Oh, our silly hockey loving Pittsburgh brethren. From the epic 'WWGRD?' to the Pensblog's daily shenanigans and the Flyers/Penguins statue jersey wars, they always have something creative and a little out of the ordinary up their sleeves. So naturally, when Marian Hossa defected to Detroit after losing the SCF to the Wings -- the ultimate slap in the face an athlete could give to his fans -- the folks in Pittsburgh responded in a way only that only the folks in Pittsburgh can. They set his jersey on fire and put it on YouTube for all to see. After all, nothing says 'I hate you' like a fireworks laced burning effigy. I think I can safely say that any of us would have done the same given the circumstances, if of course, we had pyromaniac tendencies.
And clearly, FanHouse recommends that you DO NOT try this at home.
Much was made Wednesday of Marian Hossa's decision to sign a one-year deal with Stanley Cup champion Detroit, rather than take one of several lucrative multi-year offers that were available to him.
While Detroit is a fine team with fine fans, it's hard to get past the idea that Hossa simply didn't want to play for Pittsburgh anymore.
Once Hossa bolted, attention turned to Rangers captain Jaromir Jagr, who started his NHL career in Pittsburgh. While he was booed lustily during the Rangers' playoff series against the Penguins, it was still assumed that the Pens had a good shot at signing Jagr.
After all, who doesn't want to play with Sidney Crosby?
Evidently, Jaromir Jagr is going to pass on that chance.
The biggest name on the free agent market this summer has found a new home, and it's not a home many people expected him to end up in. As he promised, Marian Hossa did indeed sign a contract for less than market value to win a Stanley Cup. The surprising part? It's a one year deal with the Detroit Red Wings.
In many places this will be spun as "Hossa just wants to win." This is complete and utter horsepucky. Hossa wants to have his cake and eat it, too. Prior to Detroit's one-year, $7.4 million offer, it looked like Hossa's choices were to take a monstrous deal from Edmonton or Vancouver, or sign for slightly less money with a more serious contender like Pittsburgh or Montreal. He seems to have definitely left a seven-year, $50 million offer from the Penguins on the table. Now Hossa gets his shot at the Cup this year, and if it works out he gets his huge payday next year. In the all-time Mercenary Move Hall of Fame, this one is a first-ballot inductee.
As many have already noted, Hossa fits in perfectly with the Wings. He's a great two-way player and this one year deal lets them shoot for a repeat in 2009, then leaves plenty of cap room to deal with Henrik Zetterberg and Johan Franzen, who will be UFAs after next year. In purely hockey terms, it's a great move for Hossa and Detroit. In terms of karma? Hossa's really tempting the universe on this one.
No matter what happens this afternoon, it appears that the Pittsburgh Penguins are going to take care of at least one huge part of their off-season puzzle today. Word has leaked out that Evgeni Malkin is expected to finalize his extension with the team and an announcement should be forthcoming either sometime this afternoon or tomorrow.
According to TSN, the deal is a pretty simple one in that it exactly mirrors Sidney Crosby's deal at 5 years and $8.7 million. Since Malkin's at about the same point in his career that Crosby was last summer (a good rookie year and a breakout second year), it makes a lot of sense. It works out to a discount for the Penguins over market value, since Malkin could probably make in excess of $10 million a year if he were to test free agency.
Malkin's deal takes effect starting with the 2009/2010 season since his rookie contract applies to next year, so Ray Shero should have some idea of what kind of cap space he's got to work with when dealing with guys like Brooks Orpik and Marian Hossa today. As it looks right now, it's going to be about a $17 million yearly hit for Malkin and Crosby, which isn't too bad for two of the best players in the world.
We've known for a little while that Gary Roberts probably wasn't going to return to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Tuesday, Roberts' agent told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that he would return to the NHL, but not the Penguins. Yesterday we got a step closer to finding out who one of the potential suitors could be. Who else but the Tampa Bay Lightning, who seem to have their hand in everything that goes on around the NHL these days.
Yesterday the Lightning acquired the rights to Roberts and teammate Ryan Malone from the Penguins in exchange for a conditional draft pick which hinges on whether or not the Bolts can sign Malone. Pittsburgh receives a third rounder in 2009 if he inks with Tampa, a fourth rounder if he doesn't.
This move seems to make sense for both teams. For Pittsburgh, they receive something for two players that were likely not to re-sign with them -- but still could re-sign with them. Chances are though that the Penguins would not have made this move if they thought they were likely to sign one/both players. On the other end, Tampa Bay gets first dibs on negotiating with the pair, only days before they would hit the open market on July 1.
Probably the most hard hit about the move were those at Pensblog, the home of the slogan "WWGRD?" Their feelings might best be summed up by this quote from commenter Julia:
"my heart just fell in my butt"
There you have it, folks. The hearts of Penguins fans are now in their butts.
