Excuses, Excuses:

Ok, the real 'World Penguin Day' will be.... oh man, I don't know. (April 25th) But for Penguin Fans, WPD will be Oct. 2, 2009 when the regular season opens and the Stanley Cup Banner is unfurled in the rafters at the Igloo. I'd like to come up with some great excuse as to why there haven't been many posts lately. Like, I've been helping with medical research, I was lost during an expedition to the Himalayas, I was temporarily blinded by a vision of the Stanley Cup, and couldn't find my computer.... you know, the usual.

The truth is... there just isn't that much going on. Once we got through Scuds and Gill on their way out, Syko leaving but not pissed at Coach Dan, the 'Malkin Minneapolis Park Scam' was uncovered,the Pens strange compulsion to hire sons and grandsons of former players(Johnson, Samuelson, Bathgate et al), Guerin coming back for another year, Mad Max's surgery, and the other things that mostly happened the one week that I was out of town, there's just not much that's happened during the second half of the month.

The weeks have been cut down to the odd story on NHL.com about any of the Pens players. (nice write-up on Adams, btw) and the 2 days when there are new posts on the Stanley Cup Journal, (is it just me, or does that little girl look awfully uncomfortable in Brooksie's arms?) There are only so many times you can ho-hum through replays of SC Playoffs on the NHL Channel before it's starts feeling like looking at old Hockey-porn. You kind of remember that it excited you, but it's hard to figure out why. G'nesh alone knows how we all got through the 2 extra months of non-hockey during the no playoff years. So all I can promise is that when I find something that draws me out of my hockey-coma, I'll pass it on.

Actual Goalie Stuff: Earlier this week the Penguins signed former Crapital (let's not hold that against him) Brent Johnson to a one year deal. It's kind of muddled whether he was pulled in to be Flower's back-up or a 'just-in-case' back-up if Fleury goes down and the back-up needs... well, backing-up. I find it difficult to believe that the Pens won't try to bring up Curry this year, and use Johnson somewhat the same way that Ty Conklin was used last year. The fact that Conk swiped the starting gig right out of Sabourin's hands might let you forget that he was actually Sabu's back up, but that's why he was hired. The Pens have more than a bit of talent in the goalie pool again this year, Curry, Johnson, Johnson, Theisen, Darling, Ehlechner, Kileen, Pechurski, and even though you'll likely only see the first 4-5 on that list at camp it's going to be tough to say until pre-season is actually sorted out who's going to be doing what.

BTW: My E-mail is now on the disclaimer at the bottom of the page and in my profile. Feel free to drop me a line if you've found something interesting, seen anything I've missed, found a photo that you'd like posted, or if you just randomly e-mail bloggers. This, as in all else will be checked more frequently during the season, but, at the very least, I'll respond to anything polite. Is it October yet? Man, I hate waiting.