Hockey Anyone?

[suupA]

What do you think of the season so far?

I'm a Ducks fan born and raised... anyone else? I read that DeeDee is a Rangers fan from a post she made earlier..

How about you all?

[DeeDee]

Rangers fan by marriage :D
Really, I'm for anyone playing against the Red Wings (boo hiss)

I like the penguins but just because the old penguin logo they had was really cute (HEE HEE)

[HMC8404]

Rangers fan by marriage :D
Really, I'm for anyone playing against the Red Wings (boo hiss)

I like the penguins but just because the old penguin logo they had was really cute (HEE HEE)
http://cdn.nhl.com/penguins/images/upload/2008/01/celeb.jpg
PENGUIN FAN HERE!
Gotta love this team of mine .... they're a fascinating bunch and on the rise. Despite our recent injuries (Gary Roberts, Goalie Fluery, and others) ... we're still rolling along and our backup goalie was GREAT in the Winter Classic on New Year's day!!!!! Did you guys watch that? Unbelievable! Talk about making it fun for those players and fans! Gotta love that my Sidney Crosby and Armstrong jump-started it with that goal ... and then Sid the Kid for the winning goal in the shootout!

My daughter is a HUGE Penguins fan now, too! I think it has much to do with this eye candy though....
http://media.collegepublisher.com/media/paper851/stills/42e4cd85c3d98-65-1.jpg

[Da-Chief]

Go Hawks!! We are coming back!!

http://cdn.nhl.com/blackhawks/images/upload/2007/06/identityBanner.jpg

Denis Savard is making the Blackhawks tough again.. Bill Wirtz the owner everyone hated died late last year.. It seems like there is a new air around the rink..

D.C.

[HMC8404]

Well, we have Sid out 4-8 weeks, Kennedy is out with Mono, Fluery is still out with that high ankle sprain, Army's been out... sounds like we, Pittsburgh, is doomed either in football or hockey with injuries this year. Greeeeat.

Still ... I have my tickets to the Pens last home game on 4/2 "Fan Appreciation Night" and we're hoping to get a shirt off of one of their backs. :)

[HMC8404]

The Pittsburgh Penguins are more than armed and dangerous these days after yesterday's blockbuster trade garnishing us Marian Hossa from the Thrashers! Although I hate to see Colby "Army" Armstrong leave, holy heck! Talk about a serious run on the Stanley.



Penguins make blockbuster trade
Acquire high scorer for 3 players and No. 1 draft pick
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
By Dave Molinari, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/images/200802/mh_pensconference_02_330.jpg
Michael Henninger / Post-Gazette
Penguins General Manager Ray Shero answers questions about the trade at a press conference yesterday at Mellon Arena.


UNIONDALE, N.Y. -- The NHL trade deadline was a couple of hours away yesterday, but Penguins general manager Ray Shero wasn't thinking about how Marian Hossa might look on Sidney Crosby's right wing, or how Hal Gill and Pascal Dupuis could upgrade the Penguins' penalty-killing.

Wasn't reflecting on any personnel moves, really, because there was little reason to believe he'd be making one.

"At 1 p.m., I had zero going," Shero said.

That changed dramatically as the afternoon progressed and, as the 3 p.m. deadline closed in, Shero completed one of the biggest trades in franchise history. One that suggests he decided it was time to accelerate his deliberate, patient approach to building a Stanley Cup contender.

No, to turbo-charge it.

Shero acquired Hossa, a world-class talent, and Dupuis from Atlanta for forwards Colby Armstrong and Erik Christensen, highly regarded prospect Angelo Esposito and the Penguins' first-round choice in the June entry draft.

"Even if you make a minor move, it sends a message that they're trying to improve the team," defenseman Brooks Orpik said. "One like this, it sends one pretty loud and clear that they want to win now."

The Hossa-Dupuis trade overshadowed the deal Shero had struck a short time earlier, when he sent second- and fifth-round draft choices to Toronto for Gill, a large and physical, but slow-footed, defenseman.

