PITTSBURGH TRADES ROR!

PITTSBURGH (AP)  The Pittsburgh Penguins turned many heads this past season, advancing to the conference semi-finals in the playoffs.  Much if not all of the team's success was the result of the chemistry between their two top players, team captain Ryan O'Reilly and Evegeni Dadonov.

Team owner/GM Gary Brown rolled the dice by trading the popular O'Reilly, known to fans as "ROR," to the Detroit Red Wings in return for their team captain Sean Couturier and goalie prospect Justus Annunen.  

"No doubt that the trade will rankle our fans," Brown said crouching down as a bottle came through the window above his head, "but we were coming to a contractual impasses with ROR, Dadonov, and our top defenseman, David Savard.  Sean Couturier is no doubt a notch or two below O'Reilly in terms of the stats, but this guy is no slouch on the ice.  Yes, he just completed an off-season, but let us not forget that he won the Selke last year as the league's top defensive forward."

Brown added, "The key component of the deal was getting Detroit to part with their top prospect, the 21 year-old Finnish goalie Justus Annunen.  We have no real goalie prospects in our organization and acquiring Annunen is the equivalent of getting a top ten entry draft selection.  He is our goalie of the future.  After going through this past season and again next season with two retreads (Marcus Hogberg and Henrik Lundqvist, to be replaced next year by Devan Dubnyk) between the pipes, we felt that we had to make a move."