriber and recieve post notifications via e-mail, you are already entered to win

 

 

Good luck, and Let’s Go Pens!

Penguins Make First 12 Roster Cuts

The Pittsburgh Penguins made their first training camp cuts today, re-assigning 12 players and whittling their camp roster down to 43.  Over the next 2 weeks, the Penguins will need to skinny the roster down by another 20 players to arrive at the 23 players required by September 30th for the start of the regular season.  General Manager Ray Shero announced that 10 players would be heading to the AHL affiliate Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.  This includes forwards Aaron Boogaard, Zack Sill, Joey Haddad, Casey Pierro-Zabotel, Nick Petersen and Keven Veilleux.  Also heading to the AHL are defensemen Lane Caffaro, Brian Strait and Alex Grant and goaltender Jordan Parise.  The Penguins also re-assigned Nathan Moon to the Kingston Frontenacs of the Ontario Hockey league and released defenseman Jamie Hunt.  The roster moves leave the Penguins with 26 forwards, 13 defensemen and four goaltenders.

The entire Penguins team will head to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Thursday night to participate in a Black and Gold intra-squad game at Wachovia Arena.  The Stanley Cup will be in attendance as a team of Penguins headed up by Sidney Crosby will take on another team of Penguins headed up by Evgeni Malkin.  The game is sold out and proceeds will be donated to charity.  The Penguins will then return home to face off against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Friday evening at Mellon Arena, before taking their pre-season on the road.

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Tangradi to Debut on Crosby’s Wing in Tonight’s Pre-Season Opener

Just a little over 3 months after winning the Stanley Cup in Detroit, the Pittsburgh Penguins return to the ice tonight for the pre-season opener against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Mellon Arena.  The game comes after just a couple days of training camp practice, being accelerated to accomodate the upcoming G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh.  This morning the Pittsburgh Penguins released the lineup for tonight’s game.  Despite expectations that the Penguins would rest its stars, the lineup will include players such as Sidney Crosby, Jordan Staal, Marc-Andre Fleury, Sergei Gonchar, and others.  Most notable, the Penguins will put their top prospect, 6′4″ 20-year old winger Eric Tangradi, out on the top line with Sidney Crosby.  While only a pre-season game, it will give the youngster a huge opportunity to show his skills and fight for a permanent spot  on the Penguins’ roster.

The Penguins have reported the following lineup and line combinations for tonight’s game:

Forwards:

• Chris Kunitz, Sidney Crosby, Eric Tangradi
• Pascal Dupuis, Jordan Staal, Ruslan Fedotenko
• Chris Connor, Dustin Jeffrey, Ryan Bayda
• Zack Sill, Joe Vitale, Eric Godard

Defensemen:

• Simon Despres, Sergei Gonchar
• Mark Eaton, Deryk Engelland
• Jay McKee, Robert Bortuzzo

Goaltenders:

• Marc-Andre Fleury
• Brad Thiessen

Game time is 7:30PM.  The game is not expected to be broadcast.

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Penguins’ Mid-Summer Update

It is another short off-season for the Pittsburgh Penguins, although this summer is much better than last for the players and their fans.  A year ago, the team was licking the wounds of a Stanley Cup championship lost and the loss of a not so insignificant portion of their roster to other teams at season’s end.  This summer, the players are enjoying the fruits of their labor as the Stanley Cup Champions and celebrating their day with Lord Stanley’s Cup, reflecting upon their accomplishments with their families, friends and home town fans.  What a difference a year makes!  It will only be a brief pause for celebration, however, as the next season will soon be upon us and the Penguins will have to return to the business of competing for the prize once again.

It has been an eventful summer so far, as Ray Shero has masterfully navigated the challenges of the NHL salary cap with a handful of players who have sacrified pay for the chance to stay with a championship team.  First, Shero retained the services of veteran stalwart Bill Guerin for another year at less than half of his 2008/09 $4.5M  salary.   Guerin agreed to a $2M contract in lieu of testing the free agency market or considering retirement.  It turns out that playing on a line with Sidney Crosby, voted the NHL’s best player for the 3rd year in a row by ESPN fans, is worth the cut in pay.  “I’d be lying if I didn’t say that was one of the big reasons I wanted to stay,” Guerin said of No. 87.  “It’s so much fun to play with him.”  At the same time, Shero pulled the trigger on a 2-year deal with Craig Adams, signing him at $550K per year (slightly below his $600K salary last season).  Shortly after signing Guerin and Adams, Shero again pulled off the seemingly improbable by signing Ruslan Fedotenko to a 1-year contract worth $1.8M, a $400K pay cut over last season.  “I think it says a lot about Bill Guerin, Craig Adams, and Ruslan Fedotenko to want to come back here and be part of this group,” general manager Ray Shero said.  And as a fan of the game, I have to agree.  It says something very special about this team, and even more so about the championship spirit of these players.  These are the kinds of players you want on your team. 

