August 6, 2015
Podcast: Neal on TSN Winnipeg
Here’s the podcast of my appearance just now on Winnipeg’s TSN 1290 Radio, talking Steelers and Blue Bombers and stuff.
If you’re using the Android app, click here.
Winnipeg Jets
Michael Frolik scored 19 goals in the full 82 games last season in Winnipeg. -- GETTY
June 28, 2015
Penguins eyeing Frolik in free agency
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – One of the Penguins’ free agency targets has emerged: Michael Frolik, a right winger who most recently played for the Jets, is a player of significant interest to Jim Rutherford and his staff, multiple sources confirmed Sunday.
The interest is sensible. Rutherford is seeking to enhance the Penguins’ skill and speed up front. Frolik is only 27, has two 20-goal seasons and was a key contributor to the Blackhawks’ 2013 Stanley Cup championship. In 2014-15, he had 19 goals, 23 assists in playing all 82 games for Winnipeg. He missed one game the previous season with the Jets.
Rutherford spoke at length with Allan Walsh, Frolik’s agent, Saturday at the NHL Draft. The two have a good relationship and late last year worked together on Marc-Andre Fleury’s extension.
The Penguins will make their annual visit to Winnipeg on Dec. 27. -- WINNIPEG FREE PRESS
June 25, 2015
Penguins stuck with Flyers only four times
The Penguins’ full 2015-16 schedule is out, and it is a bad, bad schedule. Unless, of course, one can come up with another way to describe their annual visit to Winnipeg happening on Dec. 27, exact same date the Steelers have a prime-time date in Baltimore.
Yuck.
We all deal with difficult decisions in life, but I have a feeling this might be the one year I have to bypass the Manitoba pilgrimage. Maybe I’ll make a special, separate trip.
Anyway, to stuff that actually matters, the Penguins are stuck facing the Flyers only four times, one fewer than the max for a division opponent, so there’s that. They also get all of their most challenging travel out of the way before the flip of the calendar, which usually is a good thing, as it allows for a smoother segue into the Stanley Cup playoffs.
February 6, 2015
Friday Insider: ‘Time running low’ for trade plan
Blake Comeau scores in the Penguins’ Dec. 12 win over Calgary. He’s due back next week. — GETTY
BY DEJAN KOVACEVIC
CALGARY, Alberta — Roundup of a lot of randomness from a lot of time around our teams …
• The NHL trade deadline is March 2, which is almost a month away and, yet, far too close for the Penguins’ comfort, if one asks Jim Rutherford.
“Time’s running low,” the GM was telling me yesterday as part of a wide-ranging conversation we had on the state of the team. “If you think about it, we’ve really only got a couple of weeks.”
Couple of weeks rather than a month?
“We need to see what we’ve got.”
That made immediate sense. Because as Rutherford went on to explain, management’s foremost priority as it relates to the deadline is to find out if they’ve already got the top-six wingers they need. And that, of course, means waiting on Blake Comeau, who should be back in action next week.
January 28, 2015
Column: Penguins reclaim the center lane
Mark Arcobello and Chris Kunitz celebrate David Perron’s third-period goal on the Jets’ Ondrej Pavelec. — GETTY
BY DEJAN KOVACEVIC
“They came right at us. No, actually, they went right through us.”
Those were the words of Bryan Little, the Jets’ No. 1 center, in an otherwise vacated Winnipeg locker room late Tuesday night at Consol Energy Center, and nothing could have better summed up the relevance — in the short and long terms — of the 5-3 victory the Penguins had just pulled off without Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin.
For the home team, I mean.
Because for all else that went their way — Kris Letang’s five assists in his return from the Zac Rinaldo assault, the officials allowing the Penguins to score a goal with one too many men, the Jets blindly choosing to start Ondrej Pavelec in a city where he’s historically good for a touchdown a game, Winnipeg as a franchise failing in Pittsburgh for the 14th consecutive time, etc. — the Penguins’ restored passion for the hockey stratagem known as the center drive took center stage.
