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Roster Final, USA Today Picks Pens

According to Dave Molinari of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, the Pittsburgh Penguins have made the final four training camp cuts today.   The move was expected with the pending league deadline and brings their roster down to 22 players. 1 short of the 23 allowable, for the start of the NHL season.  It is unclear what the Penguins intend to do with the vacant 23rd spot, but it leaves the door open for another potential acquisition.

The following four players were assigned to the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins:

1. Ryan Stone (C)
2. Jonathan Filewich (RW)
3. Jeff Taffe (LW)
4. Kris Letang (D) 

The Penguins are in good stead to have good quality players like these on the short list for call-up throughout the season.  The time they have spent in training camp with the NHL veterans will serve both them and the team well down the stretch.  I expect we will see more of these fine young players as the season progresses.  

Adam Hall also signed a one-year, two-way contract.  Hall joined the Penguins just prior to training camp as a try-out and played in all six preseason games.  Defenseman Mike Weaver was also re-assigned to WBS, and has until Tuesday at noon to clear waivers. 

The Penguins are to submit their final roster to the league office by Tuesday, October 2nd.  The current roster is as follows:

Forwards

1. Sidney Crosby “C”
2. Mark Recchi “A”
3. Evgeni Malkin 
4. Jordan Staal
5. Petr Sykora
6. Colby Armstrong
7. Erik Christensen
8. Adam Hall
9. Maxime Talbot
10. Georges Laraque
11. Ryan Malone
12. Gary Roberts
13. Jarkko Ruutu

Defensemen

1. Sergei Gonchar “A”
2. Darryl Sydor
3. Ryan Whitney
4. Mark Eaton
5. Alain Nasreddine
6. Brooks Orpik
7. Rob Scuderi

Goaltenders

1. Marc-Andre Fleury
2. Dany Sabourin

The Penguins 2007-08 season opens Friday against the Carolina Hurricanes in Raleigh, NC.  The Penguins home opener will be on Saturday when they host Anaheim.

In other news, USA Today writer Kevin Allen posted an interesting article in today’s paper that announces that “our pick is the Pittsburgh Penguins” to win the Stanley Cup this year, and provides their top ten reasons.  I personally don’t think this will be the year, although I think it is likely within the next 3 seasons.  My chief argument with the article is that it claims their defensive game is one of the top ten reasons that they will win the cup.  I, on the other hand, believe that the defense is currently the achilles heal of the team.  Unless they can dramatically improve on that aspect of the Penguins game, there will be no cup in Pittsburgh this year.  Nonetheless, the article is a good read.  There is also a very good, lengthy follow-up article with Allen on Pittsburgh Penguins.com.  It discusses in more depth how Allen compares this team to the Edmonton Oilers in the Gretzky days, and offers some countering opinions to my concerns about the Penguins defense.  Lastly, Joe Sager had an excellent interview with Kevin Allen on today’s Penguins Rink Rat Report.  Click HERE to here this interesting interview (12:01 Minutes).  You can also play the Rink Rat Report by selecting it from the Rink Rat Report player on the left sidebar of this page. 

Taffe Called Up, Brent Sent Down

General Manager Ray Shero announced this afternoon that the Pittsburgh Penguins have recalled 26-year old Left Wing Jeff Taffe from the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, and in-turn assigned 23-year old Center Tim Brent to the AHL affiliate.  Taffe, who was picked up as a free agent by the Penguins on July 13, 2007, had just recently been moved from Penguins training camp to the AHL affiliate on September 22, 2007.   

Jeff Taffe was a St Louis Blues first round draft pick in 2000, being selected 30th overall that year.  He attended the University of Minnesota where he helped lead Minnesota to the 2002 NCAA Championship, scoring the game-winning goal in the semifinal win against Michigan and the game-winning goal in the West Regional quarterfinal against Colorado College.  He finished that season ranked second in the NCAA in goals (34) and fifth overall in points (58). 

While playing for Minnesota, Taffe’s rights were traded by the Blues to the Phoenix Coyotes.  He spent his first season in the NHL playing with the Phoenix Coyotes in 2002/03, and has spent time going back and forth between the AHL and NHL ever since.  Almost all of his NHL career has been with the Coyotes.  He did have a short stint (3 months, 2 games) with the New York Rangers after a trade involving Jamie Lundmark, but was traded back to Phoenix in a deal for Martin Sonnenberg.  Taffe has played in 100 NHL games and netted 28 Points (15G, 13A).

Tim Brent was an Anaheim Ducks third round draft pick in 2004, being selected 75th overall that year.  Brent played 15-games for the Ducks last season, his first in the NHL, scoring 1 goal.  The Penguins acquired him from Anaheim in a trade for Stephen Dixon on June 23, 2007. 

The Penguins continue training camp with 27 players, 4 more than they will have once the regular season starts next week.  They currently have 16 forwards, 9 defensemen, and 2 goaltenders for a total of 27 players in training camp. 

The Pittsburgh Penguins will play their final two pre-season games this weekend against the Buffalo Sabres, starting at home on Friday night and finishing in Buffalo on Saturday.