Don't get me wrong, I had a massive man-crush on Georges Laraque during his tenure with the Penguins. Probably still do, despite him playing in Canada now.
However, some recent fights by Penguins newcomers Eric Godard and Paul Bissonnette will help fans get over BGL pretty quick. Check out the two destroy Riley Cote and Matt Bradley respectively in the past two games.
Monsters.
Earlier today, I linked to G5H's Matt Cooke man-love, including the new Cooke-y Monster Facebook page. The signing came over the weekend, when most bloggers take time off and, you know, do things not involving a computer. I didn't update on this deal, which Faceoff Factor lists at 2 years, $2.4 mil.
Today, I decided to put my sportsblogger research skillz (Google news-trolling, Youtube-watching, blog browsing, pizza-rolls-eating skillz) to work, and actually found the above video, in which newest Pen Cooke gets into a scrape with prior Pittsburgh free agent signee Eric Godard.
Knowing the roles both players are taking over (Godard - enforcer, Cooke - pest), this is the equivalent of watching a Laraque/Ruutu fight before both came to Pittsburgh. Now, this was more of an excited exchange rather than a blow-for-blow fight, but its still unique to see our two new acquisitions having some words. Wonder if that will cause some tension in the locker room?
At least we know that Godard is ready to fight, even after dishing out a late hit. And Cooke might not fight like Godard does, but he's clearly good at provoking the opposition.
And here's an interview where Cooke-y confirms his role as a pest. Looks like we have a new Jarkko.
Sorry, that's one of the first images that apears when you Google Image Search for Free Agents.
Big news in Penguins land. With Hossa not coming back, Ray Shero suddenly had a wad of cash in his pocket.
He used said cash wad. From the good fellows at Faceoff-Factor:
MAF. 7 years, $35 million. $5 mil a year for a stud overall number one pick? Worth it.
Miroslav Satan. 1 year, $3.5 mil.
Ruslan Fedotenko. 1 year, $2.25 mil.
The Fleury contract was a bit of a surprise, and I'm not opposed to snatching two former division rivals from the Islanders. Hell, everything worked out with former Devil Petr Sykora.
Both Fedotenko and Satan are left-handed left wingers. Seems like the Pens will have the same recurring problems with hardly any right-handed shots. Sure, we signed a right handed RW in Eric Godard, but he's a fourth-liner who is filling in the goon role.
Still, some good news after the Hossa bullshit.
Oh, and the best little nugget about Satan, both Yahoo Sports and ESPN use 666 in the url for his player profile. Cue Iron Maiden.
