Before I begin, the beach wedding was amazing last weekend. Wish it would happen all the time. My cousin put on quite the amazing party and I got to ride a yellow school bus again. Complete with a bus driver yelling at the Bride to sit down. Doesn't get much better. Tomorrow I am headed down to Virginia to see my mom et al for the next week and to hit up another wedding. So excited to see everyone down there and meet my niece!
Moving on to hockey news now....
Drew Doughty finally signed on the dotted line with the LA Kings. 8 years, $56 million (average about $7million a year) and he doesn't have a no-trade clause. Win-win for all. Drew got his money, the Kings got the length and still have the ability to throw him overboard if they have a change of heart. Not bad, not bad.
The new saying in the NHL world is "you've been Shananbanned" in reference to NHL Safety Czar Brendan Shanahan's penchant for suspending players for hits and illegal plays. Many players are now more aware of the game rules (shouldn't they have been to begin with) and are figuring out the pattern to his suspensions and what will cost you more. In particular, stay away from a players head and don't be a repeat offender, otherwise you will be financing the NHL's player emergency fund with your own bank account. We already need a second hand to count his suspensions and its still only pre-season. Long live Shanahan.
Sidney Crosby is still rocking the white no-contact helmet, but he's traveling with the team and possibly will be headed West with them next week. Always a good sign.
Evgeni Malkin has been on fire this preseason, rocking it like the Geno from the Cup run. Can he hold on for the actual season? Staal has also shown why he's the best 3rd line center in the game. When Crosby is back, the Penguins will be a serious threat if things stay the way they are. No team has the ability to roll out 3 deep centers like the Penguins do.
The Penguins have also cut their opening day training roster from 55 to 32. Just a few more cuts and the team is set. Another issue few teams encounter is having too many good goalies but that's an issue here. Flower is number 1, and Johnson has been a more than solid and capable number 2, but the AHL goalie of the year happens to be a Penguin. Thankfully Theissen signed a one year deal with them. Can he repeat last year's AHL stats and force them to make him Flower's number 2 next year? He's far too good to stay in the AHL forever. I actually had seats right behind the goal in Wilkes last season and he never was rattled, even when everyone on his team fell flat on their face in front of him. (This actually happened too, everyone fell down for the first few minutes like they had never been on skates before).
Brooks Orpik who had to have abdominal surgery over the summer has appeared at practice this week in a different way. He has his own effigy on the ice for his teammates to skate around. Umm ok. Cardboard cutout Brooks also made an appearance at practice with him. Not creepy at all. Have you looked at his eyes? There's a reason why he's called the 'Candy Man' or 'Free Candy'. One set of his eyes is enough, let alone 2. Yikessss.
Season starts so soon, you can almost smell it.
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