The Bolts are in fourth place in the Southeast Division and trail the division leading Florida Panthers by eleven points. Tampa Bay is in 13th place in the 15 team Eastern Conference, nine points out of a layoff spot.

After 40 games, forward Steven Stamkos leads the team and the NHL in goals with 28. He leads the Bolts in points with 43. Martin St. Louis is tops in assists with 21. Marc-Andre Bergeron leads the team in rating with a +7. Steve Downie is last in rating with an alarming -17.

Forward Steve Downie is last in rating with an alarming -17 and has accumulated 100 penalty minutes. Goalie Mathieu Garon has 11 wins, a 2.85 goals against average and a .903 save percentage.

Defenseman Eric Brewer leads Tampa Bay in ice time, averaging 23:14 per game. Steven Stamkos leads in shots on goal with 139.

The Lightning have scored 107 goals (17th in the NHL) and allowed 134 goals (28th in the 30 team NHL). The Bolts special teams are awful. The power play success rate is at a season low 13.77% (27th in the NHL) and the penalty kill slipped below 80% at 79.50% (23rd in the NHL). The Bolts are in the middle of an appalling 1-34 road power play skid.Tampa Bay is 25th in the league in faceoff percentage, winning just 48.5% of their draws.

Tampa Bay has won 11 of 16 games at the Tampa Bay Times Forum and six of 24 games on the road.

Box Scores

Game 38 – Tampa Bay Lightning 3 – Toronto Maple Leafs 7

Game 39 – Tampa Bay Lightning 1 – Ottawa Senators 4

Game 40 – Tampa Bay Lightning 1 – Montreal Canadiens 3

Three Stars of the Week

Vincent Lecavalier – Two goals and an assist.

Steven Stamkos – Two goals.

Dominic Moore – Two assists.

Transactions

Tampa Bay acquired defenseman Brendan Mikkelson from Calgary for forward Blair Jones.

Pierre-Cedric Labrie was recalled by the Lightning.

Forward Brett Connolly returned from Team Canada.

The Lightning announce a two year-one way contract extension for $600,000 per year for forward Tom Pyatt.

Injuries

Forward Ryan Shannon is out 2-4 weeks with a lower body injury.

Defenseman Mattias Ohlund remains on IR after undergoing surgery on both knees. Ohlund has had a major setback and his return this year is questionable.

Defenseman Victor Hedman is out indefinitely with a concussion.

Forwards JT Wyman and Adam Hall are day-to-day with upper body injuries.

Bolt Notes

The Bolts went 0-3 this past week. At the mid-season mark, Tampa Bay is in trouble. They are nine points out of a playoff spot with four teams to jump over to get into the postseason tournament. The Lightning plays nine of its next 12 games at home and must go on a run to maintain hopes of a playoff appearance in 2012. The Bolts have lost 18 road games, only two less than their total road losses last season.

The first half MVP is superstar Steven Stamkos. The Tampa Bay sniper has a NHL best 28 goals and is on pace for another 50 goal season. The 21 year old center has grabbed hold of a leadership role with the team and is playing a more physical game, getting to the front of the net and battling for “garbage” goals.

The biggest disappointment  of the first half is $3 million goaltender Dwayne Roloson, who is 6-9 with a 3.76 goals against average and an .881 save percentage, last and second to last in the NHL respectively.

The Week Ahead

Tampa Bay hosts Vancouver on Tuesday and  Carolina on Thursday. The Bolts travel to Washington on Friday before hosting Pittsburgh on Sunday.

The Quarterdeck Log – Norfolk Admirals Week In Review

By Ken Peacock

About The Author

A man with an identity crisis. A full time fan of all things hockey and supporter of the AHL’s Norfolk Admirals, the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Washington Capitals. A fan of two NHL teams in the same division? Really? Yes, it can be done. It’s tough, but it can be done. I am also a full time husband, IT Professional, and a Norfolk Admirals Hockey Blogger at Vultures Row.

Weekly Log

On Wednesday night, the Norfolk Admirals faced off against division rivals, the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Pennsylvania. The normally tough Brad Thiessen was just not himself. The Admirals beat Thiessen three times in the third period. Richard Panik, Cory Conacher, and Radko Gudas  all lit the lamp to give Norfolk a 3-0 lead. The Penguins put their only goal of the night in the second frame. Cory Conacher would get his second of the night in the third and Mike Angelidis put things to bed with the Admirals fifth goal of the night. Dustin Tokarski stopped 20 of 21 shots in theNorfolk 5-1 win.

Friday night had the Admirals and Albany Devils squaring off at the Norfolk Scope. Norfolkdominated the first two periods with goals from Mark Barberio, Carter Ashton, Trevor Smith, and Evan Oberg. Halfway thru the third period Norfolk fell asleep and Albany started their comeback. The Devils would score four unanswered goals and send the game to overtime.Albany finished the Admirals off with a goal at 3:31 of the overtime period for the 5-4 win.

The Devils were back on Saturday night and set the tone early. Stephane Veilleux of the Devils slashed Cory Conacher as the teams lined up for the opening face-off. If they were trying to intimidate the Admirals, it worked.Albanydominated the entire game. They scored their first goal in the first and added two more in the second.Norfolkwas only able to put one goal on the board from Richard Panik. With the 3-1 win the Devils have now won all four meetings of the season.

Trevor Smith (16G 28A 44Pts +18) and Cory Conacher (2G 20A 41Pts +7) find themselves at the top for scoring. Smith and Conacher are 3^rd and 5^th in scoring in the AHL.  Mark Barberio (4G 28A 32Pts +18) leads allNorfolk defensemen and is in third place amongst all Admirals in scoring. Carter Ashton (15G 12A 27Pts +9) continues to hold onto fourth place.  Dustin Tokarski (14-8-0 2.45GAA) went 1-1 this week. Jaroslav Janus (7-5-2 3.04GAA) lost in his only start this week to the Albany Devils.

For the Season the Admirals are 21-12-1-2 with 45 points. They are currently four points behind the East Division leading Hershey Bears.Norfolkis currently on a 0-1-1-0 streak and is 5-3-1-1 in their last ten games.

Three Stars of the Week

Cory Conacher  – Two goals and an assist.

Trevor Smith – One goal and four assists.

Richard Panik – Two goals.

Transactions

Evan Oberg – Returned by theTampaBay Lightning.

Pierre-Cedric Labrie – Recalled by theTampaBay Lightning.

Injuries

Alexander Picard – Undisclosed injury – Day to day

Richard Petiot – Undisclosed injury – Day to day

Kevin Quick – Lower body injury – Day to day

An Observation from the Stands

One of the big issues Norfolk has had in the past is starting slowely after the Christmas break. The Admirals have played six games and lost three of them. You can attribute the losses to bad breaks, penalties, carelessness, or flat out being outplayed. At the end of the day none of these excuses matter. A loss is a loss and losing those points will matter at the end of the season. The last two games against Albanywere terrible performances by the Admirals. In the first game they built a four goal lead and lost it in the final 15 minutes. The following game they let the Devils walk all over them.Albanyhas won all four meetings with the Admirals this season. It’s time forNorfolkto wake up and beat them.

The Week Ahead

The Admirals remain home for three games this week. The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins will be in town for a rare Tuesday night game. Sean Avery and the Connecticut Whale come to town Friday and Saturday night.

Follow WB Philp on Twitter @LightningShout and “Like” Hockey Independent Lightning on Facebook.

Follow Ken Peacock on Twitter @VBKen.

ZZ Top were right. Every girl’s crazy about a sharp dressed man.

Just ask center Jarret Stoll.

Most of his Kings’ teammates have selected him as ‘best dressed’ guy in the room – although Brad Richardson disagrees. Regardless of who can lay claim to being the cat with the sharpest threads in LA though, based upon what I saw from the Penguins on Saturday morning, the title in Pittsburgh clearly belongs to Kris Letang.

And now that Scott Hannan has pulled a Metallica-like mistake and gone from long to short, Letang may also have the best hair in hockey.

Now that that’s all behind us, let’s see what Letang has learned so far this season. We chatted for a bit this weekend and here’s what he had to say…

About Evgeni Malkin – “He’s better with his English than he used to be.”

About Matt Cooke – “He loves In-N-Out burgers. He’s probably already been there twice today.”

About Steve Sullivan – “He’s old.”

About Tyler Kennedy – “He loves to tweet.’

About James Neal – “He doesn’t mind laughing about himself.”

From playing against two members of the Kings for the last few seasons in the Eastern Conference, he’s also familiar with Mike Richards and Simon Gagne.

On Richards – “He’s a really good two-way player, he plays well offensively and defensively. He can throw his body around out there. He’s always a threat for a defenseman.”

On Gagne – “Another great player and a great acquisition for the Kings. He can score goals and is a big-time player, a playoff player. So, that was a good asset for them to get.”

Finally, Letang offered up the following explanation as to why the Kings and Penguins have played each other so closely the last few years – “It’s two similar teams, they both have a young core group. They have great defensemen and great forwards. LA’s a young team, rebuilding at the same time as our rebuilding. So, it’s kind of a little rivalry to see who has the best young players.”

Penguins assistant coach Tony Granato was on MayorsManor prior to the game vs the Kings (link), as were Pittsburgh forwards James Neal and Steve Sullivan (linked here and here).

If you’d like to read more from the ‘What I’ve learned so far…’ series, please see the links below for interviews with several Kings players.

The Mayor
www.twitter.com/MayorNHL
www.facebook.com/MayorsManor

RELATED ARTICLES:

What I’ve learned so far… by Mike Richards – includes a warning for Dustin Penner

What I’ve learned so far… by Simon Gagne - what it means to be a captain

What I’ve learned so far… by Dustin Brown - responds to Westgarth’s allegations

What I’ve learned so far… by Drew Doughty - on the ice and off the ice observations

What I’ve learned so far… by Kevin Westgarth - more good comedy from Westy

MayorsManor podcast – LA Kings players talk best/worst dressed and other funny topics

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Fast forward to the present.

Defenceman Brooks Orpik started the season as a scratch for the first eight games after off-season hernia surgery before making his 2011-12 debut last Thursday against Montreal.  Centre Evgeni Malkin played the first two games, missed the next two, came back for one, then sat out the next five before playing last night on Long Island as he continues to recover from season-ending knee ligament surgery performed in February.  Right wing Tyler Kennedy suffered a concussion during a loss against Buffalo two Saturdays ago and is out indefinitely. Defenceman Kris Letang was suspended for two games last week after a boarding penalty in Winnipeg.  His replacement, Brian Strait left the game in Minnesota early due to an upper body injury.  Last Saturday night, top shot-blocker Zbynek Michalek broke a finger, naturally, by diving to block a shot and will miss the next four to six weeks.

No matter what happens for the rest of 2011, history will record this as a year of terrible luck for the Penguins with respect to this unending parade of injuries.  From the inciting event on New Year’s Day to now, there has never been a time when Pittsburgh has played with its full roster intact.

Yet just like last season, the Penguins have persevered.  Pittsburgh has determinedly stuck to their game plan and have continued winning hockey games.  Consider also: the Penguins have played a densely-packed opening month schedule that has cut down on both rest, recovery and practice time.  The club enjoyed their first two-day break of the season this past Sunday and Monday having already played ten games – one-eighth of the schedule – while most teams had only played six or seven games.

After yesterday night’s 3-0 shutout win over the Islanders, Pittsburgh sits 5th overall in the NHL with a .727 points percentage in eleven games (7-2-2) despite missing their top two scorers for seven games and one or both halves of their top defence pair for the season’s first nine games.  The keys to winning have been solid special teams play, diversified scoring and continued strength in goaltending.

