Penguins Whitney out 3-5 months

Posted by admin on 18th, 2008

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

News came down the wire earlier today that Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Ryan Whitney will be out between 3 to 5 months after having surgery to correct a chronic issue with his left foot.

Whitney, who dropped in production last year after a breakout 2006-2007 that secured him a 6-year, $24 million deal tried everything he could to avoid surgery that he knew would put him off the ice long-term.

“We’ve tried everything to avoid surgery because we knew it would mean missing a chunk of the season, but nothing worked.”
-Whitney to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Whitney, a 6 foot 4, 219lb defenseman is said to be the eventual replacement for Sergei Gonchar. Like Gonchar, Whitney is a strong offensive upside to his game. The loss for the Penguins on the blue line should not be too bad, however players like Kris Letang will need to step up their game to fill the gap.

Technorati Tags: ice hockey, nhl, pittsburgh penguins, ryan whitney, kris letang, sergei gonchar

Tags: deal, foot, hockey, ice hockey, Kris Letang, NHL, pittsburgh penguins, Ryan Whitney, Sergei Gonchar, surgery

McKeon Grades the Trades

(1) Comment

Posted by admin on 27th, 2008

Ross McKeon of Yahoo! Sports has been busy today, grading all 30 teams of the NHL according to how they did with the Trade Deadline.

It may come as a suprise to some that Dallas and Pittsburgh, the 2 teams who made the blockbuster trades yesterday are graded so differently.

McKeon grades the Dallas Stars at #1, citing their trade as “the big strike”.

1. Dallas Stars – Grade: A+: The Stars made the big strike by acquiring arguably the best player available for now and moving forward. Center Brad Richards was the Conn Smythe Trophy winner when Tampa Bay won the Stanley Cup in 2004. He’s 27, skilled and durable – just a perfect fit for any team. Never mind that $7.8 million owed for each of the next three years. The Stars parted with backup goalie Mike Smith, who may emerge as a No. 1 with the Lightning, Jussi Jokinen, Jeff Halpern and a fourth-round pick. Dallas did not have to surrender any of its young defense, another key. That deal makes a lot more sense than what Pittsburgh gave up to Atlanta in the day’s other blockbuster.

The Pittsburgh Penguins however, failed to gain such a high ranking, coming in at #22 with a D+ grade.

22. Pittsburgh Penguins – Grade: D+: No one can accuse the Penguins of being shy at the deadline. Pittsburgh changed more than any team by adding three players and deleting two from the roster and one from the pipeline and parting with three draft picks in two separate deals. Pittsburgh got rental Marian Hossa to play alongside either Evgeni Malkin or Sidney Crosby. They got versatile and dependable Pascal Dupuis in the same deal with Atlanta but surrendered young, popular teammates Colby Armstrong and Erik Christensen and prospect Angelo Esposito. You have to wonder what team chemistry will form out of all these moves. In addition, Hal Gill comes aboard to add size and a physical element on defense. First-, second- and fifth-round picks were dealt away.

Filling out the top 10 are:

2. Atlanta Thrashers – Grade: A

3. Washington Capitals – Grade: A-

4. Colorado Avalanche – Grade: B+

5. San Jose Sharks – Grade: B

6. Columbus Blue Jackets – Grade: B

7. Carolina Hurricanes – Grade: B

8. Chicago Blackhawks – Grade: B

9. New York Rangers – Grade: B-

10. Buffalo Sabres – Grade: B-

Tags: addition, Angelo Esposito, Atlanta, backup, Blockbuster, Brad Richards, Buffalo, carolina hurricanes, Center, chemistry, Chicago, Colby Armstrong, Colorado, Columbus, Conn, Dallas, Deadline, deal, defense, Draft, element, Erik Christensen, Evgeni, First, fit, goal, Goalie, Grade, Hal Gill, Jeff Halpern, Jokinen, Jussi, key, lightning, lot, malkin, Marian Hossa, Mike Smith, New York, NHL, one, parting, Pascal Dupuis, Penguins, pick, pipeline, Pittsburgh, player, prospect, ranking, Ross McKeon, roster, second, sense, sidney crosby, size, Smythe, Stanley Cup, Stars, strike, suprise, Tampa Bay, Team, thrashers, today, trade, Trophy, versatile, Washington, winner, yahoo, yesterday

List of NHL Trades

(1) Comment

Posted by admin on 27th, 2008

2 Blockbuster trades highlighted todays Trade Deadline, with Tampa Bay moving Brad Richards to the Dallas Stars in a 5 player deal and also Atlanta Thrashers doing a 5 player deal with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Here is a full list of todays known trades.

TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING traded Brad Richards & Johan Holmqvist
to the
DALLAS STARS in exchange for Mike Smith, Jeff Halpern, Jussi Jokinen & a 4th round draft pick

ATLANTA THRASHERS traded Marian Hossa & Pascal Dupuis
to the
PITTSBURGH PENGUINS in exchange for Erik Christensen, Colby Armstrong, Angelo Esposito & a 1st round draft pick

LOS ANGELES KINGS traded Jean-Sebastien Aubin
to the
ANAHEIM DUCKS in exchange for a 7th round draft pick

TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS traded Chad Kilger
to the
FLORIDA PANTHERS in exchange for a 3rd round draft pick

NEW YORK RANGERS traded Al Montoya & Marcell Hossa
to the
PHOENIX COYOTES in exchange for David LeNeveu, Fredrik Sjostrom, Josh Gratton & a Conditional Pick

NEW YORK ISLANDERS traded Marc-Andre Bergeron
to the
ANAHEIM DUCKS in exchange for a 3rd round draft pick

NEW YORK ISLANDERS traded Chris Simon
to the
MINNESOTA WILD in exchange for a 6th round draft pick

LOS ANGELES KINGS traded Brad Stuart
to the
DETROIT RED WINGS in exchange for a 2nd round draft pick and a 4th round draft pick

ST LOUIS BLUES traded Christian Backman
to the
NEW YORK RANGERS in exchange for a 4th round draft pick

TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS traded Hal Gill
to the
PITTSBURGH PENGUINS in exchange for a 2nd round draft pick and a 5th round draft pick

VANCOUVER CANUCKS traded Matt Cooke
to the
WASHINGTON CAPITALS in exchange for Matt Pettinger

SAN JOSE SHARKS traded Rob Davidson
to the
NEW YORK ISLANDERS in exchange for a 7th round draft pick

WASHINGTON CAPITALS traded Ted Ruth
to the
COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS in exchange for Sergei Fedorov

COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS traded Adam Foote
to the
COLORADO AVALANCHE in exchange for a 1st round draft pick

CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS traded Martin Lapointe
to the
OTTAWA SENATORS in exchange for a 6th round draft pick

CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS traded Tuomo Ruutu
to the
CAROLINE HURRICANES in exchange for Andrew Ladd

FLORIDA PANTHERS traded Ruslin Salei
to the
COLORADO AVALANCHE in exchange for Karlis Skrastins & a 3rd round draft pick

MONTREAL CANADIENS traded Cristobal Huet
to the
WASHINGTON CAPITALS in exchange for a 2nd round draft pick

SAN JOSE SHARKS traded Steve Bernier & a 1st round draft pick
to the
BUFFALO SABRES in exchange for Brian Campbell & a 7th round draft pick

TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS traded Wade Belak
to the
FLORIDA PANTHERS in exchange for a 2008 5th found draft pick

ST LOUIS BLUES traded Byrce Salvador
to the
NEW JERSEY DEVILS in exchange for Cam Janssen

Tags: Adam Foote, Al Montoya, amp, Anaheim, Andrew Ladd FLORIDA, Angelo Esposito, Atlanta, BAY, Blackhawks, Blockbuster, BLUE, Brad Richards, Brad Stuart, Brian Campbell, Buffalo, Canucks, Capitals, CAROLINE HURRICANES, Chad, Chicago, chris simon, Christian Backman, Colby Armstrong, Columbus, Conditional, coyotes, Cristobal, Dallas, David LeNeveu, Deadline, deal, Detroit, Draft, ducks, Erik Christensen, exchange, Fredrik Sjostrom, goal, Hal Gill, hockey, islanders, JACKETS, Jean, Jean-Sebastien Aubin, Jeff Halpern, JERSEY, Johan Holmqvist, Jokinen, Josh Gratton, Jussi, Kilger, kings, Leafs, lightning, list, Los Angeles, Maple, marc, Marc-Andre Bergeron, Marcell, Marian Hossa, Matt Cooke, Matt Pettinger, Mike Smith, Minnesota, Montreal, New York, Ottawa, Pascal Dupuis, Penguins, Phoenix, pick, Pittsburgh, player, rangers, Red, Rob Davidson, Round, Ruslin, Salei, Salvador, San Jose, senators, Sergei Fedorov, Sharks, St. Louis, Stars, Steve Bernier, TAMPA, Tampa Bay, Ted Ruth, thrashers, Toronto, trade, Vancouver, Wade Belak, Wild, Wings

Lundqvist Gets 6 Yr Deal

(3) Comments

Posted by admin on 14th, 2008

If there is one thing that last years offseason taught GMs around the league it’s that no player is safe from large, seemingly unreasonable offers. The Tomas Vanek, then Dustin Penner issue saw the start of GMs locking up their players for long(ish) term deals to ensure they’re not poached by other teams. The best example of this of course is the NHLs first Hundred Million Dollar man, Alexander Ovechkin.

The latest young player to be locked up is New York Rangers netminder, Henrik Lundqvist. Lundqvist and the Rangers agreed on a 6 year deal today, said to pay the 25yr old Lundqvist $6.5million per year for the next 6 years.

While the length and value of the deal — believed to be for six years at more than $6.5 million per - have been set, there is language in the contract that is still being hashed out. So the Rangers are not expected to make a formal announcement until Thursday at the earliest.
- NHL @ Yahoo

February is going to be a busy month due to the trade deadline being just around the corner. It will be interesting to keep an eye on the teams GMs and see what cards they play.