Pens swap Sabs for Garon

It's not unexpected that the Penguins would make a trade, given how things have been going lately. But the first move Ray Shero has made for a Penguinomic Stimulus package was not a scoring winger, it was a bailout. Well, a backup goalie, Mathieu Garon from Edmonton. See ya later Dany Sabs!

The Edmonton Oilers traded goaltender Mathieu Garon to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday for goaltender Dany Sabourin, centre Ryan Stone, and a fourth-round pick in 2011.

The next question: what kind of season is Garon having so far?

In 15 games this year, he went 6-8-0 with a 3.17 GAA and a save percentage of .895.

Oh Jesus.

Well, we'll see. Sabourin couldn't bail the Penguins this season when Marc-Andre Fleury went down, just like it was Sabourin who couldn't carry the mail last season, yielding to Ty Conklin. Hindsight is 20/20 but clearly the Penguins should have waived/traded Sabourin before the season started and offered Conklin a contract. Conks genuinely enjoyed his time in Pittsburgh and was happy they gave him the chance to breath live into his dead NHL career, he probably would have been receptive to stay. And his contract with Detroit was reasonable, one year at $750,000. Garon's cap hit is $1.1 million.

Excuse the tangent. Sabourin lost his last six starts and the Pens really did just need to move on. Garon obviously hasn't been Patrick Roy this season himself, but he's a new face and sometimes goalies can get on a hot steak in a new setting. Last season Garon did win 26 games and posted a save percentage of .913 on a fairly weak Oiler team, so he's got the potential.

Speaking of a new setting, Ryan Stone needed that. By going to Edmonton at least he is joining a team with a lot of familiar faces--as Edmonton and Pittsburgh stocked the Wilkes-Barre AHL team with both their prospects a couple seasons ago. Stone played with Kyle Brodziak, Marc-Antoine Pouliot, Tom Gilbert and Robert Nilsson.

Stone just never chipped his way into the Penguins lineup. While he had good playmaking abilities and could throw big hits, it never seemed decided if he would slot to be in a scoring role or a checking role in the NHL. Also his skating ability just seemed a notch below adequate and seemed to limit him too. Perhaps he'll be able to make it in a new organization. We certainly wish him well but feel that he is another victim of the Greg Malone curse.

A win is a win, right?

In Casa De Hooks there is a new problem: the DVR is currently not recording shows...But up 5-0 with about five minutes left in the second, surely we could pull away from the hockey game to watch "The Office" and "30 Rock", right? We think the Penguins wanted to be somewhere else too that last frame as well.

--For the first 35 minutes the Pens played one of their best games; they were getting a lot of Edmonton's turnovers, cycling the puck well and putting a lot of shots on the goal. The skill wingers showed skill; Miroslav Satan scored the first goal between his legs and deflected another, Petr Sykora was quick enough to one-time a sudden puck won by Evgeni Malkin, then he deflected a Malkin shot (which was saved) and put the rebound by the battered goalie Mathieu Garon.
--The second 25 minutes the Pens showed they could just about give away everything they'd established. As mentioned, we were off in comedy-land for a while and thankfully were spared the high blood pressure of witnessing the meltdown. But a lot of the breakdowns (deflections here, giving up a shorthanded breakaway to a defensemen there) didn't look like too much fault could be placed on Marc-Andre Fleury. Maybe the 18 guys in front of him wanted to watch NBC comedies as well.
--Rough night for the 4th line (Matt Cooke-Mike Zigomanis-Eric Godard), they were each on the ice for two of the goals. 4th lines have to play "nothing against" because they're not generating much in the way of offense anyways. Being on the ice for two goals against, no matter the circumstances, is inexcusable for this trio.
--But we will give Godard his due, he rocked a young buck named Joey MacIntyre in a fight. Then when MacIntyre (who plays at 250+) totally flattened Kris Letang with a huge open ice hit--which looked clean except for the fact Letang passed the puck a full 2-3 seconds before getting trucked--Godard was there to remind Mac you can't do that. Thankfully Letang appears to be OK, but he was bleeding a little from the nose either from his visor or a stick.
--What a complete effort from Max Talbot; his first game of the year playing 20+ minutes, a short-handed goal to go along with 5 shots on net and a lot of hustle plays that the stat sheet can't record. With Talbot playing up there we think this is the best the first line has looked at even strength all season...And yes that includes the stint where Malkin played with Sidney Crosby.
--Malkin was a tour de force tonight, 3 assists, two of them were Ovechkin-esque (as in they were initially shots) but the play he made stepping around an Edmonton center immediately after the draw and firing a quick pass over to Sykora was a thing of beauty.

In the end winning 5-4 has just as much significance in the standings as winning 5-0. Hopefully the Penguins learn the bigger lesson on display for the night; that if you don't put in a 60 minute effort and try to coast in down the home stretch, you will pay. They've lost a couple games already when they were winning late into the game (Washington, at the Rangers) so you think that lesson would be learned. Whatever the case, a win is a win, now off to the Long Island for a matchup with the unimposing Islanders (4-8-1) in what could be a "trap game" before going to see our old friends in Detroit.

