Alighieri

Not Pens related but I thought it might be something to talk about. Kinda remembered this conversation myself that year before the Bulls drafted Derrick Rose, on whether tanking the season for more lottery balls. Automatically assumed that NJD would start tanking...

Fare thee well, Ticket! He did good work for us. He will be missed. UPDATE: Smart money's on Letestu coming back into the line-up, assuming anyone's coming off the list at all & not be a precautionary scratch. I'm gonna play the odds & say that Sid's coming back anyway.

Fun little article about Max & Flower visiting Heinz Field. Why am I not surprised that Flower would toss snowballs at a mascot?

First saw this just after I came back from my first "absence" this season. Decided not to put it up because I didn't feel up to pandering. But since it came up in the Capitals GDT, here you go. How I Became A Pens fan...

Oh yeah. Ovechkin's in it too... Whatever...

Caps trade C Tomas Fleischmann to the Avs for D Scort Hannan They get a defensive defenseman. Oooooooo.... I'm so scared... Michalek's better anyhow.

This isn't Penguins related but I thought it might be interesting for us to look at. The goalie in me finds this crazy amounts of cool.

Brooks Orpik & Jordan Staal were just named the new alternates captains for the season. They will serve behind incumbents Sidney Crosby & Evgeni Malkin. Can't think of a more deserving guy than Free Candy for this nod & it's about time for Staalsy to step up. Season's starting!

I think we all saw this coming & I expect to see more cuts on the way. Why not just skip ahead to Tangradi, Despres & Letestu? Those are the ones we're curious about anyhow!

A great feature on the new locker room in the Consol Energy Center. Gets me all fired up for the preseason. Love that they still keep the traditions of the franchise in high regard. The mural above the lockers are a nice touch. I also like how they like to play a little bit of musical chairs when it came to the seat plans. It's adorable.

So the contract's been overturned & Kovy's back on the market again... Hold on to your sombreros, mi Amigos... Here we go again...

Article on Blueshirt Banter. Interesting read & another reason why I think this entire Kovalchuk contract might get away with nothing more than just a slap to the wrist.

I'm surprised no one's put this up yet. I find it a nice primer for the new season. Will update this fanshot when they release the other divisions. This starts with the Northwest Division. UPDATE: Central Division today. UPDATE: Pacific Division today.

Looks like another two-way contract. Maybe he'll crack the rotation. Now he name is Sterling with an E, not an I.

GMRS's really kicking it... #insherowetrust

Got this really good write-up from Derek Zona over at From The Rink. I've always agreed with Ray Shero's no long term contracts for role players rule. Make it so that we never get to regret handing bad contracts to good character guys like SCUDs who we all love to bits but cannot realistically expect them to live out... Something to consider when negotiating with Matt Cooke...