Stunned out of my Whits...:

Evidently, Shero was waiting for the first person to request some personal time to immediately trade him to the Anaheim Ducks. So when Ryan Whitney asked for some personal family time he was the lucky target. For those of you that didn't hear (and for those that did, I'm easy) Whits was traded today to the Disney Quackers for a jersey, 2 sticks and a used puck bag. Actually what he was traded for was a 'gritty, speedy winger' Chris Kunitz (pronounced Koon-its), and an interesting prospect, Eric Tangradi. I've never paid much attention to either of them, but they both shoot left handed, which seems to be a requirement for Shero to hire you. Coach Dan has both played with, and coached Kunitz (can we just call him knutz?) and thinks pretty highly of him. He's evidently the kind of player that goes to the net, and camps out which is something that the Pens have needed all year. He was 5th in goals with 16, and led the team in hits with 148, it's kind of a win-win stat sheet. Bylsma says, "You don't score many goals if you don't go to the blue paint. You will see Chris Kunitz in the blue paint." And you will also see him Friday in Chicago. This should create space for the edge players (Croz, Malk, et al) because someone will have to cover him. (or not, actually I prefer not) If they don't cover him, something like this might happen frequently:

I hate to see Whitney go, especially now that he seems to be getting back into stride with the whole new foot thing. But Kunitz, if he pans out, could be a welcome addition to the team. Shero had a bit of the 'deer in the headlights' look to him during his press conference. It could be that he's feeling a bit of the pressure. Hey, Shero... if you're looking for grit, I hear these guys are available:

Croz's Crotch Watch: El Capitan skipped another practice today, and there's no further word about whether or not he'll play Friday against the Chi-town Dark-birds.

Update to the Update: El Capitan will not play tonight against Shy-cago (what is a 'cago' anyway?) it seems that his crotch is still a problem. (uh.... nevermind) Tim Wallace is lurking somewhere around the team, and if he plays be prepared for more 'Grizzly bear eating the baby moose' stories.... (oh Great Spirit, what have we done to offend you that you punish us so?) Speculation is that either Dupuis or Thomas will replace the Croz in that line.... but who knows?

Extra Added Goodness: Didn't mean to leave out the other member of the trade deal. Eric Tangradi (Tan-gray-dee) I was snooping through Youtube for the youngster and found some nice things. But if you type his name and watch the stuff, remember that OHL doesn't have the ban on noise makers that most NHL arenas do.... someone is always blowing some damn plastic noise making thingy and if you hear enough of it it will drive you crazy. But here's some good footage of Chris being a tough guy....

Rusty Flowers and Putting on the Foil:

Sometimes it's easy to forget that Marc Andre Fleury is not your usual run of the mill type of goaltender. When MAF came back from his most recent 'undisclosed' injury he was playing like about 70% of the goalies out there. Playing decent hockey. The mind wants to think 'Ah, everything's ok, Flower's back on his game." Then Saturday comes along and you wonder 'What the hell is going on? 5 goals in two periods?' What to nearly any other player would be game shape is actually rust on the Flower. (Steel cities can have steel Flowers, right?) The Tower of Flower Power started showing the shine under the rust last night in Sluggalo. I know he was scored on three times, (two of which I've got to blame on the FPL, sorry guys but you can't leave scorers unchallenged at the top of the crease even on the power play) but quite a few of the saves were vintage Flower Power. Quick lateral movement and a blindingly fast glove. (The follow-up save on Ellis blazes to mind) Don't let the Thrasher's game fool you into thinking that Flower's on his game, he's still raising his play level to its former mind-wobbling height. Flower will be in net tonight against the Tampa Bay Sparks and we'll get to see if he 'gives Malone a shot to the knees or the nuts' , like he said he would in a pre-season interview he did on 105.9 the X, in September. (third one from the bottom on the page, about 35 seconds in)

Other Pens Stuff: Yet another in a series of 'undisclosed' has struck the FPL (Flower Protection League) Kris Le-tank has succumbed to the dreaded 'undisclosed' after stopping a shot in Monday nights game. The only bright spot in this is we don't have to guess who'll be scratched to allow Ryan Whitney to play in tonight's game against the Sparklers. Yes, that's right folks, Whits is playing tonight for the first time this season. This morning's skate was optional so there's no way to say who he'll partner up with but he'll be out there with tens of thousands of Pensaddicts wanting to see if it was worth the wait. (no pressure Rye, just play your game)

Speaking of this morning's skate, the Human Sequoia, Hal Gill was skating for the first time since injuring his shoulder (too many people saw it, they couldn't 'undisclose' it afterwards). In an interview Hal said that he felt better, but would know more when he actually had someone on the ice to bump into. He then proceeded to ask for volunteers from the media, but there were no takers. That would be kind of like skating against your dad when you were 10, I'm not surprised no one took him up on it.

