NHL Realignment: What It Means For The Penguins

The NHL Board of Governors approved the realignment of the league into four conferences.  Two conferences will have eight teams in it, and two will have seven. 

It's a stark departure from the current format of two conferences with three divisions each.

The Conferences break down like this:

New Jersey/Philadelphia/Pittsburgh/NY Rangers/NY Islanders/Washington/Carolina

Boston/Montreal/Toronto/Ottawa/Buffalo/Florida/Tampa Bay

Detroit/Columbus/Nashville/St. Louis/Chicago/Minnesota/Dallas/Winnipeg

Los Angeles/Anaheim/Phoenix/San Jose/Vancouver/Calgary/Edmonton/Colorado

The top four teams in each conference will make the playoffs, giving the NHL their usual 16 teams. 

The new alignment also enables the NHL to create a balanced schedule in which all teams will play each other at least twice every season, once at home and once on the road, giving fans a chance to see every team and superstar in the League. The remaining games will be played within the conferences.

In the seven-team conferences, teams would play six times -- three home, three away. In the eight-team Conferences, teams would play either five or six times in a season on a rotating basis; three teams would play each other six times and four teams would play each other five times. This process would reverse each season: An eight-team Conference member that plays an opponent six times in one season would play it five times the following season.

The top four teams in each Conference qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The first-place team would play the fourth-place team; the second-place team would play the third-place team. The four respective Conference champions would meet in the third round of the Playoffs, with the survivors playing for the Stanley Cup.
I like that the Penguins seem to keep all of their rivals in their conference, so we'll still see them squaring off against Philly, Washington, NY, and NJ.  I'm not sure I'm a fan of the conference teams playing each other in the first two rounds of the playoffs.  Isn't that the purpose of playing each other five or six times in the regular season?

I'd rather see the conference number ones assigned 1-4, and the second place teams 5-8 and so on down the line.  You could even base it on record overall if you wanted.  I'm sure though some people will argue the rivalry aspect of the first two rounds will add to the intensity.  I guess we'll see.

Looking at the other conferences, how much sense does it make to have the two Florida teams in the same conference as Toronto, Montreal, and Ottawa?  Nothing screams rivalry like Montreal and Florida.  I guess you could say Boston and Tampa Bay already know each other because of the Rays and the Red Sox, but this is a totally different sport.

Detroit wanted to move East, but it doesn't look like that necessarily happened with this choice.  At least they stay with all their current division rivals, plus they add Dallas and Winnipeg.

I wish they'd find a way to even out the amount of teams in each conference.  Find a way to add two more teams and give every team an equal chance of making the playoffs to start the season. 

Hopefully they come up with cool names for the Conferences.  Some people on Social media have already suggested naming the conferences after famous players.  I'd love to see Orr, Howe, Gretzky and Lemieux honored for their place amongst the all time greats. 

Is it a perfect plan?  Nope, but not everyone was going to be happy anyways.  You can always tweak the playoff format at a later time.  The main thing was getting the alignment correct, and for the most part I commend the NHL on a job well done.

Hey! Did you hear that Sidney Crosby is coming back?

The day Penguins fans have been waiting for is finally upon us.  Months of speculation as to when he might return are over.  Sidney Crosby will put on his famous number 87 sweater with the captain's "C" once again tomorrow night as the Pens take on the Islanders.

The team has fared quite well in his absence, but make no mistake, he instantly makes this team a lot better.  NHL teams set to face the Penguins have to be wishing the comeback would have been delayed a while longer. 

I think the Pens were right to take the patient approach with Crosby.  Surely no one could have foreseen that it might take him an entire year to recover from the concussion, but this is something you don't want to be wrong about. 

I think I speak for everyone who is a fan of the Black and Gold when I say it's damn good to see Crosby back in a uniform.  The only thing left to wait for is Crosby to take his first hit and keep going, and of course, see him start to light up the scoreboard like only "The Kid" can.

The NHL needs their marquee player, what with ratings opportunities out there with the NBA lockout in full swing.  The Pens need him too.  This team was good enough to make the playoffs without him and maybe even win a series, but Crosby's talent makes them instant and legitimate Stanley Cup contenders.

The puck drops at 7:00 PM against the Islanders.  Don't miss it!

Pittsburgh To Host the 2012 NHL Draft

The NHL announced yesterday that the Pittsburgh Penguins will host the 2012 NHL Draft at the Consol Energy Center.

The city of Pittsburgh will serve as the epicenter of the NHL for a few days, which should provide a nice boost to the local economy. 

This is the kind of event that wasn't possible while the Penguins still resided in the Mellon Arena. 

Rumors are already swirling that the Penguins will also be pitching for a future All-Star game, which would also be nice to see. 

This is why an arena like the Consol Energy Center is a bigger boost for the region than say Heinz Field. Kudos to the Penguins for landing this event. 

