Borrowing a page from the Jerome Bettis Career Guide, Penguin defenseman Phillippe Boucher has called it a career after winning a championship in Detroit. The 36-year-old finished his 17-year-career with 94 goals and 206 assists (300 points) in 748 games spent with the Sabres, Kings, Stars, and Pens.
Last season, Boucher had three goal and six assists in 41 regular season games for the Penguins and Stars. In the playoffs, he chipped in with one goal and three assists in nine games, that one goal being the game winner in Game One of the Bill Cowher-flavored Pittsburgh-Carolina series.
Boucher was a first-round pick of Buffalo in 1991 and an All-Star in 2007. He was acquired by the Pens in 2008 from Dallas in exchange for defenseman Darryl Sydor, who combined for three goals and 12 assists in the '08-09 season.
--Great article on the underappreciated Darryl Sydor from Mark Madden, who also mentions the words "quarterback controversy" in talking about the Steelers. [WXDX/Mark Madden]
Unfortunately, I have work commitments or else it would be a perfect time for a pilgrimage for the weekend home stand. Four home games in a row offer a great chance to earn valuable points against a couple division foes as the Pens continue to ride out this injury streak.
Obligatory mention of Monday’s game: What a roller coaster ride – the kind that’s lots of fun until the little girl in the car in front of you pukes about two-thirds of the way through the ride. The late collapse was just about the worst we’ve seen this season. I think it’s mostly coincidencidental that everything went south after Therrien called timeout to give the boys a breather – talk about your all time backfires. But still, I don’t want to grill the team for one bad period.
Because the Super Bowl commercials are terribly overrated: We’ve featured a lot of YouTubes here lately, but here are two Sidney Crosby commercials that you might not have seen before, mostly because they air in Canada.
Yeah, that fancy breakaway competition was missing a big piece
The Russian guy kind of reminds me of Brett Lindros
Recommended hockey reading of the week: I’m not going to get on a soap box about the crappy coverage of hockey in the United States, but I am going to give you a site to check out. TSN.ca is like ESPN.com for Canada and a good place for hockey news. A quick scan of their TradeCentre rumour page (love that Canadian spelling, eh?) mentions Darryl Sydor on the block and the Pens as suitors for the services of John-Michael Liles. This is the first I’ve heard Liles name mentioned with the Pens. Liles has offensive prowess, but hasn’t produced this year at all (2 goals in 53 games). Not sure if there’s much to that or where he would fit.
Got to give something to get something: It’s fun to talk about who the Pens might trade for, but it’s not as much fun to talk about who they would trade away. It’s hard to look at the roster and pick a name to ship out. Brooks Orpik has been talked about, but he brings something the rest of the current defensive corps doesn’t – an intense physical game. The current crop of AHLers filling in for the big club doesn’t strike me as anything for enticing trade bait, so I wonder how much, if any, deadline movement we’ll see. Something curious could be going on with the D, whether it’s Orpik, Sydor or otherwise. The Pens just recalled Alex Goligoski and will again have seven defensemen on the roster for now.
Fixing the NHL: Shootouts – I like ‘em, I love ‘em, I want some more of ‘em. (Good grief, did I just quote a country song!?) Anyway, the shootout ought to be expanded to five shooters. Three is over and done too quickly and five shooters gets more of the team involved. One of the big criticisms of the shootout is that it’s too dependent on individuals performance and makes too much of an impact on a team game. Blah! The shootout makes you stop and watch, which is exactly what the NHL needs.
Hockey auction of the week: Attention Gary Roberts fans! Here’s your chance to own the lineup card for the game where GR scored his 900th career point. Careful, you’ll be bidding against Blake Comeau’s mom.
