Nice to be back to hear about Pessi

Just got in from Washington, DC. I felt like I have been isolated from the rest of the world since Friday. I would like  to thank Vince for alerting me by text that that the Finnish Finsher has scored his first NHL goal. So what is all the talk about this PR move with Janne traveling to Finland? Come on,  that makes perfect  sense or has there been some talk about Janne starting the season in WB? I would imagine with the extra goalie hanging around only tells me that John Curry has made it a little difficult for Sabourin to lay claim he will be the Pens backup to Fleury. Guess I will have todo  some reading to get caught here to see what needs to be done if there are any doubts about Janne not sticking with the Pens.  If any of our Finnish following planning on attending the game this week Vince and I are would love some feedback from you guys and /or girls on the performance of our  favorite Finnish hockey player. 

Janne clears the second round of cuts...

Edit: This has been confirmed by the Tribune Review

According to The Insider On Pittsburgh Sports Janne has passed through the second trimming of players from the Pens. The current roster is down to 29. Notable players sent to the AHL include, forwards Kris Beech, Ryan Stone, Adam Henrich, Aaron Boogaard, Tim Wallace, Jonathan Filewich, David Gove and Christopher Minard; defensemen Deryk Engelland, T.J. Kemp, Ben Lovejoy and Joey Mormina; and goaltender David Brown.

This is being reported only on TIOPS and no where else, so take it as you will.

I believe the roster needs to be trimmed down to 23, here are the players left on the training camp roster:

Defenseman (10)

Mark Eaton

Hal Gill**

Alex Gloigoski

Sergei Gonchar(injured)

Daryl Sydor

Ryan Whitney(injured)

Danny Richmond

Kris Letang**

Brooks Orpik**

Forwards (16)

Paul Bissonnette

Matt Cooke**

Sidney Crosby**

Pascal Dupuis**

Ruslan Fedotenko**

Eric Godard**

Connor James

Tyler Kennedy**

Evgeni Malkin**

Janne Pesonen

Miroslav Satan**

Jordan Staal**

Jeff Taffe

Petr Sykora**

Maxime Talbot**

Bill Thomas

Goaltenders (3)

Marc Andre Fleury**

Dany Sabourin

John Curry

I've put stars next to people that I feel are guaranteed to make the team, which is a total of 14, Looking at the forwards I think it is looking fairly good Janne makes the team, although some people feel that he may need an adjustment period in the AHL to get used to the american game.

I have heard that he is trying to do too much between the blue lines and ends up losing the puck, rather than just dumping it and using his speed to his advantage... Not sure when the final rosters are due but we'll keep you posted

Great defensive play...

Janne did show a very good defensive play on the penalty kill against Crosby first unit power play. While the power play unit had been controlling the puck and working the blue line Pessi intercepted a pass from Sid to Geno with very nice anticipation. Janne received alot of atta boy from staff and players.

Finally the practice is over. For Janne is was very solid effort. Hopefully he can carry this effort over to the Lightning game. Janne ends today's practice with sticks in hand contemplating whether to you two or one tonight.

A little more of Janne in camp....

Courtesy of Pens Tv when have another 10 min excerpt from Pens camp day two. Pessi and the Pens as you will see doing drills, around the 7:30 mark Janne breaks in a 2 on 0 looks like he was going to shoot when at the last min feeling a little sorry for one of his teammates our Golden boy makes a little dump pass for an easy open net. Camp reports on Janne are all over the board, so I will reserve comment at this time until after the Lightning game.

Janne slowly taking out the competition

Today the highly touted Luca Caputi was sent down to the AHL. A lot of people really felt as if he had a very good chance to make it to the big show after his stunning performance in the AHL playoffs last year.

Other people cut were forwards Joe Haddad, Dustin Jeffrey, Nick Johnson and Mark Letestu, and defenseman Jonathan D'Aversa.

The Penguins have 24 forwards, 14 defensemen and four goalies remaining in camp. They will play their opening exhibition game Saturday night (7:30 p.m.) against Tampa Bay at Mellon Arena.

It seems to me it got a little bit easier for Janne this morning...

More Janne news notes and interview!

First of all, i'd like to give a big thanks to a fellow Janniac Satownsend for giving us a heads up on an article about Janne in the Trib. Got a few neat questions out of Janne...

"My buddies have sent me those (Internet video links)," Pesonen said. "You'll have to ask them about that."

I wonder if The Golden One is talking about us? Anyways, he also talked about that he'd be willing to play in the AHL in order to get a shot in the nhl...

Anyways, the big thing that I found here was a video interview with Janne... His english seems good and he has the poise of star

Video property of Trib-Total Media
To read the entire article click here

Also thanks to the photo album on LetsGoPens.com I got a picture of Janne beating Fleury like a red headed stepchild...


Moving on, it seemed the post-gazetted wanted to get in on the Janne action here, they have a quick write up about him, nothing new, but still good. They also have a good picture...

Now before i leave you with this post, I want everybody to remember one thing. Before all these major new sources decided it was cool to be covering Janne, we've been doin it for over a month.

The P man Cometh

Finally we have the first picture of Janne in a Pens uni (yes you heard it here first folks, the first ever picture of Janne on ice with the pens is here at Pesonen and the Pens...link that). Thanks to my fellow Janniac TeamKory.


So finally after toiling around here with pictures from his past for a month, our first official evidence that Janne is here...kickin ass and taken names

Report from Camp

So far the line combos I've heard from today's opening session the first line were Crosby flanked by Satan and Fedotenko, Second line had Malkin with Staal and Sykora. Makes sense to me but you know and I know with Therrien these lines are not etched in stone. Talbot is looking like a the 3rd center with Matt Cooke at LW., actually I really like these two together and maybe flanked also by Dupuis. This leaves Kennedy, Taffe, Godard and our boy Janne battling for what is left. My feeling on this its way to early and Janne will have ample time to show Therrien and the NHL what the buzz is around here.