Pittsburgh’s 97.1% penalty kill percentage leads the NHL but due to Michalek’s injury, the Pens will once again have to adapt.  On the first Isles’ power play last night, Orpik was used in Michalek’s usual first unit spot alongside Paul Martin.  The Pittsburgh power play has shown a marked improvement relative to last season.  They have converted 20% of 45 man-advantage opportunities so far, bolstered by the play of James Neal, Chris Kunitz, Kris Letang and Jordan Staal.

On the strength of his explosive wrist shot, Neal has scored a team-high eight goals to lead a club that has fourteen different players with at least one goal, a distinction shared by only three other NHL teams.  Grinders such as Joe Vitale, Arron Asham and veteran Richard Park have all chipped in on the scoresheet.  Matt Cooke has been typically dependable on the penalty kill with one shorthanded goal already on his ledger.  Additionally, Vitale, Park, Mark Letestu and an improved Staal have guided the Penguins to sixth in the league in faceoff win percentage, a vital skill in Pittsburgh’s puck-possession system.

Finally, the glue that has held the Penguins together early in the season has been goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury.  In eight games, he remains perfect in shorthanded situations and has allowed no more than two goals in his last four starts, recording a .966 SV% on 119 shots.  Fleury and Brent Johnson have limited opponents to 1.91 goals per game, fifth-best in the NHL.

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The play in question against the Jets occurred moments after Letang’s shot from centre point inside the Winnipeg zone was blocked by the stick of Blake Wheeler.  The puck caromed to the near boards just inside the blue line leading Letang and Winnipeg forward Alexander Burmistrov to chase it.  Letang was approximately two strides behind Burmistrov and just as the Jet collected the puck facing away from the Penguin, Letang finished his check by hitting Burmistrov into the boards.

Click here to view the embedded video.

In his explanation, Brendan Shanahan from the NHL Department of Safety said, in part:

Letang recognizes that Burmistrov will get to the puck first and Letang gets into an athletic defensive position. At this point, this is no longer a puck that is up for grabs and Letang is going to play the man.

In our opinion, Burmistrov’s path to the puck is predictable.  There are no sudden movements just prior to, or simultaneous with the hit.   In spite of the fact that Letang is looking at Burmistrov in the numbers, he finishes his check hard and with authority and fails to minimize the check.

Letang was assessed a minor penalty for boarding.  We’ve also taken into consideration that Letang was fined in April 2011 for a similar hit.

Shanahan’s explanation is fair and reasonable in consideration of the NHL’s paramount priority this season to increase player safety and to crack down on reckless and intentional hits that lead to potential or actual serious injuries especially those that cause concussions or head and back trauma.

At the final GM meetings of 2010-11 in March, a recommendation was made to referees to strictly enforce boarding and charging penalties as some studies showed that 70% of concussions occur near the boards and not due to sensational open-ice hits as may be commonly believed.  It could be argued that Letang was not at fault as he appears to commit to his check a split second before Burmistrov leaned down to scoop up the puck making himself vulnerable to a dangerous hit.  While that may be true, one important aspect of the play that Shanahan stressed in his “Key Points” at the end of his explanatory video was that “the onus is on Letang to avoid the hit entirely or at the very least, to minimize the contact”.

Click here to view the embedded video.

In real time, there is little doubt that Letang could not avoid the hit, but a six-year NHL defenceman should be well aware of his speed and cognizant of his opponent’s position in close proximity to the boards.  Thus the onus rested on Letang delivering the check and he should have reduced his speed before making contact.  This was textbook boarding according to Rule 41.  Letang pushed his opponent in a manner that caused Burmistrov to impact the boards violently or dangerously.  Fortunately, Burmistrov was not injured on the play (a factor that Shanahan weighed in his decision) but the act – not the end result – must be primarily considered and a two-game suspension was fitting.

Ironically, Letang was cited as a positive example by Shanahan two times in a video (below) demonstrating sane, safe, clean hits culled from tape of pre-season games.  In the first case during an exhibition game in Chicago, (0:25 of the video) Letang slows down and avoids boarding a Blackhawk player, who had just passed the puck.  In a second example (3:16), Letang delivers a clean, open ice shoulder to shoulder check on Valtteri Filppula of Detroit.

Click here to view the embedded video.

“I had my hearing today and we were talking about it,” an irritated Letang said after the Pens won in Minnesota last Tuesday.  ”The league is trying to avoid those hits.  I think I need to be a bit more careful along the boards and learn from that.”  He went on to say that Shanahan gave him a chance to explain the play, whether he could have let up, slowed down or approached the situation differently.

For a franchise that called for improved safety but came under fire last winter due to the actions of Matt Cooke, it is a positive step that at least publicly, the Penguins are accepting punishment, taking responsibility and adapting their game to current trends in safety promotion and rule enforcement.

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Ironically, in addition to being the first club to fall victim to the Jets, the Penguins were also the last team to defeat the Thrashers when the franchise was based in Atlanta.

On this night, the twin stars of the proceedings were Winnipeg goaltender Ondrej Pavelec who stopped 28 of 29 Pittsburgh shots and Jets’ centre Alexander Burmistrov who assisted on both Winnipeg goals.  Pavelec was perfect except for a goal scored by Pittsburgh defenceman Zbynek Michalek in the second period that cut the deficit in half.  Michalek had fallen down moments after the opening faceoff leading to the Jets’ first goal.  Meanwhile, Burmistrov picked up two points and has already shown significant improvement from his rookie season last year when he posted an unspectacular 6 goals and 20 points in 74 games.

Burmistrov was the last ever Atlanta first round draft pick when he was selected eighth overall in 2010.  He made the jump directly from major junior to the NHL when he debuted at 18 last autumn after putting up 22 goals and 65 points in 62 games in his lone season with the Barrie Colts in 2009-10.  Against the Penguins in a game shortly after Christmas last season, Burmistrov fanned on an outlet pass in the defensive zone then was manhandled by Pittsburgh centre Mark Letestu who stole the puck and scored.  On Monday night, the improved Russian forward skated hard into Penguins’ territory on the forecheck and stripped the puck from Pittsburgh defenceman Kris Letang along the near boards.  Burmistrov then skated to the bottom of the circle before hitting Tanner Glass with a great pass that was fired in for a goal.

Hearing the explosion of crowd noise and the unrestrained enthusiasm of fans inside the MTS Centre as time ticked down finally made it seem like hockey had returned to Winnipeg.  The Jets’ first game was their much ballyhooed Opener to End All Previous Openers in History which brought with it a spectacle atmosphere rather than a hockey game.  Thus their second home game on Monday with cheering and enthusiasm for on-ice related matters – goals, hits and saves – actually made it feel like a normal hockey night and seeing PIT @ WPG 8:30pm on the schedule visually confirmed that Winnipeg was officially back in the NHL family.

For some perspective, when the Penguins defeated the old Jets 1-0 at Winnipeg Arena on February 16, 1996 behind a 32 save shutout by Tom Barrasso and Jaromir Jagr’s 46th goal of the season, this is the way the world appeared:

• The NHL was a 26-team league that within the last five years had embarked on a bold expansion plan, adding clubs in San Jose, Ottawa, Tampa Bay, Miami and Anaheim
• Within the next five years, the NHL would land in Nashville, Atlanta and Columbus and return to Minneapolis, a city that had lost the North Stars
• Quebec City was stinging from losing the Nordiques to Denver the previous summer and in bittersweet fashion, the franchise would capture the Stanley Cup that very season
• Hartford would lose the Whalers just over one year later to Raleigh, North Carolina

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It is important to note that both Asham and Beagle agreed to engage in combat at this point.  After the Washington centre tried a few right hooks to Asham’s back, the Pens’ winger straightened up and swiftly connected twice in quick succession with Beagle’s left jaw, bringing Beagle to his knees before he fell to the ice unconscious.  As Asham skated to the penalty box, he made an “It’s over!” motion and then a “sleep” gesture with his hands to accentuate his decisive knockout.

Were Asham’s gestures “classless” as he himself confessed after the game?  Yes.

If a fight ends with both men still conscious and able to skate to the box, then there would be nothing wrong if either fighter swings his arms skyward to fire up the crowd and their respective bench.  However, when one combatant has fallen to the ice with an injury, the “code” must prevail and the victor should simply skate away, satisfied with the win without rubbing it in the face of the loser.  Asham may not have immediately known when he turned his back that Beagle was seriously hurt, but the fact that Asham saw his opponent’s knees buckle and then made the mock-sleeping gesture indicates he knew that Beagle was not getting back up anytime soon.

Should Asham have received more than a standard five-minute fighting major penalty?  Yes.

Under Rule 75.2 (i) of the NHL Rule Book, an unsportsmanlike conduct minor penalty “shall be assessed … [if] any identifiable player uses obscene, profane or abusive language or gestures directed at any person.”  Taunting and gestures were an issue the NHL explicitly reviewed and condemned in a video on Rule Enforcement prior to 2010-11.  (Note the throat-slashing gesture by a Calgary player seated in the penalty box at 5:23 of the video).  Asham stepped into unsportsmanlike territory with his post-fight conduct and by the book, should have received a penalty.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Asham was not suspended.  Should he have received supplementary discipline?  No.

In a month-long time-frame that has seen Brendan Shanahan turn on a fire hose of suspensions, one may wonder why Asham was not issued supplemental discipline.  If the guiding principle of most of Shanahan’s decisions so far has been to use lengthy suspensions as a deterrent to dissuade players from recklessly or intentionally causing injuries to others, especially when the head is the principal point of contact, then it is more clear why Asham was able to suit up for the Penguins’ next game.

Asham most certainly delivered a shot to the head of Beagle – two hard ones, actually – but it was not a “head shot” in the current vernacular of the NHL as prohibited by Rule 48 – “Illegal Checking to the Head“.  These were shots to the head occurring in a fair, one-on-one fight, not a head shot delivered with a shoulder or elbow to an unsuspecting player.  Asham was responding to Beagle roughing up Letang and invited the Washington player to fight.  Beagle clearly agreed, or in legalese, gave his verbal consent understanding the benefits and risks of the imminent fisticuffs, and the two squared off.

This was a case of Asham, caught up in the moment of emphatically conquering his opponent, demonstrating poor sportsmanship through a taunting gesture as he turned and skated away.  As distasteful as Asham’s actions were, there really is no solid ground for supplemental discipline here.  Moreover, this fight (or any fight) clearly does not fall into the domain of the debate on checking to the head and resulting concussions.  If it is blood and injuries resulting from fighting that critics find reprehensible, then that is a separate but valid issue. However, despite perennial reports of its demise, fighting is here to stay not because it sells tickets and brings spectators to their feet, but simply because it is the single most tangible act players can use to show solidarity with, and to energize their teammates.

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Perennial Eastern Conference minnow Florida holds the dubious distinction of being the team with the longest active playoff drought and in the summer, the Panthers went on a free agent spending spree to both acquire new talent and to reach the mandatory salary floor.  When the Cats took the ice on Saturday on Long Island, 14 of the 20 players dressed were not in the lineup from Opening Day of 2010-11.  Forwards Tomas Fleischmann, Scottie Upshall and Sean Bergenheim were signed to a combined $43-million over the next 4 years while the last five years of defenceman Brian Campbell’s bloated contract worth over $35.7-million was acquired in a trade with Chicago.

Over four nights, the Penguins played a trio of contests in Western Canada to open the season and were 4:55 away from a three-game sweep when 2011 first overall draft pick Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored his first NHL goal to lift Edmonton into a 1-1 tie.  While the Penguins would subsequently fall 2-1 in a shootout, the road trip must be considered an unqualified success.  Pittsburgh opened the season playing Vancouver, the class of the Northwest Division, and earned a gritty 4-3 shootout win.  Two nights later, they played in Calgary’s opening game and the Flames mounted a late comeback before Pittsburgh held on for a 5-3 win.  Then 24 hours later, against an Edmonton club that was well-rested having played no games yet this season, the fatigued Pens, playing without Malkin, earned one point against the Oilers.

