Chris Adamski stories, Page 106
Ben Roethlisberger pushed for Steelers to re-sign JuJu Smith-Schuster
Ben Roethlisberger said Tuesday that earlier this year he approached the Pittsburgh Steelers about taking a pay cut. The rationale was for the team to use the $15 million in salary-cap savings on others. It might be safe to say that no player’s return to the Steelers made Roethlisberger happier...
Ben Roethlisberger: Dwayne Haskins’ throwing motion among ‘prettiest I’ve ever seen’
Ben Roethlisberger has spent a combined eight seasons with two of the other teammates with whom he shares the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterbacks room. But the newest addition to the group has caught his attention. Former first-round pick Dwayne Haskins was signed by the Steelers in January with hopes he can...
Penguins deadline acquisition Jeff Carter expected to be vital cog
Over the decade’s worth of NHL trade deadline-day deals between 2010-20, the Pittsburgh Penguins twice added former All-Stars, twice reunited with old friends and even twice added future Hall of Famers. But over that time span they never added a player who made an impact like Jeff Carter did after...
Penguins’ Tristan Jarry: confidence unshaken, vows ‘I will be better next year’
Neither Tristan Jarry nor Pittsburgh Penguins coach Mike Sullivan would say if Jarry has been assured he will be the team’s No. 1 goalie when next season begins. But Jarry did vow his much-criticized showing during the playoffs has been put behind him. “I think that will make me a...
‘He’s a No. 1 goalie’: Penguins teammates stand behind Tristan Jarry
It remains to be seen if Tristan Jarry will still be the Pittsburgh Penguins’ No. 1 goalie when next season begins. Or if upper management has maintained confidence in him after a playoff showing that rated somewhere on the spectrum between slightly-below-average and downright poor. But judging by what some...
Penguins the nation’s most-watched NHL or NBA team on local TV
The Pittsburgh Penguins fell well short of winning the Stanley Cup. But they can claim superiority over the rest of their NHL franchise brethren. Penguins games on AT&T SportsNet this season drew an average rating of 7.79, according to a Sports Business Journal report that was confirmed by a release...
Steelers’ T.J. Watt 3rd in betting odds for DPOY behind Aaron Donald, Myles Garrett
Pittsburgh Steelers outside linebacker T.J. Watt was the runner-up for NFL defensive player of the year in 2020, and he’s been a finalist two years running. The early odds by one sportsbook peg Watt to come up just short once again. Watt has the third-highest betting line to win the...
Sidney Crosby not in favor of breaking up Penguins’ core
When Jim Rutherford abruptly resigned four months ago, a bunch of names were reported and suggested and presumably considered to replace him as Pittsburgh Penguins general manager. One high-profile figure, apparently, never applied. “I’ve never been one to try to be the GM,” Sidney Crosby said Wednesday, “and I’m not...
Penguins notes: Mood upbeat and light at practice
For the 21st time in the Sidney Crosby-Evgeni Malkin-Kris Letang era, the Pittsburgh Penguins are facing an elimination game Wednesday when they play Game 6 of their first-round series against the New York Islanders. “In my experience with this team, we rally around adversity,” coach Mike Sullivan said after practice...
Penguins’ Tristan Jarry insists he’s turned page after OT gaffe
If Tristan Jarry spent a lot of time dwelling on his double-overtime gaffe Monday, he certainly didn’t act as if he’d done too deep of an analysis of what he could have done differently. “Umm, stop (the puck),” the Pittsburgh Penguins goalie said Tuesday when asked about Josh Bailey’s goal...
Bryan Rust, Jason Zucker absent from Penguins practice
On the heels of a devastating loss in an important game, two of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ top six forwards were absent from practice. Wings Bryan Rust and Jason Zucker were not present for practice Tuesday afternoon at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry. Each played the entirety of Monday night’s...
Ilya Sorokin the latest goalie to serve as Penguins’ playoff kryptonite
Pittsburgh Penguins fans of a certain age to this day detest Jaroslav Halak. Those of more recent vintage get a sour taste in their mouths when someone brings up Robin Lehner. And don’t dare mention Glenn Healy to Pittsburgh hockey fans from the early 90s. Penguins fans awash in misery,...
Penguins/Islanders notes: Brock Nelson a pest, series shifts back to Pittsburgh
All indications are that Brock Nelson is as polite and gregarious as his Minnesota background suggest he’d be. On the ice, though, it can be a different story — particularly when the stakes are highest during the Stanley Cup playoffs. The New York Islanders’ 6-foot-4 center, Nelson has seemingly found...
