Penguins/NHL category, Page 189
First Call: A Vezina-worthy Marc-Andre Fleury save as he trains for his new team; Will Myles Garrett fight Logan Paul?
Wednesday’s “First Call” shows us that former Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury is still in top form as he prepares to join the Chicago Blackhawks. The Paul brothers are trying to suck Cleveland Browns helmet-swinger Myles Garrett into a celebrity boxing match. A potential rookie standout sees his first season end...
Former NHL forward Jimmy Hayes dies at age 31
NHL forward Jimmy Hayes, who played the last season of his nine-year pro career in the Penguins organization with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, died Monday at age 31. According to the Boston Globe, first responders arrived at Hayes’ home and pronounced him dead. A cause of death was not announced, but law enforcement...
NHL teams OK’d to add sponsor patches on jerseysVideo
Jersey advertisements are coming to the NHL. The league will allow teams to put sponsor patches on jerseys beginning with the 2022-23 season after the board of governors unanimously approved the move, according to a person with knowledge of a memo sent this week. The person spoke to the Associated...
Penguins name Alec Schall director of hockey operations
Former player agent Alec Schall has been named the Pittsburgh Penguins’ new director of hockey operations, general manager Ron Hextall announced Tuesday. Schall will be responsible for working with player contract negotiations, managing the salary cap and assisting with other hockey-related duties. “Having spent over 25 years in professional sports,...
Hall of Fame goalie, ex-Penguins GM Tony Esposito dies at 78Video
CHICAGO — Tony Esposito made an immediate mark on the Chicago Blackhawks and a lasting impression on the NHL. Esposito, the pioneering Hall of Famer who spent almost his entire 16-year career with the Blackhawks, died following a brief battle with pancreatic cancer, the team announced Tuesday. He was 78....
Former Penguins coach Dan Bylsma hired by Seattle Kraken as AHL assistant
Former Penguins coach Dan Bylsma has been hired by the Seattle Kraken as an assistant coach for the club’s AHL affiliate in Charlotte. Charlotte will have shared affiliation with Seattle and the Florida Panthers this season. Its head coach will be a Panthers employee, Geordie Kinnear. Bylsma was let go...
Mark Madden: Mike Lange stands among the Penguins’ all-time greats
With Mike Lange, you could watch a hockey game on radio. Sounds dumb, but it’s true. Lange brought the action to life. He conveyed the electricity, the build. Lange didn’t just call the goal. He subtly told you the goal was imminent. He had a sixth sense. That sense didn’t...
Mike Lange’s favorite goal call, how ‘Lange-isms’ started and which was the first
Even at Heinz Field during Pittsburgh Steelers training camp, the buzz was all about Mike Lange’s retirement. After 46 years broadcasting Pittsburgh’s NHL team, the Penguins announced Monday that Lange would be stepping down from the broadcast booth before the 2021-22 season. Roughly 30 minutes before Steelers practice started, I...
Mike Lange leaving Penguins broadcast booth
Hockey nights in Pittsburgh will never be the same. After 46 years in the broadcast booth, the legendary Mike Lange has called his last Penguins game. The team announced Monday that Lange, 73, will not return to play-by-play duties when the season begins in the fall. Lange will continue to...
Who are the Penguins’ best 1-year players?Video
Cody Ceci’s tenure with the Penguins pretty much went to script. He arrived needing a course correction to his sagging career, figured things out, played some solid hockey as a steady right-handed defenseman and cashed in as a free agent. Last week, Ceci joined the Edmonton Oilers by signing a...
Penguins re-sign restricted free agent forward Zach Aston-Reese
The Penguins avoided arbitration and re-signed restricted free agent forward forward Zach Aston-Reese to a one-year contract with a salary cap hit of $1.725 million. Aston-Reese, 26, recently completed a two-year contract that carried a salary cap hit of $1 million. Last season, Aston-Reese, one of the team’s better defensive...
Penguins already searching for new goaltending development coach
With the Penguins promoting Andy Chiodo to goaltending coach at the NHL level on Wednesday, a search for a new goaltending development coach has already begun. Chiodo as well as his predecessors, Mike Bales and Mike Buckley, ascended to the NHL goaltending coaching role after starting in the development position....
Penguins ‘needed a change’ with goaltending coaches
Mike Buckley’s name isn’t engraved on the Stanley Cup. But he had a significant role in the Penguins’ two most recent championships of 2016 and ‘17. As the Penguins goaltending development coach half a decade ago, he refined a mid-level prospect named Matt Murray, who eventually became the first rookie...