Right now the Penguins are one of, if not the, premier franchises in the NHL, and the league's best player happens to play for them as well.  Any chance the league can get to showcase the city and the players is a win-win for both the NHL and the Penguins.

Pittsburgh has hosted the draft once before, and we'll need to hope they land better players than the ones that got picked in that one.  (Robert Dome and Josef Melichar anyone?)

That's All She Wrote

With the season on the line the Penguins miserable Power Play did what it does best.....FAIL.

I'm probably not the only one that was actually pissed off the Pens went on the Power Play at the end of the game.  Heck that had to be music to Tampa Bay's ears.  There was NO WAY IN HELL the Penguin Power Play was going to score. 

You manage to get a 3-1 Series lead and win two games on the road and still lose.  I don't care if you are shorthanded or not.  There's no excuse for that.

Kovalev is out of here after a pathetic showing in the playoffs.  Hopefully the Pens get some better secondary scoring.  What a frustrating end to a season.

To all the Bylsma for Jack Adams supporters.  If your coach refuses to change what isn't working, you deserve to lose.  Eric Tangradi factored in on the ONLY power play goal of the series, and was he in the lineup tonight?  Nope.

Maybe this offseason Shero will actually invest in some people who know what net presence is all about. 

Why the NHL needs to use Instant Replay to review Blindside hits

I'm sure by now many of you have heard about how the NHL is cracking down on blindside and lateral hits on players. It's called Rule 48 (http://www.nhl.com/ice/page.htm?id=64063).

According to the NHL official rule 48.1, a lateral or blind side hit to an opponent where the head is targeted and/or the principle point of contact is not permitted. It carries a five minute major penalty and automatic game misconduct. A match penalty can also be enforced if the referees determine the player intended to deliberately harm his opponent with the hit.

I am all for rule 48 as it helps curtail much of the "Dirty" play in the NHL. Go ahead and get rid of the cheap shot artists but at the same time we have to be careful as vicious hits (legal ones) will always be a fun part of the game. Don't like it? Don't lace 'em up.

However with many of the accompanying penalties now associated with this rule, isn't it also important to make sure the player in question actually committed the crime?

A prime example of how this rule was implemented unfairly was in a recent game involving the Pittsburgh Penguins and the New York Islanders. New York forward Blake Comeau was entering the Penguin's offensive zone and was skating with his head down. Penguin Defensemen Kris Letang came in and laid a shoulder to shoulder hit which knocked Comeau to the ground. During the collision Comeau's helmet went flying.

The referees quickly enforced Rule 48 and issued a five minute major and game misconduct to Letang because they thought Letang made contact with Comeau's head, however the Jumbotron cameras and replays clearly showed this was not the case. The league even later rescinded the penalty based on the clear evidence that Letang's hit was legal.

Given the severe penalties facing a player who might be unfairly called for an infraction of this rule, shouldn't a replay judge at least take a good look to make sure it was in fact a hit to the head? In many cases the player who suffered the hit is lying prone on the ice, so have a replay judge take a look then and there, while the game is already delayed.

In the case of Letang, he was thrown out of the game and the Penguins, who had a 2-0 lead at the time, had to kill the five minute major. The Islanders scored one goal during the power play, and a second one a few seconds after the power play expired to tie the game up at 2. In addition to the score impact, the Penguins were forced to play the rest of the game shorthanded on defense. The blown call had a major effect on the outcome of the game.

Again I want to be clear I am not against Rule 48, I just want to make sure it's implemented properly. It's only fair...

Bullying the Broad Street Bullies

Daniel Briere drew first blood, but it was a river of orange blood that flowed for the remainder of the game. The Penguins (3-3) scored 5 unanswered goals on their way to a convincing 5-1 win Saturday night over the rival Philadelphia Flyers (2-2-1). The win avenged last week’s win in Pittsburgh by Philadelphia.

The Penguin power play continued to struggle early on with an 0 for 4 start. As the game progressed the Penguins started taking more shots on goal on the power play and finally showed signs of waking up from hibernation with two power play goals by Sidney Crosby.

Mark Letestu continued his strong 2011 campaign scoring his third goal of the season. He battled hard in front of the net, before getting his stick free just enough to poke the puck past goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky. Bobrovsky, who had looked stellar in last week’s win over Pittsburgh, seemed to come back to earth a bit in this one.

What can you say about Penguin backup goaltender Brent Johnson? He continued to make some huge saves early in the game to keep it tied at 1, and then in the 3rd period he continued to keep the Flyers off the board. Just look at this difference in stats. Johnson is now 3-0, sporting a 1.32 GAA, as well as a .953 save percentage. Marc-Andre Fleury on the other hand is carrying an 0-3 record, a 3.41 GAA, and an .853 save percentage.

