• It was great to see the Roberts and Recchi situation resolved before the draft began. Now the Penguins can move on to address their other needs such as finding a winger for Sidney Crosby. I reported Thursday evening that if the talks to did progress by Friday afternoon, the Penguins were moving on. While it looks like Roberts and Recchi took Sheros demand seriously as both signed 1yr deals. Both are cap friendly deals. Roberts will make 2.5 million and Recchi will make 1.3 million with incentives that can make the contract worth 2 million.
  • When the Penguins acquired a 3rd round pick for Chris Thorburn, there were some rumors swirling around at the draft that the Penguins were looking to move up in the 1st round. Their potential target was rumored to be defenseman Ryan McDonagh who went to Montreal at #12. McDonagh was the third defenseman taking in draft but some scouting services believe he is as good of a defenseman as there was available. Despite not trading for McDonagh everything ended up just fine as a potential star in Angelo Esposito fell into the teams lap at #20.
  • Last week Petr King of Sports Illustrated came out with his quarterback rankings of all 32 starting quarterbacks and to know ones surprise Peyton Manning was #1. What was surprising about this article was Ben Roethlisberger being ranked #17. This is what King had to say Roethilisberger being ranked 17th.
  • Ben Roethlisberger 17th? What gives? From Year 1 to Year 2 of his career, his completion percentage dropped 3.7 points; from year two to three it fell 3.0 points. His TD-to-interception ratio, plus-eight in 2005, dropped to minus-five last season. He is profoundly inconsistent. I say he’s a C-plus player until I see six or eight straight weeks of the same guy.
  • Petr King makes some viable points and I know Roethlisberger had a awful year in 06 but he is still a franchise quarterback in my book. Sometimes stats are overrated and for some players like Roethlisberger who only throw the ball 20-25 times a game you have to look at the impact he has on the field in all aspects. There’s a reason Petr King is a columnist and not a general manager. I bet two/thirds of the GM’s in the league would Ben rated in the top 10.