Out with the new, In with the old

Heading into the off-season, the state of the Pittsburgh Penguins of Pittsburgh was tremendous. Although the club was a vast disappointment in the playoffs, the nucleus of the team was locked up and there was a plethora of picks at the dispersal of the GM heading into the draft.

Unfortunate events occurred which led to the resigning of the Penguins GM DJ Beamer. Out with the new, in with the old you could say as a familiar face was rehired in the MRFHL. Brandon Bennett was brought in to lead the Penguins to the promise land. “I will bring the cup back to Pittsburgh, there is no denying this,” a confident Bennett said at his press conference.

Bennett’s first goal was to take a look at the franchise and decide which pieces should stay and go. Already having a strong Nucleus of Crosby, Getzlaf, Hossa, Gagne, Oshie and Armstrong many figured Bennett would stay put and build through the draft and add depth and grit to the bottom six forwards and depth to the defense. While adding blue chip prospects through the draft with the 6 first round picks the team had.

Heading into the draft and being away for private reasons, the Florida Panthers GM took some notes on whom to take for the Penguins as well as some small input from the Penguins GM. “I’d like to take a moment to thank the Florida Panthers for making the selections. All of which were beautiful picks and you could not go wrong with,” Bennett said via telephone of friend and co-gm in the MRFHL Dylan Wilson.

Taken by the Penguins in the draft in the following order were Ryan Johansen, Brandon Gormley, Alexander Burmistrov, Beau Bennett, John Mcfarland, Ryan Spooner, Jason Zucker, Greg Mckegg (beauty of a name by the way), Joe Basaraba and Sondre Olden. This being said, it seemed as the Penguins were adding to the prospect depth of the club and would be looking towards free agency to adding to the bottom depths of the club.

However, Bennett is well known by the league for the past 2 years when active to be hot on the trading block when it comes to making moves to his team. To many this deal or you can say blockbuster came as a surprise.

Finally getting settled into the league and back from vacation, Bennett swung a blockbuster with the new Canadiens GM seeing Ryan Getzlaf, TJ Oshie, Prospect Zac Dalpe and a 2^nd rounder being sent to the Canadiens for Bobby Ryan, Joe Pavelski, and Cal Clutterbuck. “To us, we see this deal as a definite win. Althought Getz is a beast at centre, we already have Sid the Kid centering our top line and we bring in potential 50 goal scorer Bobby Ryan as well as Joe Pavelski who we feel had a coming out party in the NHL playoffs. You also can’t forget Cal Clutterbuck, who has consistently been becoming a beast for the Minnesota Wild.

With the blockbuster happening, both gm’s were applauded by various coworkers in the MRFHL. With the spotlight on the major deal, Bennett was still working furiously behind the scenes on another deal that would see the Penguins pull off a surprise and potential steal again.

At near midnight of August the 22^nd, it was announced that newly signed Derek Roy and potential 40 goal scorer David Booth who had been dampened by concussion problems would be sent to the Devils in exchange for shutdown defenseman Anton Volchenkov, Brian Boyle, Benoit Pouliots rights and a couple of picks. “The way we see it, it is even when you look at it but a lot of things play into factor here. We are absolutely going to miss Volchenkov and he is a tank at logging up minutes, blocking shots and being a force on the PK. However when we bring in more offense and have plenty of prospect depth on the D, we feel we were able to make the move. Roy has a scorers touch but can be a pest at certain points and Booth right now can help out on the 3^rd line or even possibly move up. If he gets healthy, it’s a win win for both teams.

Two massive deals in a matter of 4 days. The news doesn’t stop there though. While working on a massive trade, disputes began between the Phoenix and Penguins GM’s as neither could seem to work out a deal and each seemed to be getting lowballed. With the deal being mentioned to the league and put out in full view, it seemed as a deal wouldn’t be done that would see franchise superstars Phil Kessel, Ilya Kovalchuk, and potential superstar in the making Nikolai Kulemin being brought into Pittsburgh. Somehow, someway, GM Bennett found a way to swing a deal without moving anyone from his roster except Matt Moulson, only adding key pieces to the nucleus of the team. Blue chippers were forced to be in the deal however at the end of the day, he wouldn’t have it any other way. The deal say Kessel, Kovalchuk, and Kulemin (The KKK line) being send to the land of the Devil for prospects Brayden Schenn, Louis Leblanc, Colton Teubert, Alexander Burmistrov, Penguins 1^st rounder in 2011, Matt Moulson and Kyle Palmieri. “The way we look at the deal, we bring in a potential line for prospects, we only add to our team. Sure we are giving up a lot of high end prospects but you look at it and we are already stacked in the prospect spot with plenty of other prospects at centre. One 50 goal scorer with the potential for more playing with Crosby, one potential 50 goal scorer who was mentioned in the same talks with Crosby during the draft days except for small attitude problems and an amazing fore-checker with potential to be a 30 goal scorer all for guys who aren’t on the team yet, how could we go wrong?” Bennett said with a smirk to James Duthie of TSN.

3 Blockbusters in place, the make up of the Pittsburgh Penguins looked different. There were many suggestions for lines but with the team now, this is how it seemed the lines would be:

Kovalchuk        Crosby             Kessel

Gagne              Pavelski            Ryan

Armstrong        Roy                  Kulemin                       

Booth               NA                  Clutterbuck

Myers              Stuart  

Karlsson           Kulikov           

Stralman           Letang

Nabokov

Leclaire

That being said, it is firmly believed that this will not be the starting lineup for opening night says Bennett. It is also noted that Marian Hossa will no longer be on the team as he was recently dealt to the Edmonton Oilers for potential franchise centreman Cody Hogson and a 3^rd round pick. The way we see it, we had the depth to make this move and it helps out cap wise. The only way this deal burns us if we end up meeting him in the Stanley Cup finals.

Still being in the offseason, it’s firmly believed Bennett is not done tampering with his team. It’s noted that he’s still looking for a #1 goalie and is willing to trade prospects and picks for it as well as future #1 Chet Pickard. As well, look for some more veteran defenseman to be brought into the club.

That all being said, you can expect some more moves to be made with the off-season coming to an end says the Penguins gm. “We have got at least one more blockbuster up our sleeves, never rule anything out,” says a jubilant Bennett as he left the press conference.