Malone's a Goner

Thanks to some crack reporting at EN, it was there that I first learned that the rights to Ryan Malone had been traded to Tampa Bay for a 3rd/4th round draft pick. The hockey moles at TSN were the first to report tonight that the deal is done - Malone signed for 7 years at $31 million.

It's a sad day in Pittsburgh...

Why?

Because Ryan Malone was a hard-working, lunch-pail-carrying, go-to-the-net, blue collar hockey player. The kind that true Pens fans love (see: Gary Roberts). He was the first Pittsburgh-born player to play for the Pittsburgh Penguins. And we was an all around nice guy. (more on that later...)

Now EN stated that Malone "...had one good season... riding shotgun with a Hart Trophy finalist in Evgeni Malkin". Umm ...what about 2004-05 where he put up 44 pts (22+22); or, 2003-04 where he put up 43 pts (22+21)? And, all this without Malkin feeding him. No, Malone has established himself as one of the better in-front-of-the-net players in the NHL. Up there with Vanek (Buffalo); Smith (Colorado); and Holmstrom (Detroit), in my opinion. And, of course, that is not all that he brings to the table. In short it was time for him to be paid. This was his one "big" contract.

Now on an interesting note, as reported by TSN, Tampa Bay hired Ryan Malone's father, Greg, to be their head scout last week. Couple this with the fact that Ryan and his wife recently welcomed their first child and you wonder if Greg's signing didn't weigh heavily on Ryan's decision to sign with TB.

After all, people seem to forget that hockey players are humans like us. Albeit humans that possess better athletic skills and larger bank accounts than you or I - but humans never the less. And what new dad wouldn't want his son to know his grandfather? What better way to do that then to work together in the same city???

In upcoming posts I will share my Ryan Malone "good guy" story and explore the Ray Shero-Ryan Malone conspiracy...

...until then...GGG