More Staal Trade Rumors

As the draft approaches there are more Staal trade rumours running rampant.  The latest rumor is coming from Chicago.  The rumor is that Chicago is willing to offer defensive guru Dave Bolland, and at least Brandon Saad in return for Jordan Staal.  There is some talk that the Hawks are very interested and flexible, possibily willing to include defenseman Nick Leddy or Niklas Hjalmarsson in the deal.  I would assume we would need to package somebody else with Staal to get Bolland, Leddy, and Saad.  Bolland is a great third line center who showed great playoff grit and shutdown capability in the Hawks run to Cup a year ago, and he can add some offense as well with 19 goals and 18 assists in the 2011-12 season.  He is a 3.4M player with two more years on his deal.  He does not have the offensive upside of Staal, but does play shutdown defense, with a 40 point per year offensive capability.  Prototypical third line center for this Penguins team.  Nick Leddy is a 21 year old defenseman who had 34 assists last year, to go along with 3 goals, and is signed at 1.1M per year with one more year left prior to being an RFA.  Leddy was also a -12, but is only 21 years old.  Leddy and Bolland would roughly equal Staal's cap hit, and would replace the defensive aspect of the third line center, and add another good young defenseman to the Pittsburgh core. This would give them more deal capability.  If they could also wrangle Brandon Saad, who is signed for several more years at 894K, and adds some young offensive ability at the wing, this could become quite tempting for Pittsburgh.  To give you an idea about Saad, he played a few games as a first year pro at the NHL level, and did not look out of place at all.  During his first season at Saginaw of the OHL he had 34 goals, and 42 assists and played to a plus 35 in his first regular season.  He added 8 more goals and 9 assists in 12 playoff games.  This deal  addresses several areas of need, stays cap friendly, and moves Staal to the West, where he is only an issue if we make the Finals.  Some people have Hjalmarsson as the other defenseman in the mix v Leddy, and I like him as a big player at 6'3" and 207 lbs with shutdown capability but he adds 3.5M in cap hit for the next two years.  A package of Bolland, Saad, and Hjalmarsson is very attractive, but would necessitate some salary movement the other way.  The upside is that Hjalmarsson is a big shut down guy who played to a plus 9 while adding a goal and 14 assists, which is just what the Penguins need.  Leddy on the other hand, had offensive capability, but was -12.  At 21 years old, there is great room for him to improve though.  Again, I am not a proponent of moving Staal, but if we HAVE to do it, I like getting him out of the East, and I like adding Bolland, Saad, and to me Hjalmarsson, all young players., all of whom would address immediate needs.  Adding the big defenseman would necessitate the movement of another player either in this deal or another, but I expect Pittsburgh to move Martin to a defense oriented team for a minimal return in a salary dump, which would more than allow for this deal to happen.  Interesting to think about.  Saad being a Pittsburgh kid would give the Penguins a very strong marketing angle in addition to an exciting top 6 winger prospect for the system.

Who is this guy?? Why do I care? Part One

If you are a personal friend or a long time reader of Mazmania some of this may sound redundant and boring, so feel free to skip it.  However, some newer readers, particularly as a result of my opportunity with Pens Report have asked who are you? how did you end up this crazy about hockey and the Pens in particular?  If you know me, you know that asking me a question about one of my passions is a mistake unless you truly want DETAIL!  So the LONG answer to the above is as follows: 

