Penguins Notebook
Penguins News Roundup 2/5/18: Hörnqvist Week-To-Week, Fleury On ‘Weird’ Return
We’ve all been looking forward to it. Heck, the Penguins might’ve even been looking forward to it when they lost Saturday.
4:53 p.m.: More Fleury quotes from our Shelly Anderson who was at Vegas’ practice this afternoon.
Fleury on practicing with Vegas in Pittsburgh: It's definitely weird. I'm so used to going into the other locker room and doing my routine here. It’s good to see guys. I saw a few of them. Fun to be back.
— Shelly Anderson (@_ShellyAnderson) February 5, 2018
Fleury on emotion of facing #Penguins: You always want to win, but I don't want to block everything out either. It's going to be a special moment for me, playing the first game back here. I want remember it and remember my time here.
— Shelly Anderson (@_ShellyAnderson) February 5, 2018
Fleury on Vegas: From the start, the expectations weren’t that high. We have a good group of guys here, good leadership group, guys that have played a lot, been through a lot and won. I don’t think any of us wanted to be satisfied with just being OK.
we wanted more than that.— Shelly Anderson (@_ShellyAnderson) February 5, 2018
3:50 p.m.: A few weeks ago, Pittsburgh Hockey Now’s John Perrotto spoke with Matt Murray about Fleury and what he meant to him personally, and why Matt misses Marc-Andre.
Great piece if you missed it.
3:48 p.m.: All of the great Fleury stuff, here:
Crosby on Fleury the prankster: “My favorite one is when he got those stink bombs – little glass things that you break, and they reek. He got at least four or five guys’ hotel rooms with those. They had to basically evacuate a floor of the hotel with those stink bombs.”
— Shelly Anderson (@_ShellyAnderson) February 5, 2018
Crosby on MAF: (Pressure) falls on the goalie’s shoulders a lot. The mindset he had, he … put a smile on his face no matter what the situation was. That’s not always easy to do, and he found a way to do it. That was something I got to see up close for a long time.
— Shelly Anderson (@_ShellyAnderson) February 5, 2018
Crosby on facing Fleury in Pittsburgh: “It will be weird to see him at the other end, but once you get in the game, you get competitive and you have fun with it. You go out there and compete and try to find a way to put the puck in the net.”
— Shelly Anderson (@_ShellyAnderson) February 5, 2018
Sully on Fleury’s departure: “There were a couple of tough conversations. Those conversations might have been a couple of the hardest conversations that I’ve ever had as a coach. The reason is because of how highly I think of him.”
— Shelly Anderson (@_ShellyAnderson) February 5, 2018
2:55 p.m.: As you’d imagine, there are some funny lines coming out of the visitors’ locker room at PPG Paints Arena this afternoon.
As for the semi-serious stuff, Fleury told reporters the experience as a visitor in Pittsburgh is “really weird,” but he’s looking forward to a “fun” matchup tomorrow against his former mates.
He also mixed in some of his usual irreverent humor.
Murray and Jarry said they learned how to be a professionals from Fleury. When asked how he taught them, he responded: “It’s not like we had classes.” -SK
— Pens Inside Scoop (@PensInsideScoop) February 5, 2018
1:53 p.m.: Our friend Chase Williams from WPXI-TV captured some video of Fleury in action at practice.
The ???? returns pic.twitter.com/36v2oTI5qQ
— Chase Williams WPXI (@chasepwilliams) February 5, 2018
1:35 p.m.: The Golden Knights, those darlings of the NHL, are on the ice now. Sergei Gonchar stopped by to say hello to Fleury before the workout got going.
Fleury, on the ice for Vegas practice at the Paint Can, and Gonchar say hello. pic.twitter.com/Nid9Hhwvy1
— Shelly Anderson (@_ShellyAnderson) February 5, 2018
By the way, go to Shelly’s Twitter account to get some choice quotes from Fleury’s former teammates. Call it a preview of her story coming up later …
1:15 p.m.: Phil Kessel missed practice, but the NHL’s reigning iron man was simply feeling under the weather, Sullivan said.
