Latest Pens Buzz: Staff believes Vokoun’s superior puck handling ability over Fleury will upgrade “Team Defense”

ON THINKING PROCESS IN ORGANIZATION ABOUT TOMAS VOKOUN After ranking 17th in the NHL last season in goals against, and being a nightmare defensively in the playoffs, giving up 30 goals in six playoff games, the Penguins did nothing in the off-season to upgrade their blueline. One argument is that the Penguins got weaker personnel wise, trading Zbynek Michalek on draft day, the team’s best shot blocker and statistically, one of the NHL’s best shot blockers, averaging 2.32 blocked shots per game in 2011-2012. If there’s hockey this season, the Penguins are banking on Paul Martin returning to the player he was in New Jersey, Brooks Orpik avoiding a decline in his play (there’s been a slight slip in his

Jay Bell hired as Pirates hitting coach

Former Pirates shortstop Jay Bell has been named the Pirates new hitting coach. Bell played 18 MLB seasons, 8 of them with the Pirates from 1989 through 1996. Bell was recently the Arizona Diamondbacks Double-A affiliate’s hitting coach.

Key Storylines: Challenges await Steelers defense and O-line in matchup against Giants

Coming off back to back wins, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin feels the Steelers are a team on the upswing. “Our most complete performance to this year, ” Tomlin said today of Sunday’s 27-12 win over Washington. “We played sixty minutes {football} in all three phases. Lot of positives, great overall team effort.” “Challenges await us this week,” Tomlin added. The challenges do await the Steelers this week. After struggling to beat teams they should in the first five weeks of the season, the Steelers have reversed that trend with back to back wins against the Bengals and Redskins. Before the schedule becomes very favorable in the coming weeks, we find out this week whether the defending Super Bowl Champs

CBA Buzz: Reality of situation is Fehr needs to put his ego to the side and focus on getting players best deal he can off NHL’s last offer

CBA talks remain at a stalemate going into this week with no expectations of any breakthrough’s happening. The NHL on Friday cancelled all games through November and it was expected that the league would cancel the Winter Classic and All-Star game as early as Tuesday but that might be on hold for now due to Hurricane Sandy hitting the East Coast and NHL offices being closed for the next couple days. Regarding talks, nothing has changed from the stance that the ball is in the players court. The owners have all the leverage (as they’ve always had) and we’re not going to see a new CBA in place until the players (majority) insist to Don Fehr that they want a

10/25/12: Tracking Penguins Top-35 Prospects

TRACKING PENGUINS TOP-35 PROSPECTS OCTOBER PROSPECT RANKINGS (Top-35) 1. D Joe Morrow | 2011 1st rd pick | Wilkes Barre/Scranton | 2012-2013 Stats: 4 GP – 1 Goal – 0 Assists – 1 Pts – -2 rating – 15 PIM Buzz: The Penguins top prospect is only one of five players to score through four games. 2. D Simon Despres | 2009 1st rd pick | Wilkes Barre/Scranton | 2012-2013 Stats: 4 GP – 0 Goals – 1 Assist – 1 Pts – 0 – 4 PIM Buzz: Despres and Brian Strait are the only defensemen who have appeared in two or more games for the Baby Pens and not have a minus rating 3. D Scott Harrington |  2011 2nd rd

Analysis: Steelers outcoach Bengals; Dalton seemed to make pre-snap decision not to go Green’s way

After drop after drop and turnover after turnover in the first twenty some minutes of the game, the Pittsburgh Steelers already 0-3 on the road this season, looked like a team unraveling. Pittsburgh though clawed back and went to half with a tied ball game and had new life as the Steelers took over the game in the final 35 minutes of the game, en route to a 24-17 win, a game that wasn’t as close as the scoreboard says. The Steelers in just a matter of one half went from a team where I was thinking to myself maybe this team needs to have a 6-10, 7-9 season to replenish through the draft to now a team with some momentum

Latest Steelers Buzz: Can offense evolve into an offense that can outscore teams? On Ike Taylor’s decline & more

LATEST STEELERS BUZZ WILL STEELERS EVOLVE INTO OFFENSE THAT CAN OUTSCORE TEAMS? Many NFL executives believe a true evaluation of a football team is how they perform on the road. The Steelers enter tonight’s road contest against the Cincinnati Bengals 0-3 on the road and how they have performed on the road this season is an accurate barometer of what this team is; a mediocre team. The issues surrounding this team range from a number of issues but the most alarming has been on defense. Even with the return of LaMarr Woodley tonight, there’s no easy fix as Steelers most notably lack speed on defense, have arguably one of the five or seven worst secondary’s in the league in defending

CBA Buzz: Talks take a “step backwards” following NHLPA’s three new proposals

All of the optimism from the NHL’s proposal on Tuesday is now gone. The NHLPA today made three new proposal’s to the league and none approached the 50-50 revenue split that the NHL is seeking. “It’s clear we’re not speaking the same language,” commissioner Gary Bettman told reporters in Toronto. “I am totally disappointed,” Bettman said. Bettman indicated the proposals were a “step backwards” and he also said that all three offers from the players were similar to the ones they made this summer. Bettman says the NHL’s offer is fair and balanced. Many saw today as a critical day in negotiations that would reveal whether a full season would become possible and that has been thrown out the window. Where will things