Canada Day and Some Free Agent Frenzy Aftermath

By DR Hook     July 2, 2009

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Canada Day (Fête du Canada) has nothing to do with Free Agent Frenzy except that most Canadians have the day off to watch many of these GM’s and Owners play the part of fools and yesterday was no exception.

Not all of this has directly to do with the Penguins but let’s start with the list of future snafu’s in the making :

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2009 Entry Draft… Penguin Prediction 1st and 2nd round

By DR Hook     June 24, 2009

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The 2009 Entry Draft is this Friday and Saturday from the Bell Centre.

There are what seems to be a record number of detailed projections available.  Now what’s totally hilarious about almost all of these publications and websites offering the latest scoop is that they are almost the same. And while most of these services cost a few pennies they are about the same as the lists that can be found at  Hockey’s Future: The Hockey Prospects Resource which is free.

The MOCK Drafts that take place are also pretty funny as most every one of these are performed by media-types and/or wannabe hockey-scout fans who read publication after publication and make picks based on a lot of things determined by somebody that they really don’t know.  BTW, I’m no different… but,

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TOUGH DECISIONS – the STANLEY CUP Pittsburgh Penguin Offseason…

By DR Hook     June 17, 2009

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The Parade is over and the memories will linger on forever yet the team management gets no rest.
The Secondary Awards Banquet is tomorrow… the Entry Draft next week… and Free Agency about a week later so there is no time to rest for Ray Shero and his management team.
What should they do?  Let’s first lay a few assumptions out there… that the Salary Cap remains at $56.7 million and our current Salary Cap Hit is $46.835 million.

The Pens have (10) players… Satan, Sykora, Fedotenko, Guerin, Zigomanis, Adams, Gill, Boucher, Scuderi, and Garon as UFA’s that were on the final roster. Plus, a few other UFA’s – Pesonen, Taffe, and Minard who were at WB/S.  They also have (4) RFA’s – Goligoski, Lovejoy, Bissonnette, and Curry. That’s (14) players and contracts where decisions need to be made.
That’s why we are here – to help Shero make his decisions!  You do know that this is where he comes for advice, right.

Let’s start with who not to keep. In others words no contract offered.  I have selected (5) players:

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Hossa… a Detroit Red Wing JINX

By DR Hook     June 10, 2009

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Here we are off to the JLA… and really – why the heck are we so happy?

• Our Flightless Birdies are 0 for 3 there.
• Crosby is a MINUS 3 and no points in those games.
• Our late season additions Guerin and Kunitz combined have ZIPPO points and are a combined MINUS 4.
• Someone must have done something there, right… yet Gonchar also has zero points.
• And Staal? He’s followed suit too, with no friggin points.
• Fleury is holding down a healthy 4.33 GAA and a .857 SV% isn’t bringing a bundle of confidence either.                                     

So why is everyone so happy?

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Letang: He’s better than Gonchar & Lidstrom… RIGHT NOW

By DR Hook     June 4, 2009

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The pre-game storyline hype for tonight are mostly about Marian Hossa scoring 2 goals in another game 4 and that Pavel Datsyuk practiced with his team yesterday. Will Datsyuk play in Game 4 or will they keep him out until Game 5? Will Hossa continue his Game 4 – 2 goal production? If Datsyuk does play will he take some of the defensive pressure off of  Henrik Zetterberg who has been shadowing Crosby for three games?

Ya gotta luv the drama surrounding all this stuff. 

Experienced Trophy Lifter

Overlooked in all this hoopla is the play of Kris Letang. I have to believe that the rumors that floated around before Game 3 about Phillippe Boucher replacing Letang was total misdirection drama just like the…

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DR Hook’s 1st ANNUAL… Stanley Cup Predictions – (Any of that GYPSY left in your tank?)

By DR Hook     May 28, 2009

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Are the Penguins better than the CUP teams??? Not yet they aren’t…

By DR Hook     May 25, 2009

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Bill Guerin, from his interview on the PENS WOOHOO Train                               (Click here: Guerin BEST TEAM ) says this year’s Pens are the best offensive team he’s played for in his entire career…  ”Sid and Geno bring their talent level and they make everybody else better. They make everybody else’s talent level go up, as well. That’s just what they do for us; they make everybody around them better.”

Not that it’s real big news… the Flyers saw it starting last season and puked watching it first-hand up close again this season. The Capitals got a tatse of it – and if you don’t get it that blank stare, almost trance-like, in the Joe Corvo interview should tell the whole story from the Hurricanes POV. The PENS are downright…

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