From time to time, FanHouse has the distinct pleasure of getting English translations of stories that appear in the pages of Sovetsky Sport, Russia's leading sports newspaper, courtesy of Sovetsky's Washington correspondent, Dmitry Chesnokov. Most recently, we obtained the following translation of a story that will appear in tomorrow's edition of Sovetsky, an interview of Gennady Velichkin, the general director of Mettalurg Magnitogorsk, by Sovetsky reporter Pavel Lysenkov.
Many of you may recall that Mettalurg Magnitogorsk was Evgeni Malkin's club in the Russian Super League before he left for North America and an entry-level contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Now, Mettalurg Magnitogorsk is a charter member of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), set to begin play next September.
He answered that question, and a lot more that ought to give the NHL something to think about over the next few years. Over the weekend, NHL VP Bill Daly said that he's not worried about the advent of the new Russian league. Given the comments that follow by Velichkin, he might want to think twice about that. The translation follows after the jump.
The biggest name in this year's free agent class might not be headed back to Pittsburgh after all.
In Ottawa for the 2008 NHL Entry Draft, Penguins GM Ray Shero announced to the press that the 29-year old Slovak winger that the Penguins had acquired at the deadline and very nearly helped them win a Stanley Cup had broken off talks with the team and would become an unrestricted free agent on July 1. Shero also hastened to add that this break in the talks didn't mean that the Penguins would give up trying to bring Hossa back to Pittsburgh.
This announcement brings up two immediate questions: Just which team other than Pittsburgh has the will and wallet to offer Hossa a new home? Let me nominate the New York Rangers, a team that will have somewhere North of $12 million in cap space to play with if they let go of unrestricted free agents Jaromir Jagr, Brendan Shanahan and Sean Avery.
The second question for Pens fans is this: In light of what may be his eventual departure, was the price the Pens paid to obtain Hossa from Atlanta worth it? I know looking back it's easy to second guess Shero, but don't count me among those who do. If a bounce or two goes another way, a six-game series like the Finals can shift in an instant, and I'm happy to make the argument that the Pens wouldn't have been anywhere near the Finals without Hossa in the lineup.
Early this morning, the news broke that the new Russian Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) was poised to offer Evgeni Malkin an obscene amount of cash to play hockey back in his home country. It seemed like a scary rumor for Penguin fans at first, but it doesn't look like it has any legs. First, the IIHF condemned the KHL's move by threatening sanctions (as in "No Olympics or World Championships for Russia) for signing away NHL players under contract, then Malkin's agent said that his client has no intention of leaving Pittsburgh by choice:
"He's not interested in (playing in Russia)," Barry said. " He wants to stay in Pittsburgh. He wants them to keep, hopefully, as many of these players together (as possible) and he wants to try to make a run next year."
Call me crazy, but it seems to me that Malkin just might end up playing in Pittsburgh next year. Despite the KHL's boasting of having more money than the NHL, the level of competition will certainly be higher in the North American League. So long as it's the best league in the world, it's going to be difficult to pry the best players in the world away.
``There's absolutely nothing to it,'' Lombardi said of rumors that the Kings might trade for Malkin. ``I talked to (the Penguins) as part of my due diligence to talk to every team. Then I hear all these reports that we're getting him. I had to call Ray (Shero, Penguins GM) this morning and say, `I hear I'm trading for him. What am I giving you?'''
Meanwhile, across town at the LA Times, Lisa Dilman has her own interview with Lombardi where he declares he's keeping the second pick in the draft even though three teams have made him offers. And though it's widely though that Lombardi would select defenseman Drew Doughty of the Guelph Storm, he declined to say anything definite about who he would pick.
Malkin for [Mike] Cammalleri and what could be blue-chip defenseman Drew Doughty or Russian dynamo Nikita Filatov would be at best a steal for the Kings and, at worst, close to equal value once the rookies ripen.
No kidding. Greg goes on to add that a deal like this could be a real moment of truth for the Kings franchise, and I can't disagree. If this rumor is even close to being true, and when you're dealing with Garrioch you always have to wonder out loud whether or not it is, there's no reason in my mind that LA GM Dean Lombardi wouldn't be doing anything and everything in his power to get the paperwork on this signed, sealed and delivered before Pittsburgh GM Ray Shero changes his mind.
But as mind boggling as this deal might be, there's another question we ought to be asking: Whether or not Malkin wants to stay in Pittsburgh, is it really in his best interest to do so?
I can't help but think back to the just completed season and recall that Malkin didn't come into his own until Sidney Crosby was lost to injury. No matter how long Malkin might be in Pittsburgh, the Penguins will always be Crosby's team. Maybe moving 3,000 miles and lifting a team on his own shoulders might just show us what Malkin could really do?
The biggest name on the free agent market this summer has found a new home, and it's not a home many people expected him to end up in. As he promised, 
No matter what happens this afternoon, it appears that the Pittsburgh Penguins are going to take care of at least one huge part of their off-season puzzle today. Word has leaked out that 
From time to time, FanHouse has the distinct pleasure of getting English translations of stories that appear in the pages of Sovetsky Sport, Russia's leading sports newspaper, courtesy of 
Early this morning, the news broke that the new Russian Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) was poised to offer 
The best hockey blog you're probably not reading these days is 