Aw Mom, Can't I Play Inside?: Something I stumbled across (no comment) that might be found interesting (in a land of complete boredom, maybe?) If he plays on New Years, Ty Conklin, former season saver for the Pens, will be in his third outdoor game in a row. That's right, folks, there have only been three and if he plays next Thursday Ty Conklin will have played in them all. "Either I follow it around, or it follows me. I don't know which is which." Ty said. It evidently didn't occur to him when he went to the Red Rags that they were playing in the Winter Classic this year. He does say (and I agree) that the equipment guys are going to have the roughest time at the game, not knowing what the conditions are going to be like, or if they'll change suddenly.

Old Time Hockey: The movie even hockey fans can understand, Slap Shot, is back out in a new 35 mm print being shown Jan 1-4 at Pittsburgh Filmmaker's Regent Square Theater. Also in the same article is a mention of Dave Hanson's recent book Slapshot Original: The Man, the Foil, the Legend. It not only talks about some behind the scenes stuff, making the movie, but also has stories in it about the actors and players involved. I guess the Statute of Limitations is up on most of the stuff they did back then. ( I wish I could say the same, but my attorney won't let me comment)

As usual on game-days more to come as the random numbers sort themselves out in my head.

Falling Flowers and Spicy Indian Cuisine

This is as good as Flower looked all night.

Ok, my period of mourning for the most goals the Toronto Maple Syrups have scored on an opponent all year is over. (besides I had some Christmas shopping to do) So, on with the Stuff.

Marc, I think it's time to ditch the new hat. I know it was made special for the Winter Classic last year, but remember why you didn't play in the WC? I think the new melon-protector may have some bad mojo. (I like the old one better anyway) They say that hockey goalies are some of the most superstitious sports people, and I have to agree. Which may mean we won't be seeing the yellow squash protector for a while.
UPDATE: I keep seeing stories that MAF has passed Carey Price to start in the All Star Game, but every time I go check(also to put in a vote for the Flower) he's 6000 or so votes behind. This see-saw voting is worse than Florida on a Presidential election. C'mon already folks! Start snipping wires for Canadian Internet, or something.... lol Also, The Tower of Flower Power is set to start in net for the Pens, he'll have to play tonight and 3 more games before Jan 2 to qualify for the ASG.

Monday, the team is going to play the Buffaslugs in Slug-a-lo having taken a bus to get there on Sunday. Evidently it's quite a blast from the past, since most of the players butts haven't hit Greyhound vinyl since their Junior Hockey days. They should be grateful they don't actually have to ride the Grey-dog. You can meet some interesting people on a bus. (Didn't I see you last month on Cops? Or was it America's Most Wanted?) "With the charters, it's pretty nice going from point A to point B in no time at all." Rob Scuderi said, "We're pretty spoiled. I don't think it's that big a deal for us to suck it up for one trip." Yeah Scuds, I feel your pain, man.

MORE UPDATING: Pascal Dupuis will play tonight according to Empty Netters. Perhaps tonight the Pens will understand that just because MAF is in net they can't just relax. This is the NHL which stands for: Next Huge Loss, if you're not working your butts off no matter who's in net.

Ryan Whitney is targeting Tuesday's game against the Tampa Bay Lightning as his return to the line up. "I don't think I'm ready to play a lot of minutes." Whitney said, "I haven't played for six months. I've got to get back into game shape." Whits had an assist on Janni Pesonen's goal (Somewhere Vince is having a tender moment with himself) Saturday against the River Rats in WBS's 4-3 win. He said he was having some trouble getting through the first period, but after that it got easier. Especially when he got to the point he forgot about his foot and just played the game. "As the game went on it was a relief. It was good to know that once I stopped worrying about it, I played better and we won."

