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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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Penguins’ Rookies Beat Toronto 5-2

The 2008 rookie tournament got underway in Kitchener, Ontario, on Saturday with the Penguins’ young talent putting up a decisive win against the Toronto Maple Leafs rookies in their own back yard.  Center Mark Letestu, signed as an undrafted free agent in March 2007, racked up 4 points (1G, 3A) in the win.  Right Winger Jean-Michel Daoust, a friend of Max Talbot’s who signed a tryout contract in Wilkes Barre/Scranton in January, picked up 3-points (1G, 2A).  Huge defenseman Ben Lovejoy added a power play goal in the 5-2 win.  Defenseman Jon D’Aversa and Left Winger Joey Haddad picked up the other two goals.  Defensemen Alex Goligoski (2A), Alex Grant (1A) and Winger Aaron Boogard (1A) also got on the scoresheet.

Scoring opened at 3:31 of the first period with Daoust chipping a loose puck past Maple Leafs netminder James Reimer.  Just 2-minutes later, Ben Lovejoy came down the right wing on the power play and re-directed a Letestu pass into the net.  Jon D’Aversa and Joey Haddad added the 3rd and 4th goals mid-way through the second period.  Mark Letestu picked up his 4th point on the night in the final minutes of the second to finish the scoring.  6′3, 220lb Aaron Boogaard threw in with a fight and handily beat the Leafs’ Joe Cooper.  Rookie netminder John Curry stopped 20 shots to pick up the win.

The Penguins rookie team will face off against the Florida Panthers at 2:00pm today, and take on the Ottawa Senators on Monday at 2:00pm.  Last year, the Penguins’ rookie team went 3-1 and won the Tournament Championship in Kitchener. 

In other news, the Pittsburgh Penguins official training camp opens with physicals on Tuesday.  In their first official meeting of the new season, the players will spend Tuesday going through a spate of physicals, testing and meetings at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) facility on the South Side.  On Wednesday, 17 September, the players will assemble at Mellon Arena at 9AM for their first on-ice practice session.  They will continue to meet daily at Mellon Arena from 9AM-1PM through Friday, 19 September, before heading into 5 pre-season games.  All practice sessions will be open to the public and free of charge, with entry through Gate #1 opening at 8:45 AM.

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Longest NHL Suspension Handed to Simon

In news from Toronto, the League lowered the hammer on New York Islanders forward Chris Simon today, suspending him for 30 games, without pay, for deliberately kicking Pittsburgh Penguins forward Jarrko Ruutu in the third period of the game on December 15, 2007.  Simon will be eligible to return on February 21, 2008 against the Tampa BayLightning.  The sentence is the longest suspension in NHL history for an on-ice incident.  In handing down the deservedly stiff ruling, NHL Senior Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations Colin Campbell stated, “…the deliberate act of kicking an opponent with an exposed skate blade, especially where the opponent is in a vulnerable position, is and always has been a repugnant and totally unacceptable act in the game of hockey.  In addition, while the act itself was extremely dangerous, the fact that this is the 8th incident requiring the imposition of supplementary discipline on  Simon compelled me to impose a very severe penalty in this case.  When a player repeatedly evidences the lack of ability to control his actions and conducts himself in total disregard of the rules, as well the health and safety of other players on the ice, each subsequent incident is deserving of enhanced scrutiny and more severe discipline.  This response serves not only the purpose of imposing appropriate punishment for the player involved, but also the purpose of deterring the player and all other players from engaging in similar conduct in the future – hopefully creating a safer long-term work environment for all NHL players.”  Simon is projected to forfeit $292,683 in salary which will go to the Players’ Emergency Assistance Fund.  In other news, Left Wing Ryan Malone returned to Pittsburgh to undergo evaluation of an infected cut on his leg by team doctors.  Malone will miss his second consecutive game as the Penguins face off against the Bruins in Boston on Thursday.  Originally it was reported that he missed Tuesday’s game against the Rangers due to the Flu, which has been flowing through the Penguins locker room.  Today it is reported that the leg infection caused the flu-like symptoms that kept Malone off the ice. 

The Penguins, already in Boston for Thursday’s game, practiced at Boston University on Wednesday.  General Manager Ray Shero announced that the Penguins have recalled forward Jeff Taffe from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and re-assigned forward Connor James back to the American Hockey League club.  James was called up and registered 1-shot in 1 game against the New York Islanders on December 15th.  Taffe, who has 21 points (12G, 9A) in 27 games this season with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, is tied for 13th in AHL goals scored.  Taffe notched 2-points (1G, 1A) in 3 NHL pre-season games with the Penguins.  Signed by Pittsburgh as a free agent on July 13th, Taffe has 28-points (15G, 13A) in 100 NHL games played over the course of 4-seasons as a member of the Phoenix Coyotes and New York Rangers.

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. 

Penguins Make 1st Cuts

Ray Shero announced the first Training Camp roster cuts today, the third day of on-ice practice and scrimmages.  The Pittsburgh Penguins have carved ten players out of the roster, including five forwards, four defensemen and a goalie, and reduced the camp to a field of 41 players in advance of tomorrow’s pre-season opener in Montreal. 

The ten players cut from training camp have been assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, the Pittsburgh Penguins’ American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate club which is set to open its training camp on Thursday, Sep 20, 2007.

The following ten players were included in today’s cuts:

• Forwards:  Aaron Boogaard, Joe Jensen, Mark Letestu, Kurtis McLean, Kyle Rank

• Defensemen:  Mark Ardelan, Paul Bissonnette, Jonathan D’Aversa, Deryk Engelland

• Goaltender:  David Brown

The Penguins have retained 41 players on the training camp roster (24 fowards, 13 defensemen, and four goaltenders).  By the end of camp, the Penguins will cut 18 more players and skinnythe roster to the final 23 needed to start the season.

The Penguins travel to Montreal tonight for the first of two preseason games against the Montreal Canadiens on Monday and Tuesday.

Click on the following Pittsburgh Penguins TV video clips for highlights from today’s camp:

• Video 1 – 12:52 Minutes

• Video 2 – 14:07 Minutes

• Video 3 – 16:19 Minutes

• Video 4 – 17:23 Minutes

Click HERE for the Pittsburgh Penguins Rink Rat Report audio podcast for today’s training camp (8:53 minutes).  Phil Bourque and Joe Sager interview Jordan Staal.