Game 12: Drilling for Oil

Better know an Opponent: The Edmonton Oilers
Record: 6-5-1
Notable wins: at Anaheim, at Philadelphia, Calgary
Notable losses: at Nashville, Boston

Last game: 5-4 loss last night in Columbus...We watched a little of this back and forth battle; Rick Nash is a monster but Edmonton played a very free skating and lax defensive game

Statistical star: Ales Hemsky [3 goals and 9 assists in 12 games]
Disappointment so far: It’s tempting to go with 19 year old sophomore sensation Sam Gagner here [0 g, 2 a, -2 in 11 games] but we’ll give the honor to Brooks Orpik’s old buddy Erik Cole [2g, 1a, -4, 23 PIMs]

Notable Notes: The Oilers given up 36 goals (3.00 a game) and only have scored 30 goals (2.50/game)….They’ve also only played 3 home games compared to tonight’s 10th road game and after tonight they still have two more games on the East coast…Finally, since starting the season 4-0, Edmonton’s only won two games since Oct 18th.
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Whew, what's seemed like forever but we finally have a Penguins game to discuss. The Pens layoff after a 1-2-1 west coast swing came at a good time, as dinged up players got a chance to rest. Pascal Dupuis is slotted to get on the 2nd line with Evgeni Malkin and Petr Sykora, while if Ruslan Fedotenko can go it’ll appear he’ll be on the 3rd line with Jordan Staal and Tyler F. Kennedy.

It’ll be interesting to see how this relatively long regular season layoff effects the Penguins; a team that really has only put in one sixty minute effort all season. Will they be rusty or will the couple extra days of practice have helped breed a little more familiarity, especially between sniper Miroslav Satan and Mr. Deadwood himself, Sidney Crosby.

TST Opposing Player to Watch: Sheldon Souray
--The Oilers have a great “kid line” including Gagner and Andrew Cogliano; two very shifty, fast offensive players. Hemsky is always a guy who can burn a defense too with speed or precision passing. But the guy who always catches our eye is Souray. It’s hard to differentiate the speed of most NHL players slapshots, since they’re all big boys wielding cutting-edge sticks that can whip pucks at the net at very high velocities. But Souray’s shot, even to the naked eye, just appears to be a notch or two harder than everyone else’s in game situations. Souray already has 30 shots for the season on goal. Last night in the game we watched he was unleashing shots left and right, 11 in total. But of those eleven 3 missed the net and 4 were blocked. Souray will shoot when he doesn’t have lanes to do so for those unfortunate defensive players out there. You have to get the feeling a guy like Rob Scuderi is going to earn his paycheck tonight in a painful way.

TST Homeboy of the Game: Maxime Talbot
--It’s kind of a cop-out just to go with Crosby or Malkin every game, so tonight we’ll shine the spotlight on another superstar, your friend and ours Max Talbot. Max is set to join Sid and Satan on the 1st line, a position he looked comfortable in when he got bumped up last game and scored a goal. Pair Talbot’s speed and determination with Crosby’s passing abilities and the potential for Satan leaving a rebound and it seems certain that Talbot (or any other winger on this line) ought to get one or two dynamite scoring chances a game…Then comes the execution, so we’ll see if Talbot has it in him tonight to hold up his end of the deal.

Edmonton and Pittsburgh scouting each other?

Before the deadline we will also profile the few "sellers" at this year's market. Given that so many teams are in the hunt for a playoff berth this late in the season (only Los Angeles is truly out of the hunt) this will be short. Today's whispers: Edmonton

Take the source with a grain of salt, but....

Keep an eye on the Edmonton Oilers come deadline time…I have a sneaky suspicion that they have interest in a Penguin player or two…quite possibly Erik Christensen. They have been scouting the Pens a good bit lately…could be nothing, could be something…you never know this time of year.

As the old saying goes, ya gotta give something to get something and the name that never really goes away from trade speculation is Christensen. Surely if there is a roster player moved in the next week he figures to be the #1 guy.

Ray Shero says his MO is to continue to build through the draft but he has been willing to throw picks to acquire Georges Laraque and Nils Ekman..Shero seems (wisely) averse to dealing his first round pick; which many deals this time of year come with as a prerequisite (scroll down to the next post if you don't believe).

For their part Edmonton could use more draft picks after the Dustin Penner RFA fiasco gutted their arsenal and the Oil is all but out of contention (9 points out of 8th place with six teams to climb over) so it makes sense they'd be looking to "sell".

Possible targets of interest
``Well you can probably throw out a guy like Ales Hemsky. He's signed for years to come and his price is too valuable to the Oilers for the Penguins to meet. We're talking attainable:

• Marty Reasoner Edmonton already traded their current captain (at the '04 deadline for Sergei Samsonov) and he returned as a UFA so he is the definition of a pure rental. Reasoner's got great wheels, and has won 52.1% of his faceoffs. He'd be a great depth guy for the Pens to get for a playoff run
• Steve Staios A veteran defenseman with playoff experience and a tough edge Staios is practically the embodiment of what the Penguins need the most. He has 60 hits and 133 blocked shots this season and his offensive stats (6 goals, 5 assists) put him head and shoulders above the Orpik's, Sydor's and Scuderi's of the Pens lineup. But Staios is signed at a pretty reasonable rate ($2.7 million cap hit) through the 2010-11 season so it's not a given that he's on the market.

The Penguins and Oilers shared Wilkes-Barre's club last season and both teams must be more than familiar with each other's young talent. Fans often fantisize about JF Jacques or MA Poilout could do with the Pens top 6 but it doesn't stand to reason that the Oil would sell any young forward of promise away when they can simply build around them.

Something to keep an eye on, for sure.