Ha. Ha Ha Ha. Ha. Ha.

Add these three to the ever growing injury list

The hysterical laughing keeps me from crying

Brace yourselves, Pens fans. These hard times aren’t getting any better.

The organization this morning announced that Jordan Staal will  be out for 4 to 6 weeks with a knee injury, sustained when he got tangled up with New York Rangers forward Mike Rupp in Friday’s game. The good news, however, is that he doesn’t need any surgery.

Also injured is James Neal. The team leader in goals was hit by a puck late in Saturday’s game against the New Jersey Devils. According to Coach Bylsma, a timetable for the injury will be figured out in the next few days. All that we know is that it will be weeks, not days, before he’s back. Which sucks, considering he was well on his way to going to the All Star this year.

Feel like puking yet? Wait.

Apparently, Craig Adams has re-aggravated an old injury and will be looked at on Monday.

These three are now added to a list that include Sidney Crosby, Kris Letang, Dustin Jeffery, and Arron Asham.

The saddest stat? The Pens are on pace for 431 man games lost due to injury. They had 350 lost last season.

Whatever it takes, we walk together.

Hey Now! You’re An All-Star! Get Your Game On! Go Play!

Your Choices For The Pittsburgh Penguins All-Stars

The All Star voting has begun!This year, the NHL has selected several players from each team to include on the ballot.

Representing your Pittsburgh Penguins are the following:

Sidney Crosby- despite not playing a game since January 7th, Sid was still included on the ballot. If you recall, he had the most votes last year out of all the players, but couldn’t participate because of that dreaded concussion. The Kid is pretty much the definition of all star, and deserves to be on the ballot. It’s kind of insane to think that Sid has only played in one All Star game his whole life, back in 2007. Injury has kept him out all the other years.  The NHL must really have faith that he’ll be ready to play any day now. Maybe they have some insider information that we don’t…

Evgeni Malkin- Precious Geno was voted in last year as well, but decided not participate because of his nagging knee injury. Geno has participated in two other All Star games (who could forget his shenanigans with Ovechkin at the 2009 Skills Competition?), so it wouldn’t be his first time (that’s what she said). But after what he’s been through the past few months, it would be nice to see him in there again.

Marc-Andre Fleury- Our favourite, foul-mouthed goalie has been chosen, after Pens fans voted him in last season as a write in choice. That was also his first ever All-Star game. Fleury seems tailor-made for the Skills Competition. Who could forget him being mic’d up during the Winter Classic practice on ’24/7′? And we’ve all seen him show off a bit during the shoot-outs in practice. He’s perfect! Let’s hope Carey Price of the Montreal Canadiens gets voted in as well, so we can have a pose off too.

Jordan Staal- I’ll try to keep the gushing to a minimum. Hard to believe that Gronk hasn’t participated in an All Star game before. Like Geno, Jordan didn’t exactly have the best season last year (infecetd foot injury, then a broken hand kept him out for the first 2 months of the 2010/2011 season), but he proved himself as a great leader. He’s also a great player with a playful personality who would have a lot of fun with the game, especially on a team with his brothers.  I’m guessing the NHL is hoping all 3 Staal brothers will be voted in, since they even included Marc, despite him being injured. Can’t miss a chance for a Staal drinking game, can we?

Kris Letang- Like Fleury, Letang participated in his first All Star last season after fans voted him in. Tanger has been having an awesome season so far. He ranks 5th among the league in ice team, with an average of 27:01. He filled some big shoes when Brooks Orpik was out with an injury. Tanger was suspended earlier this season for an illegal hit on the Jets’ Alex Burmistrov, but he’s seemed to learn from that and reformed his ways (who would have thought Kris Letang would have been the first Penguin to be suspended under the Shanaban? Especially when they have Matt Cooke on the team…).  Let’s just hope that, if he’s selected this time around, he doesn’t trip up the stairs again.

James Neal- After acquiring him in a trade with Dallas last season, Neal has finally come into his own. He is currently second behind Phil Kessel when it comes to goals scored in the league, and leads the Penguins in goals. Like Staal, Neal has never participated in an All Star game, but this would be the perfect year to do so. After being hated on by a lot of fans for not scoring 500 goals his first game, he has proven himself as a goal scorer and as someone who will fit in on the Penguins perfectly. It would be awesome to see him in the All Star lineup!

You can vote for all your faves up to 30 times  at vote.nhl.com

A Pittsburgh Penguins Halloween

Like any self-respecting grown men, the members of the Pittsburgh Penguins celebrated Halloween with gusto! Let’s recap the evening…

If you aren’t already following Evgeni Malkin on Twitter (@malkin71_), I highly recommend it. Thanks to him, full coverage of the Pittsburgh Penguins Halloween Party was brought to the people; including, but not limited to, this gem:

That is Malkin with your captain, ladies and gentlemen. Crosby cleans up pretty well as a gladiator, no?

Keep reading for more Penguins Halloween excellence!

Jordan Staal Scores His 100th!

A warning: this piece on Jordan Staal is written by a massive Jordan Staal fan. There  is a fair amount of gushing in here. Turn around now if you don’t want to see it. 

source: penguins.nhl.com

Congratulations are in order for Jordan Staal. On Saturday, in a game against the New Jeresy Devils, Staal scored his 100th career goal.  This was more than just the 100th goal for Staal. It meant he has finally come out of the shadow that he has seemingly been in his whole life.Jordan grew up the third brother of the Staal family, behind oldest brother Eric and second oldest Marc. Eric was drafted 2nd overall in 2003 by the Carolina Hurricanes. Marc was drafted 12th overall by the New Yorks Rangers in 2005. Both quickly made names for themselves. Eric was named alternate captain during the 2007-2008 season before being named captain in 2010. In 2006, he won a Stanley Cup. He soon added a World Championship gold medal, and an Olympic gold medal to that. Marc has quickly made a name for himself in the NHL as an excellent defenseman who can throw out the big hits (want an example? Youtube ‘Marc Staal hits Jordan Staal’. Seriously, do it), make the passes that score the goals, and kill the penalties.

Jordan was taken 2nd overall in the 2006 draft by the Pittsburgh Penguins. He became the youngest player to score a hattrick, won a World Championship gold medal, made it to the Stanley Cup playoffs in 2008, and finally won in 2009. In 2010, he was a finalist for the Selke Trophy for the league’s best defensive forward.  At the beginning of the 2010/2011 season, the Penguins named Jordan as an alternte captain, along with Brooks Orpik. But somehow, none of this really matters.

Jordan is constantly forgotten, mostly because he plays on a team with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. Jordan is usually a third line center. On any other team, he would easily be a second or even a first line center. And when he is remembered, it’s because people need to blame him for the team’s losses. Staal came back from injury just as Crosby and Malkin were injured and left for the season. Many fans were angry at Staal, claiming he wasn’t scoring enough goals and the like. Some people went as far as stating that drafting Staal on the Penguins was a mistake and we should have taken Chicago’s Jonathan Toews. But he was being used on the penalty kill, along with taking on responsibilities as the captain. And let’s not forget that he only played half a season due to injury. Now that’s he’s fully healthy, we can expect more goals from him.

Getting his 100th career goal was a huge milestone, and was celebrated by all Pens fans. Staal has finally come out of the shadow that’s he been in his whole life, and no one is happier than this fan right here