In the loss column, the Penguins will play next season without the services of Rob Scuderi, Hal Gill and Mathieu Garon.  Scuderi signed a three-year deal worth $13.6 million with the Los Angeles Kings, a price tag that the Penguins couldn’t match under the realities of the current salary cap.  Hal Gill signed a 2-year contract worth $4.5M with the Montreal Canadiens.  Finally, Mathieu Garon signed a two-year contract to back up Columbus goalie Steve Mason for more money.  The Penguins responded to the losses on the blueline by signing free agent Jay McKee to a 1-year, $800K contract.  The Penguins snatched McKee up at a significant bargain after he was bought out of the final year of his $4.5M annual contract with the St Louis Blues.  Earning $2.67M next season from his buyout, McKee could justify the modest salary from the Penguins for a chance to regain his prestige and worth on a championship team.  It was a win-win signing for the Penguins, who see a lot of upside potential in McKee, especially at such a bargain price.  Known for his shot-blocking ability, McKee fell out of favor with the Blues who were in need of a quicker puck-moving defensemen.  A first round pick by the Buffalo Sabres in 1995, McKee anchored the team’s defense in their 1999 run to the Stanley Cup finals.  The Penguins will likely rely on the services of Alex Goligoski and John Curry to pick up the slack left by the Gill and Garon deprtures. 

The Penguins have also picked up rugged forward Mike Rupp from the New Jersey Devils for a 2-year stint.  At 6′ 5″ and 230 pounds, Rupp adds some more grit to a team that already included the services of Eric Godard.  While we don’t expect Godard to be moved, Rupp could unseat him as the team’s most feared enforcer.  Rupp will earn $800K this coming season and $850K in the following year.  The Penguins also signed Dallas Stars right winger Chris Connor to a 1-year deal to add depth to the organization.

The Penguins will open the 2009/10 season on Friday, October 2, against the New York Rangers.  It will be the final NHL season opener for the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Mellon Arena’s 48-year history as they will play the following season in their new arena.  The third Stanley Cup champions banner will be raised to ceiling of the Mellon Arena rafters during the season opener, in what is likely to be a night of mixed emotions in the old igloo. 

 

NHLPens.com Redesigned for Playoffs

I am very happy to present the newly remodeled NHLPens.com, just in time for the 2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs!  I have overhauled the theme to make the features of the site more accessible from the “Home” page.  First, the site now features the last 3-posted articles using an image/text slideshow box at the top left of the home page.  To read a featured article, simply click on the image and you will be taken to the full posting.  Just below the slideshow, there is a summary listing of the last five featured articles so you can quickly navigate to a recent article.  We are also categorizing every article as news, opinion, analysis, announcements and the like so that you can easily navigate to and read the content that you would like.  You can access these categories at the top of the home page, or view summaries of the past few articles in each category a little further down the home page.  The home page also includes an embedded video from the NHL or the Pittsburgh Penguins.  This video will change frequently and will highlight player interviewsm game highlights and other compelling content.  On the right “sidebar” of the home page, you will find a live NHL scoreboard that updates in near real-time, the latest NHLPens.com poll, the latest news clippings scoured from the internet and more!  From the navigation bar at the top of the home page, you can still step off to other pages of great content to include the Team roster, schedule/results, stats, standings, the Forum message board, our video page, great Fan gear and more!  I hope you find the site’s redesign both appealing and functional.  If you have any feedback, we would love to hear from you.  You can either comment on this post, or send me an e-mail at Paul@NHLPens.com.  As always, thanks for visiting us at NHLPens.com!

Let’s Go Pens!

New Rbk EDGE Uniform System

Accoring to the Pittsburgh Penguins, they will unveil the new Rbk EDGE uniform at 6:30 PM on Wednesday, September 5th, at the Galleria at Pittsburgh Mills in Tarentum, PA.  Ryan Whitney, Ryan Malone and Maxime Talbot are expected to be on hand for the official unveiling. 

All NHL teams have adopted the cutting edge new Rbk EDGE Uniform System for the coming season,  and have been incrementally unveiling them at various events around the league.   The new uniforms have been specifically designed for the NHL player with technologically-enhanced materials and fabrics to be more breathable, more water-resistant, more comfortable and more compatible with NHL equipment.  The Penguins’ logo and colors remain unchanged, although there reportedly will be some modifications to the striping, the shoulder areas, the pants and the socks.

The following photographs of the purported new uniform appear to be authentic, however, NHLPens.com staff have been unable to authenticate whether they are the real design, or just a concept.  We will find out for sure next Wednesday. 

Welcome to NHL Pens!

Welcome to NHLPens.com, a site built and maintained by a dedicated Pittsburgh Penguins hockey fan!   This site is intended to serve the Penguins fan community by providing original blog content, syndicated “up to the minute” news articles about the Penguins and the NHL, game schedules/previews/summaries, video highlights, a community discussion forum, links to Pittsburgh Penguins accessories, and much more! 

With the 2007/8 hockey season fast approaching, I am hard at work to bring all of these features to fruition, and I hope you will join me by visiting the site frequently for daily updated content throughout the season, and by contributing your thoughts and ideas in the community discussion forum.  What better place to share your enthusiasm about this extremely talented young team as it pursues the most coveted trophy in all of sports, Lord Stanley’s Cup!