U mad Bro: Pirates fans grumble about trades, ‘media bias’; Pens fans carp about goaltending
This week’s “U mad, bro?” has Pittsburgh Pirates fans split between ripping me about the MLB draft and ripping Ben Cherington about his recent trades. Penguins fans are split among themselves over how worried they should — or shouldn’t — be about the goaltending. And Steelers fans are … oddly...
Penguins fire goaltending coach Mike Buckley, name Andy Chiodo as replacement
After not making any substantial moves with their goaltending depth this offseason, the Penguins fired the man who oversaw them. Goaltending coach Mike Buckley was dismissed Wednesday and replaced by Andy Chiodo, previously the organization’s goaltending development coach. In his previous role, Chiodo worked with the franchise’s prospects at the...
Ryan Malone on his tech-savvy sports business venture, state of the Penguins, Sidney Crosby memories
When former Pittsburgh Penguins forward Ryan Malone gutted up to return to play after taking a puck to the face in Game 5 of the 2008 Stanley Cup Final, it was a moment Penguins fans of that era will never forget. Nor will they ever forget his two power-play goals...
Penguins defenseman P.O Joseph hopes others will follow him
Growing up in Quebec during the 2010s, Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman P.O Joseph’s choice for an idol was obvious. P.K. Subban. A tall, lanky and dynamic blue-liner who had an effervescent personality that could light up a nuclear submarine, Subban was a star countless Quebecois youth gravitated to during his tenure...
PPG Paints Arena recommends masks, starting with tonight’s James Taylor concert
PPG Paints Arena announced it will follow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s masking recommendations – beginning with tonight’s James Taylor concert. Taylor is scheduled to take the stage after Jackson Browne opens at 7:30 p.m. “Out of an abundance of caution with Allegheny County reaching the...
Penguins re-sign restricted free agent forward Radim ZohornaVideo
The Pittsburgh Penguins re-signed restricted free agent forward Radim Zohorna to a two-year contract with a salary cap hit of $750,000, the league minimum. Per a release from the team, the contract is a two-way deal for the 2021-22 season and one-way for the 2022-23 campaign. As a rookie in...
First Call: Steelers have ‘1% chance’ to win Super Bowl; Chase Claypool’s bold prediction; Fleury’s nudge to join Blackhawks
Tuesday’s “First Call” shows us that one national outlet isn’t painting a pretty picture for the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Super Bowl chances. Coronavirus is getting in the way of the Steelers’ takeover of Canton for the Pro Football Hall of Fame inductions this weekend. Marc-Andre Fleury looks strange in red. Adam...
Mike Sullivan on coaching Team USA, facing Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, belief in Penguins goalies and revamping the bottom 6
Mike Sullivan rattled off the names as if he was reciting his current Penguins roster. However, it was a roster from 41 years ago. And it wasn’t the Penguins. “Mike Eruzione. Jim Craig. Jack O’Callahan. David Silk,” Sullivan said. “Those were the four guys from BU (Boston University) where I...
Penguins forward Brock McGinn is ready for tough expectations
Toughness can be defined a lot of ways in hockey. A generation or two ago, it could have been tabulated by penalty minutes or fighting majors. Today, the sport has a far less pugilistic bent. But being tough is still an attribute that is as vital to the sport as...
First Call: Ravens sign player Steelers considered, watch Marc-Andre Fleury’s announcement to play in Chicago
Monday’s “First Call” has some high expectations for two young Pittsburgh Steelers. We have an update on Marc-Andre Fleury’s decision regarding the Chicago Blackhawks. And a player the Steelers considered signing is going to the Baltimore Ravens instead. We even have a heartwarming Olympic moment, hurling and Gaelic football. Not...
Madden Monday: If Penguins don’t improve goaltending ‘it will be an error of monumental proportions’
So much for my hope that the Penguins might find a way to get Marc-Andre Fleury back to Pittsburgh. And so much for Mark Madden’s advice to Fleury that he shouldn’t report to Chicago as part of that trade between the Blackhawks and the Vegas Golden Knights. Fleury put all...
Penguins forward Zach Aston-Reese elects for salary arbitration
Pittsburgh Penguins forward Zach Aston-Reese, a restricted free agent, elected for for salary arbitration. The National Hockey League Players’ Association announced Aston-Reese was one of 17 players to do so Sunday. Aston-Reese, 26, recently completed a two-year contract that carried a salary cap hit of $1 million. Last season, Aston-Reese...
