Little Tits unimpressed by Crosby too

It's Puck Daddy's latest edition of "Russian player has disparaging marks for Sidney Crosby, while praising Patrick Kane and other Russians"....now starring Sergei "Little Tits" Kostitsyn!

Do you want me to name just one? Or a couple?
Whatever you want.
I think of the young players it is Patrick Kane [of the Chicago Blackhawks]. He was the first in fan voting for the All Star game in the Western Conference. I played with him in the past when we were in the juniors. And we're actually about to have dinner with him right now.

Sweet, young Patrick Kane is certainly a favorite of those Russian players, huh?

Also, shouldn't someone ask Little Tits just who led the Eastern Conference (and the NHL) in fan voting?

And who is the most overhyped player?
It is probably Crosby, just like everyone says, just like Semin said recently. It is true that [he gets] a lot of attention. If you ask me, I think Semin and Ovechkin play much better than Crosby.

We see how one could find Crosby over-hyped, he's basically the alpha and omega of the NHL's marketing plan (note: not by his own choosing). He's been called the next Gretzky before he played in Juniors. There's a lot of hype--again most of it not coming from the player itself--but hype none-the-less surrounding Crosby.

It doesn't bother us that non Penguin players or fans readily admit that or are annoyed by too much Crosby exposure. But that's the way of the world. It's more of the next comment that gets into more disrespectful territory.

But you have to agree that Sidney Crosby is a great player with great skill. It's not for nothing he is considered one of the best players.
Yes, he is very technically skilled. But Semin, Ovechkin, Kovalchuk, Malkin are more technically skilled. And it's not because they are Russian, it's just my opinion.

Well, glad it's not just because their Russian. Kostitsyn should have thrown honorary comrade Patty Kane-ikov in there to even it out a little, yes?

/checks current league leaders

(click to enlarge)

Everyone is entitled to their own preferences and opinions but this is getting a little out of hand. 'Crosby is over-rated, several Russians are more skilled, Patrick Kane is a fancy player blah blah blah'...Followed by a retraction and claims of being "misquoted". The routine is getting passe.

We can't wait to see the Olympics in 2010. Crosby may publically dismiss the brazen comments given, but don't think he's not taking a list for the future. Like a Derian Hatcher high-stick that resulted in broken teeth (and a game winning OT breakaway goal for 87) we think that El Sid is saving his wrath for the biggest stage of all. At least to those Europeans that pride themselves in international competition as much as winning a Cup.

Penguins Acquire Ziggy

No, not THAT Ziggy

Anyways, per the PG:

The Penguins have acquired forward Mike Zigomanis from Phoenix for
considerations. Zigomanis, 27, split last season between the Coyotes and San Antonio of the American Hockey League. In 33 games with Phoenix, he had two goals and an assist; he had 10 goals and 15 assists in 27 games with the AHL Rampage.

Interesting that they liked Zigomanis over Jeff Taffe. They're essentially the same player, good at the AHL level but not too much of an impact player in the NHL --though Zigomanis did tally 14 goals in 75 NHL games two years ago for Phoenix. But don't fool yourself, this is a 27 year old who hasn't established himself in the NHL and was on waivers from a team (Phoenix) expected to be amongst the bottom dwellers of the league...It's not like he couldn't make a forward heavy team lite Detroit or something.

Taffe, btw, cleared waivers and will add a little more offensive firepower to Wilkes-Barre. I'm sure it won't be too long either before he's reminded that he owes the boys down there $500...I wonder if they'll be tacking on any interest?

We'll see how the Zigomanis acquisition shakes out. An interesting development to say the least. The Penguins have taken castoffs before and made them into serviceable players (Adam Hall was the last reclamation project) so we'll see how this turns out.

It's a LIVEBLOG night at TST

(Credit image to an old one The Peerless used)

Join us, won't you, for what will be our last chance to live-blog a regular season game. And since playoff games are usually too intense with too much barley & hops flowing to keep up with, probably the last liveblog in a while. Those dastardly Flyers are in town and clawing for their pathetic playoff lives.

7:34: Scoreboard watching; New Jersey is up 1-0 on Boston with a minute remaining in the 1st. If the Devils don't win, the Penguins clinch the Atlantic Division by default. Boston has a lot to play for, as they're trying to hold off the hard-charging Caps to stay in the playoff picture themselves.

7:38: Darryl Sydor is scratched tonight and rookie Kris Letang is back in the lineup. We like this decision, but weren't sure Coach Therrien wouldn't want to scratch a vet like Sydor.