Some early observations: The Penguins’ first goal of the season was symbolic in that it came on the power play, an area of special teams that looks vastly improved – small sample size noted – relative to 2010-11.  The power play was a joke at the end of the regular season and throughout the first round loss to Tampa Bay.  In the victories over Vancouver and Calgary, Pittsburgh scored two power play goals in each game and went 1 for 8 at Edmonton for a total success rate of 5/16 (31.3%) good for fifth in the NHL.  Steve Sullivan and Neal have been major contributors at creating scoring chances while defenceman Kris Letang, first unit point man on the power play and the early league scoring leader among blueliners, played nearly 30 minutes in Edmonton, clearly the best Penguin on the ice Sunday night.

The league’s best penalty kill in 2010-11 has picked up where they left off, successfully turning away all eleven opposition power plays so far this season, placing them in a group of six teams atop the shorthanded list.  Defencemen Zbynek Michalek and Paul Martin plus fowards Craig Adams, Jordan Staal, Matt Cooke and Pascal Dupuis have all returned as key penalty-killers.  Cooke scored shorthanded in the victory over Vancouver on Thursday night.

A revelation through the first three games has been rookie centre Joe Vitale.  The 26-year old from St. Louis leads the team in faceoff win percentage 25/42 (59.5%).

Finally, it is worth noting that the Penguins have been outscored 4-1 in the third period over their first three games.  This can be taken as a glass half-full or glass half-empty phenomenon.  Yes, the Pens fell into a tie in the third period in both Vancouver and Edmonton and saw their lead cut to one in Calgary.  At the same time, Pittsburgh should be given credit for bending but not breaking and regrouping in the face of fresh opponents and their own fatigue to earn 5 of 6 points on the road.

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The Penguins play Calgary tonight in the Flames’ home opener.  Defenceman Brooks Orpik will be out of the lineup tonight and tomorrow as he continues to recover from off-season abdominal surgery.  Centre Jordan Staal left the bench in the third period at Vancouver Thursday night due to dehydration leading to cramps but will be ready for tonight’s game.

Three forwards stood out the most for the Penguins during Thursday’s win.

When left wing Matt Cooke hopped over the boards for the first time since March 20, his appearance surely caused hissing and gnashing of teeth in many quarters of the hockey world.  Last season, as the Pittsburgh organization proposed more severe discipline and team fines to curtail accidental and deliberate head hitting, partly in response to the concussion suffered by captain Sidney Crosby, Cooke embarrassed the organization on national television when he elbowed the head of New York Ranger Ryan McDonagh.  Cooke was immediately suspended for the last 17 games of the year.

So there was a touch of irony and redemption when the Reviled One tapped in a no-look pass from Pascal Dupuis on the power play to give Pittsburgh a 2-0 lead 12:30 into the game.  Matt Cooke?  Power play goal?!?  The irony-meter surged higher early in the second period when the Canucks pressed for the tying-goal, trailing 2-1, on their first power play.  Late in the man-advantage, Staal sent an outlet pass along the far boards to Cooke, skating through the neutral zone.  Cooke used Vancouver defenceman Kevin Bieksa as a screen and sent a hard wrist shot through the blueliner’s legs and past the far side of a startled Luongo for a shorthanded goal.

It has been stated many times before: if Cooke stays within the rules, he can be a valuable, effective NHL player. Often lost in all the rage against him is the undeniable fact that he consistently scores 10 to 15 goals per season from a lower line position and is an integral penalty killer.  Cooke played a sound defensive game on Thursday and delivered two hits while blocking two shots. Judging by the much lengthier suspensions handed out by new league disciplinarian Brendan Shanahan, Cooke must be vigilant at all times to avoid hamstringing the Penguins to an even greater extent this season.

The first goal of the season was scored by James Neal just 16 seconds into the first power play chance of the year.  All pre-season long, the Penguins worked hard to improve their power play fundamentals – zone entry, offensive zone setup and positioning after the 1-for-33 debacle versus Tampa Bay last spring.  Ironically, it was a centering attempt, really, a pseudo-shot by Neal that banked off the right skate of Luongo into the Vancouver net that got the Penguins rolling.  For Neal, the goal was a relief.  The perennial 20 goal scorer, christened with a first line spot this season, struggled to find the back of the net when he came over to Pittsburgh in a mid-season trade in February.

As for his linemate centre Evgeni Malkin, the night was a re-introduction.  Malkin worked harder than he ever has over the summer to improve his overall conditioning but especially to strengthen a knee that was surgically repaired due to torn ligaments suffered on February 4.  Malkin missed the final 29 regular season games plus all 7 playoff contests. Malkin, Neal and Sullivan showed speed and creativity during the early part of Thursday’s game.  Ten minutes in, Malkin stole the puck in the far corner, skated back along the left half-wall and passed it to Neal in the slot for a scoring chance.  Five minutes later, Malkin found himself in roughly the same spot and feathered a pass underneath a diving Dan Hamhuis to Kris Letang whose shot was right on goal.

Defensively, Zbynek Michalek probably played his worst game as a Penguin but his teammates will take it on a winning night.  The Big Z, often assigned the tough task of defending against Vancouver’s top line of Burrows and the Sedin twins, seemed to be snake-bitten.  He was on the ice for all three Canuck goals.  On the game-tying goal by Daniel Sedin, Michalek went down to the ice anticipating a block attempt a fraction of a second too early.  Three minutes later, the puck bounced over Michalek’s stick at the blue line as he attempted to clear it out of the Pittsburgh zone.  Chris Higgins pounced on it and Michalek held him up, drawing a penalty.

Both teams struggled at times to stay on their skates as the ice quality appeared to be poor in a hot, humid Rogers Arena – a factor that often contributes to bouncier pucks.

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Sidney Crosby drifts to centre for the opening faceoff as the crowd cheers with anticipation.  We know the disappointing end to last year’s Opening Night story, so let’s skip ahead to something happier, a 6-3 home win over the Atlanta Thrashers (an entity that presently can only be seen with the aid of a time machine) highlighted by two more goals from Crosby: 2010.12.28.  That’s right, find the fast lane on Centre Avenue … No police cars in sight … Achieving 88 miles per hour should be a breeze …  Much like Crosby scoring points seemed to be a breeze by Christmas.

GM Ray Shero’s plan at that point last season was unfolding perfectly.  With a rejuvenated Marc-Andre Fleury a rock-solid wall in net, a revamped defence stonewalling opponents and Crosby tearing a strip through the NHL highlighted by a 25-game points streak, it was unsurprising that Pittsburgh reeled off 12 straight wins and looked like the Stanley Cup contenders everyone expected them to be on Opening Night.

Then, a hit in the Winter Classic happened.

Then, torn knee ligaments happened.

Then, broken bones happened.

Then, torn knee ligaments happened again.

Then, Matt Cooke decided to use his elbows to flip over the already-derailing Pittsburgh train.

Out of this incredibly galling second half of injuries and suspensions, GM Ray Shero was already laying the groundwork for the future.  When Crosby, Malkin and later Dustin Jeffrey were lost for the season, the Penguins adapted and played a more defensive style that not only allowed them to survive, but thrive, finishing with the third-highest point total and third-fewest goals allowed in the Eastern Conference. Yet the second half and playoffs exposed the Penguins as a club with few secondary scoring threats and a horrendously poor power play.

Thus Shero began his summer in winter, when he acquired young winger James Neal and defenceman Matt Niskanen from Dallas in exchange for defenceman Alex Goligoski ahead of the trade deadline.  It would have been a bonus if Crosby recovered in time to play on a line with Neal, but the trade was really about 2011-12 and beyond.  Neal has scored 20+ goals in each of the last three seasons so there is no reason to believe that the “Real Neal” was the man who struggled to score down the stretch with Pittsburgh last spring.

Can veteran newcomer Steve Sullivan (26) inject some life into the moribund Pittsburgh power play this season?

When summer actually began, Shero made much more understated signings than the splash of 2010 when he invested $45-million in the space of a few hours to bring in defencemen Paul Martin and Zbynek Michalek.  Instead, Shero’s first announcement was to disclose the name of someone the Penguins did not sign when he put an official end to talks with Jaromir Jagr and the mini-circus of speculation that had sprung up.

Pittsburgh retained right wing Tyler Kennedy, seemingly the only forward who stayed healthy from start to finish last season, who scored a career-high 21 goals.  Kennedy received a 2-year deal worth $2-million per season.  Versatile Pascal Dupuis who possesses a cannon shot and fellow penalty-killer Craig Adams also both decided to stay in the Pens’ pen for another two years while gritty winger Arron Asham, who had his first season in black and gold interrupted by a concussion, signed another one-year contract.

Mike Rupp, enforcer Eric Godard, forward Chris Conner and 2009 Stanley Cup hero Maxime Talbot all moved on with Talbot cashing in to the tune of $8.75-million over five years, two more years and “a lot more” money than what Pittsburgh offered him, according to Shero.  The Pens’ GM continued to be prudent with forwards in free agency, resisting the temptation to bid for high-priced scorers, mindful that in two summers, the contracts of centres Crosby and Jordan Staal expire.  It would be foolish to tie up too much future salary cap space now when the salary ceilings of 2013, 2014 and the next CBA parameters are essentially unknown.

When he returns from rehabilitating his right knee, the Penguins are looking forward to more handshakes and high-fives with Dustin Jeffrey.

This is why the club’s only major signing on July 1 was 37-year old left wing Steve Sullivan.  Before a back injury sidelined him for 1 1/2 seasons at the end of 2006-07, Sullivan was a reliable source of 20+ goals.  In the twilight of his career, Pittsburgh was able to make a classic low-risk deal for one season at a reasonable $1.5-million.  He has already been praised by head coach Dan Bylsma for his intelligence and hockey sense.  From a strategic angle, the Pens plan to use him on the top line as left wing to Malkin with Neal on the other side.  Sullivan will also appear on the first power play unit manning a point opposite Kris Letang with Malkin, Neal and Chris Kunitz.  If he stays healthy, and it is a big “if”, Sullivan’s value could easily exceed $1.5-million.

Joe Vitale and Richard Park will fill spots on the fourth line vacated by Talbot and Rupp.  Both newcomers will be counted on to uphold the success of the Pittsburgh penalty kill, top-ranked in the NHL last season.

With Godard leaving Pittsburgh, the new sheriff in town is Steve MacIntyre, the 6’6″ 265 lb. heavyweight who spent the past three seasons in Edmonton.

Finally, a player this space is tabbing to become a major contributor to the Penguins once his rehabilitation from torn knee ligaments is complete is Dustin Jeffrey.  The 23-year old centre/wing scored 7 goals in 25 games last season and demonstrated good on-ice intuition and anticipation.  In addition, as the saying goes in baseball, “Speed never slumps.”  The same could be true in hockey and Jeffrey’s skating ability was a memorable facet of the skill set he showed before his season ended in Philadelphia.  His interception/breakaway goal in overtime in Boston immediately jumps to mind.

EXPECTED OPENING NIGHT LINE COMBINATIONS AND DEFENCE PAIRS

Steve Sullivan – Evgeni Malkin – James Neal
Chris Kunitz – Jordan Staal – Tyler Kennedy
Matt Cooke – Mark Letestu – Pascal Dupuis
Joe Vitale – Craig Adams – Arron Asham

Kris Letang – Deryk Engelland
Paul Martin – Zbynek Michalek
Matt Niskanen – Ben Lovejoy

(This assumes D Brooks Orpik, LW Steve MacIntyre and RW Richard Park are scratched).

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On Tuesday, the club held its final practice in Pittsburgh before a planned afternoon flight to Vancouver where the Penguins will play on Opening Night Thursday at 10 pm EDT against the defending Western Conference champions.  Ironically, one of yesterday’s final “cuts” was not a fringe journeyman nor a not-yet-ready-for-primetime prospect but team captain Sidney Crosby whose placement on injured reserve continues from last season.  Crosby, recovering from a concussion suffered in January, participated as a full member of the Penguins in training camp practices and drills but with no contact nor did he appear in any of the six exhibition games.