Barry Trotz: Sidney Crosby ‘the gold standard’ among NHL players
No NHL coach is more familiar with facing Sidney Crosby than Barry Trotz. Be it as the leader of the Washington Capitals or New York Islanders, Trotz has coached against Crosby’s Pittsburgh Penguins in a postseason series five times. No other coach has matched up against Crosby in more than...
Sidney Crosby’s Penguins, Barry Trotz’s Islanders no strangers to pressure of series tied at 2
Of the more than 320 players who are taking part in this NHL postseason, only two have appeared in more postseason games than Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin. Only two defensemen still playing for the 2021 Stanley Cup have played in more than Kris Letang. Not many active in the...
Even in sparse ice time in return from injury, Evgeni Malkin makes impact on Penguins’ win
Among the 1,107 NHL regular-season and playoff games Evgeni Malkin has appeared in over his career, in only five did Malkin amass less ice time than he did during Thursday’s postseason contest on Long Island. Malkin didn’t need an abundance of time to make an impact. In his return to...
Islanders creating more chances than Penguins on the power playVideo
It’s a laughably small sample size, to be sure. But through the first four days of the Stanley Cup playoffs, no team has had a worse power play than the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Penguins are 0 for 5 with an extra man through two games of their first-round series against...
Blueger, Aston-Reese, Tanev have been better than a mere ‘4th line’ for PenguinsVideo
To open his video conference call with media Wednesday, Pittsburgh Penguins coach Mike Sullivan was asked about the effectiveness of his “fourth line” during the team’s first-round playoff series. “You’re talking about Teddy Blueger’s line?” Sullivan asked. Purportedly, Sullivan politely was asking for clarification. But it’s also possible Sullivan was...
Evgeni Malkin to travel with Penguins to New York; Casey DeSmith will not
It’s the NHL. It’s the playoffs, and it’s Mike Sullivan. So any injury update provided Wednesday between Games 2 and 3 of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ first-round series against the New York Islanders figured to be less than expansive. And while that was true, there was a morsel of good news...
For Penguins’ Tristan Jarry, it was ‘easy’ to be better in Game 2
NHL locker rooms remain closed to media, and Tristan Jarry was not made available to speak to media after Game 1 of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ first-round series against the New York Islanders. But while he never publicly gave a self-assessment of his play during Sunday’s loss, what he said after...
‘Freddy Hockey’ again scores in Penguins playoff game — this time, for the Penguins
The last time Frederick Gaudreau played in the Stanley Cup playoffs, it involved the Pittsburgh Penguins. It involved some Gaudreau goals, too. Sunday, though, Gaudreau’s scoring benefited the Penguins. In his Penguins playoff debut and ninth playoff game of his career, Gaudreau scored his fourth postseason goal. That almost matches...
Penguins notes: Isles’ Semyon Varlamov does not play, Pens’ Evan Rodriguez does
To open their postseason, the Pittsburgh Penguins could not take advantage of facing a rookie goalie making his NHL playoff debut in net. Ilya Sorokin, a 2014 third-round pick, started for the New York Islanders because Semyon Varlamov was unavailable because of an undisclosed injury. Sorokin might have just 22...
Playoff history with Islanders evokes heartbreak, humiliation for Penguins fansVideo
They’ve combined to win nine of the past 40 Stanley Cups, and they’ve been division rivals for the majority of their respective histories. But the Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Islanders have met for a playoff series just five times over the 49 years since the latter was born. Postseason...
Kendrick Green eager to take Maurkice Pouncey’s ‘53’ as he strives to replace him for SteelersVideo
Kendrick Green knows the task is tough. The Pittsburgh Steelers rookie seems to understand the comparisons inevitably will come. He isn’t backing down from them. The Steelers’ third-round pick, Green requested and was granted the same number he wore as an all-Big Ten interior offensive lineman at Illinois: No. 53....
Don’t call him ‘Baby Gronk’ – Steelers rookie TE Pat Freiermuth ‘hates it’Video
Would “Baby Heath” work for Pat Freiermuth? Because the Pittsburgh Steelers rookie tight end isn’t a fan of being called “Baby Gronk.” “I hate it,” said Pat Freiermuth of the “Baby Gronk” moniker so many called him while he was an All-Big Ten performer at Penn State. “I think it’s...