TST favorite Adam Hall is also back in the lineup, replacing (as we predicted) Jeff Taffe in the lineup. Hall yielded his #18 to that Marian Hossa guy, so he is now wearing #28.

7:42: Georges Laraque and Riley Cote are going to fight....I'll give Cote this, he's at least got the brass to take it from Laraque. Not many so called "tough guys" in the NHL want to do that. "Riley Cote, God bless ya son" says Penguins radio announcer Phil Bourque.

7:46: Six minutes into the game shots have been few and far between. It's 2-1 Penguins in that column and neither team has had that great of scoring chances...Very conservative, playoff style hockey; almost like the two teams are feeling each other out, which you'd think they wouldn't have to do since this is the seventh meeting of the season.

7:51: Sheeeeit. Scott Hartnell snaps a quick shot (on a nice pass from Danny Briere) and beats Marc-Andre Fleury high. The Penguins looked a little slow their in their coverage. Fleury was down and Hartnell did the rest. This is only the third even-strength goal MAF's given up in the past nine games. 1-0 Flyers

7:55: Jeff Carter makes a somewhat dirty play, knocking the USS Hal Gill into Fleury. Blatant disregard for another team's goalie? Not cool.

7:56: Well, that didn't take long. Sergei Gonchar sends a wrist shot on the net and it goes in. Nice screen by Ryan Malone, who indicated that the goal is Gonchar's. Philly goalie Martin Biron thought that Sarge was going to pass it down to Sidney Crosby. Even when Crosby doesn't get the puck he can create offense. 1-1 tie!

7:57: Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are given credit for the assists.

8:01: Gill gets a penalty, he went for a poke check but ended up tripping a Flyer.

8:03: Carter puts a PP goal in after Fleury directs a rebound right to him...Joffrey Lupul and Brooks Orpik start scrapping. They get mainly tied up, Orpik puts Lupul in the glass and then gets him down. This game has picked up in a hurry, it's now 2-1 Flyers.

8:05: Scoreboard watching update: Boston puts in a PP goal to make it 1-1 in New Jersey.

8:07: Crosby and Lasse Kuokkenen (or whatever the hell it is) get in a little scrap. Crosby was pissed that Pooponen cross-checked him in the back of the neck so he got in his face...Both get matching minors for roughing.

8:11: Jordan Staal is playing a shift with Laraque and Jarkko Ruutu. Why not? Those two are producing more of late than Staal anyways.

8:15: Mike Lange and the old Two-Niner are right, the Penguins are giving too much time and space to Hartnell and Briere, letting them operate too freely in the zone. Hopefully the coaches will point this out and have the players make some adjustments in the coming intermission.

8:17: That's the end of the first period, it's 2-1 Flyers. Shots are 9-8 for the bad guys.

8:36: And we're back...Scoreboard update, New Jersey appeared to take a 2-1 lead but video review couldn't confirm it. Boston's Milan Lucic does score to make it 2-1 Bruins. That game (plus Philly winning plus Carolina clobbering Tampa 4-1) makes it a terrible night so far for scoreboard watching Capitals' fans.

8:39: Bourque calls out Hossa for having a too quiet a night so far. To be honest it doesn't seem like many Penguins have played that well so far. Crosby's been using speed to generate chances but guys like Petr Sykora and Malone have also been almost invisible too.

8:44: Malkin and Braydon Coburn tangle up near the net, Crosby and Geno almost combined for a goal. Penalties are coming, two of them on the Pens..This game has been very chippy and incredibly hotly contested for just about every inch of space up there. It seems like we're one second away from a crazy brawl.

8:47: Two man advantage time...CROSBY!!!! It's 2-2 Penguins.

8:48: Gonchar is a powerplay wizard. Nicklas Lidstrom will deservedly run away with the Norris Trophy, but the Sarge deserves some consideration in the form of a few 2nd or 3rd place votes.

8:50: Orpik and Hartnell get in an altercation...Hartnell was using his stick as a damn pitchfork when Orpik was down on the ice. Orpik got up and knocked him silly. The Flyers keep trying to goon it up but these Penguins are not going to back down. One gets the feeling that Jarkko Ruutu is going to do something interesting before this is over.

8:51: Hartnell goes for roughing and Orpik gets 2 for delay of game? Stupid. Hartnell's been really reckless all game long. One gets the feeling he's going to cost his team in the long-run if he keeps this up.

