Bye Bye Whit

Pittsburgh shipped Ryan Whitney to Anaheim today in exchange for Chris Kunitz and prospect Eric Tangradi. This makes it pretty clear that Whitney's absence in Pitt's game against the Islanders because of a 'family situation in Boston' clearly meant 'He went to Boston to meet up with the Ducks who play there tonight.'

I'm a Whitney fan. He's a BU alum who I got to see play his first seasons pro in Wilkes-Barre. He's awesome when he wants to be, but he hasn't been the same recently. Blame it on the foot surgery, whatever. I think it's because they took his biffles Matt Murley and Colby Armstrong away from him. He's probably still dealing with that emotionally.

(I'm joking of course ... sort of.)

One cool thing about this trade: Eric Tangradi (as mentioned in this previous post) played hockey for Wyoming Seminary in Kingston, PA. Kingston is right next to Wilkes-Barre, so it's very possible he'll head back to familiar territory if he sees time with the Baby Pens.

We'll see how this pans out. Pittsburgh gets rid of another guy that was originally part of their foundation. It's pretty sad if you ask me. But it is what it is.

Edit: Well, I'm officially a jerk. Whitney was actually in Boston for his mother who was undergoing brain surgery for removal of a tumor. I feel awful, but I know I wasn't the only one that thought it was a huge coincidence he was in Boston when the Ducks were. Prayers for Mrs. Whitney. Get well soon!

Seriously guys ... badminton.

Just came across this interview courtesy of The Power Play. It features one of my faves, and I'm sorry, but I think it's hilarious. It's pretty much a serious interview ... but it's about badminton!! How is that serious? And Seto gives serious answers. Hahahaha. Maybe it's just me.

Some Quick Bites ...

Some quick things going around the hockey world:

+ The Rangers fired Tom Renney after they lost 10 of the past 12 games. They're the Rangers though, come on. They will choke no matter what. This time it was during the regular season as opposed to in the playoffs.

+ BU remains ranked number one in the nation after three ties in their past four games. They tied Maine two weekends ago (one night after destroying them), and tied Northeastern twice this past weekend. I made it to the Northeastern game at Agganis on Friday. These two teams are fun to watch. I thought BU dominated the first period, but NU stepped it up after that and tied the game. I just have to give props to Matt Gilroy's move he made that led to one of BU's first period goals. It was beautiful. Thank you Matt Gilroy.

+ In other college news, Denver moved up three spots to fifth in the nation. Boston College officially dropped off the map. I don't think many people saw that coming at the start of the year. They're kind of reminding me of BU's season last year except BU had a good second half whereas BC .. not so much. And how about UMass-Lowell creeping in at number 20? Good for them.

+ In news that only hockey bloggers and blog readers would care about: A few days ago, Sean Leahy from PuckDaddy wrote a piece about the 'Brian Burke' account on Twitter. The same one everyone knows is fake -- including Leahy. Anyway, the infamous Eklund (I say infamous because I don't know too many people who like him all that much .. sorry bud) from HockeyBuzz.com jumped on it and said he contacted Burke, and it is not his real account. DUH. He says he made the call after reading Leahy's piece on PuckDaddy and added how it pissed off the GM blah blah. Maybe if he read closer he would realize that Leahy knows the Burke account isn't real. But my favorite part of Eklund's write-up was this:

And there it is my hockey friends. The stereotypical kind of blogging that makes many NHL teams nervous and stingy about giving access to internet hockey writers. This is the kind of story that deeply sets back the cause.

Everything about PuckDaddy and its writers is awesome. The NHL should be honored to have them writing as much and as well as they do. They're a great source for info on the NHL and a great example of how blogging is an excellent news source. They offer better stuff than any newspaper I read (excluding the Hockey News if you count that as a newspaper).

I hope Eklund feels really stupid today. It's a case of glimpsing over something, not actually reading it and scurrying to write something thinking he's gonna get the one-up on it. I mean is this middle school?

