B21

Yup. His old man played there. They lived in a neighborhood where a lot of athletes lived at that time. He used to play street hockey with Pirates' greats Manny Sanguillen and Rennie Stennet. Rutherford was actually a Pens' netminder at the time and befriended him and apparently encouraged him to try goalie. Go figure. Shame on me for not knowing this. TSN (Seravalli) wrote a column on it. https://www.tsn.ca/heat-is-on-new-pittsburgh-penguins-hires-ron-hextall-brian-burke-to-win-now-1.1590562

I actually like the hire a lot. I know "win now" wasn't his M.O. in Philly but that's because the situation there at the time (should have) dictated more patience. I think he and Burke could be a good mix. You don't bring in guys like that and then meddle with them. I don't think Hextall takes the job if he feels that he'll get that kind of a raw deal. That said, one of the big rumors as to why JRGM retired was because he wanted to deal Letang and "management" (read the tea leaves there) said "no" so who knows.

And here I thought 2020 was insane... "It's an honor to be joining the Pittsburgh Penguins - an organization well-known for its excellence on and off the ice," Hextall said. "I look forward to working with ownership, Brian and the entire organization toward the ultimate goal of bringing another Stanley Cup to Pittsburgh."

I don't see how the NHL can do anything other than follow the NBA's lead at this point. Large crowds. Too many shared arenas. Too many players with overseas connections (friends, family, etc). Patient "0" in the NBA is Rudy Gobert. Plays for the Utah Jazz. The NBA's Washington Wizards played at the Jazz on 2/28 and just yesterday announced their players need to self quarantine for the next 3-4 days. The Wizards played home games on 3/6 and 3/8. In the meantime, the Capitals hosted the Flyers in the same arena on 3/4. Why take a chance?

I'm cool with it as well. My initial reaction was "Whoa - that's a lot for a guy on the books for $5MM+ for three more seasons who might have peaked 2 years ago...". We don't need Derick Brassard 2.0. That said, top 6 minutes on the Pens is not the same as top 6 minutes on the Wild (all due respect). I'm optimistic he'll fit in nicely. It's really the pick and Addison. Galchenyuk had to have been a throw in for salary space (i.e. - the deal gets done with or without him). And...JR still has most of the cap space from Guentzel on LTIR to play with. It's all about maximizing the Crosby/Malkin window at this point.

No sooner did I post this then they went out and laid an egg against the Flyers.

Just past the halfway point. Hopefully a new post will lure some of the Pens fans here out of their slumber. No team in the NHL has had more injury issues than the Pens. Games missed… Guentzel – Out for the year… Dumoulin – 23 and counting… Rust – 14 Malkin – 13 Hornqvist – 17 Schultz – 19 and counting… Crosby – 28 Bjugstad – 36 and counting… So their top scorer (at the time) is out for the year. Their best shut-down defenseman has missed 23 games with at least another month to go. Crosby just returned – he’d been out since early November. And on and on and on. Seeing that list I’d be happy if they were a borderline playoff team. Yet here we are 46 games in and they sit 2nd in the Metropolitan behind the Caps with 63 points (only the Caps, B’s and Blues have more). How are they doing it? By playing the brand of hockey Sullivan wanted. By being tough to play against. Only the Isles, Stars and Canes have given up fewer goals yet the Pens are far ahead of them (leading the league) with a +36 goal differential. They found an absolute gem in John Marino. The parade of role players from the WBS Penguins continues with guys like Sam Lafferty and Joseph Blandisi coming up and playing solid bottom-6 roles. Even Jack Johnson has been solid. Bryan Rust has emerged as a scorer and is on pace for a 30/40/70 season despite the missed time (and he’s done this without the benefit of regular time with Malkin and Crosby). During Crosby’s absence the Pens went 18-6-4 and had a league-high .714 points percentage. Complaints: So far the Galchenyuk experiment does not seemed to have worked. Matt Murray has continued to regress and is again missing time with various injuries. That’s opened the door for Tristan Jarry who was just named to the All-Star Team and is top 3 in GAA, Save % and Shutouts (albeit with less games played than the other leaders). I’ll save the goalie controversy thread for another day. What’s next? The Pens should look to add a top 6 forward using the cap relief from putting Guentzel on LTIR. I’m sure Rutherford will try. He could still move a Bjugstad (once healthy) or maybe even Galchenyuk (not much return there). I think we’ll get a good sense of how “good” these Pens are in the next few days with a home/away against the Bruins sandwiching a game at the Wings (4 games in 3 days) before heading to Philly before the break.

@TropicalFruitGirl26 Good idea. Is most arenas (modular or not) it's architecturally (real word?) impossible. Not too mention you'd be removing at least a few rows of the most expensive seats in the house.

91? We got Stamkos!?!?! In all seriousness (trying really hard) I would not be shocked if the Pens win the division nor would I be shocked if they were the 8 seed. the Metropolitan is wide open.

Fine. *Capitals *Flyers Canes Devils Islanders Rangers Blue Jackets Penguins Better?

Flyers Capitals Canes Devils Islanders Rangers Blue Jackets Penguins (The Pens finish last...not the ninja.)

Agree. I'm glass-is-half-full on them this year. By no means are they the favorites for the division let alone the Cup but I don't think it would be a total shock to anyone if the new "parts" all meshed and the team made a deep run as a 2/3 seed. I would be shocked if they missed the playoffs entirely for reasons other than several star players missing a lot of time due to injuries.

I'm guessing that Rutherford would take a 3rd for Bjugstad in a heartbeat.