8:53: The USS Hal Gill is going back to the box. Ahh, not a good sign. Important kill for the Pens, this game is getting a little wild and the last three goals of the game have come on the powerplay.

8:57: Penalty killed. LET'S GO PENS! chant breaks out. Crosby is flying around and drawing a hooking penalty by Jim Dowd. Another example of Sid using speed on an inferior player that gets beat and has to take a penalty.

8:59: GENO!!!!!! It's 3-2 Penguins ...Unbelievable goal, Malkin's on the ice for 1:35 and blows by two players and snakes one in the 5 hole. The Pens PP is 3 for 4 on the night.

9:08: Crosby explodes and puts the puck at the net, Hossa tries to jam one in there but Biron is up for the challenge.

9:09: BGL takes a penalty that he can't and shouldn't take at this last moment of the second period against a good PP.

9:10: Well that's the end of two...The Pens had a 2-0 period and had a 14-7 shot advantage that stanza. Good period. Now they'll have to kill 1:24 more but this game has been wild, no chance they can sit on this lead. Must stay aggressive on a team that is desperately clawing for the playoffs.

9:20: Crap real life getting in the way sucks, sorry folks we can only do two periods of this liveblog....Recap of what we miss tomorrow.

Image o the day

Credit Greg at Deadspin.

Staal not expected to miss time

Bruised ribs can't stop Gronk. Yesss!

Also if you need a laugh, check out what some hater with too much time on their hands came up with. (This was on deadspin this morning kudos to Greg Wyshynski)

Something to get the spirits up

A spirited loss yesterday in Ottawa. Back and forth, lots of action (and penalties) as well as emotion out the wazoo. Despite Evgeni Malkin's three point night, the Pens didn't have enough to win; hey it'd be hard to picture Ottawa winning if they didn't have, say Daniel Alfredsson, Dany Heatley, Anton Volchenkov and Andrej Mezawhatever in the lineup.


Anyways, a quick turnaround for a home game today against Atlanta Thrashers and some old friend....Recchi, Hedberg, Thorburn, Christensen, Armstrong, heck they've even got themselves a Kwiatkowski.


Here's something we found that brought a chuckle...And in case Tyler Kennedy needs to get a part-time job in the offseason, there might be a natural position for him..

History of Penguins Deadline Day Deals

Two can play this game (props to my guy japers for the idea)....Here is a summary of the Penguins activity near the deadline since 1990--which was former GM Craig Patrick's first deadline.

