The Pittsburgh Penguins made a few deals since Wednesday that will most likely be looked at as players to fill the void left by Marian Hossa.

Ruslan Fedotenko and Miroslav Satan were signed by GM Ray Shero Thursday, one day after completing a long-term deal with star goalie, Marc-Andre Fleury.

Janne Pesonen, the top player in Finland's biggest league is reportedly close to a deal with the Penguins.

I just want to get my two-sense in here.

If Shero thinks that these three can make up for some of the productivity that Hossa had, then that's good. But, in my opinion, we should have gone after a big name in free agency. I would have liked to have Jagr back, at least I have heard of him. Jagr is going to play for a Russian team. Straka would have been good to have as well, but he went over to play in a European league. Markus Naslund would have been the guy I would have gone after, but maybe Shero just thought it would be easier to fit a younger player into the team that he has assembled.

Whatever, but we did lose Gary Roberst to the Lightning in a trade, and he was a skilled veteran. Naslund's power and skill would have been greatly utilized, but hey, if he wants to sign with the Rangers, so be it. Just another player in the Atlantic that obviously doesn't mind losing. HAHA! Just kidding.

We have a gaping hole, and we still need something big to be done before the season. We can't go Hossa-lees and not have a back-up plan. There is too much competition in the Eastern Conference to let that happen.

Let me know what you guys think! Hope you had a great and safe 4th. Take care!

-Mike Greenspire

Breaking news right now! Alex Ovechkin, the Washington Capitals hockey star will be named Most Valuable Player next week.

This comes after an NHL.com T-shirt was released for sale with “Ovechkin MVP” or something along those lines on it a tad bit earlier than scheduled.

The award ceremonies are not for another week, but who cares!? We now know who the NHL thinks their best player is, so let’s get debate going , only on MGKB Sports!

So, I want you to tell me who the best player in the NHL is and why.

In my opinion, it is Evgeni Malkin. When Crosby was out with an injury earlier this year, he stepped up incredibly, and he is most likely the best player in the entire world. Although his Stanley Cup Finals play was lack-luster, he is still the best player, and for the NHL to give this award to someone who hasn’t even won a playoff series yet when there are better players that were competing in the Stanley Cup Finals is not the right move.

All I’ve heard all year long from Caps fans is “Well, he scores more than Malkin or Crosby do”. Well, yeah, if you are such a one-man-team, which the Capitals are, then he is more likely to take more shots. When you have better players surrounding you, like in Pittsburgh, you can pass the puck and still get a goal. Ovechkin is a one-man-team, and does not deserve this award.

Alex Ovechkin is a “puck hawk” and Malkin is not. The Russian Defector should be getting this honor this year, not a guy who was eliminated by a team 3 spots down in the standings.

Let me get your thoughts.

-Mike Greenspire

Here are the final scores for my 2008 NHL Playoff Pick Em Contest:

Ian2813
22 points

Dwindy1
18 points

Midnite Cowboy
17 points

Mike Greenspire
16 points

YeeMum
13 points

Congratulations to Ian2813 on winning the game!

-Mike Greenspire

Tonight’s Stanley Cup Finals Game 2 winner will most likely be the one who goes on and wins the series. The Penguins need this one if they want any sort of momentum heading back to the ’Burgh.

I said yesterday that I believe the Pens will win this game, 3-2, and then win both games in Pittsburgh, with a combined score of 6-3 over the Red Wings.

The Pens key for the game is to get aggressive early. Crosby or Malkin need to score in the first 10 minutes if they want any sort of edge.

GO PENS!!!

-Mike Greenspire

Yesterday, in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals, the Pens lost to the Red Wings 4-0.

Well, I thought we would lose one in Detroit. Now, we must rebound and win Game 2 on Memorial Day.

The Penguins through the first two periods looked about how I figured they would look, except that I thought there would be more than 0 goals in our favor.

Well, I have loads of confidence entering the 3rd, but what I was hoping for never happened.

I’ll tell you why. The Penguins looked like they did against Philly, only without the goals, and it’s as simple as that. If Biron, Lundqvist, Nabakov, or even Turco was the goalie in red, we would have won the game 4-1 or 4-2. But, the fact of the matter is that it was Chris Osgood in the nets for Detroit. He never let anything by him, nothing even got close.

The Pens offense looked great up until the start of the third. I’m guessing that we dropped off a bit because this entire post-season, we’ve never had a situation where we haven’t been able to score at will. Now we do, and we need to somehow exploit Osgood. We had too many costly turnovers and oddman rushes against us. We need to mainly take care of the puck better, and not let Detroit stay in the game.

Marc-Andre Fleury didn’t look himself, right from the entrance onto the ice, because upon touching the frozen water, he slipped and fell, and looked as though he may have hurt his leg. Maybe, maybe not, I’m not trying to make excuses, but he just didn’t look well during the final 30 minutes of the game.

For us to pull off a win in MoTown, we need to have more pop in the offense, and score early, rather than late, because perhaps our loss of momentum was caused by our guys not getting a goal in the first 2 periods.

Crosby and Malkin will get better, and will be better in Monday’s game, I guarantee it. But, there’s no way the Wings are gonna shut us out again.

My prediction for Monday’s game: Penguins-3, Red Wings-2

-Mike Greenspire