So after dealing Phil the Thrill (no surprise) the Pens took a quick dive into the free agent market (surprise!) and signed Brandon Tanev for 6 years at a cap hit of $3.5 million. Through the black and gold goggles I think this will be one of the better free agent signings as far as a team filling a need. Tanev brings some much needed speed and grit. Tenacious penalty killer. 3rd in the NHL with 278 hits and was a +9 while starting almost 60% of his shifts in the defensive zone. I think the cap hit is fine. The length is a bit long for a projected bottom 6 guy (6 years) but he's only 27 so it's not "that" bad and he's only played 195 NHL games (less wear and tear than most 27 year olds). The signing leaves the Pens about $2 million under the cap with deals still to be done with RFA's Marcus Pettersson, Teddy Blueger and Zach Aston-Reese all of whom are expected to break camp with the team. So...someone else has to go. Multiple news outlets in the Burgh have taken Rutherford to heart that he is happy with his D (sorry Jack Johnson haters) which means that most likely to be dealt are either Bryan Rust ($3.5 million cap hit) or Nick Bjugstad ($4.1 million cap hit) who never quite meshed after being acquired from Florida. I would prefer it be Bjugstad as I would not want to lose Rust’s speed or experience with the Pens. Bjugstad will certainly generate less return which is fine. In a cap world I look at it as trading him for Tanev. If Rutherford can pull off a Bjugstad deal the Pens will break camp looking something like this: Guentzel / Crosby / Hornqvist Galchenyuk / Malkin / Rust Tanev / McCann / Kahun Simon / Blueger / Aston-Reese ??? Letang /Dumoulin Schultz / Johnson Pettersson / Gudbrandson Riikola Murray DeSmith Rust, Kahun and Tanev are all interchangeable. Caveat: Assuming $4 million total on the deals for Blueger ($1M +/-, Aston-Reese ($1M +/-) and Petterson ($2M +/-). That leaves about $2 million in cap space for a mid-season deal if needed.

Sounds like an NHL All Star-Team, eh? Nope. It's part of the latest recruiting class for the Arizona State Sun Devils Men's Hockey Team. There is something cold brewing in the desert and it ain't the Coyotes. The Sun Devils, who currently play an independent schedule, are coming off their first NCAA tournament appearance. https://www.hockeyfeed.com/nhl-news/sons-of-three-nhl-stars-join-mario-lemieux-s-son-at-asu-for-2019-20 "Now it appears that another crop of bloodline talent is on track to the NHL and… get this… they’re all playing together on the same team for the upcoming 2019-20 season. Arizona State University of the NCAA announced yesterday that joining Austin Lemieux, son of Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux, will be Jackson Niedermayer, son of Scott Niedermayer, Joshua Doan, son of Shane Doan, and Carson Briere, son of Daniel Briere."

Meh. Galchenyuk put up 19/22/41 on a mediocre Coyotes team. I guess I can hope if you put him on one of the top lines on the Pens that can become 25/40/65. Younger and faster. $2M cheaper. He's got 1 more year left. If he works out, keep him. If not, they have cap space to play with after this season. In a vacuum, not a great deal for the Pens but considering this is literally the ONLY team they could have dealt him too, not bad...and a decent prospect to boot.

This. Mattaa had the great rookie year and got by for the next few seasons on that "cred". The Pens won a few Cups so his shortcomings got lost in the shuffle. Don't get me wrong - I like the kid. By all accounts he works hard, good character, etc. Said all the right things when he was a healthy scratch. Beat cancer, too. But...he's hurt alot and the Pens need the cap space. He's only 24 so there is certainly time for him to get better. I wish him the best.

@BlueAero Great accomplishment for you and your fans. Much deserved. Enjoy, St. Louis!

https://www.tsn.ca/report-minnesota-wild-discussing-trade-for-phil-kessel-with-pittsburgh-penguins-1.1310522 Multiple sites have reported on a possible Phil Kessel (and possible Jack Johnson) for Jason Zucker (and possibly Victor Rask) deal with the hold up being whether or not Kessel wants to play in Minnesota. Looks to be part salary dump. Part get younger. Zucker makes about half as much as Kessel and is 4 years younger but also had half as many goals/points last year. Curious what the more knowledgeable posters think. I don't know much else about Zucker. Wonder if he likes hot dogs?

...and sung in sports stadiums/arenas. Granted, inappropriate language is edited out. Then again, Kate Smith's "God Bless America" got the axe for something else she sang, too.

We = society. Not everyone of course. There are plenty of people (just look at the comments in this thread) who disagree on various levels with what the Flyers did, why they did it, etc. Unfortunately there is a significant portion of the populous who clamor for the drastic actions that the Flyers (and Yankees) took in this situation and many others like it. I don't think "everyone" gets offended too easily. I do think too many get offended too easily.

I don't think something as simple as listening to music (or playing a particular song by a particular musician) necessarily means you "support" them. I think we have gone way way WAY to far as a society in the regard.

Big difference. The Confederate flag is arguably the most recognizable symbol of a rogue "nation" fighting a war of secession for (among other things) the right to maintain slavery. Kate Smith sang a song. I'm not even sure she wrote them. Is there any evidence that she herself was racist? Public comments? Known beliefs? If that is the case - different story. I don't blame the Flyers for doing what they did. They had to - especially after the Yankees pulled the plug. I'm just saddened we live in a world now where they felt that had to pull the plug. Confederate flag? Whole other ballgame.

All is fair in love and playoff elimination!