2008–09 Pittsburgh Penguins season
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "2008–09_Pittsburgh_Penguins_season".

This article documents a current ice hockey season. Information may change as the event progresses.

The 2008–09 Pittsburgh Penguins season is the 41^st season of the franchise in the National Hockey League (NHL). The Ottawa Senators and the Pittsburgh Penguins played each other twice in Stockholm, Sweden on October 4 and October 5 to kick off the NHL season.² The Penguins will attempt to make the playoffs for the third straight season, while defending their Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference titles.

Pre-season

Because of the extended playoff run of the 2007-08 season, the Penguins were left with less than three weeks before free agency began on July 1, with the Penguins facing numerous contract decisions. The Penguins added nine free agents and lost ten to other teams.

Head coach Michel Therrien also signed a new three-year contract that replaced the last year of his existing contract with an increase in salary and will keep him with the Penguins through the 2010-11 season.³

The Penguins announced on July 17 that they had renewed 99% of their season ticket sales from the 2007–08 season; they have sold out 67 consecutive games at Mellon Arena dating back to the 2006-07 season.⁴ In July, ESPN named Pittsburgh the top team in the Eastern Conference,⁵ and the Sporting News placed the team in the fifth position in the league.⁶ Therrien began preparing for training camp in August. He stated that the team's goal will be to use experience gained throughout the past two seasons, in which Pittsburgh made the playoffs, to win the Stanley Cup.⁷ The team commenced training camp on September 16, 2008 in Pittsburgh.⁸⁹ Pittsburgh played five pre-season games in preparation for the season, finishing with a 4–0–1 record.¹⁰ The team concluded its preparation for the season with practices in Stockholm.¹¹ Defensemen Sergei Gonchar, who was injured in the pre-season opener, will miss "four to six months" due to a shoulder injury.¹²¹³ With Gonchar out of the lineup and last season's rotating alternate captains Malone and Roberts departed, the season began with no returning alternate captains in the lineup. One of the two alternate captaincies will be awarded on a monthly player vote; Evgeni Malkin will serve the role throughout the opening month,¹⁴ along with Brooks Orpik.¹⁵

Regular season events

October

On September 27, the Penguins embarked on a trip for Sweden where they opened the season against the Ottawa Senators, at the Stockholm Globe Arena.¹⁷ The Penguins were one of four teams to participate in NHL Premiere which began the season with games in Prague and Stockholm.¹⁸ Pittsburgh won the opening game of the season in overtime, getting two goals from Tyler Kennedy, including the game-winner.¹⁹ The game was broadcast on Mellon Arena's JumboTron where 2,300 spectators watched the game.²⁰ The team returned to Pittsburgh after ten days in Europe and a 1–1–0 record.¹⁶ The Penguins hosted the Trib Total Media Faceoff Festival 2008 prior to their first four home games, allowing fans to watch the games on 9-by-12 foot LED screen outside of Mellon Arena.²¹²² On October 18, Sidney Crosby scored one goal in addition to three assists to surpass benchmarks of 100 goals, 200 assists, and 300 total points for his career.²³ In the same game Evgeni Malkin assisted on four goals giving him 200 total career points.²⁴²⁵

The Penguins received continued fan support from their previous season. In addition to extending a home sellout streak to 72 games on October 23, the Penguins rank 113% above the national average for male television viewers aged 18 to 34.²⁶ The franchise ranks as the 18th most valuable in the league at US$195 million, making a 26% increase in the past season.²⁷ According to Forbes, the franchise's revenue will likely put the Penguins into the top ten after their new arena opens in 2010.²⁷ The Penguins finished October with a 3–1–1 record in Pittsburgh and concluded the month with three consecutive road losses.²⁸

November

The Penguins will play twelve games in November—six home and six on the road.²⁸ After their win on November 1, Evgeni Malkin led the league in points and assists, while Miroslav Satan led the team with six goals.²⁹ Rob Scuderi and Hal Gill were selected by Therrien to be November's alternate captains, taking over for Brooks Orpik and Malkin who served in October.³⁰ On November 11, the Penguins returned to Detroit for the first time since the 2008 Stanley Cup Finals.³¹ The third goal of Jordan Staal's second career hat-trick came with 22.8 seconds remaining in regulation, sending the game into overtime where the Penguins achieved a 7–6 victory.³² On November 15, the Penguins will wear their alternate blue jerseys, similar to those worn by the franchise in the 1970s and worn in the 2008 NHL Winter Classic.³³

Standings

Divisional standings

Conference standings

* – division leader

Schedule and results

• Green background indicates win. (2 points)
• Red indicates loss. (0 points)
• White background indicates overtime/shootout loss (1 point).

