Pens Sign Comrie

Mr. Hillary Duff is coming to Pittsburgh.

Mike Comrie signed a 1-year $500,000 deal with the Pens, a bargin from the $1.25 million he earned last year in Edmonton, and way down from the $4 million he made on Long Island in 08-09.

Another "tough" player signing for the Pens, although, Comrie has the skill set to put a few pucks past goalies. In 568 career games, he has 167 goals, 192 assists, 359 points to go along with 48 powerplay goals.

Right now it is being reported that he will skate along side Crosby as the first line left winger. It so happens that this position is currently manned by Chris Kunitz. We'll see if they will all play together or if there will be some line juggling.

The addition of Comrie, who has, in the past, been a 30-goal scorer, gives the Pens a wealth of NHL calibur forwards. The problem is, there isn't enough roster spots for all of them to play.

Forwards guarenteed a spot:
Sidney Crosby
Evgeni Malkin
Jordan Staal
Chris Kunitz
Matt Cooke
Arron Asham

Forwards almost certain to have a spot:
Pascal Dupuis
Mike Comrie
Mike Rupp

Forwards on the bubble:
Max Talbot
Tyler Kennedy
Craig Adams
Eric Godard

Forward Prospects:
Eric Tangradi
Dustin Jeffrey
Nick Johnson
Chris Connor
Mark Letestu

The signing of Comrie is a good move by Shero based on the price they got him for. At only $500,000, he will be a steal if he can score 20+ goals and develop a chemistry with either Malkin or Crosby.

The signing also means we might not immediately get to see Eric Tangradi don the black and vegas gold for the Pens. That left wing spot beside Crosby was destined to be his, but he will now have to prove himself in the preseason in order to stick with the big club on opening night.

Also the Comrie signing makes it imperative for Talbot and Kennedy to have good preseasons, or their days with the club could be numbered. With the abundance of NHL calibur forwards, as well as NHL-ready prospects, Talbot and Kennedy will need to work their tails off to re-gain their spot on the team. Any sense of complacency could mean a one-way ticket out of the Burgh.


In other news, as expected, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has reduced Steeler QB Ben Roethlisberger's suspension from 6-games to 4, meaning Ben can return to the team Oct. 17 vs Cleveland.

While suspended, Roethlisberger will be forbidden from participating in any team-related activities or practices. Ben has hired QB coach George Whitfield to work with him during the suspension. Ben will also have free-agent receivers, looking for work, running routes for him.

More news coming from the Steelers' QB situation is that Byron Leftwich suffered, what Head Coach Mike Tomlin called, a "serious" knee injury in Thursday's preseason finale against Carolina. Leftwich will undergo an MRI today to determine the severity of the injury.

EDIT: Leftwich suffered a mild sprain of his left MCL. He will miss the opener, but he could be back for Week 2.



Leftwich's knee opens the door for 3rd year QB Dennis Dixon to take the reins as the starter while Roethlisberger is suspended. After a good showing last year at Balitmore, many Steeler fans have been calling for Dixon to have the starting job while Ben is out. After a sub-par performance, especially in the Red Zone, against Denver, it appeared Dixon had lost the job to Leftwich.

With the Leftwich injury, Charlie Batch, who was almost guarenteed to be cut, and most likely offered a job on the Steelers' staff, will need to gear up and serve as the back-up to Dixon. With only Dixon and Batch on the roster as available QBs, it appears that the team will need to find another QB, presumably black, to serve as 3rd stringer.


Check out this trick play from the Wake Forest vs. Presbyterian game last night.

And the Pittsburgh Goal...

John Barbero, long-time voice of Mellon Arena and the Pittsburgh Penguins, died yesterday because of complications from a brain tumor. The 65-year-old Barbero suffered from Astrocytoma, which made it that his brain tumor was inoperable.

Barbero was the Penguins public address announcer from 1972-2009. He was the voice behind every one of Mario Lemieux's home goals, and created a signature call for No. 66, in which he would drag out the 'uuuu' at the end of Mario's last name.



Barbero was diagnosed with Astrocytoma in February of 2009, but decided he would finish out the season as the voice of Mellon Arena. As a result of his bravery and will, Barbero was able to see the Pens raise their third Stanley Cup. His last game announced was a 2-1 win over Detroit in Game 6 of the Cup Finals.

As with all things that last 38 years, his voice in the arena became iconic. It was really strange and hard to get used to the new voice announcing goals. Barbero had a pacing and style to his calls that were second to none. Hall of Fame broadcaster Mike Lange called Barbero, " a giant amont PA announcers in the world of sports."

While he will be most remembered for his announcements concering Lemieux's goals, I will most remember Barbero's call of 2009 mid-season defensive aquistion Phillipe Boucher. Granted Boucher didn't exactly light up the score sheet, but when he did tally a point, Barbero really let the crowd know.