River Rats Bus Crashes

Just saw PuckDaddy's update on the Albany River Rats bus crash. Around 3:30 this morning, the team bus rolled over on its side. At least three guys have been sent to the hospital with serious injuries.

Send them some prayers. I'm tied to this team through Joe Jensen (former WBS Penguin) and Ryan Weston (former BU player). Hopefully everyone is okay and gets well soon.

Update:Just got word that Jensen is one of the players still in the hospital. Get well soon bud.

More Therrien Comments

Regardless of how bumpy Therrien's tenure may have been, it was a highly successful one. He compiled a 135-106-31 record with the club and claimed a division and conference title. His win total is only second to Eddie Johnston's 232. Therrien may not have been universally loved by his player or the team's fans, but there's no denying the success he enjoyed with the franchise. Granted, most coaches throughout the history of the team have been mediocre or just plain awful, but Therrien was one of the best the club has ever had.

- Seth Rorabaugh

And the 'eulogies' continue. Basically everyone else except Shero sees this.

Burnside Gets It

ESPN's Scott Burnside wrote a piece on the Therrien firing and how it was the easy way out for the Penguins.

The whole article is exactly how I feel. It's the truth. Read it.

Pittsburgh's Mess Spills Online

The Penguins can't even get facts right on their website right now:

Bylsma assisted the Baby Penguins to a 98-49-5-8 record, an AHL East Division and Eastern Conference championships and a Calder Cup Final appearance in the past two seasons.

That was taken from this link on the Pens' site.

The Baby Penguins only made it to the Calder Cup finals last season. The previous year, they lost in the second round of the playoffs.

Lock it up Pitt. Only everyone around the hockey world is going to check out that story.

Edit:After calming my anger at the Pittsburgh organization for their general stupidity, I looked at the quote closer. I think this sentence was a victim of poorly placed words. Originally it looks like they're saying they made the Finals in the past two seasons, but if they put 'in the past two seasons' right after the comma it makes sense. Sorry for jumping the gun -- you should still use better grammar. :-)

Therrien Gets Voted Off the Island

Well, Ray Shero and the Pittsburgh Penguins fired Michel Therrien.

Guess what? This will not fix Pittsburgh's problems either. I really don't get it. How is the organization not seeing this? It doesn't matter what coach they bring into the Steel City right now. The Penguins will not miraculously start winning until they move some players around and bring the right guys together.

Do I really have to repeat myself again? Okay. Fine. I will. The players on the Pittsburgh roster right now are individuals. When the Pens started to be good again, they had guys who came up through the system along with a mix of skill players and guys that work hard. It was the right combination. Then Shero and co. got big heads and went after guys like Fedotenko and Satan -- great players, but not right for this team.

Sure, Therrien should have been able to do more with the talented players he had. But talent only goes so far. You need the motivation, work ethic, chemistry ... the list goes on. The Pens just don't have it. Shero has the trade deadline to try and find all that. At this point, I'm not hopeful.

Best wishes to WBS coach, Dan Bylsma, who was named interim coach. This is another puzzling move. I like Bylsma, but he's not ready for an NHL job. He's only been an AHL head coach for a few months now. Why didn't they hand it to Mike Yeo?

Someone stop the bleeding in the Pens organization ASAP.

My Gonchar Verdict

I'm just going to go ahead and say that I don't think Sergei Gonchar will turn this Penguins team completely around.

Of course it will be great to have him back, but I stand by the fact that Pittsburgh's problems go beyond the skill set of their players. If you don't have the right guys together on a team, you're not going to win a Stanley Cup.

So, no. Sergei Gonchar will not be the Penguins' savior. He will not be the complete cure for their troubles.

Sorry. Love ya Pitt.

Wikipedia Fail

To correct Wikipedia: Jiri Hudler is not Devin Setoguchi's half brother.

I wonder who came up with that one.