As reported in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Crosby and fellow forward Dustin Jeffrey who is working his way back from torn right knee ligaments, can return to active duty at any time.  Normally, players returning from injured reserve must wait seven days but this does not apply if a player has remained on the injured list since the previous season.  Obviously however, there is a negligible chance that Crosby will play this week.  As stated many times before in many different places, there is no target date for Crosby to return to active duty nor is there a target date for clearing him to participate in full contact practices.

The name many will be filing away for future reference is Joe Morrow, the Pens’ first round draft choice at this past summer’s Entry Draft in Minnesota.  The 6’0″ 199 lb. Edmonton native made an immediate impression on the Pittsburgh braintrust and he lasted until Monday’s final cut amid speculation that the Penguins might give him a nine-game NHL “tryout” before returning him to his junior club to roll over the start of his entry-level contract to next year.  While Morrow will head to junior immediately, he quickly demonstrated in camp that he understood the Penguins’ “pucks northward” style of play from day one, capitalizing on his hard shot and skill as an offensive-minded defenceman.

As head coach Dan Bylsma put it, “He earned at least two exhibition games extra from what we had originally scheduled him with his play … he was really effective and really showed his skating ability and his shot.  He had a lot of poise on the ice, was able to make good, quick plays and was able to defend.  He showed a little physical side to it as well. He earned a lot more than we had planned.”

Morrow played four of the six exhibition games, scoring a goal and four points logging an average ice time of 15:03 including 2:19 on the power play, directing 11 pucks at the net (5 on goal/4 attempts blocked/2 missed shots) while laying down to block 5 opposition shots.  He can return to Portland confident that he can build on his strong camp and strong season last year when he led all Portland defencemen in points and power play goals.

One player who has avoided a trip to injured reserve to start 2011-12 is veteran blueliner Brooks Orpik who had surgery in mid-July to repair a right-sided hernia.  In 2010, Orpik had the same procedure performed on the left side of his abdomen.  Like Crosby, Orpik did not appear in any exhibition games and worked carefully to rehabilitate himself into proper condition.  Orpik skated with the team over the weekend in Detroit and practiced Tuesday in Pittsburgh.  His status for Thursday’s opener is unclear.

Bylsma revealed two plans for three defence pairs – with and without Orpik – he has ready to go for Thursday:

Orpik – Kris Letang
Paul Martin – Zbynek Michalek
Matt Niskanen – Deryk Engelland/Ben Lovejoy

 

Letang – Engelland
Martin – Michalek
Niskanen – Lovejoy

Other players who had medical procedures performed in the summer or suffered training camp injuries – Craig Adams who had an appendectomy in late August and newcomer Steve Sullivan who had a mild groin strain early in camp – are essentially 100%.

Two role players with similar skill sets, young centre Joe Vitale and veteran centre/right wing Richard Park, both ended up making the final roster.  With the departure of Max Talbot and Mike Rupp, fourth line and penalty-killing spots needed to be filled.  Vitale will be counted on to be dependable in the faceoff circle and to be a classic checking line forward – a solid hitter and a fearless shot blocker.  Park, originally drafted by Pittsburgh in 1994, returns to the NHL after a year in Switzerland.  He will likely join the penalty-killing unit, a top-ranked group that was integral to the Pens’ regular season success last season.

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Last season, Kuhnhackl made his North American major junior debut with the Windsor Spitfires in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) and he made a smooth transition, finishing fourth on his team with 68 points while leading the club in goals (39).  During the OHL playoffs, Kuhnhackl was even better, leading the team in goals (11), points (23), power play goals (4) and +/- (+11) and he finished as the third-best point scorer in the post-season among all OHL players.

In Game 7 of the first round, he scored a tiebreaking goal, his second of the contest, with under three minutes left in the third period to give Windsor the series over Erie.  While Windsor, shooting for its third straight Memorial Cup, eventually fell to the eventual OHL champions, Owen Sound in the Western Conference Final, Kuhnhackl scored 4 goals and 7 points in the five-game series loss.

For the second straight year, he earned an invitation to the Rookie Tournament held earlier in September in Oshawa, Ontario where prospects from the Penguins played one game each against teams of prospects from the Maple Leafs, Senators and Blackhawks.  A pre-draft scouting report described Kuhnhackl as “a surprisingly mobile, good skater for a player of his size.  He has a very good understanding of the game and has good offensive instincts.”

At the Rookie Tournament, Kuhnhackl also noted that he tries to “be an offensive player, a two-way player, trying to create scoring chances, bringing pucks to the net, using my legs and speed.”

He admitted that he had some jitters last September.  ”I played in the [Rookie] Tournament last year and I was really nervous.  I had no idea what everyone expected from me.  This year, I’m just trying to play my game to help the Penguins,” and pointed out that he gained valuable insight by skating on a line with two prospects who had already played in the NHL.

“Last year, with [Dustin] Jeffrey and [Eric] Tangradi – those are excellent players.   Both played a couple games for the Penguins so they know what they’re talking about.  They tell me what to do so I just listen to them because they know what they’re doing.”

Kuhnhackl also credited a prospect with major junior and AHL experience with helping him along.  ”Nick Petersen, he’s my roommate.   He was playing in the ‘A’ last year so he’s been giving me advice, what the coaches expect from me and what I can do to help the team.”

When the Pens played Toronto in the Tournament, Kuhnhackl occasionally was assigned point duties on the power play, a role he tried last season.  ”When I was playing in Windsor, I was playing on the point with [defenceman] Ryan Ellis for half the season, so I’m used to it now. [Penguins' coach John] Hynes asked me if I wanted to try it, so I said ‘Sure, why not?’”.  But Kuhnhackl, playing just his fifth game in a Penguins’ sweater, quickly added, “Of course I was nervous!  The level here is way higher than in the OHL.   I’ll need a couple of games to get used to it but I liked playing on the point.”

He complimented his power play blue line partner Simon Despres, Pittsburgh’s first-round choice in 2009.  ”Simon is a really skilled defenceman so it was really nice to play with him.  Before the game, we had a meeting with the coaches.   They told us which play we should run, what we should try.”

Pittsburgh Penguin Tom Kuhnhackl (#14, second from right) warms up prior to a Rookie Tournament game against Toronto on September 11, 2011 in Oshawa, Ontario.

As for his former teammate Ellis, who was analyzed last week by Hockey Independent, Kuhnhackl effusively praised the 2011 CHL Player of the Year.  ”Ryan Ellis is the best defenceman in the OHL at his age.  I don’t know how to explain it.  He’s just the best.  If you play with him on the point, you have way more confidence.

“He gives you the puck, I give him the puck,” Kuhnhackl excitedly explained, using his hands to diagram a typical game situation.  ”He can run plays; he can play passes he never expected from someone.  He always helps you; he is a leader and he helped me a lot.”

When the subject of Germany’s continuing struggle to become a respectable global hockey nation was broached, Kuhnhackl turned more serious, nodding his head at the immense mountain his homeland still must climb.

“When you look at the hockey in Germany, when you look at the first-league especially, every team has eleven imports … so what about the German hockey?” he asked rhetorically.  ”Eleven imports – that’s like the first two and a half lines.  Then the third and fourth lines might be a couple of young German players that don’t see a lot of ice time and they sit in the stands.   Maybe we should reduce [the quota] to seven imports or six so that German hockey can improve and maybe we can beat Canada for once.”

On Kuhnhackl’s 2009-10 Augsburg club, the top eleven scorers were all either Canadian or American.

“I played a couple games [for Augsburg] but when you look at the level there … eleven imports,” he said, shaking his head, ”it’s just … I don’t know.  If you want to improve German hockey, the German players need to get ice time.”

In 2010, Hockey Independent talked to German national team coach Uwe Krupp who played over 800 games in the NHL, about the state of hockey in his country.  Krupp was optimistic about the future after looking at the past and present.  ”German hockey has a number of good players.  We haven’t created a Dirk Nowitzki like we have in basketball but we have Marco Sturm and Christian Ehrhoff – two guys who are representing German hockey at a very high level.  Jochan Hecht, Dennis Seidenberg, Olaf Kolzig … we’ve had some players who’ve had good careers in the NHL.”

“Tom Kuhnhackl is a good young player that is as good as any player you’ll find in the Czech Republic or in Slovakia within those age groups.”

Kuhnhackl was returned to Windsor last Thursday from the Penguins’ pre-season training camp without appearing in any exhibition games. Unfortunately, he suffered a severe injury to the MCL of his right knee during Windsor’s 4-3 loss to the Kitchener Rangers on Friday night that may require surgery meaning he will be out indefinitely.  The collision and the sight of a player falling on his knee was eerily reminiscent of the injury suffered by Pittsburgh centre Evgeni Malkin in February that ended the star centre’s season.

In time, Kuhnhackl will heal and the journey from Augsburg to Pittsburgh will continue.

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Staging rookie tournaments is simply a method for teams to analyze, in game action, its top minor league, collegiate or major junior talent, many of whom are years away from seriously contending for an NHL roster spot.  If a team rests some top prospects or starts a lower-on-the-depth-chart goaltender, the chances of winning the game decrease if the opposition ices its best players.  In Saturday’s opener, the Penguins dressed top prospect Eric Tangradi and one of their best goaltending prospects, Patrick Killeen but rested prized young blueliner Simon Despres.  On Sunday night and this afternoon, Despres and amateur tryout netminder Maxime Lagace played but Tangradi and Killeen rested.

Despite the 0-fer, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton assistant coach Alain Nasreddine, who specializes in mentoring the defencemen, was positive about what he saw from some of the young Penguins’ blueliners immediately after Sunday’s loss against the Maple Leafs.

“I just actually talked to all the ‘D’.  I’m pretty proud of what they did.  It’s not an easy task.  They want to make an impression in camp, to work hard and compete and that’s what they did in the full sixty [minutes] with 5 ‘D’,” referring to the quintet of defencemen who had to soldier on after Robert Bortuzzo left the game in the first period with an injury.  “There were some penalties that we had to kill.  They battled all the way through.  They were tired but they battled and competed and that’s all we ask.  Starting the game with six [defencemen] and ending the game with five, especially going down early with Bortz [Bortuzzo], they really did a good job.”

The five blueliners Nasreddine commended were QMJHL defenceman of the year Simon Despres, 2011 first round pick Joe Morrow, 2011 second round pick Scott Harrington, Alex Grant and Philip Samuelsson.

Nasreddine gave a wry smile when recalling a severe injury suffered by Grant in the first game of the 2010 Rookie Tournament.  “Last year we got used to it as it happened with [Alex] Grant … Sure, we didn’t like it but like I said, they want to make an impression, they want to play good, they want to play well and I think they all did a pretty good job tonight.”

Nasreddine said he tries to keep set defence pairings but knows he must quickly adapt to in-game changes.

“There’s a pattern you try to establish, so we try to stick with it so that everyone gets equal time but you’re going to get penalties, you’re going to get power plays, penalty kills so it often changes but in general they all get a lot of ice time so they had a good opportunity to show what they can do and I thought they did a good job.”

“I thought Morrow had a really strong game, he showed a lot of skill.  I think you could tell it was his second game and he was a lot more comfortable out there.  Harrington was solid and Grant and Samuelsson too.”

For his part, Samuelsson, a 2009 second round choice of Pittsburgh who played the last two seasons at Boston College, was unfazed by the losses.

“I think the games are moving pretty fast.  The ice has been pretty good.  I think we’re coming together as a team.  A couple of bounces here and there and we’re right back in it.  I think we had a good game today.  We just weren’t able to capitalize on our chances and unfortunately, we had some lapses on defence that they were able to capitalize on so if we tighten up in the D zone, and bury our chances, I think we should give Chicago a run for their money on Tuesday.”