I am a  blue collar kid from Munhall PA, who knew NOTHING about hockey at all and did not care for the first 15 years of my life.  As is typical of a blue collar Pittsburgh kid from that era, the Steelers were my passion.  My room was adorned with photos of Mean Joe, Jack Splat, Franco Harris, and Ernie Holmes.  I loved the Pitt Panthers second, then the Pirates.  I had no clue about the game of hockey.  Then came the 1980 Olympics, and by the end of those games, I was shooting hockey balls for hours against the side of the house, and playing in a street hockey league.  I began to follow the Penguins, and as you you know, those were some lean years, but all in all it was a fun game to watch and inexpensive to attend.  The first real hope came with the drafting of Lemieux, though success was not overnight by any stretch. I had no idea how much the Penguins would matter over the course of my life at that point, as I was a fan, but not a fanatic.  My first glimpse of fanaticism came during the 1988-89 season, memorialized by the "There's a team in the building" VHS tape.  I had just graduated from the University of Pittsburgh, and immediately got into a serious relationship with a girl who would become my wife of now 23 years.  The wedding occurred  not much more than a year after we started dating. Lisa was a fan of the Penguins, and worked for an insurance company who was the recipient of a lot of complimentary tickets from law firms and other vendors, so I had the benefit of not only a girl I was falling fast for, but one with great Pens tickets all the time!  There were several news worthy moments that year including taking my future nephew to the game on New Years Eve where Mario scored 5 goals 5 ways on the way to an 8-6 win, to a noteworthy night I have talked about recently with Tony Granato.  I was engaged to be married on Saturday night January 14th. 1989  at the LeMont, and as part of the weekend, we were staying at the hotel across from the arena.  As we were checking in that day, I wound up in the elevator with a young Tony Granato, and the Rangers enforcer at the time Rudy Poeschek.  I will leave it with this.  Words were exchanged, threats were made, and a cocky young Pittsburgher is probably fortunate that Poeschek did not kill him prior to his engagement!  Lisa and I were married on October 21, 1989 and the Pens lost to the Sabres that day. The day remains a highlight of my life despite the good guys losing to Buffalo!    After missing the playoffs the following year, we got to witness the Penguins transform themselves into two time Stanley Cup Champions, attending most of the home games along the way. We were even lucky enough to be behind the goal that Mario Lemieux scored with 12 seconds left to complete a great come from behind game one win in the 1992 Stanley Cup Finals!  I will never forget that feeling, or the sound of Old Lady Mellon at that point for as long as I live!  In the interest of brevity, I will move quickly through some highlights of the nineties.  I was in my room in our first home in Munhall as a couple, packing for a golf outing the next day when Volek beat Barrasso to help the Islanders upset Pittsburgh, ending our dreams of a three peat in a season in which the Penguins tore the league to shreds and seemed destined to win their third straight Cup.  I was speechless for two days. I also remember in April of 1997 watching a Penguins/Flyers playoff game with buddies in a bar in Philadelphia wearing a Penguins jersey against the advice of everyone.  However, I threw those Philadelphians a curve they could not handle.  I wore a Rick Tocchet Penguins jersey!  Their looks of hatred, turned to confusion, and ultimately turned into me making some pretty good friends for a night in enemy territory.  Some other interesting footnotes of the middle nineties include the following. My wife went into labor while we were watching the Pens v Capitals playoff game on 5/6/95, and my first daughter Alison was born the next day!  A night and day that forever changed my/our lives for the good, and despite the 5-4 loss, those two days are amongst the best days of my life as they brought me my first child, who, along with her sister became the focal point of our live. Despite the temporary change it brought to my family, nothing means more to me than being the husband and father in my family.   Just about the time we thought we MIGHT be getting used to having one daughter, we found out that Lisa was pregnant with our second daughter, Krista.  My second wonderful child was born on 12/30/96, again forever changing our lives for the better, and in an odd twist of fate, my favorite team was playing.....you guessed it, the Capitals, winning 5-3 this time. My wedding, and the birth of my two kids remain the three best days of my life, and oddly there was a Penguins connection to all three!  The next stretch of years saw less time for our passionate following of the Penguins, as Lisa and I were adjusting to and loving the task of raising two great young girls, and in 1999 I risked everything we had to start my company, Litigation Solutions, which took the remaining time not to devoted to my/our young family.  We followed the Penguins, but two infants/toddlers/young kids AND leaving a VP level job to start a company from scratch did not allow for a fanatical approach to fandom for us.  By the early 2000's that may have been a blessing since the Penguins were in financial trouble and basically giving away stars such as Jagr and Kovalev,while falling to the bottom of the pack in anticipation of the lockout.  The year leading up to the lockout, the lockout itself, and the year post lockout did three things for me/us.  First, it was part of a stretch starting in 2003 and ending in 2006 where the first round picks of Pittsburgh were Fleury, Malkin, Crosby, and Staal! It was tough to not be REALLY excited about a possible second "golden age" of Penguins hockey.  Second, my kids were getting older, my wife and I were thriving, and after some lean early years, my business was beginning to stabilize, then thrive, which allowed us more casual time and time to reconnect with a mutual passion.  Finally, the lockout itself was a smack in the mouth that made me/us realize just how much we loved this game!  I was overjoyed when the lockout ended, and on 8/4/2005, even more excited to learn that my favorite team had signed Caps defenseman Sergei Gonchar to a 5 year 25 million dollar deal!  Gonch, who scored two goals against the Penguins, the night my wife was about to give birth to Alison, and who was one of the best offensive defensemen in the game, was coming to Pittsburgh to support the young guns already in place! Anyway, the Penguins were not very good that year, but fun to watch, and we went to as many games as we could.  You could see Crosby's talent, AND my kids seemed to enjoy the game. And for the first time in my life, I could afford season tickets, and bought them for the 2006-07 season, A-28, seats 1-4, Row F, right on top of the entrance of the visiting team!!  The next several years, the Penguins would be a big part of the lives of my entire family, just as they had been for Lisa and I.  We went to just about every home game, some away games, built an addition on our home meant to be a Penguins party place that has been featured on local news, and on the NHL network, got a Penguins sleeve tattooed on my arm, and became the focal point of a Root Sports commercial for the Penguins.  Along the way, we had a lot of great moments with rival players and Penguins players, as indeed the second golden age of Penguins hockey was upon us!  I will chronicle as much of that as I can in Part Two of this post.