Player stats

Through Game 12.³⁴

Skaters

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/- = Plus/Minus; PIM = Penalty Minutes

Goaltenders

Note: GP = Games Played; TOI = Time On Ice (minutes); W = Wins; L = Losses; OT = Overtime Losses; GA = Goals Against; SO = Shutouts; Sv% = Save Percentage; GAA = Goals Against Average

Personnel

Current roster

Updated November 16, 2008.[24]

#	Nat	Player	Pos	S/G	Age	Acquired	Birthplace
43	Canada	Boucher, PhilippePhilippe Boucher	2.0 D	R	35	2008	Saint-Apollinaire, Quebec
24	Canada	Cooke, MattMatt Cooke	6.0 LW	L	30	2008	Belleville, Ontario
87	Canada	Crosby, SidneySidney Crosby (C)	4.0 C	L	21	2005	Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia
9	Canada	Dupuis, PascalPascal Dupuis	5.0 W	L	29	2008	Laval, Quebec
7	United States	Eaton, MarkMark Eaton	2.0 D	L	31	2006	Wilmington, Delaware
26	Ukraine	Fedotenko, RuslanRuslan Fedotenko	6.0 LW	L	29	2008	Kiev, U.S.S.R.
29	Canada	Fleury, Marc-AndreMarc-Andre Fleury	1.0 G	L	23	2003	Sorel, Quebec
2	United States	Gill, HalHal Gill (A)	2.0 D	L	33	2008	Concord, Massachusetts
28	Canada	Godard, EricEric Godard	7.0 RW	R	28	2008	Vernon, British Columbia
13	United States	Goligoski, AlexAlex Goligoski	2.0 D	L	23	2004	Grand Rapids, Minnesota
55	Russia	Gonchar, SergeiSergei Gonchar	2.0 D	L	34	2005	Chelyabinsk, U.S.S.R.
48	Canada	Kennedy, TylerTyler Kennedy	4.0 C	R	22	2004	Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario
58	Canada	Letang, KristopherKristopher Letang	2.0 D	R	21	2005	Montreal, Quebec
71	Russia	Malkin, EvgeniEvgeni Malkin	4.0 C	L	22	2004	Magnitogorsk, U.S.S.R.
44	United States	Orpik, BrooksBrooks Orpik	2.0 D	L	28	2001	San Francisco, California
30	Canada	Sabourin, DanyDany Sabourin	1.0 G	L	28	2007	Val-d'Or, Quebec
81	Slovakia	Satan, MiroslavMiroslav Satan	7.0 RW	L	34	2008	Topolcany, Czechoslovakia
4	United States	Scuderi, RobRob Scuderi (A)	2.0 D	L	29	1998	Syosset, New York
11	Canada	Staal, JordanJordan Staal	4.0 C	L	20	2006	Thunder Bay, Ontario
17	Czech Republic	Sykora, PetrPetr Sykora	7.0 RW	L	32	2007	Pilsen, Czechoslovakia
25	Canada	Talbot, MaximeMaxime Talbot	4.0 C	L	24	2002	LeMoyne, Quebec
19	United States	Whitney, RyanRyan Whitney	2.0 D	L	25	2002	Boston, Massachusetts
15	Canada	Zigomanis, MichaelMichael Zigomanis	4.0 C	R	27	2008	Toronto, Ontario

Staff

Awards and records

Milestones

Transactions

Concerns over future player contracts were raised just days after the 2008 Stanley Cup Final.³⁶ Approximately a dozen players, including Marian Hossa, Jarkko Ruutu, Ryan Malone, and Brooks Orpik, had fulfilled the final year on their contracts.³⁷³⁸ On June 28, the Penguins traded the contract negotiation rights to Gary Roberts and Ryan Malone to the Tampa Bay Lightning for a conditional draft pick; it became a 3rd round pick when both Malone and Roberts signed with the Lightning on June 30.³⁹ Evgeni Malkin was offered a contract from a Russian team in the newly-formed Kontinental Hockey League worth approximately $12.5 million, tax exempt, per year, which would make him the highest-paid hockey player in the world.⁴⁰ However, Malkin turned down the offer to remain with the Penguins, and the IIHF released a statement saying that it would not honor the offer, as Malkin was already under an existing contract with the Penguins at the time.⁴¹⁴² Malkin agreed to a five year contract extension worth $8.7 million per year—the same value as Sidney Crosby's contract—with the Penguins on July 2.⁴³ On July 3, the Penguins agreed to a seven year deal with restricted free agent goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury in addition to one-year contracts with free agents Miroslav Satan and Ruslan Fedotenko.⁴⁴ On October 8 the Penguins made several roster adjustments, placing Kris Beech, who is already in Europe looking for a new team, on unconditional waivers and sending Janne Pesonen, John Curry, and Jeff Taffe, who first had to clear waivers⁴⁵, to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.⁴⁶ The next day, on October 9, the Penguins acquired Mike Zigomanis from Phoenix for future considerations.⁴⁵

Trades

Draft picks

The 2008 NHL Entry Draft was held on June 20–21, 2008, in Ottawa, Ontario. The Penguins did not make their first selection until the fourth round, at 120th overall. Their first-round selection was traded to the Atlanta Thrashers, on February 26, 2008.⁷¹ Pittsburgh's second-round selection was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs, also on February 26.⁷² The third-round pick went to the Phoenix Coyotes with Daniel Carcillo, for Georges Laraque on February 27, 2007. ⁷³

See also

• 2008–09 NHL season

Minor League Affiliates

• AHL - Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins
• ECHL - Wheeling Nailers

References