January 27, 2015
Tuesday 12 Qs: Fleury, Liz, Lemon, Pat, Pats
Marc-Andre Fleury squares up during a two-on-one drill Monday at Consol. — DEJAN KOVACEVIC
BY DEJAN KOVACEVIC
Welcome to Tuesday 12 Qs, our chat that takes place each week at 9 a.m. — a new time — and offers you a chance to carry the conversation.
The earlier start is happening in large part because this file was getting buried too quickly, I thought, by going up in the afternoon. This buys more time atop the site, as well as more time for Qs to be submitted by going up at midnight.
Use the comments below to submit an entry. No more than one per person, please. Submit early if you prefer, and I’ll pick from that batch to get rolling, then monitor new entries once we go live. All topics welcome, as always.
UPDATE 9 a.m.: And off we go …
Acorrie2011: DK, what do you really think of the Penguins’ new coaching staff thus far? If they continue to stay the course currently taken, do you think they have a chance to make a Cup run? I’d obviously love to keep the hope, but if they don’t raise their compete level, I think the Pens will be lucky to make it past the first two rounds.
DK: In any piece I write or speak publicly, I’m telling you what I ‘really’ think of something. I feel compelled to start right there, because your phrasing is something I hear from readers a lot and, fair or not, I kind of take it as a suggestion that I’m not usually telling you what I ‘really’ think.
January 26, 2015
News/views: Letang, Hornqvist set to return
BY DEJAN KOVACEVIC
News: Kris Letang and Patric Hornqvist returned to practice for the Penguins here at Consol Energy Center, and both could be available as soon as tomorrow against the visiting Jets. At same time, though, Evgeni Malkin was placed on injured reserve, likely meaning he’ll miss Winnipeg, the trip to Washington the next day and maybe more. Sidney Crosby didn’t practice but should play in D.C. Blake Comeau resumed skating, but he’s 5-7 days away from a full practice.
Views: Got all that?
Good, because that’s what a Penguins update looks like after an All-Star break. Injuries, injuries and more injuries. And I didn’t even mention that David Perron left practice early due to illness, or that Simon Despres looked like death warmed over.
But at least they’re only facing hockey’s hottest team tomorrow, right?
January 22, 2015
News/views: Crosby joins Malkin on All-Star shelf
Sidney Crosby goes one-on-one at the Blackhawks’ Brent Seabrook Wednesday night at Consol. — GETTY
BY DEJAN KOVACEVIC
News: Sidney Crosby just joined the Penguins’ other superstar, Evgeni Malkin, in sitting out the NHL All-Star Game this weekend in Columbus. Both are out, the team announced, with lower-body injuries. No other details, per the norm, were given.
Views: Wonderful.
The NHL’s All-Star festivities, in general, are an epic waste of time, even more than those of other leagues. There’s no tangible benefit to Crosby, Malkin or the Penguins in participating, and I’d say the same of Marc-Andre Fleury, who will spend the next two days doing splits against repeated breakaways rather than enjoying a few days off.
November 7, 2014
Friday Insider: Penguins buyin’ the buy-in
Kris Letang waits his turn for a practice drill Wednesday at MTS Centre. — DEJAN KOVACEVIC
DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS
WINNIPEG, Manitoba — A weekly feature aimed at rounding up a whole lot of randomness from a whole lot of time around our city’s teams …
• So much of the early chatter about these still-too-early-to-call Penguins has been about buy-in. As in, are the players — specifically Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin — buying in to Mike Johnston’s approach and strategy?
I aimed to get to the bottom of this on this trip, especially since I’d expressed doubts of my own. And sometimes, the best way to do that is to turn off the recorder and just have a few conversations. So you aren’t going to read direct quotes here, as much as a summation of sentiments. If that isn’t good enough, hey, feel free to check all the happy talk that gets spoken in front of cameras and microphones and do your own deciphering.
They are buying in, but slowly and conditionally and with different concerns.
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August 13, 2015
Podcast: DK on TSN Winnipeg
by Dejan Kovacevic • Podcasts • Pirates, Winnipeg Jets
ST. LOUIS — Here’s the podcast of my regular appearance on Winnipeg’s TSN 1290 Radio, talking about the Pirates’ playoff push with my friend Andrew Paterson.
Android app users, click here.
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