Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Trade Deadline Stuff

I should REALLY be studying for a big test I have tonight.

But I’m not.

Oh well.

Instead I think I’ll write a post for complete strangers to read about the NHL trade deadline. Seems like a much better use of my time.

NHL Trade Deadline = Today. Hit the Pensblog for all sorts of fun stuff.

The Pens picked up Craig Adams and another guy I’ve never heard of. Hard to get too fired up there, but Adams was snagged off waivers, so it didn't cost diddly. He’s a decent grit guy and comes on the cheap. I can live with seeing him on the fourth line, doing the checking/ PK thing and maybe even some enforcer duty. Empty Netters has some of his fighting clips. Good stuff.

The other guy not only is a nobody, he has a difficult-to-spell last name. Needless to say, I’m all sorts of fired up about the Andy Wozniewski era in Pittsburgh. EN is saying that he’s a monster of a player who isn’t physical. No wonder this guy is 28 and has played a whopping 77 NHL games. Let’s hope we never have to see him in a Pens uni.

Also, Miroslav Lucifer cleared waivers. He can now go to the Baby Pens if the Pens decide that’s what they want. This will be a very interesting situation to keep an eye on, especially if the Pens acquire somebody of higher consequence than Craig Adams and Miro’s spot is gone for good. Speaking of which…

Something much bigger has to be on the way. Dunno what. The rumors are flying about, but I can’t really buy most of them. Some of the bigger names being floated on the big boy sites are guys like Jay Bouwmeester, Nik Antropov, Eric Cole, Olli Jokinen, Mark Recchi, Bill Guerin and Ryan Smyth. Obviously the Pens figure to only be looking for forwards. Not that I think they will, but do you think it’d be awkward in the Pens locker room if they landed Eric Cole? After all, Brooksy practically assassinated Cole a few years ago and the guy has never been the same since. Maybe Recchi can come back to Pittsburgh for 14th different time? (Just kidding, that’s a terrible idea)

I wouldn’t call it a live blog, but I’m going to try to check back in with anything else that happens between now and about 3:20 P.M. Anything after that and you are on your own, as I have these annoying things called “class” and “a midterm” to attend until quite late this evening.

1:47 UPDATE: Not much of substance happening right now. The Recchin’ Ball is headed to Beantown to suit up for the Bruins. I’m happy to see him get out of hockey hell down in Tampa Bay, and he is going to one of the top Stanley Cup contenders. This gives the B’s an early lead in the “What other team should I root for besides the Pens to win the Cup?” Race.

In other news, the Pens are reportedly zeroing in on Bill Guerin and… Jarkko Ruutu. I’m not a big fan of either player coming to town, but Ruutu especially. I just don’t see how adding another gritty 3rd/4th liner is the answer. Don’t we already have like 10 of those guys? Isn’t that one of our big problems? That we have too many gritty guys and not enough guys who can bury the puck. Jarks has just 5 goals this season and scores less than once every 11 games for his career. Unless we can convince him and his brother Tuomo to pull a “Parent Trap” style switch, I don’t think this is a helpful addition to the roster.

As for Guerin, I'm having trouble getting too fired up simply because he isn't going to give us any more production than the guy we just waived, Miro Satan. If we do get him, it'd better be on the cheap

2:03 Update: Now they are saying that Guerin is coming to Pittsburgh. Maybe I should start talking bad about Jay Bouwmeester and then...poof! He'll come to Pittsburgh. Not sure what we're giving up but if it's anyone on the big league roster this gets a Mehhhhhhhhhhhh from me. Guerin's stat line on the season: 16 G 20 A -15 +/-, 61 G, 17:12 TOI. That +/- is nasty. I'm going to have to check out some Islander info to see just how legit that number is or if that team is just god awful and Henrik Zetterberg couldn't a have a good +/- there.

2:14 Update: Evidently all we gave up for Guerin was a conditional draft pick, no higher than a third rounder. I can definitely live with that. I still am not sold that he's an improvement over Satan, but that's pretty low cost for a solid scorer like Guerin.

2:32 Update: This figures to mean that the Pens are done. I wouldn't be too surprised if they did pull off another, very minor trade, but I think this is probably it. With that in mind, I'm going to sign off here. If anything happens, I won't be talking about it until much later tonight, as I'm off to do some college-student things.

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