With two weeks left to go Sidney Crosby has passed Jaromir Jagr's record in All Star fan voting, and Evgeni Malkin was only 19,000 short of the 1,020,736 (yeah that's 1 million) needed to pass Jags by noon Sunday. There seem to be a couple of Pensaddicts out there voting for anyone with a Flightless Fighting bird on his shirt, because Whitney and Gonchar are close to starting defense in the game and they don't even qualify. (you have to have played at least 20 games by Jan. 2)

John Curry is one of the subjects of the PP.com's 'Confidential Prospect Report' (I almost felt like an 'insider' until I realized that anyone can see the damn thing.) He's also the subject of Molinari's Pens Q&A at PPG.com. The question is basically, 'Does having Curry make Sabourin expendable?' Molinari gives a neutral answer that leaves you wondering why anyone asks his opinion (c'mon Dave, answer like you don't care what they think!). If I'm translating correctly it goes something like this: Curry played well, but Sabu doesn't cost that much at the moment. Yes he could fill the role (maybe), but I don't want to put any pressure on Shero by saying that's what they should do. Ok Dave, I don't want to bring you down, but somewhere in this pile of Posts, I've quoted you saying that very thing. Something to the tune of, 'Someone will offer Sabu too much money, and it doesn't matter because Curry could slip right in to his role.' Verdict? Reporter busted.

I'll post more before the game Monday, but I wanted to make one final comment tonight on the fine officials the League chose for the Toronto game:

YET MORE UPDATING: El Capitan is evidently suffering through a cold and also a bit of depression because he hasn't scored a goal in a record (for him) 9 games. If it were anyone else this wouldn't even be a mention during a game, let alone a headline story.

Mad Maximus and His Entourage:

Mad Maximus has a new jumbotron sponsor video. My favorite part is where he almost takes Senator Chris Neil's head off for disrespecting the Flower. (0:48 in) Call me vindictive if you want.
There's only three things I want to say about Monday's game, FPL member Kris Le-Tank scored his first goal in 36 games, Geno got hacked-off at MacArthur last night and smacked him with a right cross, and I can't remember the third thing. Doesn't happen too often but Malkin is a big guy and, if pushed, he's got a temper. .
General Penguin Type Stuff: Marc Andre Fleury practiced with the team again today, but Therrien says he won't be playing this week. Boucher is still listed as week-to-week, Ziggy is still day-to-day and Janne the Yo-yo (up and down, up and down) was sent back to WBS again. Hal Gill's injury is nearly 'disclosed'! The Sequoia will be out for 2 weeks with a shoulder injury that's not a bruise. (hey it's still better than 'undisclosed') At the bottom of that article is a tiny snippet that says, and I quote: "Whitney is hopeful to play next week for the first time this season." The Trib does not say who is hopeful. The Trib? The Penguins? Ryan Whitney? the Cotton Candy Guy? anyway, someone is hoping that Ryan plays sometime (undisclosed?) next week.
Ben Lovejoy (how about McLovin for a nickname or Benlovin? The mind wobbles!) is glad to have his first NHL game out of the way, and I have to tell ya, other than a couple of bobbles during a time when the whole team seemed to be doing the same thing, I was fairly impressed. He showed more poise in his first game than Go-Go did, and look how good Goligoski is doing now.
Also, this just in: 8100 midgets invade the Igloo! Well ok, it was kids day at the Mellon they showed up from 63 schools on 250 buses to watch practice. The under-height stampede evidently had a blast and the players got a kick out of it too. Whitney said," It was fun. You could tell that the kids enjoyed it, and it's something I wish I could have done when I was a kid." (What's he talking about? He's just a big kid and he gets to it every day.)

Flowers, Stats and Golden Helmets:

I've tried and I've tried, but I can't find any further footage of Marc Andre Fleury working out. All I have to go by is the brief glimpse I got Saturday night when FSN showed Flower in a conditioning drill. By that token I'd say that he moved well through the drill, but the Authorities still insist that he hasn't made it through an entire practice. All I know is I couldn't make it through that one drill and I haven't had an 'undisclosed lower body injury' in years.

Sidney Crosby may be the single beastliest player in the League this last week. Second in the League in points (34) Third in goals (13) and third in assists (21). He's scored 5 goals in the last two games including his second career hat trick in Saturday's game against the New Jersey Debbils. The guy even manages to make an empty net goal look exciting.