• March 6th 1990: Pittsburgh trades future considerations to Edmonton for Brian Wilks
• March 6th 1990: Pittsburgh trades future considerations to Chicago for Alain Chevrier
• March 4th 1991: Pittsburgh trades John Cullen, Zarley Zalapski, and Jeff Parker to Hartford for Ron Francis, Ulf Samuelsson and Grant Jennings
• March 4th 1991: Pittsburgh trades Brad Aitken to Edmonton for Kim Issel
• March 4th 1991: Pittsburgh trades Ken Priestlay to Buffalo for Toni Tanti
• March 10th 1992: Pittsburgh trades Frank "The Save" Pietrangelo to Hartford for future considerations
• March 22nd 1993: Pittsburgh trades a 3rd round pick to Tampa Bay for Peter Taglianetti
• March 22nd 1993: Pittsburgh trades Bob Errey to Buffalo for Mike Ramsey
• March 19th 1994: Pittsburgh trades Jeff Daniels to Florida for Greg Hawgood
• March 21st 1994: Pittsburgh trades Mike Needham to Dallas for Jim McKenzie
• April 7th 1995: Pittsburgh trades Martin Straka to Ottawa for Troy Murray and Norm Maciver
• April 7th 1995: Pittsburgh trades Drake Berehowsky to Toronto for Grant Jennings
• April 7th 1995: Pittsburgh trades Greg Brown to Winnipeg for an 8th round pick
• March 20th 1996: Pittsburgh trades Markus Naslund to Vancouver for Alek Stojanov
• March 18th 1997: Pittsburgh trades future considerations to Vancouver for Josef Beranek
• March 18th 1997: Pittsburgh trades Glen "Anyone But" Murray to LA for Ed Olczyk
• March 24th 1998: Pittsburgh trades Patrick Lalime to Anaheim for Sean Pronger
• March 13th 2000: Pittsburgh trades Pavel Skrbak to Nashville for Bob Boughner
• March 14th 2000: Pittsburgh trades Tom Barrasso to Ottawa for Ron Tugnutt and Janne Laukkanen
• March 12th 2001: Pittsburgh trades Jeff Norton to San Jose for Johan Hedberg and Bobby Dollas
• March 13th 2001: Pittsburgh trades a 6th round pick to Columbus for Frank Kucera
• March 13th 2001: Pittsburgh trades Sven Butchenson to Edmonton for Dan LaCouture
• March 2002: Pittsburgh trades a 4th round pick to Columbus for Jamie Pushor
• March 2002: Pittsburgh trades Billy Tibbetts to Philadelphia for Kent Manderville
• March 11, 2003: Pittsburgh trades Wayne Primeau to San Jose for Matt Bradley
• March 11, 2003: Pittsburgh trades Jan Hrdina and Francois Leroux to Phoenix for Ramzi Abid, Guillaume Lefebvre and Dan Focht
• March 11, 2003: Pittsburgh trades Marc Bergevin to Tampa Bay for Brian Holzinger
• March 11, 2003: Pittsburgh trades Ian Moran to Boston or a 4th round draft pick
• March 11, 2003: Pittsburgh trades Shean Donovan to Calgary for Mathias Johansson and Micky Dupont
• March 9th 2004: Pittsburgh trades Brian Holzinger to Columbus for Lasse Pirjeta
• March 9th 2004: Pittsburgh trades Marc Bergevin to Vancouver for a conditional draft pick
• March 9th 2006: Pittsburgh trades Mark Recchi to Carolina for Krys Kolanos, Niklas Nordgren and a 2nd round pick (later traded)
• March 9th 2006: Pittsburgh trades Cory Cross to Detroit for a 4th round pick (Alex Grant)
• March 9th 2006: Pittsburgh trades Ric Jackman to Florida for Petr Taticek
• February 26th 2007: Pittsburgh trades Noah Welch to Florida for Gary Roberts
• February 27th 2007: Pittsburgh trades Daniel Carcillo and a 3rd round pick for Georges Laraque
• February 27th 2007: Pittsburgh trades Dominic Moore to Minnesota for a 3rd round pick (Casey Pierro-Zabotel)
• February 27th 2007: Pittsburgh trades a 4th round pick to Florida for Joel Kwiatkowski
• February 27th 2007: Pittsburgh trades a 7th round pick to San Jose for Nolan Schaefer

Penguins History of Deadline Day Deals

Two can play this game (props to my guy japers for the idea)....Here is a summary of the Penguins activity near the deadline since 1990--which was former GM Craig Patrick's first deadline.

