That's it. Marc-Andre Fleury plays for another team now.
He was a wonderful guy, a very good goalie and a universally-liked teammate. He served the Penguins well through 13 seasons and leaves town as the busiest and winningest goalie in franchise history.
He departs as a three-time Stanley Cup champion and with a well-deserved reputation as one of the truly good guys in Pittsburgh sports.
He never threw a teammate under the bus, even when he had ample reason to do so. He was the one player who would consistently stop on his way out of the players' parking lot to sign autographs.
He smiled all the time, so that made him a wickedly effective practical joker. His sneakiness was both admired and secretly feared by the other players.
The long goodbye got a little sticky. Fleury didn't die. He isn't ill. He's just moving on to a new team because that's where the opportunity is for him.
He wants to be a No. 1 goalie again, and Matt Murray has that job with the Penguins. It isn't practical for the Penguins to keep a backup who represents a $6 million salary cap hit.
So it's time to go. It was emotional for him to pack his gear and leave the Penguins' locker room. It probably felt strange when he pulled on the ugly Vegas jersey.
But he'll adapt, and so will the Penguins. The first move is always the hardest.
During the run-up to the 1992 Cup, GM Craig Patrick made a chemistry-jarring trade that sent Mark Recchi to Philadelphia. Recchi was crushed. The Penguins had been the only organization he had known. He hid after the trade was announced because he didn't want anybody to see him crying.
Two days later there was a TV clip of a smiling Recchi saying what a great bunch of guys the Flyers were and how he was looking forward to getting power play time that hadn't been available to him with the Penguins.
Players adapt. Fleury's storybook ending with the Penguins masks the reality that it wasn't always sunshine and roses here.
He had a playoff meltdown so profound that the organization hired a sports psychologist to work with him.
On balance, though, it was good, and Fleury will always get a warm greeting as an opponent.
It was just time to move on, for both parties.
---
--BULLPEN PUZZLE
So here's Clint Hurdle's dilemma -- he has one relief pitcher he trusts in Felipe Rivero and one he sort of trusts with Juan Nicasio.
That might be OK for the eighth and ninth innings, but it can't work every day. There's also the problem of filling that gap from the starter's departure to the late innings.
That's where the jumble that includes Tony Watson, Daniel Hudson and Wade LeBlanc comes in. How exactly do those pieces fit to get to Rivero?
Former major league general manager Jack Zduriencik, who works on the pre- and post-game radio shows, had a good idea. He suggested converting hard-throwing Chad Kuhl to the bullpen. Kuhl is stretched out as a starter, so he can handle multiple innings.
The Pirates may want to consider Steven Brault to take a spot in the rotation, which could expedite a new role for Kuhl. Kuhl's consistently short starts are one reason the bullpen is getting overworked.
---
--CATCH HIM LATER?
The Pirates' other lineup dilemma is at catcher, where it's starting to look like Elias Diaz is the team's best option.
Francisco Cervelli gets hurt a lot. Moving him is not a realistic goal, given that he has $22 million remaining on his contract and he's 31. The Pirates hold an 2018 option on Chris Stewart, which they will likely decline.
The future is a combination of Diaz and Cervelli. The question is whether that happens this season or waits until next year.
(John Mehno can be reached at: johnmehnocolumn@gmail.com)
Sunday, June 25, 2017
Sunday, June 18, 2017
Altoona Mirror, June 19, 2017
PITTSBURGH--Over the next several months, you'll read a lot of stories about the Stanley Cup.
The Penguins have possession of it, and it will be touring more than Metallica this summer.
Every player gets a day with the Cup, and so do many staff members. A lot of the visits are tied to fund-raisers that allow people to take photos with the Cup. It rides on fire trucks in small-town parades. It visits the old schools of some players. It shows up at golf courses.
It attends a lot of backyard barbecues and pool parties. Once it ended up at the bottom of Mario Lemieux's pool, sporting a fresh dent that had to be pounded out.
Babies sit in it. Dogs and horses have eaten from it. So have people. Other things have happened that can't be recounted here.
The NHL guardians are now always nearby to ensure the safety of the trophy whose fame outmeasures that of the sport it represents.
It gets hired out for commercial ventures, too. At last count, there were fewer than 400 people in western Pennsylvania who didn't have a picture of themselves with the Cup.
So it's another summer of adventure for Stanley Cup, which will be photographed as much as a Kardashian.
For all the stories that will come from this experience, probably none will be better than the one that unfolded at PNC Park the other night.
The Penguins brought the Cup to the Pirates' game and Sidney Crosby threw out the first pitch.
After the pre-game ceremony, Crosby was lugging the Cup toward an exit when he spotted a Pirates' guest relations employee who has required a wheelchair since he was nine years old.
