Chirps from Center Ice

Couple of injury updates today.

-> Brian Strait has a hyper-extended elbow. Here’s a quip from Dan Bylsma:

Brian Strait was injured in the game in Minnesota. It’s not a very clear picture right now, but he hyper-extended his elbow. There is some damage there. Right now he’s trying to rehab for the next couple of weeks and see what happens from there. Hopefully, he can rehab. The picture is not very clear, but he’s injured for some time.

-> There wasn’t a defenseman call-up need from Coal Street today because Brooks Orpik is back.

-> Dustin Jeffrey is also back from injury.

Back on the farm, here’s the updates from Bombulie today:

-> Jason Williams will be making his Wilkes-Barre debut tomorrow in Springfield. I am most certainly looking forward to what Williams can bring offensively.

-> Robert Bortuzzo is close but will not play this weekend either.

-> Ryan Craig had arthroscopic knee surgery and will be out two to three weeks.

-> Keven Veilleux is having his knee operated on this weekend. He is of course out long term.

When looking back at what I wrote, it really isn’t a “couple” but quite a few. Here’s to health!

Gameday post will be up at 4 p.m. tomorrow for the 7:30 p.m. game in Springfield.

Let’s Go Pens!

No, Brian Strait wasn’t suspended. If you are a frequent reader of my blog I like to come up with witty headlines for my entries.

Brian Strait was recalled to Pittsburgh toady in lieu of Kris Letang being suspended two games for boarding Winnepeg’s Alex Burmistov last night.

Letang will miss tonights game in Minnesota vs. the Wild and Thursday’s game home vs. Montreal.

Barring any injuries or suspension to the defense corps I would anticipate Strait back in Wilkes-Barre by Friday. But, does he play at all? If so, he’d be playing four games (2 NHL games and 2 AHL games) in five nights. I don’t think he plays in Springfield Friday and plays Saturday in Hershey.

Bombulie checked in with a Tuesday practice update.

Let’s Go Pens!

Pittsburgh announced this afternoon that thirteen players were cut today. They include the following players:

-> Defensemen: Simon Despres, Alex Grant, Joey Mormina, Philip Samuelsson and Carl Sneep.
-> Forwards: Brandon DeFazio, Brian Gibbons, Ben Street, Paul Thompson and Geoff Walker.
-> Goaltender: Patrick Killeen.
-> Forwards Dominick Uher and Tom Kuhnhackl were sent back to their junior clubs.

People who thought Simon Despres was the second coming of Paul Coffey were rudely awakened today in learning that he was sent to Wilkes-Barre. Despres needs to develop physically and learn the Pittsburgh system, which he will do and do well right here in Wilkes-Barre.

Extended looks were given to Joe Morrow and Scott Harrington. They will get sent to their junior clubs eventually as they are too young for the AHL. Both Morrow and Harrington have impressed. I really like Morrow’s fluid skating and really can’t wait for him to get to Wilkes-Barre in the future.

Bombulie basically said the same thing here. So did the Pens News Feed Digest. Make sure, if you haven’t already, to add these guys to your bookmarks.

Finally, the Voice of the Penguins Tom Grace has joined Twitter. He joins a boatload of other AHL play-by-play voices on Twitter. Welcome Tom!

Two things that really aren’t worth blogging about but I am itching to get this season going again…

Pens revealed the Military Jersey the will wear February 25 vs. the Syracuse Crunch:

Nice picture of a wall there.

They also have a smattering of photos of the jerseys for Monday’s Black and Gold Game here. Putting two and two together, it looks like Malkin and Fleury will be on different teams.

In other news, Bombulie checked in from camp today.

No word on rosters for Black and Gold yet. They probably won’t be announced by WBS until Monday anyway, so we can’t have a blog about it. Watch the WBS Twitter feed for the announcement.

I’ll have a brief recap of the festivities Monday night. No “Gameday” of the game, those won’t be out until regular season.

Go Penguins!

Unless something pops up worth blogging about, figured I would get the training camp blog post out of the way now.

Players report September 16. The schedule leading up to the regular season can be found here. Full rosters can be found here.

Bombulie is calling it a blah camp, since there really are no jobs up for grabs in Pittsburgh with 12 forwards, 7 defenseman and 2 goalies on one way contracts in Pittsburgh. The Pens like carrying a few extra forwards just in case. Crosby is not going to be ready and Dustin Jeffrey may or may not be at 100% at the start of the season. Regardless, a very good thing for Wilkes-Barre because the tweeners get bumped to Coal Street. Time will tell.

If I see a Black and Gold roster for Monday, I will have it here for you when it is available. Until then, keep chirping.