Leafsx2, Montreal, Kessel, and more.

Didn’t get to see the game against the Blue Jackets. 5-4 Pens. 
Oh well.

Then on Friday, The Pens played Toronto: 4-3 Loss
Last night: Montreal: 4-3 Loss


And then, The Leafs again.
Of course watching these games (for us) requires a feed. Great.
Thank You FSN.

And of course some of the games aren’t televised at all.
Oh the preseason and the joy it brings.

After the jump…a look at some of the preseason games so far, the Phil Kessel trade/signing, Penguins Cuts/Roster/Lines

4-3 Toronto 9/18

When teams like the Penguins play teams like the Leafs in the preseason, you can really get a sense of what their upcoming seasons are about.

The Leafs are a team of fringe-players trying to prove not only that they belong in the NHL, but that they can play professional hockey at any level.

The Penguins barely have a handful of fringe-players.

The majority of the team needs to focus on not getting hurt.

4-3 Leafs. No big deal.

Phil Kessel

The Leafs signed Kessel.
To sign for a $5.4m cap hit, he only cost them:
2 First Round picks(2010,2011) and a Second Round pick(2010)

The Good: Kessel is fast, shoots and stickhandles exceptionally well. Might be an “elite offensive talent”
The Bad: Doesn’t play 2-way hockey, possible attitude problem, won’t be available until November.
The Pussy: Recorded 6 hits last season

 
These are the other players that recorded 6 hits last year.

At #752, No one below Kessel played more than 25 games.
For comparison: Petr Sykora played 77 games and recorded 14 hits.

Kessel may not have a set(per se), but 1 should count for something,
Right?
Left actually.

And who’s going to center him?
Mikhail Grabovski?
Matt Stajan?
34 year-old Jason Allison?

4-3 Montreal 9/21

Brian Gionta, Mike Cammalleri, Scott Gomez

All anyone has to say about these guys is that they’re small.
They looked good last night…
but against Deryk Engellend and Ben Lovejoy.
0 and 2 NHL games respectively.

So yeah. Against a real defense? We’ll see.

Gomez scored a shorthanded goal by barreling into Curry.
Gionta made a nice pass…but stupid shit happens.

3-2(SO) Toronto 9/22

Didn’t get to watch this one either—didn’t care.

The Pens’ stars got the night off…good.

So what’s up with the Pens?

With 2 preseason games remaining, Columbus and Detroit, and with HCDB referring to these two games as “dress rehearsals”,
You had to assume that the cuts would come this week.

Here’s who’s cut from the NHL Roster:

Forwards:	Defensemen:	Goalies:
Wade Brookbank Luca Caputi Dustin Jeffrey Nick Johnson Konstantin Pushkarev Wyatt Smith Eric Tangradi Joe Vitale Tim Wallace	Robert Bortuzzo Jonathan D’Aversa Chris Lee Simon Depres(QMJHL)	Brad Thiessen

That leaves Ryan Bayda, Paul Bissonette, and Chris Conner fighting for the remaining forward positions and Deryk Engelland, Nate Guenin and Ben Lovejoy competing for the illustrious 7th Defensemen spot.

So far the lines for the Penguins look like this:

Kunitz-Crosby-Guerin
Fedotenko-Malkin-_____
Cooke-Staal-Kennedy
Godard-Adams-Rupp

Orpik-Gonchar
Eaton-Letang
McKee-Goligoski

Fleury
Johnson
Curry

Kennedy played with Staal and Cooke in Toronto, but given the players cut so far…It would appear TK’s getting the call on the “second” line, so that leaves a vacancy on the third line, with the 4th line being hardly set in stone.

This is going to come down to Bayda, Connor, Guenin and some injuries.

Nate Guenin’s going to be the 7th defensemen.
Especially since Lovejoy’s sidelined indefinitely.

The Pens faceoff against the Blue Jackets in about five minutes.
No TV coverage whatsoever.