Miro Satan

Here is an article written by Larry Wigge about Miro Satan that was on the penguins website www.pittsburghpenguins.com this morning that just baffles me.

Miroslav Satan considered the phone message he got in the wee hours of the morning July 3 a pretty good wakeup call.

"I think the message came in about 2:30 a.m.," the 34-year-old wing said about the call to his home in Topolcany, Slovakia. "But ..."

He smiled. Satan said he had to rub his eyes and make sure he was awake before returning the phone message his agent left him that the Pittsburgh Penguins had offered him a one-year, $3.5 million contract this past summer.

"You don't usually wake up and have someone tell you that you might get a chance to play on the same team with a guy like Sidney Crosby," he recalled, before answering a question about how long it took him to say yes to the Penguins. "Uh ... I think it took me about two hours. I had to talk to my wife and agent. But after playing against that team and those players last season, I knew this was a chance I could not pass up."

Truth is, after the Penguins lost heavily in free agency -- with Marian Hossa going to Detroit and Ryan Malone, Gary Roberts and Adam Hall all signing with the Tampa Bay Lightning, Pittsburgh needed a little lightning strike of its own. And Satan has proven to be a pretty nifty goal scorer throughout his 12 NHL seasons with Edmonton, Buffalo and most recently the New York Islanders, where he slumped to just 16 goals last season.

"I remember when I was a kid in Buffalo," Penguins defenseman Brooks Orpik, said chuckling a little at the thought that this rest of his comment might make Miro sound old. "I remember seeing him score 40 goals one season. I'd be sitting there in the arena or watching on TV and say to myself, 'He's not very fast. How does he do that?' But after playing against him, I've learned that he's pretty slippery."

Said Crosby, "Miro is a guy who has that sense of how to find open spots in the defense and then just sits there and waits for the puck."

Satan knows the business.

"There are no promises. No guarantees who you will play with," Satan said, knowing full well that the contract he signed was for just one season. "But when I have the opportunity to play with Sid, the key is trying to keep up with him. He can make faster plays than most other guys, so you have to be ready all the time. You don't have time to wonder what he is going to do. You have to react and play and be on the edge all the time."

You can play the word game all you want with a skilled player like Satan. No, he is not the Grim Reaper. Not Lucifer or the real Lord of Darkness. Rather Miro's name only means darkness only for opposing goaltenders. The fact is, he hasn't needed a Crosby to help make him a noted goal-scorer. In his 40-goal season with Buffalo in 1998-99, when Satan helped the Sabres make it to the Stanley Cup Final against Dallas, Satan was the team's co-MVP with all-world goaltender Dominik Hasek -- and he achieved those heights with defensive center Curtis Brown and Michal Grosek as his linemates.

Slippery? Yeah. But Satan was kind of an everyman in the 1993 Entry Draft -- taken in the fifth round by Edmonton.

While Miro was a sort of cult hero in his native Slovakia for scoring 9 goals in 8 games in the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, he was ripped by the Oilers for his lack of production after he scored only 18 and 17 goals in his first two seasons. Then he was sent to the Sabres in March 1997 for left wing Barrie Moore and defenseman Craig Millar. He had only 22 goals in his first full season in Buffalo before his breakout season.

"The Oilers told me they wanted a hockey player, not a figure skater," Satan remembered. "They said I was too fancy. Not gritty enough for their taste. They think I could not help the team. Well ..."

Satan bit his tongue before the "I-showed-them" smile crossed his face.

The frustration started for Satan, when the Oilers sent Miro to Detroit of the International Hockey League, where his skills were not gritty enough to get off the bench. That's when Satan offered to return his $100,000 signing bonus to get a new assignment. But it was no different when Edmonton loaned him to San Diego. More sitting. Before his trade to Buffalo, he actually thought about returning to Slovakia for good.

"I didn't speak English very well," he recalled. "What I didn't understand even more was the mentality that hitting people was more important than scoring goals."

The trade to Buffalo was magic, for him and the Sabres, where it became kind of Satan's workshop.

Now' he'll settle for being admired in Pittsburgh, especially in light of a 16-goal, 25 assist season with the Islanders. In 48 games this season, Satan already has 13 goals and 14 assists.

"Last year was last year," Satan explained. "It wasn't a good year for me. I'm looking forward to turning the page. Hopefully, this style here is going to fit me better."