He reflected on the difference between college hockey and the competitive nature of this quick tournament, playing with and against top prospects.

“It’s huge.  It’s good to see what the pace is at now and kind of know you have to ramp it up a level to keep up and to play at your game.  It’s been a great experience for me to be a part of this.  You always want to win games – it doesn’t matter if it’s a pick-up game in the summer or rookie camp here.  You’re always going to go your hardest and that’s what I have to do to be successful as a player.”

No matter where he ends up this season, Samuelsson is working as hard as he can to make a positive statement with Pittsburgh scouts and front office.

“Definitely, I want to make a good impression on the Penguins and hopefully, one day be able to crack that roster.  I don’t know if that’s going to be this year or a few years down the road but I’ll try my hardest at this camp and see where it goes from there.”

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Pittsburgh opened the game with a quick goal 13 seconds after the opening faceoff when centre Zach Sill who sat out the first game yesterday afternoon, dumped the puck in.  Linemate Brandon DeFazio found it near the net and rammed it into the goal past Toronto netminder Garret Sparks for the abrupt 1-0 lead.

It was classic Penguins’ hockey in the opening third of the first period as the Pens effectively maintained consistent offensive zone time through hard forechecking and their puck possession system.  Momentum started to swing when rugged Jamie Devane found Josh Leivo behind the Pittsburgh defence.  Leivo unleashed a hard wrist shot but Pittsburgh goaltender Maxime Lagace was able to blocker the puck away.

About one minute later, the Leafs raced 2-on-2 into the Pens’ zone.  As defenceman Joe Morrow fell down at the left of the net, his partner Philip Samuelsson had his pocket picked by McKegg who whipped the puck in front to Josh Nicholls whose goal tied the game at 7:47.  McKegg earned a second assist midway through the period when he fired a cross-crease laser to Mitchell Heard during a 4-on-3 power play.  Heard waited patiently, then fired the puck to the far corner behind Lagace to give the Leafs a 2-1 lead.  Toronto was successful at controlling the tempo of the second half of the period and was successful at winning puck battles below the Pittsburgh goal line.

The second period was frustrating for the Pens but not for lack of effort.  They continued to establish a good forecheck and cycled the puck well, winning many battles in the corners but could not solve Sparks.  Toronto increased its lead to 3-1 when David Broll passed to Sam Carrick who cut across the crease from the left boards and flipped the puck by Lagace’s left pad.  Three minutes later, Pittsburgh had two good chances to score when Tom Kuhnhackl and Joe Morrow skated into the Leafs’ zone 2-on-1.  Kuhnhackl elected to shoot but Sparks kept the puck out.  Moments later, Paul Thompson got the puck alone in the slot but his backhand attempt was stopped.

Later Brian Gibbons was absolutely robbed on a toe save by Sparks when a tap-in attempt looked like a sure goal.  With two minutes left in the period, Morrow’s centre-point shot was deflected high by Sparks’ trapper.

The Leafs iced it in the third period when McKegg scored his third point and first goal of the night after receiving a stretch pass.  He sped by Pittsburgh defenceman Joe Morrow then deked Lagace and tucked a low backhand into the net to make it 4-1.  With about 2 1/2 minutes left, Tyler Brenner scored a gift goal when the puck skipped through Morrow’s legs at the Pens’ blue line.  Brenner scooped up the puck and slipped it under Lagace to complete the victory.

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Earlier in the contest, a Blackhawks’ prospect who ended up earning second star honours, looked like he might be the game’s hero. Left wing Brandon Saad, a native of Gibsonia, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pittsburgh, assisted on Chicago’s first goal then with a burst of speed, powered to the net and flipped the puck in for the go-ahead goal that gave the Hawks a short-lived 2-1 lead.  This afternoon, he scored two goals, one on the power play but the Hawks fell 6-5 to Ottawa.

Hockey Independent talked to Saad when he appeared in the Home Hardware CHL/NHL Top Prospects Skills Competition and Game back in the winter at Air Canada Centre in Toronto. At the time, Saad was considered one of the top draft-eligible players, ranking #8 among all North American skaters in the NHL-Central Scounting Service rankings released in January.

Saad was enjoying a hot start in his initial OHL campaign, scoring 23 goals and 20 assists for the front-running Saginaw Spirit when he appeared in the invitation-only event in Toronto. Unfortunately, Saad suffered a nagging groin injury that hampered his production and his pre-draft stock fell considerably to the point where he was no longer considered first round material anymore.

As for his general impressions of the first Rookie Tournament game for the Blackhawks, Saad said, “I thought it was pretty good. It was high-tempo out there. Everyone’s trying to make the team. It was a good first game.”

While many are already concluding that Saad, 18, will return to Saginaw for his second year of major junior action, Saad is trying not to think about his ultimate destination this weekend.

Brandon Saad (43) grew up in Pittsburgh studying Jaromir Jagr's game. Saad, 18, has already scored 3 goals in 2 Rookie Tournament games this weekend in Oshawa.

“Everyone’s trying to make the team. It’s a tryout. We just come and work hard and learn from our experiences here with older guys and things like that.”

He noted the Chicago coaching staff have not written down set lineups for the final two games of this brief tournament meaning he did not know absolutely if he would suit up against the Senators this afternoon (he did) or the Penguins on Tuesday.

“I’m not sure, really. It’s going to be day-to-day with that. I’ll know further, obviously, in the [near] future.”

“I want to keep the consistency and work hard out there,” Saad continued, identifying areas of his game he wanted to improve. “Obviously we want to get two wins here, so I’ll do what I can to help the team win.”

Recently-repatriated former Penguins’ star Jaromir Jagr was Saad’s favourite player as a youth growing up near Pittsburgh and Saad tried to model his game after the Czech winger.

“It’s going to be exciting definitely,” Saad remarked, smiling at the thought of the long-time Penguin suiting up for arch-rival Philadelphia this autumn. “Hopefully, I’ll get to play against him. It’s definitely nice to get him back in the league.”

Saad had time to return to Gibsonia in the summer and got to rest “a little bit after the season, but after that you just get back to working at it. It’s a lot of hard work to get in game shape,” and he admitted that the groin injury “lingered a little bit. I worked on strengthening it – things like that over the summer so that definitely helped and I’m feeling back at 100%.”

Whether Saad beats heavy odds to earn a roster spot in Chicago or returns to Saginaw for a second season, he knows hard work and steady improvement will be expected at all times now that he is property of an NHL organization.

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“I thought it was a very competitive game – both sides,” said Pittsburgh (and Wilkes/Barre-Scranton) head coach John Hynes.  ”That first period, I thought both teams were very fast and physical.  There wasn’t a lot of time or space on the ice.  We wound up down 2-0 after the first period but I thought it was good and as the game went on, it was kind of back and forth.  There was a lot of energy; we could have used a little bit better execution but there was definitely work ethic and passion out there.”

Penguins’ 2011 first round draft choice Joe Morrow, a defenceman who played for the WHL Portland Winterhawks last year said the opening game was “a good experience to get out there.  The guys are twice as big and twice as strong and everything’s really fast.  It was exciting to go from junior to that.  Slowly as the game went on, I was able to adapt a little better and I should continue to get better throughout the week.”

He said that Hynes told the prospects post-game “to be more consistent throughout the entire game.  There were spurts where we felt we played well and the team kind of clicked but you can’t play in spurts in a sixty minute hockey game.”

Hynes noted that Morrow and fellow 2011 draft choice Scott Harrington acquitted themselves well in their first games as Pittsburgh Penguins.  ”Early in the game there was a little bit of an adjustment period for them just as far as physical presence and the lack of time and space on the ice.  As the game went on, both of those guys started to make more plays and feel more comfortable.  For two young guys to be in their first professional game, I thought they did very good.”

The two teams opened the game with a fair balance of scoring chances with Pittsburgh earning the first power play at 6:36 when Cowick went off for boarding.  The Penguins were unable to convert and a little over a minute after the penalty expired, Cowick connected with centre Derek Grant on a 2-on-1 play.  Grant lifted a shot over the blocker of Pittsburgh netminder Patrick Killeen to give Ottawa the opening goal at 9:54.  Late in the period, Grant returned the favour when he found the puck behind the Pittsburgh net after a dump in and quickly passed to Cowick standing to the left of Kileen.  Cowick buried the pass to put the Sens up 2-0 at first intermission.  Winger Shane Prince, a 2011 draft pick of Ottawa nearly made it 3-0 with half a minute left when he whistled a sharp-angle shot at Killeen that was deflected into the netting above the glass.

The second period produced the season’s first two fights, in rapid succession.  At 2:04, a pair of defencemen squared off – Alex Grant of the Penguins who was quickly taken down by Ottawa blueliner Mark Borowiecki.  Two and a half minutes later, Pens’ winger Jessey Astles, on an amateur tryout with Pittsburgh and who incurred 129 penalty minutes in 59 games with the WHL Kelowna Rockets last season skated from blue line to blue line to drop the gloves with Ottawa’s Darren Kramer.

Pittsburgh’s Nick Petersen generated a number of scoring opportunities for Pittsburgh.  Ninety seconds into the period, he skated down the left wing and rang an open shot off the glass behind Senators’ netminder Robin Lehner.  Six minutes later, he almost connected with Scott Harrington inside the Ottawa zone but Harrington could not get a full shot off at the side of the net.  Petersen was thwarted by Lehner again on a partial breakaway when Petersen’s shot was trapped in between the Swedish goaltender’s pads.  Petersen was a 2009 fourth round selection by Pittsburgh and scored 71 points in 65 combined games at the ECHL and AHL levels.  Moments later, Lehner was sharp again stopping a one-time shot by Ben Street off a pass from behind the net by Paul Thompson.

Hynes agreed that Petersen played a solid game this afternoon.  ”I thought Nick Petersen and Ben Street played well as the game went on, particularly in the second and third periods.  Those guys had some offensive chances and showed what they can do.”

“I thought that Dominik Uher played well.  For a younger, first-year guy, he came in and had a very good work ethic and played well,” Hynes continued.  ”Brian Strait – on D for us, I thought he was very good – played solid, defended well, moved the puck very solidly.”  Hynes commented that Strait who was shaken up early in the third period, “just took a puck in the chin and got a couple of stitches; he’s good; he’s fine.”

Pittsburgh pressed in the third period but was unable to solve Lehner.  At the other end of the ice, Killeen continued to look sharp stopping Ottawa’s top 2011 draft choice Mika Zibanejad and Jakub Culek from in close early in the frame.  At 9:39, Cowick scored his second goal of the game to give Ottawa a 3-0 bulge and Andre Petersson finished off the Pens with a high backhand at 18:16 moments after Pens’ defenceman Alex Grant slid across the crease to break up an Ottawa pass.

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Such is the case with various NHL Rookie Tournaments across North America over the next week.  The fun of summer is in the past and now, it is time for young hockey prospects to get to work.  Typically bringing together 3 or 4 clubs’ top prospects, Rookie Tournaments give young players a chance to make a positive statement to scouts, coaches and general managers in the ultimate quest to land a spot on an NHL roster.

Of course not all prospects are at Rookie Tournaments looking to join the parent club right away.  Many know they are destined for another season with their major junior or AHL team.  Some players have exhausted their major junior eligibility and will be attempting to make the rare jump straight to the NHL or more likely, will use the Rookie Tournament as a primer on the level of competition they are about to face when they turn pro in the AHL.

The Pittsburgh Penguins will send a roster of 26 players (two goaltenders, ten defencemen, fourteen forwards) to General Motors Centre in Oshawa, Ontario to compete against fellow prospects from the Chicago Blackhawks, Ottawa Senators and Toronto Maple Leafs.  The schedule for Pittsburgh will be identical to last year’s Rookie Tournament: a Saturday afternoon game against Ottawa, a Sunday night contest against the Leafs and a Tuesday matinee against Chicago.