I never thought I’d say this but you just might have a goaltender controversy in Pittsburgh. Head coach Dan Bylsma was clearly not happy with Fleury’s play through 3 games and as a result Brent Johnson has gotten, and made the most of, his opportunity. It should be very interesting to see who ends up in net against Ottawa on Monday night.

Bylsma should probably ride the hot goaltender until Brent Johnson cools off. He’s flat out been the better player so far, and I think that should earn him some more playing time. At the same time, Fleury is the long term option in goal, and you really need to give him a chance to redeem himself. It’s a tough decision to be sure, but I’m sure Bylsma already has an idea how he is going to handle it.

As it stands, the Penguins have dug out of the early 1-3 start and are starting to play better hockey. It’ll be fun to see how good this team is once they get Jordan Staal, Zbynek Michalek, and Brooks Orpik back.

Destiny finally found her way home!

Let’s offer up some first thoughts on two really big firsts.

Congratulations to Eric Tangradi on his first NHL goal, which he scored in the first ever win for the Penguins at the Consol Energy Center. Thank god I don’t have to hear Steigy say that 1,492 more times in the next home game. Seriously dude get some new material.

1 for 8 on the Power Play is quite simply awful. Here’s a tip. SHOOT the %#^%&$ puck! Here let me do a quick play by play summary of a Penguins Power play for you.

Goligoski passes to Malkin….
Malkin to Crosby, back to Letang.
Letang over to Malkin.
In deep to Crosby.
Crosby…passes it out to Goligoski over to Malkin.
Malkin…to Letang.
Letang holds it, waits and passes to Crosby.
Crosby to Malkin….

Repeat this cycle for 30 more seconds before someone misplays the puck.

The Pens are now operating at 15% on the Power Play, and that’s with 20 total Power plays which is the second highest in the league. Needless to say that’s abysmal.



Absolutely embarrassing that the refs gave Kris Letang a 5 minute major and a game misconduct for a perfectly clean hit. It’s not Letang’s fault the idiot doesn’t know how to tighten his chin strap. I can understand the refs and the league want to protect players but anyone with any sort of eyesight could see the replays clearly showed it was shoulder to shoulder contact. There was no elbow to the head, in fact Letang never even made contact with Comeau’s head. A complete BS call.

Shame the Penguins couldn’t hold off the Islanders from scoring goals on that BS Power play because otherwise the Islanders did nothing all night.

What a big game for Brent Johnson, who is now 2-0 on the season. I know Fleury, who is 0-3, is your top netminder, but there’s something to be said for riding the hot hand. Johnson has just looked a lot more comfortable out there so far this year, not to mention he’s been statistically better in every way. He made big save after big save tonight to keep the game knotted at 2. If I’m Disco Dan Byslma, I don’t know how you don’t keep playing Johnson until he cools off.

Anyways I'm just glad the Penguins got their two points on the night. They were clearly the better team tonight. Time for some payback against the Philly Cryers.

The Voice says...LET'S GO PENS!!!

Pens drop another one, 4-3 to the Leafs

It was another game at the Consol Energy Center, and another 1 goal loss for your Pittsburgh Penguins.

Toronto's Clarke MacArthur scored his third and fourth goals of the young season, but please don’t mistake this kid for Steven Stamkos.

Deryk Engellend is now 1-0 in fights this season. He fired off a punch that caught Maple Leaf goon Colton Orr straight in the mouth, knocking him down to the ice. It was definitely one of the few highlights from tonight’s effort. It was also definitely worth a link so you can see it.



First lesson in Defense 101 against Evgeni Malkin. You get beat by Malkin who is now on a breakaway on your goaltender. All you have to do now is haul him down from behind to generate a penalty shot. Malkin not only hasn’t scored on a penalty shot in 4 tries, but he looks like a buffoon doing it. Maybe Gordon Bombay needs to teach Geno the triple deke.

Sidney Crosby finally got his first goal of the season off his own rebound. It came in the closing seconds of the second period and at least got the Penguins back into the game.

Marc-Andre Fleury? Dude come on! 4 goals on 14 shots? An .853 Save % through 3 games? Just isn’t going to cut it. Flower needs to play better. Granted we were missing our top two shutdown defensemen but still. When you’ve averaging over 3 goals (3.41) against per game, you aren’t going to win a lot of games. Something is wrong with his psyche at this point and I’m starting to wonder if he’ll ever get back to the level we saw in the two Stanley Cup Finals.

The Pens are generating a lot of good scoring opportunities they just need to start putting the puck in the net. Maybe it's just been a case of playing some good teams early on, and perhaps their next opponent can provide just the tonic the Pens need to snap out of this early funk.

Pens are now 0-3 at the Consol Energy Center. Not exactly how Penguin fans would have scripted it. They’ll try Friday night against the Islanders to get their first win in the new barn.