Chirps from Center Ice

Pittsburgh announced the signing of D Brendan Mikkelson today.

Sound familiar? He is. He’s been a certified Penguin killer. He had a big year for Syracuse this past year and killed the Penguins as a member of the Portland Pirates in 2008 in the Eastern Conference Finals.

Bombulie suggests he fills the role of Dylan Reese. He figures that Wilkes-Barre could do well to get another defenseman to fill the role Joey Mormina played.

Mikkelson was #35 on the Bombulie / Cignoli Big Board. Described as a “capable depth defenseman, solid in the AHL and can fill in at the NHL level.”

That certainly helps, as eluded to yesterday by Mike O’Brien, the Wilkes-Barre blue line is very young.

So you have Chris Conner (#34 on the Big Board) Nick Drazenovic (#24) and Andrew Ebbett (#26) signed for potential Wilkes-Barre service in the Fall. In my opinion, a modestly strong offseason for the Penguins.

I updated the 2013 Offseason Moves List.

Elsewhere….

— Here’s another entry from Mike O’Brien on development camp with audio.

— Eric Majeski’s Day 4 writeup on development camp.

— The NHL schedule is out. I saw some of you commenting about how late the schedule was this year. Me? The AHL schedule won’t be out until some time in August.

— The Pittsburgh Penguins will play in the newly formed, “Metropolitan Division” which some scoffed at the ridiculousness of the name. May I suggest that the AHL’s East Division be renamed the, “Interstate 81 Division.”

Have a great weekend.