• March 6th 1990: Pittsburgh trades future considerations to Edmonton for Brian Wilks
• March 6th 1990: Pittsburgh trades future considerations to Chicago for Alain Chevrier
• March 4th 1991: Pittsburgh trades John Cullen, Zarley Zalapski, and Jeff Parker to Hartford for Ron Francis, Ulf Samuelsson and Grant Jennings
• March 4th 1991: Pittsburgh trades Brad Aitken to Edmonton for Kim Issel
• March 4th 1991: Pittsburgh trades Ken Priestlay to Buffalo for Toni Tanti
• March 10th 1992: Pittsburgh trades Frank "The Save" Pietrangelo to Hartford for future considerations
• March 22nd 1993: Pittsburgh trades a 3rd round pick to Tampa Bay for Peter Taglianetti
• March 22nd 1993: Pittsburgh trades Bob Errey to Buffalo for Mike Ramsey
• March 19th 1994: Pittsburgh trades Jeff Daniels to Florida for Greg Hawgood
• March 21st 1994: Pittsburgh trades Mike Needham to Dallas for Jim McKenzie
• April 7th 1995: Pittsburgh trades Martin Straka to Ottawa for Troy Murray and Norm Maciver
• April 7th 1995: Pittsburgh trades Drake Berehowsky to Toronto for Grant Jennings
• April 7th 1995: Pittsburgh trades Greg Brown to Winnipeg for an 8th round pick
• March 20th 1996: Pittsburgh trades Markus Naslund to Vancouver for Alek Stojanov
• March 18th 1997: Pittsburgh trades future considerations to Vancouver for Josef Beranek
• March 18th 1997: Pittsburgh trades Glen "Anyone But" Murray to LA for Ed Olczyk
• March 24th 1998: Pittsburgh trades Patrick Lalime to Anaheim for Sean Pronger
• March 13th 2000: Pittsburgh trades Pavel Skrbak to Nashville for Bob Boughner
• March 14th 2000: Pittsburgh trades Tom Barrasso to Ottawa for Ron Tugnutt and Janne Laukkanen
• March 12th 2001: Pittsburgh trades Jeff Norton to San Jose for Johan Hedberg and Bobby Dollas
• March 13th 2001: Pittsburgh trades a 6th round pick to Columbus for Frank Kucera
• March 13th 2001: Pittsburgh trades Sven Butchenson to Edmonton for Dan LaCouture
• March 2002: Pittsburgh trades a 4th round pick to Columbus for Jamie Pushor
• March 2002: Pittsburgh trades Billy Tibbetts to Philadelphia for Kent Manderville
• March 11, 2003: Pittsburgh trades Wayne Primeau to San Jose for Matt Bradley
• March 11, 2003: Pittsburgh trades Jan Hrdina and Francois Leroux to Phoenix for Ramzi Abid, Guillaume Lefebvre and Dan Focht
• March 11, 2003: Pittsburgh trades Marc Bergevin to Tampa Bay for Brian Holzinger
• March 11, 2003: Pittsburgh trades Ian Moran to Boston or a 4th round draft pick
• March 11, 2003: Pittsburgh trades Shean Donovan to Calgary for Mathias Johansson and Micky Dupont
• March 9th 2004: Pittsburgh trades Brian Holzinger to Columbus for Lasse Pirjeta
• March 9th 2004: Pittsburgh trades Marc Bergevin to Vancouver for a conditional draft pick
• March 9th 2006: Pittsburgh trades Mark Recchi to Carolina for Krys Kolanos, Niklas Nordgren and a 2nd round pick (later traded)
• March 9th 2006: Pittsburgh trades Cory Cross to Detroit for a 4th round pick (Alex Grant)
• March 9th 2006: Pittsburgh trades Ric Jackman to Florida for Petr Taticek
• February 26th 2007: Pittsburgh trades Noah Welch to Florida for Gary Roberts
• February 27th 2007: Pittsburgh trades Daniel Carcillo and a 3rd round pick for Georges Laraque
• February 27th 2007: Pittsburgh trades Dominic Moore to Minnesota for a 3rd round pick (Casey Pierro-Zabotel)
• February 27th 2007: Pittsburgh trades a 4th round pick to Florida for Joel Kwiatkowski
• February 27th 2007: Pittsburgh trades a 7th round pick to San Jose for Nolan Schaefer

Christensen to Columbus?

The NHL might still be on All-Star break today, but there's never a break in the rumors..TSN is reporting

Further to last week's Backchecking note that the Blue Jackets are interested in Penguins C Erik Christensen, the Toronto Sun says that Columbus would offer D Duvie Westcott in a swap. The Columbus Dispatch thinks it might be Ole-Kristian Tollefsen going for Christensen.

Years of following this type of thing has taught us: don't trust a newspaper from a town that's not even involved in the deal (in this case the Toronto Sun). Westcott is not a very good swap for the Penguins perspective..

Tollefsen, on the other hand (from his TSN player profile)..

Assets: Loves to lay on the body and displays a wealth of toughness and aggression along the blueline. Has the makings of a sound defensive defenseman.

Flaws: Needs to improve his all-around skills, since he's below average with the puck. Just learn when to pick his spots in the hitting department.

Career potential: Defensive defenseman

Tollefsen is younger and bigger than Westcott and seems to be more in-line with the Pens needs. We use "seems" because not that much Columbus hockey is known to us, so no bold proclimations.

It'll be interesting to see if this trade goes down. It'd be hard to imagine the Pens making a move on dealing a forward for a defenseman while so key forwards are injured, but perhaps it could happen. The Pens recalled Wilkes-Barre captain Nathan Smith today so there are now (Kris Beech included) 13 healthy forwards on the roster.

Something to keep an eye on..

Pens beat Caps, sun rises in the east

Despite playing one of the most dreadful periods (it was the 2nd) that I've seen of professional hockey, the Penguins picked up 2 points on the hapless Washington Capitals.

Thoughts:

``The loss of Mark Eaton showed early and often. Sergei Gonchar looked brutal and downright uncomfortable out there in his own zone.

``Brooks Orpik came back from his 3 game healthy scratch exile with a vengence, credited with 5 hits and 5 blocked shots and played the style that has to be pleasing to the coach.

``Caps fans, by now, are used to the heartbreak of crushing defeats at the hands of Pittsburgh....But if that ridiculous Crosby-to-Malkin one timer hits the net (instead of the post) with less than 5 seconds in regulation even I would almost feel sorry for them.....Almost.