More ramblings of a frustrated fan

I find myself addicted to the NHL playoffs still, despite my bitter disappointment relative to another early exit by my favorite team.   As I watch this year's playoffs, a couple of things have become apparent.  First, the officiating sucks.  And that is being kind.  Second, they don't even call the game as dictated by the rules when it comes to interference as a method of slowing down the star power of the opposition.  The teams who remain have gotten to the final four of these playoffs have gotten there by using 4 lines they trust to produce, getting great goaltending, along with team defense and shot blocking.  The scoring though not dominated by anybody since Giroux's abuse of the Penguins, has been plentiful but balanced up and down the lineups of the successful teams.  When I realized that the NHL playoff scoring leader is STILL Claude Giroux with 17 points in 10 games for a 1.7 PPG average, I got to thinking about the criticism levelled at Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin for not playing like stars in the Flyers series and "costing" Pittsburgh the series.  First, let's acknowledge Staal who had 9 points in 6 games for a 1.5 PPG average, which would still be second in PPG in the post season.  Great showing there. Malkin and Crosby had 8 points each in those same six games for a 1.33 PPG average.  The remaining NHL playoff scoring leaders are Dustin Brown at 1.14 PPG, Anze Kopitar at 1.07 PPG, and Ilya Kovalchuk at 1 PPG.  Outside of Giroux who feasted on weak goaltending and defense by Pittsburgh, all three of the Pittsburgh centers have more points per game than any remaining scoring leader.  Yes, we all expected MORE from 87 and 71 offensively, but in reality they were 3rd and 4th in the league behind Giroux and Staal, which is not bad at all.   The two headed monster played well enough in the current league environment offensively for Pittsburgh to advance.  The Penguins got poor goaltending, poor team defense, poor penalty killing, and could not clear the front of their net or block enough shots in comparison to the Flyers and the teams I am watching compete at this point in the year.  As I relate this to the three center debate, and general Penguins issues, it is tough to not feel that they need an upgrade at backup netminder, an upgrade in size and nastiness on the blue line., and some balance in the bottom of the 6 of the forwards.  The trick is the amount of money tied up in the top end talent down the middle including Fleury, and the cash into Martin and Michalek relative to their return.  The Penguins blue line is built largely for puck moving capability in what was supposed to be a more free wheeling league as opposed to a more physical group.  I think they need to do a couple of things here.  First and foremost, they have to move Martin.  Have to.  His 5M in cap space for the return they get is detrimental to the team,.  There are fits out there for Martin if we dont get greedy in the return, as his movement is addition by subtraction.  That cap space can be used to address the backup goaltending, sign Niskanen or a key third or fourth line character guy.  A blue line of Orpik/Letang, Michalek/Niskanen and Engelland/Despres with Strait and Bortuzzo or Lovejoy as the 7th would be solid, and still leave room for a MINOR tweak.  If management decides they need a major overhaul, it probably means the movement of one of the three centers, and despite my personal disagreement if that is the case, it is likely to be Staal, which bothers me based on his value defensively and on the PK.  If that is the case, I think the Pens will have lots of options, some of which I address based on the Yohe article naming possible dance partners, but I am sure there will be plenty of others.  Of the ones mentioned by Yohe, I am intrigued by the Leafs, as Burke values Staal more than most, and has a history of valuing Paul Martin.  If we could wind up without Martin's salary, as a deal sweetener for losing Staal and got back Luke Schenn who is big and nasty, as well as signed long term at 1.5M less than Martin, and a Tyler Bozak and David Steckel it could be a win/win.  We may need to throw in a mid round pick or a Lovejoy maybe, but getting Steckel gives the Pens a big face off winning center, Bozak, a solid third line center to replace Staal, and Schenn a big, tough, skilled blue liner. This  is a nice balance of grit and skill for Pittsburgh coming back at least.  The Pens would be moving 9M-9.5M  in cap hits, with Staal due for a big raise after next year, and getting back 6.2M in cap space with Schenn locked up long term and Bozak and Steckel up after the next year like Staal.  But they would have 3M still in extra cap space to continue adding to the team. That is enough for a solid backup goaltender with change left over.  With that change left over and Niskanen's salary, you might have enough cash for some additional secondary scoring.  Think of a blue line that has Orpik, Letang, Schenn, Michalek,  Engelland, and Despres, as Niskanen probably is gone if Schenn were added.  Add to that a more balanced group of forwardsm and better backup netminding.  Sounds a lot like the balance noted above for playoff success.  All conjecture, and none of it may happen, but it is fun to think of the myriad of possibilities for this team.  Also the ramblings of a mad man.

