Being a sophomore in the fantasy hockey my experience in quite limited, but one of the things I've noticed is the difference in dual positions generosity between Yahoo! and ESPN databases - seems the Yahoo! database has a lot more players with dual positions. And since I find this a valuable aspect when picking your players I tend to think it's somewhat of a disadvantage when playing in ESPN leagues. (Also I think dual positions are quite common for the actual NHL forwards)

But like I told, I'm a new guy and likely I'm wrong, so I'd like to see other players' opinion on these topics:

- How important for you is having dual positions players on your roster?

- Does Yahoo! really have a lot more players with dual positions or is it just me?

- Which players Database you find more accurate/realistic? (only concerning dual positions)

May be the topic I'm about to comment on isn't news for most of you, but today I came across this article when my hockey-news-hunger had me surfing through the different information sources on the web.

It's a great and a very noble idea that the Penguins are doing so many things to strengthen the relationship with their fans along with trying to, in a way, spark the economy in the Pittsburgh area. Thumbs up!

But what really amazed me is that I realized (again, for I don't know which time:) how much Lemieux has done for the organization and the kind of person he is... you'll probably say I should've known it for years and, yes,  I do know it... but I can't help but be impressed by him again and again... and make me wanna say:

Thank you, Mario!

And I believe this just couldn't be said too much or too often.

The whole story led me to an errant thought... How great would it have been if the Penguins opened the season in their brand new-state-of-the-art arena against their arch-rival the Flyers on ... the 5th of October... Mario's birthday... wouldn't that be a one-of-a-kind birthday present to the man who personifies the Penguins.

Don't know... but I think it shouldn't have been impossible thing to arrange by the NHL's governing body and schedule-makers, but who am I to judge... just another fan.

With the Pens struggling to find scoring in the last few games I thought it's a good idea to see how are the WBS Penguins doing and what is there "to offer"...

So I watched my first WBS Penguins game ever (not as easy as it may sound...:) - a game @ Albany River Rats ("Baby" 'Canes) which we won 3:1

And decided to share my observations...

Caputi is already a more confident professional player and could easily be on the 3rd line in Pittsburgh from next season.

Tangradi and Veilleux are both bringing big bodies and some skills... I was actually more impressed with Veilleux...

My pre-game "next winger called-up" favorite Bayda made some Bourque-like misses, although he did get an ENG

Chris Lee and Brian Strait were the 2 best Dmen... but with Lee being a life-long AHL-er Strait is the one to keep an eye on. Guenin didn't impress me at all... too one-dimensional 

Brad Thiessen was in goal... and was absolutely stellar... almost singlehandedly kept the W in the 3rd

Letestu was not dressed which makes me think he is either being called-up tomorrow or he's injured... but I hope the first of those...

There was a story today at the Pens official website that reminded me of one of my favorite little-funny-part-of-the-game things that I've thought about... what do teams do with hats thrown at the ice after a hat-trick?...

It turns out some boy has "asked a coupe of people" and got the hats in order to give them out to charity... it seems almost too easy to be done... which brought me to the idea that if there's another good idea on "what to do with the hats" it could be really considered...

For me to simply dispose of the hats is just plain stupid and sad (I don't buy into the "health and safety" crap)... there's so much emotion attached to them and they should be used for some better cause.

Seems more and more teams start to collect and showcase them inside the arenas, which is cool and can bring a smile on everyone's face thinking "yeah, was a great game that was:)"... but I'm sure there can be also other good ideas to use the hats... say have a "Original Penguins game worn and game thrown gear" museum with the occasional auction to raise money for kids hockey development...

So... what's your take?