Last year, the Pens sent seven blueliners: Robert Bortuzzo, Simon Despres, Alex Grant, Joe Rogalski, Reid McNeill, Carl Sneep and Brian Strait, to the Rookie Tournament in London, Ontario and all seven will suit up again in Oshawa.  They will be joined by Philip Samuelsson and the Penguins’ first two picks in the 2011 Entry Draft, Joe Morrow and Scott Harrington.  Despres is the most heralded of Pittsburgh defence prospects after winning silver at the World Junior Championship last winter with Team Canada while individually earning top defenceman honours in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.  He was an integral part of the MasterCard Memorial Cup-winning Saint John Sea Dogs, opening the scoring in the championship final game by sniping a shorthanded goal.

Goaltender Patrick Killeen returns for another Rookie Tournament after splitting last season between the AHL and ECHL and he will be accompanied by Maxime Lagace.

Wingers Eric Tangradi, Keven Veilleux, Nick Petersen, Tom Kuhnhackl and centre Zach Sill were members of last season’s tournament squad.  Tangradi is the only Penguin with NHL experience after making his debut in the final regular season game of 2009-10 followed by 15 games last season, a campaign marred by a concussion received during the infamous Long Island Brawl in February.  Kuhnhackl played on a line with Tangradi and Dustin Jeffrey in the opening Rookie Tournament game last year –  a win over Ottawa, and was praised by coach John Hynes for his “good hockey sense and compete level”.  The German born forward then jumped from the German Elite League into his first OHL season and broke out in a big way, scoring 68 points in 63 games for the two-time defending MasterCard Memorial Cup champions, Windsor Spitfires, before adding a team-leading 23 points in 18 playoff games.

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What if the NHL, NHLPA, KHL and other European leagues negotiated a compensation fee scale that resembles fair market value for talented prospects?  Like the salary cap, the midpoint between the minimum and maximum level of this compensation range should be at the level that would allow all NHL teams to make an affordable offer.  Each subsequent season, the range, minimum and maximum would be adjusted based on statistics such as operating income of the NHL, KHL and other European leagues plus general economic conditions, much like the determination of the salary cap and floor.

Then, to prevent large market NHL clubs from always offering compensation fees at the maximum level, how about implementing a “luxury tax” threshold at, for example, 65% of the compensation fee range, beyond which the excess would be subject to a luxury tax tacked on to the NHL club’s salary cap in the player’s first season.

Example: Compensation minimum and maximum are $250,000 and $2-million, respectively.  65% level = $1.3875-million. Luxury tax set at 130% of excess compensation over the 65% level. Drafting NHL club negotiates $1.8-million compensation fee to KHL club for immensely-talented Russian player ‘X’.  The excess of $412,500 would result in a $536,250 luxury tax (130% x $412,500) added into the NHL club’s total salaries for salary cap purposes in the year that player ‘X’ debuts.

That hypothetical $536,250 may not seem like much but it would be the equivalent of a replacement level player – an enforcer, a journeyman checking line forward or a frequently recalled injury fill-in from the AHL – that most teams need to have on standby to fill out a roster.  From another perspective, that $536,250 might be the pro-rated salary of a potential trade deadline acquisition.

Thus a lot of the decision-making on whether to draft Russian and other European prospects would have to be done well before the actual Entry Draft.  Capologists on each NHL team would have to reason not only if their club should draft a certain player based on scouting reports and projecting his skills to the NHL but they would have to analyse affordability.  If player ‘X’ is drafted, can the club reasonably go all out and pay what the KHL or European club is demanding for compensation given the maximum limit on compensation and the possible luxury tax penalty against a future season’s salary cap?

Nashville right wing Alexander Radulov abruptly signed a contract with Russian KHL club Salavat Yulayev Ufa in the summer of 2008 even though he had one year remaining on his entry-level NHL deal.

Note that presently, many consistent contenders have already tied up some franchise players to long-term contracts and attempts to stockpile more talent via drafting Europeans and paying compensation fees would be a more difficult task if the excess of the compensation fee affects future cap hits.  Therefore, this would allow rebuliding or small market teams with fewer long-term contracts to have a more fair chance at European talent in the Entry Draft.  Since inferior teams tend to draft earlier in the first round, they could select boldly knowing they might be able to offer maximum compensation fee money and not worry about future cap hits as they may presently be near the salary floor and thus could go “all-in” when negotiating with the European or KHL club.

Natural factors would discourage KHL or European clubs from being overly demanding or staunchly asking for the upper limit of the compensation scale.  If the drafting NHL club refuses to meet the asking price and the player returns to play in the KHL or other European league, there is a risk to his incumbent club that his skills will decline or he will suffer a serious injury, thus decreasing the potential compensation fee his club could reasonably expect during a second round of post-Entry Draft negotiations.

Clearly, this modest proposal is a very, very basic framework that seeks to introduce fairness to the currently flawed system. It would give European clubs currently bound by Player Transfer Agreements a shot at receiving more than a flat amount of $225,000 while acknowledging the correct logic of the KHL that obvious budding superstars should yield their clubs a fair market price, unlike the mere $150,000 that brought the exceptionally-gifted Russian centre Pavel Datsyuk to Detroit.

For the NHL, teams would have to continue to be prudent and mindful of the salary cap from the implications of offering compensation fees that would trigger luxury tax in future years.  Small market clubs would have a reasonable chance at garnering top European talent in such a system that would simply not be there in a totally open market.

Ultimately, any player transfer agreement in the future between the NHL, Russia and other European nations must specify fair compensation for selling clubs while giving all NHL teams, regardless of market size, an even shot at acquiring these players.  By doing so, hockey’s leaders will be able to reduce the international turf wars, multiple contracts and mistrust that damage worldwide promotion of the sport.

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Thus player transfer agreements help to reduce or eliminate trans-Atlantic contract disputes, threats of legal action, strained international hockey relations and anxiety for players.  Compensation funds have the effect of softening the blow to the club losing a player, allowing it to recoup and reinvest money into training new players (assuming the selling club is the original team who trained the departing player).

Yet controversy exists in this area because Russia has continued to refuse to enter into a player transfer agreement with the NHL arguing that flat fees grossly undervalue potential superstars,.  With no formal framework for compensation amounts, it is unsurprising that Russia and the NHL have wrangled over contracts and rights to several high-profile players.  Pittsburgh centre Evgeni Malkin joined the Penguins five summers ago only after weeks of brinksmanship which saw him sign a contract extension with Russian Super League club Metallurg Magnitogorsk under pressure, file for annulment of the contract under Russian labour law before fleeing to the United States via Finland.  The enraged Magnitogorsk owners sued the Penguins and the NHL on the grounds that Malkin was already under contract but the lawsuit was eventually dismissed.  Significantly, the Magnitogorsk club received no compensation after originally demanding $2-million for Malkin’s rights.

The chronology of star centre Evgeni Malkin's departure from Russia and arrival in the United States in 2006 to play in the NHL was filled with acrimony partly due to the lack of a binding Player Transfer Agreement between the NHL and the Russian Hockey Federation.

The man who was drafted thirteen spots after Malkin, right wing Alexander Radulov, played two seasons for Nashville before abruptly signing a second contract with Salavat Yulayev Ufa of the new Russian Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) in 2008 despite one year remaining on his NHL entry-level deal.  Days later, with rumours swirling that some KHL teams were looking to lure Malkin back to Russia, the NHL and KHL came to a loose agreement on “respecting everyone’s contracts” – not a formal player transfer agreement, but an informal burying of the poaching hatchet.

But despite this “Respect Accord”, the May 2010 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and the updated MOU enacted this July which calls for mutual recognition of contracts, contract information sharing, exchange of free agent lists and conflict resolution procedures, there is still no comprehensive NHL – KHL Player Transfer Agreement on monetary compensation.  What will happen when the next Evgeni Malkin, under contract to a KHL team, wishes to join the NHL team who drafts him?

The relatively low compensation amounts typically paid by NHL clubs to European teams has always puzzled me.  Does it really make sense that first-round calibre players trained in Europe can be purchased for $225,000 when the annual compensation on an NHL entry-level deal is $925,000?  It begs the question: isn’t Russia correct in advocating for a full free market system with compensation based on supply and demand?  Perhaps Sweden and other countries bound by player transfer agreements are being swindled by arbitrary fixed compensation fees.

Unfortunately, if a truly unrestricted open market existed, in other words, if Russian and other European players were no longer subject to the annual NHL Entry Draft, then bidding for services of these players would become like the posting system in Major League Baseball (MLB) where teams must pay ”negotiating” fees to Japanese clubs to earn the right to talk to a player.  In the non-salary capped world of MLB, wealthy teams always win out or dissuade small-market teams from even bidding on Japanese players.  Similarly, rich MLB teams generally have the inside track on signing young Latin American stars who like the Japanese, are also not subject to the MLB Draft.

Applied to the salary-capped NHL, tiny Winnipeg, Minnesota or Carolina for example, would not even bother drafting a talented Russian or European as they know they would not be able to afford an exorbitant posting fee.

In part 2 of this article, a new Player Transfer Agreement between the NHL and KHL and all European leagues is proposed to promote fairness for all parties and international hockey peace.

“When he got to 90 percent exertion in his workouts, he started having some headaches again.  At that point, his doctors and trainers altered his workouts accordingly.  He recently has visited specialists in Michigan and Georgia.”

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This latest statement from the Penguins follows a week of speculation on Crosby’s readiness to start training camp or the 2011-12 regular season on time.  Hockey analyst Josh Rimer tweeted “Also hearing from 3 sources now that Sidney Crosby won’t b ready 2 start season. I hope its not true because the NHL needs its best players!” on August 14.  The next morning, Pittsburgh GM Ray Shero answered media questions regarding Crosby, neither confirming nor denying the accuracy of the tweet simply because nobody accurately knows how Crosby will feel in mid-September.  Then last Monday, Crosby’s agent Pat Brisson denied reports that the Penguins’ captain stopped training due to recent recurrences of concussion symptoms stating that Crosby “hasn’t been shut down by anyone.”

Surprisingly, some have expressed displeasure that Crosby has seemingly not communicated properly with his teammates, coaches, Shero, co-owner Mario Lemieux or the media, saying it is “astonishing” that head coach Dan Bylsma has not been informed if Crosby is still skating.  The article proceeds to label Crosby’s lack of disclosure of “diligent, detailed updates on his health” as “indefensible” and “inexplicable”.

While the anticipation for a firm status update is growing within the Penguins organization and in everyone else with an interest in hockey, it is an overreaction to say that Crosby’s lack of communication on his health is indefensible.  Once again, the path of recovery from concussions is not as predictable as a bone break, an infection or a ligament tear.  There is no antibiotic to take or stretching routine that anyone can do to nurse the brain back to full health.  Time is the only known medication and still, the effective dosage of time varies considerably from person to person.

Thus, it would be pointless for Crosby to give a firm “No, I won’t be ready for training camp” when he might by mid-September, be consistently skating symptom-free at 100% effort.  Likewise, it would be foolish for him to presently declare “Yes, I’ll be ready” when on the eve of traning camp, the same nagging headaches might return to haunt him.  For these same reasons, it would be equally pointless for Crosby to constantly call Bylsma, Shero or Lemieux when quite possibly, in any given day of workouts, progress could turn into regress. Put another way, does the Pens’ braintrust actually want to receive daily, vague, non-specific phone updates from Crosby when everyone knows things can change dramatically day to day, week to week?

Boston centre Patrice Bergeron, who suited up for Team Canada with Sidney Crosby at the 2005 World Junior Championship and the 2010 Winter Olympics, was given ample time to recover from a concussion before returning to the ice with the Bruins.