The Pittsburgh goal scored by number 43 Phil-leeep Booooooooo-shay. Classic.

Barbero will always be a part of the Penguins and Pittsburgh sports tradition.

I guess it's fitting that old lady Mellon and it's voice will be able to rest in peace together. It is a shame his iconic vocals won't get to echo through the new Consol Energy Center.

Here is a video about Barbero, done by FSN in 2007.

Ham it Up

In a move that essentially ends Sergei Gonchar's run in Pittsburgh, Penguins general manager Ray Shero made a move to aquire the rights to defenseman Dan Hamhuis. The Pens traded a 2011 third round pick to arch rival Philadelphia for the exclusive rights to deal with Hamhuis before the July 1 free agent market opening.

The Flyers had aquired Hamhuis last week for a seventh round pick and dman Ryan Parent.

Conventional wisdom would have you believe that Hamhuis is the heir apparent to Gonchar's spot in the lineup. However, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune Review, there are still hopes from Shero and Gonchar's camp, that the Pens can successfully maneuver a way to keep both defensemen.

Hamhuis, 27, is near the top of the defensemen crop in this year's free agent market. While he doesn't have the hoopla that surrounds Gonchar, he has been a solid 2-way player for the Nashville Predators. In 483 games, he has amassed 32 goals and 129 assists.

Shero, who was an assistant GM with Nashville when Hamhuis was selected 12th overall in the 2001 draft believes that the defenseman has more to offer offensively than his numbers from Nashville indicate.

While in Nashville he was relagated to playing behind Olympians Shea Weber and Ryan Suter on the powerplay.

Give Shero credit, if he is indeed able to sign Hamhuis, that will be a big step in replacing Gonchar on the Pen's blue line.

Gone-char

As we inch closer to the July 1 free agency frenzy in the NHL, the Pittsburgh Penguins have one clear option when it comes to star defenseman Sergei Gonchar...trade his rights to another team.

Trading his rights will atleast give the Pens something when GM Ray Shero finally decides that it is inplausible to sign him to the 3-year deal he is seeking. Sort of like Nashville did last week with defenseman Dan Hamhuis, or last year when Florida traded Jay Bouwmeester, they knew they couldn't keep him so they got in return.

Don't get me wrong, I have been a Gonchar supporter from Day 1. He arrived in Pittsburgh the same year Ziggy Palffy did. Palffy lasted only a few months before bailing on the struggling franchise, but Gonchar stuck it out and was rewarded with a Stanley Cup last June.

He seems like a stand-up guy and a silent leader on a team that at times needs a kick in the ass. I can't find one bad thing to say about the guy. I wish he could stay, but the economics of the situation are making that wish seemingly impossible.

He has the knack for scoring big goals in crucial times, dishing out perfect one timers to Malkin, and quarterbacking the powerplay.

I still believe Gonchar is the best player that I've seen in the league when it comes to keeping pucks in the offensive zone, and has proved time and time again to be the key to the PowerPlay. Without him lugging the puck up the ice, they look lost.

While his on-ice exploits are in themselves worthy of the contract he is seeking, I feel his best contribution to the Penguins franchise has been his work with Evgeni Malkin. Without Gonchar opening his home to Malkin, the kid from Magnitogorsk Russia, would not be the player he is today. Sure, Malkin had all the talent in the world when he arrived in Pittsburgh after his midnight fleeing from mother Russia, but he was nowhere near ready for the adjustment to the American culture, and the pressures of being a professional athlete.

Gonchar made this transition smooth for Malkin. Providing the much needed piece of home that 71 was missing. He taught him how to handle the media, albeit very slowly, how to handle the pressures of being a star athlete, and how to just be a good guy. Gonchar did all this for Malkin, and the city of Pittsburgh has been rewarded with a superstar.



But getting back to the issue at hand, the impending departure of Gonchar from Pittsburgh. I'm sure that Ray Shero and the Pens brass want him to retire in the black and vegas gold, but it's just improbable. He wants a 3-year deal, the Pens want a 2-year deal. He wants somewhere in the range of $5 million per year, the Pens can come nowhere near that number and still find room to fill other voids in their lineup.

This is where it gets tough; you grow attached to a player for 5 seasons, and then all of a sudden he has to leave. But what makes it tough is that he doesn't want to leave and everyone in the organization wants him to stay, however, it just doesn't make financial sense to keep him. Sometimes the world of sports is not fair.

For the next couple of years, he will make some other lucky fan base happy with his PowerPlay prowess, or his wicked slapper that always seems to avoid defenders' sticks and bodies and make it to the goalie.

He will be very much missed in Pittsburgh. Hopefully the crop of young defensemen have learned a thing or two from old Sarge, and hopefully they can become half the player he was during his 5-year run for the Penguins.

Thanks Sarge for another Stanley Cup, thanks for guiding Malkin on his path to stardom, and thank you for being a class act and a great representative for the Penguins and the city of Pittsburgh.