Pacioretty to the G. Knights so that pipe dream is gone. NHL.com says it makes them strong cup contenders. I still think they have a hole in goal.
Yzerman steps down in Tampa-hopefully that has negative repercussions for that franchise.

Montreal over the past 2 seasons.....

Traded: P.K. Subban, Mikhail Sergachev, Alex Galchenyuk, Max Pacioretty

Received: Shea Weber, Jonathan Drouin, Max Domi, Tomas Tatar, Nick Suzuki, 2019 2nd Round Pick

Bergevin should've been canned about 5 yrs ago

Letang had all offseason to train:
https://www.nhl.com/penguins/news/letan ... -300051166

Glad he and his wife(smoking hot) had that second child after the hardship they went through a few Summers ago.

I'm not expecting him to be at when he was in his absolute prime, but man, if he's even 85% of that, that goes a long ways to fixing some of the issues we had last season.

He was a damn mess last season, and that impact is multiplied when you're talking about a guy playing 25 minutes per game.

Yeah, if he could be this year's version of the 'comeback' Penguin that would be great. Be nice if Schultz could duplicate his 2016/17 #'s as well this coming season.

Erik Karlsson traded to San Jose for Chris Tierney, Dylan DeMelo, Josh Norris, Rudolfs Balcers, 2020 1st, 2019 2nd and two conditional picks..

Pretty good article on Murray. Says he spent a lot of time focusing on his glove hand and five hole. Also plans on focusing more on his relationships with teammates as he admits to getting a little too focused on playing goal.


http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/penguins/2018/09/10/matt-murray-penguins-offseason-training-camp-2018-nhl/stories/201809090232

Sharks fans are hyped about this. Bargain.

I feel sorry for Sens fans. Man what a shitshow

Pageau out 6 months already. The Sens are the Spinal Tap drummers of the NHL.

Reminder:
Pens versus Wings tonight on the NHL network.
Here is the Pens lineup-
GOALIES
1 CASEY DESMITH
35 TRISTAN JARRY

DEFENSEMEN
4 JUSTIN SCHULTZ
5 ZACH TROTMAN
6 JAMIE OLEKSIAK
50 JUUSO RIIKOLA
73 JACK JOHNSON
76 CALEN ADDISON
83 ANTTI PALOJARVI

FORWARDS
12 DOMINIK SIMON
17 BRYAN RUST
25 TOBIAS LINDBERG
36 LINUS OLUND
37 SAM LAFFERTY
38 DEREK GRANT
41 DANIEL SPRONG
47 ADAM JOHNSON
51 JOSEPH CRAMAROSSA
53 TEDDY BLUEGER
56 RYAN HAGGERTY
61 JUSTIN ALMEIDA
80 SAM MILETIC

I haven't paid too close attention to training camp (nor did I watch last night), but a buddy of mine was saying Riikola has looked great so far.

Can anyone comment on that?

He had a goal last night-nice shot.
There is an article on nhl.com about him having a good camp.

Pulling some defensive depth out of his hat would be yet another feather in JR's cap, definitely rooting for Riiiiiiiiicolaaaaaaa cheers at PPG this season.

Already saved for regular season game thread use, just in case.

I thought it was a slop-fest in the first period last night. I focused on Sprong and have to say I wasn't really that impressed. His forecheck is better but I didn't see that shot of his.
#56 looked pretty good and Jarry was really good the first two periods.

Preseason hockey isn't much to look at when the stars are not out there.

Hoping the Pens follow the theme of playing the big guns at home in the preseason and leaving the road duties for the depth.

If you're looking for encouragement, it's that the depth players have been competitive with NHL teams (though certainly not the league's best) who have been playing way more regulars than we have to this point.

Jarry let in a shitty rebound last night, but the others were tough shots, and he made some excellent saves.

Congrats to the Flyers for unveiling their new mascot today!


...which is apparently a giant, hairy, turd with the insanely applicable name of "Gritty".

Just a job well done all around.

Even Steely McBeam is looking at that thing saying "That's a dumb fucking mascot".

My first thought was "wow, they brought back Scott Hartnell?"

Seriously, though, that thing is going to give children nightmares. Hell, it's giving me nightmares right now.

Baby Eater is what some of my Flyers friends are calling it.

On another note, did any of you catch the game against Columbus Saturday afternoon?
I know it was mostly the real Pens Vs. the youngsters but Riikola had a very nice goal and some good plays in his own end. Plays a little bigger than he is.

Letang looked like he had is legs from 3 years ago again. That was the good. He still made some boneheaded plays in his own end.

Cullen was very good, he really could have helped us last year. Hopefully, he has a full tank left in him for the season.

Sprong had a strong effort as well, looked very comfortable.

Are we sure that's the new mascot and not some dude that wandered in from Kensington?

Didn't get to see the BJ's game, but that's excellent news on Letang.

Because he doesn't have to pass through waivers while Ruhwedel does, might benefit from high-pair ice time in WBS rather than nacho duty at PPG, I had been thinking Riikola sort of a lock to begin the season on the farm, but he seems to be playing his way into at least making it a very difficult decision.

Here's his backstory

His father was a “bully,” so naturally he has some of those tendencies – talented but feisty, a fierce competitor, known for his agility given his size. He’s loyal but mischievous; the ultimate Flyers fan who loves the orange and black, but is unwelcoming to anyone who opposes his team. Legend has it he earned the name “Gritty” for possessing an attitude so similar to the team he follows.
He claims that he’s been around for a lot longer than we know it, and recent construction at the Wells Fargo Center disturbed his secret hideout forcing him to show his face publicly for the first time. He has some oddities that are both humorous and strange. A number of times he’s been caught eating snow straight from the Zamboni machine, and unbeknown to most, his love of hot dogs has been inflating the Flyers Dollar Dog Night consumption totals for years.