Author: Larry Wigge | NHL.com Columnist

Apparently Mr. Larry Wigge hasn't actually watched Miro Satan and the Penguins play this year. Satan has been a complete failure, he was brought here to be a scoring winger to play with Crosby and has found himself on the fourth line. It became apparent very quickly this season that Satan's career is over, if it wasn't for Satan's 3.5 million dollar contract he would be a healthy scratch. My favorite line in this entire article that proves that Larry Wigge is insane is "now he'll settle for being admired in Pittsburgh". Please tell me who in Pittsburgh admires Miro Satan. The only way this article could make any sense is Larry Wigge must have written this before the season started. I think the people in Pittsburgh feel the same way about Satan that management for the Oilers felt about him when they said "they wanted a hockey player, not a figure skater". I could deal with the fact that Satan doesn't play at a high pace, hit, or back check if he was on pace to put up 40 goals this season. But if you do not bring energy to the team, hit, back check, kill penalties or score goals what exactly can you help any hockey team with. What are your thoughts on this article and Miro Satan?

Penguins Prospect

I was reading www.pittsburghpenguins.com yesterday and they had an article about Casey Pierro-Zabotel a center that we drafted in the 2007 draft. He is 20 years old 6'3" 205 pounds and has 27 goals and 61 assists in 49 games for the Giants of the Western Hockey League. Those numbers combined with this guys size have me pretty ecited. According to Caseys coach who was and NHL coach he believes he will be playing in the NHL shortly as a first or second line center. My only skeptacism is if this guy is as good as they are leading us to believe why isnt he playing for the baby Pens right now. And if he does prove to be as good as they are saying and he makes it on the Penguins roster in two years, where does he play? Do we trade him or Staal or do we give him a chance to play wing?

Penguins trade rumor

I heard today from a not so reliable source that the Senators are looking to move Heatley, they are looking for a center and puck moving D-man in return. Does anyone think the Penguins might pony up Whitney and Staal to give Crosby a legitimate scoring winger. Personally i would like to see Heatly in a Penguins uniform but we would need something else in that deal. Has anyone else heard anything about this rumor?

Penguins vs Rangers

Wow what a way to start the second half of the season. If you didn't catch the game last night the Penguins defeated the Rangers 6-2. The two points the Penguins earned last night moved them back into the playoff picture, they are now tied for the eighth spot with Florida. This game was a lot closer than the score indicated, through the first two periods the score was tied at 1-1 and i felt that the Rangers were really taking the game to the Penguins. We could have easily been down by 2 goals going into the third if it wasn't for the great play of Fluery who made 32 saves. But once the third period started the Penguins looked unstoppable, especially Kris Letang. Once Letang scored is first goal of the game he turned into an entirely different player he was shooting every puck he got a hold of and really pushing the puck up ice and taking it to the net. There were at least three times that i saw him in the crease in front of Lundquist hacking away at loose pucks. As i stated in yesterdays entry i thought Crosby should have sat out this game and rested his knee and after watching him i still think that would have been the right decision. He just seemed a step slow last night and didn't seem to move well laterally. I know this is a hard point to prove considering Crosby did have 4 points last night. If the Penguins can manage to win there back to back games Friday and Saturday that would go a long way in keeping them in playoff contention. If they loose the next two we may be sellers at the trade dead line.

Penguins vs Rangers

www.pittsburghpenguins.com just announced that Sidney Crosby will be playing tonight against the Rangers Crosby said his knee feels about 80%. I know that the Penguins need every win they can get right now since they are currently sitting in 10th place in the eastern conference, but in my opinion the Penguins would be better served to rest Crosby for one or two more games so this knee injury does not lingre. Also announce Dupuis, and Talbot will play tonight Dupuis will take Cookes spot on the first line while Cooke serves a two game suspension.

Possible trades

I believe that Ray Shero needs to make a trade sooner rather than later, if we wait until the trade dead line we may be out of the playoff race all together. There are two trade possibilities that i would like to see. The first being Jordan Staal + #3 draft pick to the Panthers for Nathon Horton and Jay Bouwmeester. Horton has a contract similiar to Staals and Bouwmeester is asking for a trade. If we were able to get these two players we would have a 30 goal a season winger to play with Crosby and another all star caliber blueliner. Getting Boumeester would make Whitney expendable, we could trade him for another scoring winger to play with Malkin. This would give us two prolific scoring lines. And your third line would feature Talbot at center rather than Staal, I admit there is a drop off from Staal to Talbot but i believe Talbot is more than capable of playing that role. From my understanding Florida had a scout in Pittsburgh watching both Staal and Letang, i would not trade Letang at any cost. The other trade senerio i could see playing out will be discussed in my next entry.

Welcome to my blog about the Pittsburgh Penguins

Hi and welcome to my blog. I am an avid Pittsburgh Penguins fan who has been following the team since the late 80's. The Penguins have been a great team to follow with many tallented players over the years. I never really had much to complain about over the years because for the most part i thought the Penguins have lived upto there potential or in the case of 2002 through 2005 down to there potential. But now in the 2008 - 2009 season it looks like a team with arguably the best two players in the world may miss the playoffs. This has inspired me to express my opinions on what the Penguins need to do to start winning again. This blog will be dedicated to talking about what the Penguins can and should do to better there team and just general talk about the Penguins.