PTF taking a break for three weeks

I'll be out of town without a computer or internet access for roughly three weeks, leaving on Sunday, July 19th. The blog will be back in full force for next season, but I'm gone for a little while.

Have a great end of your summer!

NHL releases regular season schedules

...and the Pens open up with their homecoming banner-raising game on Friday, October 2nd against the New York Rangers. Personally, I'd have preferred the Capitals or Flyers, but the Rangers aren't a terribly team to bring in for such an historic event as a banner ceremony. Hopefully, the Rangers will be brought onto the ice to watch the celebration take place prior to the game.

The next night, Saturday, the Pens take their show on to the road to the Nassau Coliseum on Long Island to face the next "Next One," top overall draft pick John Tavares. That will be quite the show, as Tavares has a friendship with Sidney Crosby, who was in a similar spot to Tavares four years ago. Like Crosby, Tavares walks onto the worst team in the league, a team that also faces an uphill struggle to get a new arena deal done securing its long-term future in its region.

I'm excited for that one, and I hope Tavares has success in that game short of getting a "W."

Pittsburgh will meet Minnesota, Anaheim and of course, Detroit, two times apiece from the Western Conference. Some kind of a rivalry, as you might imagine, is developing between the Pens and Wings. Fortunately, this year, the Pens will be the ones with the Cup.

There is also a western Canadian swing with three games against Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver.

The full schedule is right here. It's also screen capped below (read clockwise):

Pens sign Jay McKee

Obviously, I've been busy and kind of missed the bell on reporting this one. The offseason is dull.

I like this signing. McKee is an upgrade on Hal Gill, and his positional play and steadiness will be a nice compliment on the third pairing with Alex Goligoski. For 8/10 of a million dollars on a one year deal, this is a no risk-high reward contract engineered by Ray Shero.

Shero has a had a fine offseason, and it will be complete once he fills the backup goaltender spot recently vacated by veteran Mathieu Garon, who signed with the Blue Jackets.

Reviewing the Pens' Stanley Cup Champions DVD

A few days ago, I received an email from a representative of Dan Klores Communications, the company that was about to put out the DVD commemorating the Penguins' run through the playoffs all the way to the franchise's third Stanley Cup championship. The man told me that he'd send me a free copy of the movie if I agreed to review it on the blog, and quite frankly, I was skeptical at first because I thought it was all a scam. Of course, it was not, and the disc showed up in the mail at about 11:00 this morning. What followed was the best hour and ten minutes or so of my week.

The DVD was excellent. It takes us through the regular season rather quickly in a bit less than half the total time of the film, but it paints a good picture of everything that goes on throughout the year. It didn't cut any corners, and it didn't seem as rushed as one might think, being as it was done on such short time (less than a month).

There are several players, coaches, front office people and media members that are interviewed throughout the movie as a supplement to the narrarator, who was somewhat robotic but still tolerable to listen to. Sidney Crosby, Dan Bylsma, Ray Shero, Bill Guerin, Ruslan Fedotenko, Hal Gill, Tyler Kennedy, Mark Eaton, Max Talbot, Kris Letang, Craig Adams, Brooks Orpik, Mathieu Garon, Phil Borque, Dan Potash, and even Pierre McGuire are featured throughout.

Some interesting anecdotes are covered rather extensively, most prominently the now famous Mario Lemieux text message to the team after their disheartening Game 5 loss in the Finals.

The bonus features are solid. There's a video documenting every heroic goal throughout the playoffs, a quick montage of the best goals and saves in the league from the entire season, parade coverage, Game 7 postgame interviews, and my personal favorite, a ten minute "mic'd up" session with Bill Guerin at the team's practice between Game 6 and 7 against Detroit.

It's an absolute must-have for any serious Penguins fan who wants physical documentation all in one place of the very memorable 2008-2009 campaign.

Penguins' Cup Champions DVD to be released on July 7th

The Pens will release their official Stanley Cup Champions seasonal review DVD on Tuesday, July 7th. Kris Letang and Tyler Kennedy will be on hand at two separate locations to sign autographs and take pictures with fans who show up to purchase the DVD.


Kris Letang
Donaldsons Crossroads Giant Eagle
4007 Washington Road
McMurray, PA 15317-2520
Signing will take place from 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM
**Please note that fans must purchase a copy of the DVD to receive an autograph

Tyler Kennedy
Dick’s Sporting Goods
The Mall at Robinson
5000 Robinson Centre Drive
Pittsburgh, PA 15205
Signing will take place from 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
**Please note that fans must purchase a copy of the DVD to receive an autograph

The DVD will include wireless microphone sound bytes of forward Bill Guerin at practice, a "best of" segment featuring the premiere moments from around the NHL during the season, live highlights of all overtime goals scored in the playoffs from all teams, the Penguins' celebration after Game 7 in Detroit and finally, an in-depth look at the team's victory parade through downtown Pittsburgh.

Fedotenko re-signed; Pens add depth defenseman

Ruslan Fedotenko today signed another one year deal with the Penguins to go for another Stanley Cup. His salary for the coming season will be $1,800,000, thus carrying a cap hit of 1.8. He took a $450,000 pay cut to remain with the team, as he made $2,250,000 with a 2.5 cap hit last season.

Ray Shero also signed local defenseman Nate Guenin of Sewickley, PA, to a two-way contract for one year that will pay him roughly a half million dollars if he plays in the NHL next year, which is a fairly unlikely prospect at this point in time. He has spent the last few years in the Flyers' system.

The Pens now have a shade under three million dollars to sign a backup goalie and sixth and seventh defensemen. John Curry will likely be that goalie and Ben Lovejoy one of the defensemen.

Penguins sign Mike Rupp

The Pens have signed hulking forward Mike Rupp, formerly of the New Jersey Devils. A fourth liner, Rupp will make $850,000,000 per year over the span of a two year contract. Rupp figures to play on the Penguins bottom line along with Craig Adams and another player.

The deal likely means the imminent departure of one or both of Pascal Dupuis and Eric Godard from Pittsburgh, as the Pens have a surplus of fourth line grinders that hurts them against the salary cap of 56.8 million dollars.