Penguins Place John Leclair on Waivers

Per www.tsn.ca LeClair’s role with the Penguins has been decreasing over the past few weeks and he was a healthy scratch on Tuesday against the New York Islanders. The 37-year-old has been playing on the fourth line for the club and averaging just under 12 minutes of ice time a game. “Hopefully, something will change because it’s not a great situation for me,” LeClair told the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. “You have to make the best of it, but, hopefully, something happens.” The Post Gazette reported that general manager Ray Shero met with Leclair in order to discuss a solution to the current situation. Leclair referred to the meeting as a “good talk and that’s about it.” LeClair is due to

Does Johnny Vermont have a role on the Penguins

Left Winger John Leclair was healthy scratch Tuesday night for the 2nd time in 6 games. The question this presumes is what role does Leclair have with the Penguins? Leclair is not the player he use to be but he is a player who did score 22 goals last season and recorded 25 pts in 27 games to finish the 05-06 season. His role has diminished but Leclair still has value. The Penguins power play has been awful of late because the Penguins rely on shots from the point but don’t have a big body in front of the net. Leclair could be the answer but he most likely will not be given the chance. Time will tell what the

Quick Hits

Steeler News……Bill Cowher announced today at his weekly press conference Hines Ward and Troy Polamalu will be out this week and both most likely will miss the game against Cleveland on the 7th of December. Coach Cowher was asked whether he will make lineup changes to build towards next season and he said “No”. Nate Washington will replace Hines Ward and Tyrone Carter and Mike Logan will take the place of Troy. Washington replacing Ward instead of Holmes replacing Ward is just another mistake Cowher is making. The Steelers have mismanaged all of their 1st round wideouts they have drafted since Troy Edwards and Holmes not seeing the field is another miscue from Coach Cowher. Holmes has a lot to

Buck’s Weekly Column

Look back to some of our posts dating back to August. Yes we were the ones who said the Baltimore Ravens are for real and finally Pittsburgh Steeler fans have to admit it. Baltimore 9-2 squeaked past Cleveland, San Diego and Tennessee in all games they should have lost but they did what Super Bowl Contenders do: They find a way to win. The only thing that matters is they are 9-2 and can clinch the AFC North with a win Thursday night against the Cincinnati Bengals. The Indy Colts are the crop of the AFC at 10-1 and San Diego at 9-2 are a step better than the Ravens but the playoffs are all about matchups and the Ravens

Armstrong and Ekman lack scoring punch

The Penguins lost 3 games over the Thanksgiving holiday without superstar Sidney Crosby and when is someone going to step up. The past three games have been the Evgeni Malkin show and that’s it. Let’s give credit to players when it’s due and Mark Recchi deserves some praise. Recchi called out his teammates following the Buffalo lost on November 17th and he has stepped up his game a notch. Ray Shero has done a solid job improving this team but is having too many role players going to hinder the Penguins chances at returning to the playoffs for the first time in 5 years. Most likely it will. Ryan Malone is expected to return as early as this week and

Bruins 4 – Penguins 3

Tim Thomas came on in relief and stifiled the Penguins in their first shootout of the season Evgeni Malkin showed the NHL what a impact he is going to have in this league. Malkin led a Pittsburgh Penguins rally in the third period scoring with 10 minutes left the third then setting up Mark Recchi for tying goal with less than 35 seconds in the game. The Penguins gained a point out of nothing and Malkin took control of the game late in the third which was Mario Esque. Mark Recchi is really turning it on offensively and right now he is not looking like the bad pickup we thought. His first goal in the first period from the right

Diamond Notes

Will the Pirates make a bold move this off-season and land Adam Dunn? Jerry Cransicks a contributor to ESPN.com is reporting 5 big name players are on on the trading block 1. Adam Dunn 2. Vernon Wells 3. Mark Teixeira 4. Andrew Jones 5. Carl Crawford. Crasnick says that Pittsburgh makes the most sense to land Adam Dunn but whether management would make such a bold move is a different story. “Pittsburgh makes some sense, given the short right field at PNC Park and the team’s need for a lefty power hitter. But it’s hard to see the Pirates shelling out the coin for Dunn. They’re more likely to focus on a younger, less costly bat, such as Arizona’s Chad

Young Stars snap winless streak

Sidney Crosby led to the Penguins to a 3-2 Win at Mellon Arena It was just a matter of time before Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin would strike in the third period. Malkin and Crosby have been playing on separate lines for the past 3 games but the two reunited late in the third as Evgeni Malkin scored the game winner with 2:03 left in the third period to snap the Penguins 5 game winless streak. Sidney Crosby and Jordan Staal also scored. The young stars Staal 18, Crosby 19, and Malkin 20 showed the hockey world what a bright future the Penguins have. The loss for the Flyers extended their winless streak to 6 games and after seeing them

Quick Hits

The Steelers 38-31 win over the Saints is a nice confidence booster to turning around the season but these next two games against Cleveland and Baltimore will tell their season. The division title is out of hands but the 6th playoff spot is not. Losses by Kansas City, Jacksonville each 5-4 have given the Steelers a glimpse of hope. A loss to Baltimore in week 12 will end the Steelers season. The Steelers haven’t shown anyone that they can run the table but wins against Cleveland and Baltimore will put them at 5-6 and right back in the thick of things. These next two weeks are crucial. CBS NFL “insider” Charley Casserly said Sunday that if Bill Cowher quits coaching

Penguins in need of change

Are the Penguins starting to show their true self? Maybe – Maybe not. Despite being on a four game losing streak, the Penguins are showing they can play with the big boys but they’re also showing they are a team that is undermanned upfront. This team is not a playoff team at the moment and unless a few forwards step up offensively to help out Sid and Malkin, the Penguins will be out of the playoff race by March. Michel Therrien has done a solid job thus far, but recently the line juggling has gotten out of hand. The Penguins have no continuity up front due to the fact their forwards are not very good and because they get about