On a daily basis, the most honest, medically-based statement Crosby could make is, “I felt good today at 90% but I don’t know how I’ll feel tomorrow morning when I get up.  Bye.”  What good would it do to say this over and over and over?  The only necessary calls are the ones informing the team of a change in his workout intensity level or if there has been a flare-up of symptoms.  But these are not daily occurrences.

As for not communicating with his teammates, I would be willing to bet that most of the other Penguins, some of them previous concussion victims, understand and respect Crosby’s lengthy silence.  As mentioned, they realize that symptoms can be absent for days or weeks but may suddenly crop up without warning.  There just is not that much in the way of firm statements that would necessitate constant communication.

On a final note, let’s also not jump to the alarmist conclusion that because Crosby is not fully recovered nearly eight months after the initial head hits and given what we now know about athletic brain injuries, it’s time for him to seriously contemplate retirement.  Former World Junior and Olympic teammate Patrice Bergeron of the Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins has suffered three concussions in his career.  He was smashed face-first into the glass in an early season game on October 27, 2007 by Philadelphia’s Randy Jones, receiving a concussion and broken nose.  Bergeron missed the rest of the regular season and playoffs, a total of 79 games, experiencing months of dizziness, headaches and nausea.

Brought along carefully by Boston during his recovery period, Bergeron was out for close to eleven months before being able to suit up for games. If Crosby needs a similar time frame to return safely to full health, then observers should be resigned to waiting until shortly before Christmas to next catch a glimpse of #87 in game action.

Retirement may be the safest option but the decision to weigh long-term health risks versus long-term safety and to weigh the happiness and fulfillment that comes from elite competition versus a premature end to his career is Crosby’s choice alone and nothing indicates that he will hang up his skates for good anytime soon.

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There needs to be no rending of garments over Rimer’s tweet.  As was the case at the end of winter when Crosby began taking slow conditioning steps, to now, with Crosby going through his regular summer workouts, nobody can really say with a high degree of accuracy this far from October 6 – Opening Night in Vancouver – whether or not the Pittsburgh captain will be ready to play.  Numerous events could happen in the six and a half weeks to go until the start of the regular season, especially if and when he is cleared to resume full practices with contact.

Unlike the predictable rehabilitation of Pittsburgh’s other star centre Evgeni Malkin, working his way back from a torn knee ligament, recovery from a concussion can be fraught with unexpected starts and stops, challenges and disappointments.  Medical science knows a lot more about the workings of a knee than a brain.

Think back to the buzz of excitement around the NHL on the morning of March 14 when, at the same time that GMs were discussing concussions at their meetings in Florida, Crosby took the ice in Pittsburgh for his first practice strides since January 5 when he received a head hit for the second straight game.  Crosby followed a cautious training regimen that allowed him to progress to morning skates by March 30, just over two weeks later.

However, with rumours swirling in April that the star centre might be able to join his teammates if they qualified for the second round of the playoffs, the anticipation became moot on two counts.  First, Pittsburgh’s season ended with a first round loss on April 27 and second, Crosby revealed two days later that he began experiencing headaches in the middle of April and erring on the side of caution, stopped his workouts.  Only a month elapsed between Crosby stepping onto the ice in March and the abrupt end of his training in April.  Thus it is rather meaningless at the present time to worry about any pronouncement on Crosby’s readiness for the start of the season.  He resumed his training in mid-July and there is still about a month before scheduled full-contact pre-season games.  A lot can happen in that time.

Those wishing for a definite confirmation that Crosby will not be ready to start the season did not receive it from Pittsburgh GM Ray Shero who addressed the subject on Monday. “Training camp is a month away, so there’s no expectation for me that he won’t be ready or will be ready.”  Really, that’s all Shero needed to say since no one, not Shero, not inside sources, not doctors specializing in treating concussions, nor Crosby himself can truthfully know if he will be ready to play in a month.

Shero put things in perspective when he placed Crosby’s long-term health at the top of the priority list: “That’s the thing for me and for the organization is the bigger picture with Sidney Crosby, making sure that he is 100 percent cleared and ready to play when he does come back. He’s not going to be pushed to come back to practice or play. I want to make sure a year from now, three years from now, five years from now that he’s still the best player in the league and take the appropriate steps and back him, and go from there.”

On the other side of the coin, while there is no reason to not share Shero’s enthusiasm for what Crosby will bring when he eventually returns to the Pens’ lineup, history tempers this anticipation with examples of past players who came back from concussions with a little less lustre on their star.  There is the uncomfortable, lingering, real possibility that Crosby will not be the same superstar he was before the concussion.  The names are familiar: Pat Lafontaine and Eric Lindros and the recently retired Paul Kariya who all were robbed of significant playing time due to head injuries, all retiring prematurely.  In no way is this a rabble-rousing Chicken Little paragraph.  It is just one of many plausible outcomes but for now, instead of worrying about the future, it should make everyone appreciate what Crosby has been able to accomplish in his career already, at such a young age.

Although Pittsburgh offered a 1 year deal believed to be worth $2-million, Jagr signed a $3.3-million, 1 year contract with the Philadelphia Flyers last Friday in a surprising turn of events that left many in Pittsburgh feeling betrayed.  After all, hadn’t Jagr declared openly that he wanted to “make things right by Mario [Lemieux]“?  The city of Pittsburgh was ready to embrace Jagr who from his rookie season as an 18-year old in 1990 until his acrimonious departure in 2001, won a Hart Trophy. five scoring titles and two Stanley Cups.  Jagr seemed ready to return the warm feelings, especially toward his former mentor, teammate and current Penguins’ co-owner, Lemieux.

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Yet roughly a half hour after the unrestricted free agent signing period opened, the Pens’ arch-rival announced that they had secured Jagr’s services for 2011-12.  How could this be?  Hadn’t his agent, Petr Svoboda told everyone as late as the middle of last week that Jagr’s “heart is in Pittsburgh”?

In retrospect, once the “deadline” for making his decision came and passed last Wednesday with nary a word from Jagr or communication on when he was actually going to decide, the signs of rejection and disappointment started to bloom like ugly weeds in Pittsburgh.  Yet when one wants to rekindle an old relationship very badly, ugly weeds are ignored, brushed aside, glossed over, in a pathetic, naive pursuit of nostalgia.  Just Jagr being Jagr, hopeful Penguins’ fans chuckled, apologizing for his inconsiderate dithering.  Ominously on Thursday night, on the eve of July 1, reports surfaced that Jagr was actually still in talks with other teams.  He just wants to make it more dramatic, messing around with other teams! … Tomorrow he’ll stand on the podium with Mario and tell us how he turned down 5 or 6 much richer offers to come back home!

Just an hour before noon on Friday, the Pens’ braintrust had had enough and formally withdrew their offer, realizing that Jagr in 2011 was hardly different than the desultory, petulant Jagr of 2001 who begged out of Pittsburgh after the season ended.  He still has little regard for other people’s time and deadlines, preferring to work on his schedule alone and seems not to understand the importance of words and implied meanings.  By no means is this a criticism of his grasp of English.  Maybe Jagr is telling the truth when he said that he took a discount to sign in Philadelphia or that his analysis of all the talent on potential clubs he wanted to join pointed to closing a deal with the Flyers.

Yet the fact remains: in 2001, in a season that should have filled him with happiness when Lemieux came out of retirement, Jagr occasionally gave less than maximum effort on the ice and infamously griped about “dying alive” in Pittsburgh until he was traded to Washington.  Recently, he left overwhelming hints over the past three years, as far back as the winter of 2008-09 when he joined the KHL, that he would one day like to resume his career in the NHL with Pittsburgh.  When that type of talk intensified over the past two weeks, any objective person, giving Jagr the benefit of the doubt and taking him at his word, would conclude that Pittsburgh would be his ultimate destination.  Why preheat the oven, if you’re not going to cook the roast?  Why give someone your word, when you have no intention of honouring it?

So it has come to this: Jaromir Jagr enters his age 40 season (his birthday will be on February 15), back in the NHL after a three-year sojourn in Russia, thrust back into the world of the 82-game schedule and harder-hitting opponents.  He will skate for a Philadelphia team that has been completely overhauled since another disappointing playoff exit, but still expected to contend for the Stanley Cup.  Jagr will be counted on, in part, to replace some of the lost goal scoring in Philadelphia after Mike Richards and Jeff Carter were both shipped out.

Jagr has set the bar high by accepting a lofty challenge in his return to the NHL.  Three times in his introductory conference call, he said “I don’t know,” when asked if he could flourish again in North America.  “I don’t know.  There’s no guarantees.  I hope so. If I didn’t believe that, I wouldn’t have come here.”

“I don’t know,” he continued, comparing his play from his last NHL stint in 2008 to now.  “You’d have to ask somebody else who saw me years ago and then saw me last month.  I don’t know. We’ll have to wait and see.”

Amidst the uncertainty, like mythical Icarus, Jagr has flown back to the NHL from the Czech Republic on wings of hubris, on a flight path straight toward the sun, craving the attention, the sharp illumination of his existence.  Time will tell whether he will once again bask successfully in its glow or melt down and be humbled under the white-hot lights of the world’s premier hockey league.

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It was noted previously that Tyler Kennedy commendably grasped the opportunity presented to him by fate (and injuries) this past season and flourished, scoring 21 goals in 80 regular season games while adding two more in the seven-game playoff series loss to Tampa Bay.  Yet this must be considered an anomaly given Kennedy’s usual third-line role in the Penguins’ system.  When Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are back in the lineup, Kennedy will not be a go-to guy for goal-scoring and thus it may not be a wise investment of greater than $2-million per annum to retain Kennedy’s services.

Who could be signed from other teams to help bolster the Pittsburgh offence as a bona fide power forward?  Most analysts agree that this summer’s crop of unrestricted free agent forwards is non-elite except for former Dallas centre Brad Richards.  Still, this will be an odd free agent signing period as it will be both a buyer’s market and seller’s market simultaneously.  As of 12:01 am this morning, fifteen teams, i.e. half of all NHL clubs, were underneath the mandatory $48.3-million salary floor.  Much of the catch-up amount to get to the floor will be made up by re-signing restricted free agents but still, teams like Florida, greater than $20-million under the floor, will have much more flexibility to “spend” their way into contention.  Witness their trade for defenceman Brian Campbell and his $7.1-million per year contract.

Likewise, players who normally wouldn’t attract great attention with a lower cap and floor will now be able to cash in.  This convergence of economic factors is why Tyler Kennedy could explore his options on July 1 and strike it big if he signs with a near-the-salary-floor club.

One name that intrigues is Scottie Upshall, 27, a forward who has played for Nashville, Philadelphia, Phoenix and Columbus.  The 8-year NHL veteran is coming off a season split between the Coyotes and Blue Jackets for whom he toiled briefly after being acquired at the trade deadline.  Upshall scored a career-high 22 goals and 34 points but his 2009-10 season was more impressive even though it was unfortunately cut short by a freak knee injury after just 49 games.  That season, he was Phoenix’s team leader in goals with 18, on pace for 30 when he was lost for the year.

Upshall is known as a high-energy player who plays aggressively on every shift, hits hard, forechecks hard and able to take reciprocal punishment when he heads to the net or corners to battle for the puck.  This is the type of player who would fit into the puck-hungry, puck-possession system that Pittsburgh head coach Dan Bylsma likes to employ to maximize offensive zone time while generating shots and creating scoring chances.  Though Upshall was often criticized earlier in his career for playing over the edge and taking costly penalties, he has reduced his penalty minutes per game in each of the last three seasons.

Additionally, his early-career counting statistics - approximately 15 goals and 30 points - don’t necessarily jump out but projected to 82 games, he would have come close to being a consistent 20 goal scorer if not for groin, wrist and especially, knee injuries.  The injuries are an important consideration and possibly a concern, but last season, Upshall played a full schedule on the right knee that was surgically repaired in the winter of 2010, producing his finest career offensive output.  Moreover, while former linemates Matthew Lombardi, Samuel Pahlsson and R.J. Umberger are all solid forwards, the increased benefit of potentially skating with elite playmakers like Jordan Staal and Malkin cannot be discounted.