What happened next was reported on Facebook by Rich Morgan:
He said that Crosby walked over to the man and said, "How about if we take a picture of you and me and the Cup?" Crosby suggested that the man could hold the Cup.
The man told him, "I can't" because he has limited use of his right arm.
To that Crosby said, "Well then I'll hold it and you just smile."
The picture was taken, and the man in the wheelchair is indeed smiling.
Even if you don't give a hoot about hockey, there's reason to be a Sidney Crosby fan.
---
--SELF CONTROL
On the other hand, some of the players embarrassed themselves and the organization by chugging beer during Wednesday's parade through downtown Pittsburgh.
Reportedly some of them were impaired to the point that front office types were worried about having them anywhere near a live microphone.
OK, it was a party. It was also 11 a.m.
Other than a beer sponsor, who is served by having players weaving down the street drinking beer? (By the way, they could have been cited under the city's open container laws).
Boys will be boys and all that, but they're also supposed to be professionals. This wasn't the morning after the Cup-clinching win, it was three days later. A lot of players had their families with them.
It wasn't the time or place to make a big show of drinking. The whole event took about two hours. They couldn't wait?
The same kind of behavior would get fans booted out of the PPG Paints Center on game nights.
If the Penguins are fortunate enough to have another victory parade, maybe the organization can issue a few guidelines.
---
--TOUGH CHOICE
There's been a popular theory that managers make a mistake when they save their closer exclusively for the ninth inning.
The idea is the closer -- presumably the best relief pitcher -- should be used if there's a critical need in an earlier inning.
That's fine. But what if there's a critical need again in the ninth? Now the manager is stuck with that pitcher he didn't trust to escape the jam in an earlier inning.
(John Mehno can be reached at: johnmehnocolumn@gmail.com)
The Penguins have possession of it, and it will be touring more than Metallica this summer.
Every player gets a day with the Cup, and so do many staff members. A lot of the visits are tied to fund-raisers that allow people to take photos with the Cup. It rides on fire trucks in small-town parades. It visits the old schools of some players. It shows up at golf courses.
It attends a lot of backyard barbecues and pool parties. Once it ended up at the bottom of Mario Lemieux's pool, sporting a fresh dent that had to be pounded out.
Babies sit in it. Dogs and horses have eaten from it. So have people. Other things have happened that can't be recounted here.
The NHL guardians are now always nearby to ensure the safety of the trophy whose fame outmeasures that of the sport it represents.
It gets hired out for commercial ventures, too. At last count, there were fewer than 400 people in western Pennsylvania who didn't have a picture of themselves with the Cup.
So it's another summer of adventure for Stanley Cup, which will be photographed as much as a Kardashian.
For all the stories that will come from this experience, probably none will be better than the one that unfolded at PNC Park the other night.
The Penguins brought the Cup to the Pirates' game and Sidney Crosby threw out the first pitch.
After the pre-game ceremony, Crosby was lugging the Cup toward an exit when he spotted a Pirates' guest relations employee who has required a wheelchair since he was nine years old.
What happened next was reported on Facebook by Rich Morgan:
He said that Crosby walked over to the man and said, "How about if we take a picture of you and me and the Cup?" Crosby suggested that the man could hold the Cup.
The man told him, "I can't" because he has limited use of his right arm.
To that Crosby said, "Well then I'll hold it and you just smile."
The picture was taken, and the man in the wheelchair is indeed smiling.
Even if you don't give a hoot about hockey, there's reason to be a Sidney Crosby fan.
---
--SELF CONTROL
On the other hand, some of the players embarrassed themselves and the organization by chugging beer during Wednesday's parade through downtown Pittsburgh.
Reportedly some of them were impaired to the point that front office types were worried about having them anywhere near a live microphone.
OK, it was a party. It was also 11 a.m.
Other than a beer sponsor, who is served by having players weaving down the street drinking beer? (By the way, they could have been cited under the city's open container laws).
Boys will be boys and all that, but they're also supposed to be professionals. This wasn't the morning after the Cup-clinching win, it was three days later. A lot of players had their families with them.
It wasn't the time or place to make a big show of drinking. The whole event took about two hours. They couldn't wait?
The same kind of behavior would get fans booted out of the PPG Paints Center on game nights.
If the Penguins are fortunate enough to have another victory parade, maybe the organization can issue a few guidelines.
---
--TOUGH CHOICE
There's been a popular theory that managers make a mistake when they save their closer exclusively for the ninth inning.
The idea is the closer -- presumably the best relief pitcher -- should be used if there's a critical need in an earlier inning.
That's fine. But what if there's a critical need again in the ninth? Now the manager is stuck with that pitcher he didn't trust to escape the jam in an earlier inning.
(John Mehno can be reached at: johnmehnocolumn@gmail.com)
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