Mike Milbury vs. Jeremy Roenick over Dustin Brown hit (PUCK DADDY)

when idiots fight

Eric Tangradi 2011-2012 Highlights

Penguins GM Ray Shero is faced with many tough decisons in the offseason, and the one that is getting the most attention involves the efficacy of the three center model.  Another is the need to move Paul Martin if possible.  But another interesting decision involves Eric Tangradi, a 6'4' 232 lb winger who can play with an edge.  Tangradi was acquired along with Chris Kunitz on February 26, 2009 for blue liner Ryan Whitney, and many thought he was going to be the better long term asset in the deal. He drew favorable comparisons to legendary power forward Kevin Stevens, and was pencilled as a top six winger for Pittsburgh in the near future.  Tangradi who earned $845,000 last season is a restricted free agent this summer, and after
another season where Tangradi was unable to distinguish himself on the big club, Shero has to decide what to do about Tangradi. He played in 24 regular season games, earning just 2 assists and playing to a minus 4.  There is a camp who says that Coach Bylsma never gave Tango a fair chance by not playing him with top 6 caliber linemates, and I don't totally disagree, but in 24 games, he needed to show up much more than he did regardless of linemates. He played a bit better in the playoffs, playing in 2 games, earning an assist, a +2 rating and 3 shots on goal.  The Pens have to decide if another year or two is worth it to see if Eric can make the jump to the big club.  The kid was picked 42nd overall in the second round of the 2007 draft by Anaheim, wound up the captain of the Belleville Bulls of the OHL, and in 2007 posted 38 goals and 88 points in just 55 games which created the expectation of top 6 NHL power forward.  In his two seasons in Wilkes Barre Scranton in 79 regular season games played, he tallied 33 goals and  31 assists.  He added 4 goals and 5 assists in 10 playoff games this season, or nearly one point per game.  You can see the scoring touch in those numbers.  So, to me, it is apparent that playing in the top 6 for Pittsburgh is not in Tangradi's immediate future.  Despite the fact that this was the hope, that does not mean that Tangradi is not valuable IF he can use his size and physical edge to be a productive third liner.  The Penguins could use a player with some hands, who has size and some nastiness to play a regular shift in the top nine.  The issue for Tangradi will be his skating ability and his ability to be responsible defensively.  If Tango will sign another deal in a similar price range, it is worth it to me to see if he can bring some net front presence and a physical edge to the third line of the Penguins.  The Penguins may decide that he does not "fit the Bylsma system" and package him as part of another deal, or make a lower level deal on draft day, as I still believe that Tangradi's size and potential may make him a player who is of interest to another team whose system he may fit better.  Before you laugh, Sykora and Fedotenko who did not fit the system here are playing pretty prominent roles for two teams who are in the conference finals.  So, if the Penguins do not think he has a shot at filling a role on the third line, I do think they will try to move him this summer.  His size and physicality make him an interesting player and he is still young, but the clock is ticking here in Pittsburgh.   I would love to see him sign a reasonable deal, and fight for a top nine role with Pittsburgh for at least one more season, as that kind of size and nose for the net is hard to find.

Battling Man Caves

Hockey is a sport that engenders passionate fandom for lack of a better or real word.  Fans express themselves in many ways in their passionate support of their teams.  I went to youtube and typed in hockey man cave to see what would come up.  And this should not surprise me that two of the best were tied to Flyers fans, as they have a very passionate following.  I have posted the links to several man caves for your offseason enjoyment.  The two links above are great Flyers mancaves.  I will include mine, and another Penguins fan's mancave for your review as well.  As I find others with that kind of insanity, I will post for your review  also.

Alex Goligoski boarded by Ansi Salmela at World Championships

Two thoughts come to mind here for me. First, I remain a fan of ex Penguin Alex Goligoski and hate to see this happen to him, and second, scary thing for NHL franchises to have their top end talent subjected to injury with no return for them.  Glad most of the Pens opted out of this.