All three are scheduled to join the Penguins for practice today in Boston and figure to be in uniform for their game against the Bruins at 7:08 p.m. tomorrow at the TD Banknorth Garden.

Hossa is the centerpiece of Shero's deadline-day moves, and likely was the most sought-after big name in the league the past few weeks. Montreal had emerged as the apparent favorite to get him, but Shero's offer obviously swayed Thrashers general manager Don Waddell.

Hossa, 29, is 6 feet 1, 208 pounds and has 26 goals and 30 assists in 60 games this season after putting up 43 goals and 57 assists in 82 games in 2006-07. As an accomplished goal scorer, he is a logical candidate to complement the slick-passing Crosby.

"If I play with Sid, that would be great," he said -- although line combinations likely won't be set until Crosby returns from the high ankle sprain that has kept him out since Jan. 18.

The Thrashers decided to trade Hossa, who is making $7 million this season, after they failed to negotiate a contract extension with him, because he is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent July 1.

The Penguins clearly intend to try to negotiate a contract with him, although Shero said he has not discussed that with Hossa or his agent, Ritch Winter. Winter suggested Hossa likely will keep his options open, and a number of teams are expected to try to sign him if he goes on the open market.

"There's risk in anything you do," Shero said.

The rap against Hossa is that he sputters in the playoffs. He did nothing to shake that criticism last spring, when he had no goals and one assist in four games as the Thrashers were swept by the New York Rangers.

"I know my production in the playoffs hasn't been the best," Hossa said. "It's behind me. I have a new challenge."

Gill, 32, is 6 foot 7, 250 pounds, and tends to be most effective against bigger forwards, including former Penguin Jaromir Jagr. His game hardly is tailored to the "new" NHL, although Gill's exceptional reach helps to compensate for his limited mobility.

"With Hal's game, it is what it is," Shero said. "There are chinks in the armor for most players."

While Hossa and Dupuis will be unrestricted free agents this summer, Gill is under contract for next season, when he will make $2.1 million.

Dupuis, who can play all three forward positions, has 10 goals and five assists in 62 games this season, but he isn't the reason many of the Penguins believe they have cemented their place among the Eastern Conference's elite clubs.

"I thought our big trade was [going to be] getting Crosby back," right winger Georges Laraque said. "Now we're getting Sid and Hossa. Oh my God, That's just unbelievable.

"I don't see how we can't finish first overall in the conference, get home-ice advantage and really be in great position for the playoffs

[puckmedic]

Penguins can make a legit run for the cup. After years in the toilet, this seems too good to be true for Penguin fans.

I'm a Ranger fan since the days I was tall enough to step on the pond. Yet the favorite player of all time was Bobby Orr. I still think he was agreat player but his friendship with Allen Eagleson makes me suspect he had a role in the screwing of the players union. Eagleson embezelled a few dollars from the players union when he wqas involved with it as a lawyer or agent or something along that line.

Signed BDL

Bitter D Lee

[HMC8404]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/images/200803/20080401wap_pensa_500.jpg
Nice OT last night to give us each a point (getting my Pens closer to winning that Atlantic Div Championship), but obviously that was better for you though in the end. What a very physical game the last couple of days. Malkin got himself a Baker's dozen sutures with that blade to the face. That was BS! But you've got to love the fights and hard playing hockey thats been going down between both teams. Jager's goal was a freak of nature -- lucky ba$tion. I've got to give credit where credit is due, and Lundqvist is good at home ... but so is Fleury! I want us to get this home ice advantage because we're hot there.

Speaking of the igloo ... tomorrow night is our last home game. Me and the daughter have tickets to this one. We're hoping to win a jersey off of a player's back. But watching the Flyers here in the Igloo before the playoffs is going to be great!

Gotta love hockey season! I smell a Lord Stanley Cup within grasp this year!!!!! :D

[Doc_D]

AFter 2 brutal games in Det, it looks like the Pens finally have their "sea-legs". Not that I know what sea-legs really are since I have been a career "dirt Sailor" lol.. The undefeated at hoe during the play-offs streak continue for my hometown team!!!