Malkin Gipped

As you've doubtlessly heard by now, the NHL released the Eastern Conference All-Star list.

And, as always, not everyone is going to be happy. The official list is more than slightly different than ours.

My picks who got snubbed: Tim Thomas, Michal Rozsvial, Mike Green, Mats Sundin, Alexei Kovalev and Evgeni Malkin.

So, if you're keeping score at home, aside from the slam dunks (Ovechkin, Heatley, Kovalchuk, etc) we didn't get a single one right really.

Ouch. we still would like my roster/lineup against the real one though. And this isn't baseball, each team is not guaranteed a selection. And even those representatives were flawed to us: Sundin and Rozsival have been better than Scott Gomez and Tomas Kaberle on their respective teams. Choosing from each team handcuffs guys who deserve to be there coughGenocough and lets in a guy like Eric Staal who's having an inferior season by comparision.

Iit is what it is what can you do. We're not really that upset, it's just a glorified exhibition game....But if the Sarge (Sergei Gonchar) was excluded TST would be on the warpath.

Things I Wouldn't Have Thought

Interesting stats through the first 18 games of the season:


--Maxime Talbot has more goals (4) than Mark Recchi and Jordan Staal do combined (3).


--Gary Roberts has as many blocked shots as I do, I haven't played a NHL game.

--Georges Laraque only has 1 fighting major.

--Jordan Staal has a +/- of -8, worst on the team. This is tied for 8th in the entire league. Not the type of green jacket you want.

--The Penguins are only 16th in the league in Goals For (2.7 a game). As you will re-call, some moron back in September predicted 3.54 goals a game.

Pens cut 5 more, down to 22

Mild surprises and some things you could see from a mile away. Ryan Stone, Jon Filewich were sent down (more on this later) and 20 year old Kris Letang will be spending some time on the buses as well. Adam Hall conveyed his strong training camp into a one year contract (but it is a two-way salary!).

Mike Weaver, who's grown on this editor and was proclaimed to be on the roster in Pittsburgh was sent down. Rob Scuderi and Alain Nasreddine remain the #6 and #7 NHL defensemen, and my blood pressure remains through the roof.....

Or does it?! The Penguins roster is now at 22 players (13 forwards, 7 def, 2 goalies), one short of the permitted maximum. It's likely Mr. Shero has given himself a little wiggle room in case a player he likes gets waived by another team.

Pittsburgh's opening night roster isn't written in stone just yet, but it has taken quite a shape:
Recchi-Crosby-Sykora
Roberts-Malkin-Christensen
Malone-Staal-Armstrong
Ruutu-Talbot-Laraque/Hall

Gonchar-Sydor
Orpik-Whitney
Eaton-Scuderi/Naz

or, if they swap Jordan Staal back to the wing the lineup should look something like:

Recchi-Crosby-Sykora
Staal-Malkin-Christensen
Roberts-Talbot-Armstrong
Ruutu-Malone-Laraque/Hall


"More at 11" as they say....We'll have to see who if anyone Shero attempts to acquire through trade or the waiver wire in the next day or so.

Inevitable Roster Moves

This is hardly a news breaking website, but you knew that of course....Still some kind of news-y things that feel like they will happen soon...They might not, but it just seems inevitable that:

--Adam Hall will earn a contract. You can officially flush the Sweater Ted projected roster down the toilet with the demotion of Tim Brent. Hall, a proven NHL vet has been great in camp and done everything you could hope for. The Penguins are trying him out as a center tonight, and if he plays well there, expect him signed soon. Youngsters Jonathan Filewich and Ryan Stone have had ok training camps, but they haven't really proved themselves onto the NHL roster.

--Kris Letang will be in Wilkes-Barre to start the season. Ray Shero was very, very complimentary of him in the off-season, and it's easy to see why. Letang is a young, promising defenseman in the mold of a Dan Boyle type player. But Letang has had an underwhelming camp. No one expected him to be that strong in his own zone (and he hasn't been good), but Letang's strength of making good passes and quick decisions hasn't been good either. Better to let him play 20+ minutes a night in the AHL. Mike Weaver, another NHL proven guy, has had a great camp. As I've often referred to him, he's Mark Eaton Lite. I think Pens fans will be surprised by the efficiency and ability that Weaver will be able to quietly get the job done as a 6th defensemen for a little while.