Ultimately, any decision comes down to the risk – benefit ratio.  Upshall would benefit the Penguins by becoming their second true proven power forward on the wing along with James Neal.  The risk?  Upshall’s health and ability to stay in the lineup for a full season.  This factor alone will probably not scare away Ray Shero.  Remember, the Pittsburgh GM signed defenceman Mark Eaton from Nashville to a two-year deal even after he missed twelve games the previous season with a knee injury.  Then, when Eaton missed 50 games plus playoffs in the final season of that contract due to another knee injury, Shero still re-signed him to another two-year deal.  If the player’s potential benefit is sufficient, the risk is worth it.

Upshall’s cap hit was $2.25-million last year and the trick would be fitting him into the Pens’ picture at approximately $2.7-million or less.  Comparable, recently signed players like T.J. Oshie of St. Louis, David Jones of Colorado and Chad LaRose of Caroina signed for cap hits of $2.35-million, $2.5-million and $1.7-million respectively.  Pittsburgh certainly has the financial ability to sign Upshall.  It is up to them to make a projection on whether Upshall, still in his prime years, can continue to mature and become a premier power forward in the NHL as a Penguin.

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Thus it seems The Courting is heading to a made-for-mass media noon denouement today where Jagr, who has spent the last three seasons in the Russian KHL, will join all the other NHL unrestricted free agents in the pool of talent now legally available to be signed by any team.  It is widely accepted that the Penguins are the front-runners with Detroit and Montreal also in the mix while still other teams have reportedly made last-minute offers too.  From a nostalgic standpoint, it would be fitting if Jagr reconnects with Pittsburgh, having left bitterly ten summers ago after starring for eleven seasons as a Penguin.  Everybody loves a second-chance/make amends/happy ending and it would allow Jagr, 39, to make one last attempt at winning a third Stanley Cup for the franchise he helped to its first two titles in 1991 and 1992.

But the price has to be reasonable.  It is believed the Penguins’ final offer was for one year and a contract value of roughly $2-million.  More than fair to these eyes for a player who is entering his age 40 season, has not played in the NHL in over three years, has played in a short schedule, less physically demanding league during that time, and who has stated repeatedly that he feels indebted to his hockey hero, Penguins’ co-owner and former teammate Mario Lemieux, for helping him become a great player.

What if the Pens ultimately turn out to be one of the jilted when the curtain falls on The Courting of Jaromir Jagr?  What is the state of the Pittsburgh offence and forward corps?  If they intend to cast their nets for fish on other shores when 12 pm arrives today, which players from other teams might the Penguins have their eyes on?

The Pens’ goaltending and blue line is essentially carved in stone for the next few seasons so one can assume that the team’s free agency focus will be on bolstering an offence that was exposed for its lack of secondary scoring options last season amidst a crush of injuries.  Over the past two weeks, Pittsburgh GM Ray Shero moved quickly to retain three incumbents (2011-12 salary cap figure in parentheses): penalty kill warrior and centre Craig Adams ($675,000), hard-shooting, versatile forward Pascal Dupuis ($1.4-million) and gritty winger Arron Asham ($775,000).  This brings their 2011-12 monetary commitment to $58.7-million for 20 players against the $64.3-million salary cap.

Pittsburgh likes to give itself a $1.5-million buffer for in-season acquisitions so the amount of real money available to use is actually $4.1-million.  The Penguins have ten forwards signed and expect to carry thirteen on the roster during the regular season.  Checking line unrestricted free agent forwards Mike Rupp and Maxime Talbot will likely find new employers tomorrow.  Restricted free agent right wing Tyler Kennedy was not given a qualifying offer on Monday and can shop his services on the open market starting today but apparently, Pittsburgh still wants to sign Kennedy to a multi-year deal.

Making conservative estimates, restricted free agent prospect Dustin Jeffrey will eat up approximately $600,000 of cap space while a new enforcer to replace Eric Godard will cost $800,000, leaving $2.7-million for a scoring forward.  If that forward is Jagr, even with age-related decline factored in, the Penguins will have a player whose right half-boards presence could rejuvenate their moribund power play while his legendary stickhandling could keep opposing defences off-balance.

If Jagr signs elsewhere, I am not convinced that Kennedy is the default answer.  True, he seized the opportunity last year by showing a sniper’s ability, breaking the 20-goal plateau for the first time in his career when he shouldered much of the offensive load with Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Chris Kunitz injured.  However, assuming that Crosby and Malkin return to full health, Kennedy would be pushed back into a support role – a forward who would skate “energy” shifts – not necessarily relied upon as a source of goals.  Too often, Kennedy’s offensive approach becomes predictable, holding onto the puck for too long, circling and weaving to the net before firing an expected shot after the opposing team has had a chance to set itself defensively.

Clearly, the Kennedy that the Penguins envision on their team is more like the 2009 version that played so well as a third-liner with Jordan Staal and Matt Cooke, scoring a modest 15 goals and 35 points, not the Kennedy who scored 21 goals and 45 points in 2010-11 due to extenuating circumstances.  Yes, the talent is there, but the role and the opportunity will not be the same in the coming year with Pittsburgh and a repeat performance is highly unlikely.

Next post: If not Tyler Kennedy, then who should the Penguins pursue?

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The draft is all about accumulating potential talent, never about selecting based on positional need at the NHL level.  In a time when fans often fall into the trap of letting the line between fantasy sports and real sports go blurry, it is important to remember that except for a few elite prospects, many of the players selected, even the high first-round picks, may not jump directly to the NHL this autumn.  It can take three, four or more years before a player hones his hockey sense to a level befitting a professional, fills out physically and refines his skills to the point where he can make a contribution on an NHL roster.

If and when defenceman Joe Morrow, the Pens’ first choice (23rd overall) last Friday, takes the ice at Consol Energy Center in October, 2014, the composition of the Pittsburgh defence corps may look markedly different than the stable group that will skate into the 2011-12 season.  Injuries and trades always lead to unexpected outcomes, thus Pittsburgh took players, irrespective of position that they simply liked for their potential at becoming a solid future NHL player and to resolidify their pool of blue line talent.

Minutes after drafting Morrow, Pittsburgh GM Ray Shero spoke briefly with NHL Network reiterating the importance of having defencemen in all situations.  ”We didn’t want to pass him up even though he’s a defenceman. A lot of people think the Penguins use their forwards, their wingers in particular but I think we’ve found out that in time, defencemen are great assets and you can move them if you have to because everybody can use good defencemen or like centre ice-men, you can never have enough of them.”

Morrow, 18, played his best hockey this season in the Western Hockey League (WHL) playoffs.  He suited up for all 21 Portland Winterhawks’ post-season contests helping his club reach the WHL Final where they bowed out to the Kootenay Ice.  Morrow topped all WHL defencemen with 6 goals and finished second with 20 points in the playoffs.  In each of his three major junior seasons, he has improved his point production and this year, led all Portland defencemen with 49 points.

“Joe is a really good skater; he’s got a great shot and can play a physical game.  He really gets up and down the ice and his skating and shooting and his impact strength are three real assets for him,” Shero continued.  “He’s going to go to the Canadian [World Junior] Selection Camp this summer and that’s a step in the right direction for his career.”

It is not surprising that Morrow scored well at the comprehensive fitness testing during the NHL Scouting Combine earlier in June.  He was the top-rated prospect at right-hand grip strength and the peak leg power output test while placing second in the vertical leap.

The next stop for Morrow will likely be the Penguins’ prospect camp next month where he and other Pittsburgh draftees from this and past years will begin or continue the challenging but exciting path on the road to becoming an NHL player.

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When one analyses the link between the Thrashers’ on-ice and off-ice difficulties, some may proffer that the club’s inability to sign a contract extension with superstar forward Ilya Kovalchuk, the best player in franchise history, and his subsequent trade on February 4, 2010 kickstarted the process that saw the NHL leave Atlanta again.  It is always hard to prove whether one discrete event is causative but clearly the Kovalchuk deal was not the beginning but the end of a long line of red-letter transactions that hampered the Thrashers.

A snapshot: Patrik Stefan, a mediocre player: the franchise’s first-ever first overall draft pick in 1999 … trading 21-year old defenceman Braydon Coburn to Philadelphia for 34-year old blueliner Alexei Zhitnik, one year away from leaving the NHL, at the 2007 trade deadline…

Strangely, the Pittsburgh Penguins inadvertently found themselves intersecting with Atlanta’s demise over the last four seasons.  At the 2008 trade deadline the Thrashers, destined to finish second-to-last in the Eastern Conference, traded star right wing Marian Hossa and left wing Pascal Dupuis to Pittsburgh for young forwards Erik Christensen and Colby Armstrong, 19-year old junior prospect Angelo Esposito and the Penguins’ first-round pick in the 2008 Entry Draft who turned out to be centre Daultan Leveille.

In the previous season, Hossa became the first Thrasher ever to score 100 points in a season and he would go on to lead the Penguins in playoff goals during their run to the 2008 Stanley Cup Final while Dupuis blossomed into a versatile forward, scoring 49 goals and 115 points in 249 games with Pittsburgh.  In contrast, Christensen and Armstrong combined to produce 48 goals and 103 points in 236 games for Atlanta.  Yes, when Armstrong migrated south, he no longer had Sidney Crosby feeding him the puck while Dupuis often saw top-line “Crosby” minutes in Pittsburgh.  However, the main point is that with one man, Dupuis, the afterthought of the deal, the Pens in the long-term essentially maintained the production of two players they traded away.

Christensen and Armstrong are no longer with the Thrashers and Esposito has languished in the AHL, never having played a game in the NHL after showing flashes of goal-scoring skill during his days in the Quebec major junior ranks.  Leveille finished his third year at Michigan State in 2010-11 and is still a few years away from possibly playing professional hockey.

How about 2004 first round choice Boris Valabik, selected tenth overall by Atlanta?  In a draft where the Thrashers could have chosen Drew Stafford, Travis Zajac or Andrej Meszaros, they tabbed Valabik who has played just 80 NHL games in his career and has since moved on to the Boston Bruins where he played for their AHL affiliate in 2010-11.  Unfortunately, Valabik will best be remembered for being the awkward victim in a truly bizarre post-goal brawl in Philips Arena.  In a game on December 18, 2008, several Pens and Thrashers mixed it up moments after Atlanta scored late in the first period.  While Valabik was occupied with fighting Pittsburgh defenceman Kris Letang, Crosby inexplicably jumped in to take a few shots at Valabik including one or two from behind … and well, um … just watch:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Fast forward to this season.  On December 22, 2010, Atlanta Spirit Group, the consortium of eight owners who owned the Thrashers, finally settled a prolonged internal dispute when disgruntled – some would say disruptive – co-owner Steve Belkin was removed from the group.  Six nights later, the Thrashers arrived in Pittsburgh hoping to avoid a season-high four game losing streak.  They couldn’t.  Crosby scored twice including a highlight-reel, splitting-the-D goal to add to the hat trick he dumped on Atlanta at the beginning of the month.

As the winter progressed, it became apparent that new investors were being sought to help finance and keep the cash-strapped team in Atlanta.  On the verge of a summer of unknowns, guess who visited Philips Arena for the season finale?

The Pittsburgh Penguins, of course.

In a cruel twist of fate, the Thrashers concluded their time in Atlanta with a loss, 5-2 to the visitors and the game’s 2nd star, scoring a goal and an assist, was Pascal Dupuis.  The loss meant that of all 14 Eastern Conference foes, the Thrashers suffered the most at the hands of Pittsburgh, falling to 11-28-0-5 in 44 games.

Add the Penguins to a list of odd and inadvertent factors that doomed NHL hockey in Atlanta.