Chirps from Center Ice

Back at it in year fifteen of this blog are we for another year of blogging up the local hockey team. Thanks for coming along for the ride.

Off the hop, I think they will be a competitive team this season. With Pittsburgh likely in full on tank mode that leaves the farm club to ripen on the vine a bit and improve on last years fourth place standing to get even better. Will they? I think so. They should contend early for the top spot in the new look Atlantic Division. More on that in a bit.

Music to Set the Mood…

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This past summer at my pool I got tired of the same 75 or so songs on Yacht Rock Radio. Don’t get me wrong, I love me some Doobie Brothers, Michael McDonald and some Rupert Holmes, but it got to be a drag being hearing the same songs in the pool every afternoon all summer.

So on a whim, I skimmed through SiriusXM’s lineup of channels while going for a hair cut of all things. Beyond my other favorites of Classic Rewind and Vinyl, SiriusXMU and First Wave, I landed on Hair Nation. There were a few songs on there that caught my ear and I couldn’t get enough. Christopher Cross, Linda Ronstadt and Robbie Dupree were replaced by Poison, Ratt and the band above, Dokken. I was rockin’ with Dokken all August long with Keith Roth on Hair Nation.

I miss summer.

Anyway.

The Setup

Friday off, then they get going for a home opener against Hartford and then a Sunday road game in Allentown. Everyone should be in tip top shape and raring to go.

Top to bottom from last seasons finish, here’s a quick preview of where I think they should be this season.

Hershey: Average to below average team. Todd Nelson is an assistant with Pittsburgh now and Derek King is at the helm for the 13 time champs. He’s a coach who is good with youth and the Bears will be just that. Inexperienced, but still the Bears.

Charlotte: Above average. The Eastern Conference Champs will be looking to get back to the Calder Cup Finals again.

Providence: Above average. The Bruins always give teams fits and are a juggernaut. No reason to believe any of that stops this season.

Penguins: Above average. If the Penguins don’t go further then they did in the past two seasons, then it will just be more of the same until it isn’t anymore. I expect them to contend all season.

Lehigh Valley: Above average to average. The Phantoms are much like the Penguins with a group of hungry kids looking to graduate. The Pens and Phantoms play 12 times this season and you better get ready for wars.

Springfield: Average to below average. I don’t think they signed anyone of significance.

Hartford: Below average. Same story here. They will start hot and fizzle. New York thinks they can contend so who knows.

Bridgeport: Above average. This isn’t saying much because the only way to go is up for the league’s worst team last year, but they overhauled everything and got better on paper. They are a prove it team to me for now.

Don’t ask me to pick the two teams which don’t make playoffs. It’s a fools errand.

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Records

Everyone is starting 0-0. Lehigh Valley hosts Belleville Saturday.

Who’s Up? Who’s Down? Who’s Out?

Sergei Murashov and Owen Pickering are names to watch to start the season in the AHL. Rutger McGroarty is working his way off an injury and is up. This is normally the most busiest place during the Winter months in this space, so keep a lookout. Avery Hayes and Trisan Broz had good NHL camps but are starting the season here. Don’t get used to them for long.

What can we learn about the Penguins this week?

They will contend, that is for sure. Murashov should be your number one in goal. Pittsburgh has a decision to make when Joel Blomqvist heals up because they aren’t carrying Blomqvist, Arturs Silovs and Tristan Jarry. A Penguins goaltender or goaltenders is being traded. No way you risk losing Silovs on waivers. Jarry’s contract is an albatross, so what happens? Your guess is as good as mine.

But it’s Murashov’s net for now.

Owen Pickering should be too good to play at this level and guys like Broz and Hayes should be chomping at the bit to get back to an NHL lifestyle. Raphael Harvey-Pinard and Alex Alexeyev will be looking for good first impressions also.

They should beat Hartford and then it’s a measuring stick with Lehigh Valley over Pennsylvania dominance and who could conceivably be at the head of the Atlantic Division table after the first weekend of the season.

All of the Penguins nine games this month are against Atlantic Division competition, so it’s prime time to start hot and get the rest of the division behind you before the real grind starts and the recalls and injuries inevitably occur.

Who’s in Goal?

I think you have to start Sergei Murashov Saturday and then let Taylor Gauthier or Maxim Pavlenko take the start in Lehigh Valley or, just start Murashov in both contests. That would make more sense but you don’t know when the evaluation process ends.

For Hartford and Lehigh Valley, Dylan Garand and possibly Carson Bjarnason for the competition.

Who’s Running the Show?

Damian Figueira and Patrick Hanrahan have the opening night assignment with Shawn Oliver and Richard Jondo on the lines Saturday night.

Sunday in Allentown, Mathieu Menniti and Austin O’Rourke are in charge with Oliver. making the PA Turnpike trip to meet up with Patrick Dapuzzo to work the lines.

Looking Ahead…

Friday night in Hartford and then Saturday night in Bridgeport for the first road trip of the season.

Give us a bold prediction…

They win both games with the power play yet to score a goal.