``Much of the team looked disjointed but the Roberts-Christensen-Laraque line was not good. Guess it was lightning in a bottle.

``Speaking of Crusher, what a faceoff win late in the game to set up Sydor's tying goal. That's as clutch as any shootout goal he'll score.

``The Caps got the short end of the stick twice in penalties: Ovechkin's cross-check wasn't even close to being a cross-check and Shaone Morrrrrisssssonnnn's roughing wasn't that rough. (The lesson, as usual kids is don't spell your name like a jackass).

``Anyone seen or heard from Petr Sykora?

``Glad to hear Mr. Nemesis is ok and just has a superficial cut after taking an accidental Kris Letang skate to the leg.

More about Ovechkin, let's look at him and Crosby head to head....If you're keeping track (and I am!) Sid is still "Gretzky'ing" AO. That of course is a term I think I created meaning you've got more assists than the other guy has points.

Sidney Crosby: 5 goals, 12 assists, 17 points

Alex Ovechkin: 5 goals, 4 assists, 9 points

And more importantly:

Penguins: 9-1
Capitals: 1-7-2 (1 shootout and 1 OT loss)

Nice to get two more points, but it'd be hard to drop a home-game to the last place team in the Conference who played the previous night. Either way, drop two more in the points column and time to move on.

Up next, a home-and-home with the Buffalo Sabres. Somehow I get the feeling one of these games will have more hype and excitement behind it than the other...

Frankie Beauchemin

TSN reports:

The Ducks' committed payroll for next season is the issue. With Niedermayer potentially returning, and with another year left on his contract after this season, the Ducks could not add him to the roster now without freeing up cap room for next season. In the new CBA, it's called 'tagging' room and the Ducks don't have enough of it next season to allow Niedermayer back on the roster this season – unless they move a player who is under contract for next season.

Multiple NHL sources confirm the Ducks have been active in trade talks this week trying to do exactly that.

Sources suggest the Ducks are prepared to move any defenceman other than Chris Pronger who is under contract for next season. That list includes Mathieu Schneider, Francois Beauchemin and Sean O'Donnell

Perhaps it's just the internet whispers that never come true, but word is that Ducks are looking for a young player (obviously inexpensive) and a high draft pick.

During the Ilya Bryzgalov sweepstakes, whenever the Penguins were mentioned there was also mentions of Erik Christensen. Again, perhaps 100% rumor, but sometimes where there is smoke there is fire.

I'm not big into trading a 1st round pick AND a young player and I know Ray Shero isn't either, but in this specific situation I think I would do it. I think Frankie Beauchemin is possibly the best player in the league that never gets talked about, especially on the east coast where fans never get to see him play. Some stats for the blueliner:

• Leads all NHL players with 28:30 icetime
• Has a -3 +/- rating, the same as Chris Pronger
• 27 hits, 26 blocked shots, 12 takeaways....Not a physical monster, but not ragdoll

But his true value can't be quantified in raw data, but rather his play on the ice for nearly half of the game. So why would the Ducks trade FB instead of someone like Schneider or Brown? Well both those players are old, and Schneider has that huge $5.6 cap hit this year and next. We've seen how hard it is to trade players, even with modest contracts and value (Bryzgalov, Recchi, etc). Trades nowadays are infrequent.

Obviously I wouldn't want any young player (Staal, Letang) dealt, and clearly Shero isn't going to be moving them anyways. But some combination of Christensen, high pick or defensive prospect Alex Goligoski? Bring it on.

Getting a player like Beauchemin could be instrumental in a turnaround for the Penguins. This could be almost as impactful as the Ron Francis or Rick Tocchet deals made that propelled the Pens to Stanley Cups.

Bryzgalov to be placed on waivers

The internets are buzzing that goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov is about to be placed on waivers by the Anaheim Mighty Ducks today at noon eastern time.

Bryzgalov has $900,000 left on his contract this year; a very reasonable amount.

I'm sure a team like Tampa Bay or the LA Kings might be interested and there have long been whispers attaching Pittsburgh to acquiring a goaltender.

Will the Penguins try to make a move for him? I don't think so. Marc-Andre Fleury has been shaky, but he's had good games, including just last night. Dany Sabourin has shown to be a competent, if not unspectacular option as the backup.

Plus Bryzgalov has never played more than 31 NHL games in a season and his career high in wins in a year is 13.

If the Penguins make a move for a goaltender, it will likely be for an established NHL starter. Bryzgalov is not established. At this point of the season I think it would be pretty shocking if the Pens claim him.