On That Other Penguins News and Musings on Goaltending

So the Penguins signed another goaltender. I haven’t yet done any research on this goalie, so as of yet, I can’t comment on him specifically. But I do think the Pens needed more organizational depth when it comes to goaltending, and if this kid provides that even for the minor league levels, so be it.

Am I the only one who’s still not keen on the idea of relying on Thibeault to back up Fleury this year? Seriously?

Also, on another note, while drafting 18-year-olds is often a crapshoot, there are times when I feel that "crapshoot" is never more evidenced than by how certain (not all) goaltenders develop or, more precisely, fail to develop. Scanning through hockeydb.com this summer (a lovely web site you should definitely check out), my brother noted that Trevor Kidd was drafted before Martin Brodeur. The response to such a selection years later, is, of course, "What was so-and-so thinking?"

And Eddie Belfour? The goaltender who might be old and past his prime now but who remais one of the NHL’s winningiest goalies? If little brother has informed me correctly, Belfour was never drafted. A free-agent pick-up who turned out to be near the leader board of all-time NHL victories for goalies.

Granted, I want Marc-Andre Fleury to become the money goaltender who can backstop Stanley Cup winners and keep the Penguins in games until Crosby, Malkin, et al, put on their show. But if for whatever reason that doesn’t happen, here’s to dreaming that Penner, the goalie about whom I know very little, turns out to have a career as great as Belfour’s or even a moment where he shines in the limelight as did Frank Pieterangelo back in the spring of 1991.