The Clean-Up Crew Is Here

We want to thank Macke for live-blogging for us all day yesterday. We kind of gave her free reign and she did an awesome job. We really appreciate all the work she has done for us on the blog.

And for spending an entire week in Pittsburgh with us while we argued incessantly, cried over stupid things and watched the latest episode of True Blood three times.

We had the best time and can't wait until she visits us again. We wouldn't have been able to survive Free Agency without her there with us. It'll be even more fun the second time around.


Now on to important news...

- Dany Heatley is the new Mats Sundin except more interesting and talented. This saga just won't end but at least our summer will be more interesting than it was before he denied to waive his no-trade clause.

How ridiculous is this whole thing? It's like a "He said, she said" with the NHL. Heatley's pointing fingers at Bryan Murray and Murray's claiming it's all Steve Tambellini's doing.

Love the drama.


- The 2010 Team Canada camp roster was announced at ten in the morning today. LeTude was all over it before we even got out of bed.

We are very happy with who is going and who isn't. It's going to be a hard day when USA plays Canada which pits Henrik (Canada) against Noodles (USA). But fun for the rest of us, of course.

There might be a ticker on the blog soon to count down the days until the Winter Olympics start because we are that excited.


- Rob Scuderi has signed with the Los Angeles Kings. The contract is for 4 years at 13.6 million dollars. Holy shit that is crazy money for Dumper Bob.

We like the Kings and don't fault Dumper Bob for wanting the money. We would too.

Is it just us or is this whole Rob Scuderi thing blown our of proportion? He was great, yes but seriously, was he worth that much? Maybe to the Kings but not to the Penguins. There are other guys coming up.

Does anyone remember when Rob Scuderi kind of sucked? Because we do. His first season in the NHL was pretty average. Granted it was in 05/06 when only Sidney Crosby mattered but still, he was there.

We remember him hooking Miroslav Satan during the last home game of the season in 05/06 which resulted in Satan getting a penalty shot. (That he missed on, of course.) But still, he was in the penalty box more than Ryan Malone. It happens, he was a rookie.

It took Dumper Bob years to be this good. If people are going to blame Alex Goligoski's new contract for not signing Dumper Bob then they must be naive. Goligoski was a rookie and was pretty great in his time with Pittsburgh. Sure he made some mistakes but he's a rookie, it happens.

Here's what we think...first, Shero must have deemed Goligoski crucial enough to be worth that particular contract.

Second, it's 5.5 million for THREE YEARS. Ryan Whitney was in the same position as Goligoski and was signed for way more than that ($4 million a year for six years) when he wasn't worth it. Ray's been learning.

Third, this argument is mostly coming from Lemangs who think that Kris Letang won't be signed again because of this contract. As if Shero would ever let that happen.

The future of the Penguins is Alex Goligksi and Kris Letang manning the power play point. Brooks Orpik will cement whatever PK the Penguins ever need. We aren't worried. You want Hal Gill? Look up Joey Mormina. You want Rob Scuderi? Sign Francois Beauchemin.

And it's not like Mark Eaton is a waste of space. He is an amazing defensive-defenseman and plays a lot like Scuderi. Barring an injury, he should have another awesome yet unheralded year. Just like Dumper Bob.

On the flip-side, there are about ten to fifteen teams who don't even know what an offensive defenseman looks like. Take Ottawa for example. They haven't had one since the heyday of Wade Redden. We feel sorry for their forwards because it's all dump and chase with the defensive core they have. And Goligoski isn't that terrible in the defensive zone. He isn't a Rob Scuderi but then there aren't many like him.

We aren't going to change minds here, just explaining why we think that Dumper Bob was eventually going to go and had the nickname we gave him. And he deserves the money so we aren't angry at him. It's his decision to make.

The Penguins will be okay. The prognosticators deemed the Penguins dead as soon as Hossa left them for Detroit. And look what happened. They will survive.

That being said, we don't know what we will do without Mrs. Courtney Scuderi. Ever since her emergence in the contingent of players' wives, we have been fans. She is the perfect hockey wife.

She was all business when leaving the arena yet acknowledged the fans. And she was our Den Mother. When we grow up, we want to be just like Courtney Scuderi. We raise our glasses to you, Mrs. Scuderi. Have fun in Los Angeles, we know we would.

We will miss Dumper Bob and Courtney.