How far away are we from having an official line up? Prospect camp kicks off on September 5th, so that helps us get an idea. And really, only less than two weeks after that we start things off in the preseason. I'd imagine we're set. From what I see we've already stocked up on players, then added some coaches and trainers to lock up the offseason.
Let's see what we have so far. All bold players are new acquisitions for the upcoming season.
FORWARDS
20 Colby Armstrong
16 Erik Christensen
87 Sidney Crosby "C"
27 Georges Laraque
71 Evgeni Malkin
12 Ryan Malone
8 Mark Recchi "A"
10 Gary Roberts
37 Jarkko Ruutu
11 Jordan Staal
17 Petr Sykora
25 Maxime Talbot
DEFENSEMEN
3 Mark Eaton
55 Sergei Gonchar "A"
32 Alain Nasreddine
44 Brooks Orpik
4 Rob Scuderi
5 Darryl Sydor
19 Ryan Whitney
GOALIES
29 Marc-Andre Fleury
30 Dany Sabourin
Petr Sykora - For the past two years, Sykora has experienced difficulty in finding a solid home. The Rangers too him from the Ducks after spending four seasons with them (and one season with a Russian club sandwiched in between). Then the Oilers acquired him for all of last season, where by he played all 82 games and pulled in 22 goals and 53 points.
Alan Nasreddine - Predominantly an AHL rotator, Nasreddine played his longest stint with an NHL team last year with the Pens. In 44 games he only collected 4 goals and 5 assists. Perhaps the management sees something in him? Maybe he'll find a good fit on a PK line.
Darryl Sydor - The Penguins are the fifth team in this former first round draft's 15 year career. Last season he played with the Stars, tallying up 5 goals and 21 points. For a Defensemen he had a weak 70 minutes in the sin bin. A solid second or third line defensemen.
Dany Sabourin - With Thibault going bye byes this year, we needed to get a solid second stringer. The young Fleury is now a year older, and although a year may not seem like a long time, he certainly gained valuable experience last season between a stellar run for the division and a harsh reception in the playoffs. Sabourin comes to us from the Canucks, where you can't imagine he saw much ice time sitting behind Luongo. But when he did play, he was 2-4 with a 2.63 GAA and .906 save percentage. Of all the teams to make the playoffs in the Western Conference, the Canucks had the lowest goals for. With that being said, it's pretty evident they were a defensive minded team. Putting a defensive goalie on an offensive team should be a perfect combination, or at least we can hope.
And as promised, part 2 of the 91-92 highlight tape.