1:05 p.m.: Not the best news regarding Hörnqvist’s injury. Mike Sullivan told reporters after practice that the tenacious right winger would be out “week-to-week.”
Sullivan called Hornqvist week to week, lower body. Over the weekend said it didn’t look longer term. Tests apparently revealed otherwise.
— Shelly Anderson (@_ShellyAnderson) February 5, 2018
Just looking ahead, the Penguins have three games this week, tomorrow’s game against Vegas plus a two-game trip to Dallas and St. Louis over the weekend. Next week, they’ll play three in a row at home, taking on the Senators, Kings and Leafs.
12:10 p.m.: The accolades keep on coming for the Penguins’ top guns. A few days after being named the NHL’s first star for January, Evgeni Malkin was given first-star-of-the-week honors for his six-goal, eight-point performance in three games last week.
Here’s our Dave Holcomb on where Malkin’s current hot streak might rank among his best runs as a Penguin.
11:30 a.m.: The last-place New York Rangers are officially sellers. That’s one less team in the mix in the crowded Metro, per Bob McKenzie of TSN.
Looks like Rick Nash might be on his way out.
NYR have requested Rick Nash’s No-Trade list and Nash gave it to the club yesterday. The list is 18 teams Nash cannot be traded to (unless he were to waive his NTC). Conversely, NYR now have the green light to trade Nash to the 12 teams not on the list.
— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) February 5, 2018
11:11 a.m.: The Penguins are hosting thousands of Pittsburgh area school children for an interactive practice. The event is being hosted by Josh Getzoff and radio color commentator Phil Bourque.
Awesome. pic.twitter.com/opb6Yp2WeM
— Nick Cotsonika (@cotsonika) February 5, 2018
Practice is extra loud today for some reason. Oh, yeah, 7,000 school kids. #Penguins pic.twitter.com/buJWwpwtVS
— Shelly Anderson (@_ShellyAnderson) February 5, 2018
So, kids get out of school to watch hockey. Count us as jealous!
10:08 a.m.: Trade rumor roundup …
• Sportsnet’s Nick Kypreos reported this weekend the Montreal Canadiens want “a first-rounder, a second-rounder, a ‘warm roster body’ and a top prospect” for Max Pacioretty. The Pittsburgh Penguins did scout the Canadiens this weekend.
• Larry Brooks of the New York Post — to be taken with a grain of salt — reported the Arizona Coyotes have let it be known Max Domi is available. Domi has flopped in his third season with only three goals and 19 assists this season.
• Elliotte Friedman reports the L.A. Kings would like to add a defenseman. …Ahem, Pittsburgh Penguins, who have been scouting the Kings AHL affiliate in Ontario (as first reported by our Dan Kingerski on Saturday).
7 a.m.: We’ve all been looking forward to it. Heck, the Penguins might’ve even been looking forward to it when they lost Saturday in Newark, N.J. The return of Marc-André Fleury is nearly upon us.
To that end, our Shelly Anderson (@_Shellyanderson) will be at the Golden Knights’ practice session Monday afternoon, so look for a story from her before Tuesday’s Pittsburgh-Vegas matchup at PPG Paints Arena.
In the meantime, check in with this post throughout the day as we include any relevant Penguins news that breaks. This being February, that also includes trade reports in addition to the usual mid-season intrigue.
Something to watch today: Patric Hörnqvist‘s status for practice up at the Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry Township. He missed Saturday’s loss tamthe Devils with a lower-body injury Mike Sullivan said wasn’t severe.
Otherwise, make sure to check out Matt Gajtka‘s debut contribution for PHN, in which he examines where the rejuvenated Penguins stack up against the other Stanley Cup contenders. Also, Dan Kingerski had the scoop over the weekend about a possible Penguins-Kings deal in the works.