Cubes to the Rescue?

From Forbes:

Dan Marino and Mark Cuban have joined a group from New York that is bidding in for the Penguins.

Having Cubes' money and Marino's stature in Pittsburgh would really be an asset to the profile of the franchise.

Here's hoping this is the sign of good things to come. Look how Cuban's involvement had turned around the Mavericks.

Pens Select Jordan Staal with the #2 Pick in '06 NHL Draft

I was kinda rooting for Kessel but Staal definitely has the pedigree.

Interesting that he's already 215lbs.

Maybe he got some tips from his brother Eric on how to win the Stanley Cup.

He joins Whitney, Malkin, Fluery and Crosby in the Top 5 pick club.

Pens pre-season schedule already out

Penguins Announce Seven-Game Pre-Season Schedule

The Pittsburgh Penguins announced a seven-game pre-season schedule for 2006 yesterday, including two home games at Mellon Arena.

The Penguins will open pre-season competition with games in the Canadian Maritimes on Sept. 19 and 20. They will play the Ottawa Senators in Halifax, Nova Scotia on Tuesday, Sept. 19 and will meet the Philadelphia Flyers in Moncton, New Brunswick on Wednesday, Sept. 20.

The two games at Mellon Arena will be Friday, Sept. 22 against the Washington Capitals and Friday, Sept. 29 against the Buffalo Sabres, with both games starting at 7:30 p.

Morozov Returning to the NHL?

After spending the last two seasons playing in the Russian Super League, Morozov is interested in returning to the NHL this fall, the
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.

Morozov, 29, will be an unrestricted free agent July 1 and his
agent, Jay Grossman, said Morozov "is definitely going to return to
North America" for 2006-07. Grossman is hoping that Morozov, who led
the Russian league in scoring with 23 goals and 26 assists in 51
games, will command a pretty penny on the NHL open market,
especially because of the rule changes to open up the ice. "The game
has clearly changed over here," Grossman said. "If Aleksey was a 50-
point guy in the old system, even if he didn't improve his game
(while playing in Russia), what is he going to be now, a 70-point
guy? Maybe more?" It sounds like Morozov will be playing for
whatever team is willing to dish out the most cash, and for that
reason, it's unlikely the Penguins will bite. That said, he could
help form a nice line with Evgeny Malkin and help to ease his
(Malkin's) transition to the United States, although Sergei Gonchar
seems more than capable in that role.

Ownership News

Pittsburgh Trib Review reports that the Penguins will have new new owners by the start of next season according to the NY based broker that is handling the sale.

They have 4 or 5 ( in other words 4) bidders.

There is some other news in there about the areana situation, which seems to be all about posturing and rhetoric at this point.

In hockey news, great first game of the Stanley Cup Finals last night. Ty Conklin really misplayed that puck behind the net. Hope he gets better or we could be looking at a Canes sweep.