The Pittsburgh Penguins made their first selection under new General Manager Jim Rutherford tonight at the 2014 NHL Entry Draft held tonight at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. After speculation Rutherford might trade the pick, those rumors were laid to rest with the selection of Kasperi Kapanen of Kalpa of the Finnish Elite League. Kapanen, the son of former NHL forward Sami Kapanen is a skilled right wing prospect who struggled with injury this past season, but at 17, is considered ... Read More
Pens Trade James Neal to Nashville
The Pittsburgh Penguins have traded James Neal to the Nashville Predators tonight for forwards Patric Hornqvist and Nick Spaling. Hornqvist is a right winger with a nice scoring touch who could be a viable replacement for Neal. The 27 year old forward has scored 20 or more goals in four of his first six seasons in the NHL, including 30 goals in 2009. He is signed for four more seasons and will have a cap hit of 4.25 million per season, a reduction compared to Neal. Spaling will ... Read More
Power of the Week: Tommy Grady
What a long, strange trip it's been for the Pittsburgh Power. After a season that began with the firing of their head coach, the challenge of dealing with a roster chocked full of new players, and many questions as to whether would be able to reach the playoffs in their third season of existence, the Power are now proving to be one of the top teams in the AFL. On the heels of an impressive 57-27 win over the Iowa Barnstormers, the Power not only improved to 11-3 on the season, they locked up ... Read More
Pirates defeat Cubs 2-1 in series finale
For the second game in a row, the Pirates got great pitching from a starter who was not on the opening day roster. Brandon Cumpton followed up Vance Worley's quality start Saturday night with a gem of his own, going seven scoreless innings and giving up only two hits in the Pirates 2-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs Sunday afternoon at Wrigley Field. Cumpton (3-2) was able to control the Cubs lineup all afternoon, including retiring 12 straight batters at one point through the first five ... Read More
Desjardins turns down Pens, search continues for coach
Its back to the drawing board when it comes to the Penguins coaching search. After multiple reports identified AHL coach Willie Desjardins as GM Jim Rutherford's pick to take over head coaching duties for the Pens, it now looks as if Rutherford will have to look at different options. Desjardins, most recently the coach of the Calder Cup winning Texas Stars, has a track record of winning at every stop during his coaching career. Certainly not a household name, the 57-year-old Desjardins ... Read More
Jason Grilli reportedly to be removed as Pirates closer
According to Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune Review, Jason Grilli will be removed from his closer role for the Pittsburgh Pirates. #pirates have removed Jason Grilli from closers role.— Rob Biertempfel (@BiertempfelTrib) June 20, 2014 For time being, #pirates will use @GrillCheese49 in ultra low-leverage situations (i.e. losing game) so he can work things out.— Rob Biertempfel (@BiertempfelTrib) June 20, 2014 It has been a tough season for the former All-Star closer. ... Read More
Should the Pirates look to trade Pedro Alvarez?
As Pedro Alvarez gets closer to becoming a high priced free agent after the 2016 season, the reality seems to be that Alvarez's days in Pittsburgh are numbered. This is especially the case if you ask the average Pirates fan. They seem increasingly frustrated with Alvarez's inability to hit for a higher average, his at times frustrating defense and his lack of production over long stretches. For all the criticism Alvarez has received in the past few seasons, especially of late, few hitters ... Read More
Pirates Player of the Week: Gregory Polanco
Its been quite a start for Pirate of the Week, Gregory Polanco. After months of speculation, Pirates super prospect Polanco received the news everyone was waiting for on Monday. Polanco would officially be a Pittsburgh Pirate. After some ups and downs in his debut Tuesday night against the Chicago Cubs, its fair to say Polanco is finding the stroke that had him rated as not only the top prospect in the Pirates system, but in all of baseball. Going into Sunday's series finale against the ... Read More
Marlins Walk-Off Pirates 3-2
After finally reaching the .500 mark for the first time since April 8th, the Pittsburgh Pirates looked for another accomplishment that had not happened since 1993, go into south Florida and sweep the Miami Marlins. Unfortunately, former Pirate Casey McGehee had other ideas. The Marlins (35-33) were led by McGehee's three hit, three RBI performance as the Marlins came back to thwart the Pirates attempt at the sweep in 10 innings, 3-2. Starter Vance Worley was exceptional making his debut for ... Read More
A Tribute to Chuck Noll
In the world of sports media, it’s certainly easy to become jaded. We start to look at games and players as opportunities to be the quickest from point A to point B, to be the ones who break the news of off the field drama. We happily cheer when players like Johnny Manziel are drafted, and proceeds to be a story for everything but football. We get exactly what we were hoping for. We report about the latest player to be arrested for criminal behavior, and sadly, look at it like another ... Read More