In a purely unofficial stat he also leads the League in goals scored while sliding on body parts other than the skates. Is there any way that we could get someone to trip him for every shot? That could boost his totals right through the roof. A player like El Capitan is something that every hockey team wants one of. He's ultra-talented, he's personable, even tempered and actually seems to like the fans he's playing for. Any team that had just one of those would consider itself lucky. Picksburgh has more than one, the Flightless Wonders also have Evgeni Malkin. Geno is first in the League in scoring (39) first in the League in assists (29) and while his 10 goals make him 28th in the League he's only 3 behind his teammate for third place and has also scored a HT last week. He's a big, Russian hockey playing version of Jethro Bodine ( no insult to Geno, but imagine him in bibs and a straw hat.)and a player who likes da Burgh. It doesn't stop there. The Pens back-up goaltender is leading the League in goals against average (1.84) and is fourth in save percentage (.930). On the FPL side of the ledger there's Brooks Orpik who is second in the League in hits (87) and Rob Scuderi, who's 6th in the League in blocked shots (60) add this all up and what do you get? Let's go to the map. My big schedule on the wall is marked with Wins in orange ink (random choice, no color significance) and Losses and OTL in purple and it's saying I'm going to need a new orange Sharpie before long.(I'll buy a whole box, I don't care) The Pens went 9-2-1 for the month of November, making them 14-6-3 for the year. They're 5 points behind the Division/Conference leading Rangers with 4 less games, and they're missing their two best defensemen. I don't normally like stats, but once you get into them they're harder than quicksand to get out of. Someone throw me a rope so I can get out of here.
Non Stat Stuff: Ryan Whitney has completed his first full week of practices, but doesn't seem to want to promote wild speculation on his condition. (yeah, that whole 'undisclosed' thing doesn't invite speculation, does it?) He says his status "Doesn't change on a day-to-day basis. It's more week-to-week. Once you get a day off, usually it feels better the next day." And what about full-contact drills? "Hopefully, at the end of the road trip this week I'll be doing everything in practice." Speaking of 'undisclosed', Phillipe Boucher is day-to-day (seeing a pattern here?) with whatever injury he sustained in Friday's game.
Janne Pesonen has been sent back to the Baby Pens. (sorry Vince) I know some will disagree, but I think this is exactly the correct way to handle Janne with the current situation. His inexperience in the NHL needs to be balanced with the needs of the team. Sticking him in when they can gives him some familiarity with the League and the Team. If the situation ever comes up where they need him for an extended period of time it'll make his transition that much easier.
Further Finnish News: The Trib put out an article this morning about JP and his desire to remain in the Big League. Coach T likes what Golden Helmet is doing in the AHL, but hasn't' yet had the ice-time time to assess him in the NHL (but doesn't he assign ice-time?). Janne seems to have a hungry attitude about his chances. "I want to be here, and I want to get a place on the team." Pesonen said before the Devil game. "Playing in the NHL has been my dream since I was a kid. I definitely want to be a better player. I'm not happy with the way I am right now. This is the biggest challenge, and I'm looking forward to it." Molinari, over at PPG.com answers a Janne question over at Pens Q&A, and seems to think they ought to play JP or trade him. Easy there, Dave, it's his first season.

Also, because I think the thankfulness should never end, and I like swiping stuff from other sites... I have this from The Penguins Experience:

Is there a Flower Doctor in the house?

Shelly Anderson, over at PPG, (who's never done anything to me) is starting to get on my short list of Quick Karma victims. I know she's only reporting what she knows and it's information that I lack, but she's also setting herself up as the identity for my frustrations. Once again she's reporting that Marc Andre Fleury has not been able to complete an entire work-out and that his 'undisclosed' is evidently still hurting him. She goes on to say that past and future FPL member Ryan Whitney not only completed an entire practice, but his tender tootsies withstood a conditioning workout as well. (It's this kind of good news that keeps her off my list)

Evgeni Malkin still leads the league in scoring, Mike Zigomanis is tops in face-off wins, and Alex Go-Go is leading the league in Rookie Defensman scoring.

Dave Molinari, also at PPG, thinks it's possible that Sabu will be tendered a longer term deal in light of his recent excellent efforts. Sabu leads the league in Goals against and is third in Save Percentage after getting enough ice time to qualify. I think this makes Dany just too tempting for a struggling team with a melt-down goaltender. I'd love to see Sabourin stay a Pen, but I've got to admit I'd much rather see him get his shot to lead a team. (not too far, and definitely not against us) It pains me to say it, but I think this is the last year for Sabu-tage in a Penguins uniform.

HC Michel Therrien is shuffling the Power Play lines again. I'm not sure new combinations are what are needed. Rather, a different approach to the PP, working harder, not fancier. But then again, I'm not the coach of a SCF hockey team, so what do I know?

Other Stuff: If any of you remember Claude Lemieux listen to this. And for those of you who don't, think of a Canadian Yaarko Ruutu with less funny and more nasty. Claude at the age of 43 has persuaded long time friend and General Manager of the Sharks, Doug Wilson to give him a shot with their AHL Worchester affiliate. A try-out contract for a guy that's won 4 Stanley Cups with 3 different teams, but hasn't played since '03.

Ryan O'Byrne has joined the happy crowd of players to score goals in their own net. I'm looking for postable vids, but from what I've seen it was a complete brain-fart. He was passing of the wall to Carey Price who had left the net for a delayed penalty. Ya gotta feel for the guy. More to come as it occurs to me....

Reviews and Perspectives:

Shelly Anderson, over at the Post-Gazette doesn't think there's much of a chance that Marc Andre Fleury, the Tower of Flower Power, will play Wed. against the Islanders in her Penschat transcript. Speculation (which is all we have) is now that he's suffering from some sort of leg injury.

With 0.25 (that's 1/4 for the mathematically impaired) of the season in the past, it seems to be time to do a review of some type. Aw hell, everyone else already thought of that! So, being the lazy sub-human that I am I'll just direct you to a couple. Rob Rossi over at the Trib seems to think that we can cut and paste this years start with last years finish and add a cup. Nice idea, but let's not forget the 62 games yet to play. PP.com has stolen an article by Phil Coffey, Senior Editor of NHL.com, so I'll jump on that bandwagon and steal it from them. (Recieving stolen news articles isn't a felony, is it?) Basically he says that the Pens are doing a good job, Flower is winning, El Sid and Geno are leading the way, and you'd hardly even notice that Gonch and Whitney aren't on the blue-line. ( I notice, I really do). Also, at the end of the article there's a mini-tribute to St. Patrick Roy, patron saint of goaltenders and my and Flower's favorite retired goalie. It's only wild speculation that Roy is behind the injury plot to keep Uncle-Daddy from breaking all his records. The reports of the Vudu doll with the pins in the elbow at Patrick's house was greatly exaggerated.

The Pens are firmly ensconced in 4th place in the Conference (with more points than the 3rd place Crapitals. I have a problem with that, but I'll get into it later in the season) Their 27 points places them 3rd in the Division and that's much better than last year at this time.

FPL member Ryan Whitney began practicing with the team Friday, and hopes to be ready to play by Christmas. That could be something to ask Santa for, yes?

By all accounts HC Michel Therrien is less than pleased with the power-play. (16th in the League) Too much emphasis on 'style' and not enough on 'sweat'. Translation: When the crowd is screaming 'Shoot!' it's probably a good idea. Oh yeah, and sit someone in front of the net to bash in some 'garbage' and create some traffic might be a good idea.

Alex Go-Goligoski has his very own Pop-Up Video over at PP.com, and since I was over there stealing stuff I thought I'd swipe this too.

For some 'strange reason', The Cookie Monster, doesn't want to talk about his early game misconduct exit in the Vancouver game. Could it be, that he's not happy about it? Hmmmm... could be. BTW, that Player's Emergency Fund is getting lots of contributions this year from suspended players. I don't think Cooke needs to contribute.
Other Stuff: Roberto Luongo is going to be out 4-5 weeks according to his agent. Luongo pulled his groin (on national TV?, the sensors are going crazy!) on an odd double move during a save in the first period of Saturday's game. Sanford will be getting most of the Net-time, with Cory Schneider serving as his back-up. This is a guy the Canucks can ill afford to lose. He's been a beast in net, he's 11-2 with a .928 save percentage and a 2.17 goals against. That's two big-time goaltenders out and the season's only 1/4 the way through.

This Flower Has Officially Bloomed!

I'm still working on getting this blog "up and running" the way I want to, but there is no way I could not comment on the legendary performance MAF put on in Detroit last night. If there was any doubt before, Marc-Andre Fleury has officially arrived as an elite NHL goalie. The Legend of MAF has started to form, and what better stage for the opening chapter than a must-win Game 5 in the Stanley Cup Finals.

People everywhere are heaping praise on The Flower and going on and on about how this was the best game of his life. I'm going to take that one step further... this was the best goaltending performance in Pittsburgh Penguins history! There is not even any doubt in my mind about that when you consider how MAF played and the magnitude of the game. The only games I can think of that I would even put in the discussion would be Tom Barrasso's 1-0 shutout in Game 3 of the Finals against Chicago and Ken Wregget's performance in the 4 OT classic against the Capitals. MAF was a stud all game long and then took his game to a whole new level to stop all 24 shots that Detroit threw at him in overtime. MAF was on the biggest stage a person in his profession can be on, and he delivered in the biggest way possible.

Here is what some of Fleury's teammates and coaches had to say:

"It's the greatest game I've ever seen him play."
-Max Talbot

"He was outstanding tonight, he was outstanding in overtime and while both goalies played well, it was probably his most important win in his career."
-Michel Therrien

"He was awesome. He was the MVP of the game, he made huge saves in the end, in the middle - everywhere."
-Rob Scuderi

"If it wasn't for him, there's no way we'd have gotten to the point we're at now. He's carried us through the latter part of the season and the playoffs."
-Ryan Whitney

And finally, I'll just leave you with this: