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postgazette_penguins_feedAbsolution – The Inugrrrl Memorial is Moving to the AO3
Jun. 11th, 2025 04:05 pmotw_news_feedAbsolution – The Inugrrrl Memorial, an InuYasha fanfiction memorial archive, is being imported to the Archive of Our Own (AO3).
Inugrrrl was a longtime fan and fanfiction writer of InuYasha and the InuYasha/Kagome pairing. In her own words, she was known for “writing characterization-breaking, smut-filled, angst-riddled, alternate universe pulp fiction without a hint of shame, regret, or apology.” She was active in the fanbase from 2005-2024. Inugrrrl tragically passed away in June of 2024 and her daughter wished for her mother’s fanworks to remain online for the fanbase to enjoy.
Open Doors will be working with Rinikioi, Inugrrrl’s best friend, to import her personal archive, Absolution, into a separate memorial account on the Archive of Our Own.
We will begin importing works by Inugrrrl to the AO3 after May. You will find them on the inugrrrl_memorial account.
Inugrrrl also had a collection of fanfiction gifted to her by friends and fellow fans. Open Doors will be importing these works into a separate collection.
What does this mean for creators who wrote fic for Inugrrrl?
Please contact Open Doors with your fannish pseud(s), if:
- You’d like us to import your works and need a claim request sent to your email address.
- You already have an AO3 account and have imported your works already yourself.
- You’d like to import your works yourself (including if you don’t have an AO3 account yet).
- You would NOT like your works moved to the AO3, or would NOT like your works added to the archive collection.
- You are happy for us to preserve your works on the AO3, but would like us to remove your name.
- You have any other questions we can help you with.
We will begin importing works gifted to Inugrrrl to the AO3 after June.
We’d love it if readers who were familiar with her fannish activities could help us document Inugrrrl’s fannish involvement on Fanlore. If you’re new to wiki editing, no worries! Check out the new visitor portal, or ask the Fanlore Gardeners for tips.
We’re honored to be able to help preserve the works of Inugrrrl, and while we mourn her loss, we also realize that we are fortunate that she had a friend who was given permission to collect and preserve her works on the AO3 so that they will not be lost. Thinking about the death of a fandom friend may be difficult, but it can also be an opportunity to consider what will happen to your fanworks and accounts and those of your friends after your deaths. The Archive of Our Own has an option to name a Fannish Next of Kin, someone who would be able to gain access to your accounts in the case of your death or incapacitation. By naming someone who can act on your behalf, you can decide ahead of time how you want your AO3 accounts handled going into the future.
– The Open Doors team and Rinikioi
Dan Muse introduced as head coach of the Penguins
Jun. 11th, 2025 10:50 ampensburgh_feed
New coach speaks as member of the Penguins for the first time
Kyle Dubas and the Penguins introduced their new coach today in Pittsburgh. Dan Muse came from almost no where to be named the bench boss of the Pens last week and he had his first opportunity to speak. The whole thing can be viewed here.
Penguins President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Kyle Dubas and newly-named Head Coach Dan Muse will be available to the media for an introductory press conference shortly.
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) June 11, 2025
Stream ⬇️ https://t.co/zWLqE4gaeI
Muse was not someone that Dubas knew going into the process but after meeting with him it developed that Muse was someone that was going to be able to develop the players and impressed Dubas with a track record with success from Yale to Nashville to the US National Program’s 2023 gold medal and impact on the penalty kill wit the New York Rangers.
“It became clear he was going to be a great fit to partner with us and help us,” as Dubas put it. The most important qualities came to be Muse’s level of character, work ethic and intelligence.
Muse cited the collaboration with the people within the organization and looked forward to working with the different players at various stages of their careers.
Muse gave a history of his unusual background; as a child he spent time in Alabama and California where there wasn’t much ice. But he loved the sport and kept working and finding ways to become a high school player and a self-proclaimed “bad” D-3 player at Easton, Massachutes’s Stonehill College. From there he has been a video coach, an assistant and then an associate coach and now a head coach.
Muse said the coaching staff will work all summer to come up with a plan for every single player on the team for the start of the season. A focus will be on younger players to determine how they can come in and “make their mark” on the team.
He wants to build in a “step by step process” every day to improve the team.
When asked about the Pens’ historic traditions of being an attacking team, Muse talked about working on both sides of the puck. He will want the team to play with detail and good habits that lead to success, but he wants to attack and have everyone working to score goals.
Muse said the number one topic of his coaching philosophy was relationship based to get to know all of his players to be able to work with them. From there he wants to build in details and habits that lead to success based on the foundation that is built away from the specifics of his system.
Here’s a good short video with that answer.
Coach Muse on his coaching philosophy ⬇️
— SportsNet Pittsburgh (@SNPittsburgh) June 11, 2025
"It's relationship based... There's habits that I believe lead to success. That leads to a foundation... once that base is there, we will build out." pic.twitter.com/YzESVLz02u
Dubas used words like adaptive, communicative and that’s the point of hiring a 42-year old first time NHL head coach. The benefits are not getting someone set in their ways or rigid, for better or worse they will have more flexibility.
Madison Nikkel, the team’s video coach, was called “one of the best” at his position by Dubas and will be the lone member of last year’s coaching staff that will definitely be retained. Goalie coach Andy Chiodo is going through the process of the Muse and Dubas deciding if he will stay on next season or if the team will look elsewhere.
Jesse Marshall dropped in some knowledge about Muse’s systems, tactics and changes over the years to give some history of what to expect.
NEW @TheAthleticNHL: Diving into the video of Dan Muse's head coaching history to discern what might be coming to the Penguins from a systems perspective and what's important to him with regard to on-ice structure.https://t.co/4BPTAfRXd1
— Jesse Marshall (@jmarshfof) June 11, 2025
All good stuff, then again everything looks good in an introductory press conference in June. It’s difficult to lose that day. Muse showed well as an intelligent, fresh new voice on his first front-facing day. Now he’ll get to work this summer in a difficult spot to try and breathe life into what has been a fairly hapless squad that lacks a lot of talent and quality depth.
It’s going to be an uphill battle for Muse at the start, but he seems to be entering the picture with clear ideas and a smart determination to make the most of the challenge and the opportunity.
On this date in Penguins history: Pittsburgh goes back-to-back, wins 2017 Stanley Cup
Jun. 11th, 2025 08:05 ampensburgh_feed
Patric Hornqvist broke a scoreless tie late in the game to lead the Penguins to its second straight Stanley Cup win.
Eight years ago today, the Pittsburgh Penguins won their second straight Stanley Cup championship with a 2-0 win against the Predators on the road in Nashville.
The Penguins opened the series with two straight wins at home before the Predators returned the favor with 4-1 and 5-1 wins in Nashville, sending the series back to Pittsburgh tied 2-2.
Game 5 went Pittsburgh’s way easily, with the Penguins blowing Nashville out 6-0 to put the Predators on the brink of elimination.
Things were headed back to Nashville and the Stanley Cup was going to be in the building.
It seemed as if a tall task was at hand as the Penguins were outscored 9-2 during the two road games earlier in the series and Game 6 was quite the tight contest.
What appeared to be a Predators goal by Colton Sissons was negated by a quick whistle and the game remained scoreless through two periods.
The third period was scoreless for the first 18 minutes and change....and then former Predators forward Patric Hornqvist struck.
The most Hornqvist goal ever. Not pretty at all, but got the job done. Scored from below the goal line and banked in off of Pekka Rinne.
Just like that, the Penguins were 90 seconds away from a second straight Stanley Cup win.
Carl Hagelin put the game, the series, and the championship on ice with an empty net goal and the Penguins went back-to-back, the first team to do so in nearly 20 years.
2025 NHL Draft Profiles: LJ Mooney
Jun. 11th, 2025 07:00 ampensburgh_feed
Hometown kid could be a steal for an NHL team
Welcome back to our feature on draft profiles for projected top picks in the upcoming 2025 NHL draft. Catch up with the previous ones here:
No 1: Matthew Schaefer
No 2: Michael Misa
No. 3: Porter Martone
No. 4: Anton Frondell
No. 5: James Hagens
No. 6: Caleb Desnoyers
No. 7: Jake O’Brien
No. 8: Roger McQueen
No. 9: Victor Eklund
No. 10: Jackson Smith
No. 11: Radim Mrtka
No. 12: Brady Martin
No. 13: Carter Bear
No. 14 Kashawn Aitcheson
No. 15: Logan Hensler
No. 16: Lynden Lakovic
Now that we’ve made it through the top-16 profiles of a list constructed by a consensus of scouting voices that talked to TSN’s Bob McKenzie, a little fun to profile players of our choosing.
And we’ll start with the hometown kid, LJ Mooney. Cousin of Logan Cooley, a handful of years ago many considered LJ the top player in the family with his talent level.
The West Mifflin native, Mooney has been a leader of on U-18 national team in assists this year, second in points/game, and he also did pretty well in 2023-24 playing up a year with the 2006 birthdays (23 points in 32 games).
What once looked like a sure-fire future first round pick has led up to draft day with Mooney being ranked 206th by Central Scouting among just the North American players (ouch).
Why?
Size concerns. Mooney stands 5’7” and weighs about 160 pounds. While smaller players can thrive at the pro level, Mooney stands the risks of all tiny players of getting lost in the wash as he levels up against much bigger and much stronger opponents.
These days, however, smaller players have blazed a trail that shows a path for Mooney to find success. Cole Caufield scored 37 goals this season, Alex Debrincat regularly puts up 70+ points per season. Mooney doesn’t have Caufield’s shot, but he does bring a dynamic toolset of offensive ability.
Projection is all over the map. Some, like the CSB scouts, don’t see it coming together for Mooney in the pros. Other scouts rank him much higher, given that his skills and ceiling make for a potential option.
—
They said it
The Athletic (Corey Pronman) #102
Mooney is an elite skating forward who buzzes around the ice. His top speed and edge work are clearly NHL caliber. He has a very good skill level and is very dangerous attacking off the rush due to his skill/speed combination. He was a highly touted player for years, but he just never grew. He’s barely 5-foot-7 and was injury-prone this year, which didn’t help his case. He competes hard enough and doesn’t shy away from physical play. In his best games, he looks like he has a legit chance to play NHL games despite his frame, but that player showed up inconsistently this season.
Draft Grade: 6th–7th Round
Draft Justification:L.J. Mooney has first-round skill and seventh-round physical measurables. If his skating, shot, or strength make a significant leap in the next 18 months, he becomes a fascinating home run style pick. But if they don’t, the risk is real that his game doesn’t translate beyond the college level. For that reason, he profiles as a high-reward, low-floor late-round selection for teams with time to invest in high-skill, long-term projects. Draftable in the later rounds by a skill-forward organization with a development infrastructure committed to maximizing finesse players. NHL upside exists, but will depend entirely on physical growth and skating progression.
The Athletic (Scott Wheeler) #38
Because of the injury, he lost some of his runway to show teams that he’s got what it takes. He has always been a top player in his age group (if you put him in an All-Star game of this draft class right now, he might stand out and make his linemates better). But can he be what he is against teenagers against pros someday, especially if he doesn’t get an inch or two and struggles to add weight to the skinny frame that he does have?
I love the player. He’s got lightning-quick hands in traffic/one-on-one, quick feet, a quick release, a quick processing of the game and a unique ability to make plays. That combination of skating ability (he’s got natural acceleration and tremendous edges and can put defenders on their heels from a standstill and spin off them with ease) and skill is complemented by a willing work ethic and attention to detail defensively. He supports play well. He positions himself well off the puck. He doesn’t cheat for offense. He plays with determination and takes a ton of pucks to the guts of the offensive zone and even the front of the net, with a desire to get to the middle consistently. He’s crafty and knows how to play to his strengths and put pucks into space for others. He’ll flash skill off the rush and inside the offensive zone with his maneuverability. There are times when he’s deferential (in part because of his size) but his quickness helps him manage his deficiencies to be a very well-rounded player. He can also flat out make guys miss and can put them in the spin cycle, his edges are elite slipping through holes, he wins his fair share of battles, and I’ve seen him bowl over bigger players.
A lot would have to go right for him to play in the NHL someday but I’d be willing to take him in the middle rounds and he reminds me a little of Hurricanes prospect Justin Robidas, a small center with speed and two-way knowhow who was drafted in the fifth round in 2021 and had an excellent rookie season in the AHL for the Wolves and will probably play NHL games at some point. He’s more dynamic than Robidas, too.
Man, I love Mooney. He was one of USA’s top players at the U-18 World Championship in what had otherwise been a difficult season for the USNTDP. As one of the smallest players in this draft class, Mooney has had to work even harder to make sure he gets noticed. Between his playmaking and skating on display, Mooney was one of USA’s top forwards every time he hit the ice. I love how he exploits open ice and he’s got the quick hands to make both great passes and great shots. I think he gets drafted regardless because his skill is undeniable, but at 5-foot-7, he’ll likely be taken later than he should.
EliteProspects 2025 NHL Draft Guide
Mooney is – in a word – dynamic. He attacks at a breakneck speed, combining quick-twitch handling with even quicker feet. If the defence doesn’t back off, he powers right through it, occasionally in highlight-reel fashion. More playmaker than shooter, he looks for teammates across the slot, at the net front, and occasionally deceives the defence to secure the lane. -
Scouching #42
I’m still so upset at the injury L.J. Mooney was handed earlier this year. Just when I thought he was finding his legs and confidence, he explodes and misses a length of time with a knee injury. I saw the first couple games he played on the mend and he just did not look the same whatsoever and my hopes of him being a favorite in the class were somewhat dashed. Since January 1, Mooney has landed 18 points in 16 games and my last few games have been a huge step up from early in the season. Mooney is incredibly exciting, hard-working and dynamic and the last handful of performances I’ve seen have been a ton of fun. Surprising to many, he’s one of the most physically involved players in the whole draft class, being relentless with applying pressure all over the ice and doing whatever he can to outperform the questions he faces about his size. He’s still very much a complimentary offensive player, but one heck of an exciting option at that. His quickness, agility, skill level, and playmaking creativity is simply wonderful, and he has the work rate to do his best to overcome his size limitations. He’s another player who I think people will overcorrect on and let fall in the draft, and while he’s a longshot to be an NHL player, if he hits, he’s going to be awesome. His style of play requires near perfect execution and constant effort, but I just can’t not believe in the guy.
—
If the Pens want Mooney, they have to play the game in the draft for when it makes sense to draft him. 11th is not in the conversation. Pittsburgh’s second round pick at 59 might be a step too early as well. However, the Pens have compiled three third round picks (at 73, 84 and 85 overall) — does it make sense to take a reach on a very small but potentially home run type of pick there? The Pens do have a fourth round pick (105) and a couple in the fifth round, but if they don’t prioritize Mooney they risk someone jumping in line to take him. Kyle Dubas hasn’t been shy about drafting this type of player — he took Nick Robertson 53rd overall in 2019, Ty Voit 151st in 2021 and Mac Swanson last year at 207. Given some of Mooney’s rankings, he might be shading closer to Robertson as a mid-round pick rather than a late-rounder like the latter two.
There’s only so many players with enough skill to be considered in the classic “high risk but some high ceiling” category. Mooney is one of them, but the matter of how much priority to place on what could be a whiff will be a fascinating storyline in the second day of the NHL draft.
Penguins open to trading up in 2025 NHL Draft, reports say
Jun. 11th, 2025 06:00 ampensburgh_feed
Will Kyle Dubas make the jump?
General manager Kyle Dubas may have his sights set on moving up in the 2025 NHL Draft, if new reports are to be believed.
Dubas and the Penguins are looking to move up from their current spot, which is 11th in the current draft order, according to Daily Faceoff NHL insider Jeff Marek on a recent edition of “The Sheet.”
Jeff Marek: The Penguins are looking to move up from pick 11 in the first round - The Sheet
— NHL Rumour Report (@NHLRumourReport) June 10, 2025
In some ways, it’s surprising to hear the Penguins want to be aggressive in pursuing a prospect in this year’s draft class, which, by most analysts’ accounts, is weaker than normal.
On the flip side of that coin, Dubas has routinely used the term “urgent” when describing how he plans to plot this rebuild to get Sidney Crosby and company back to contention as quickly as possible.
While any prospect the Penguins select, be it at the 11th spot or higher, doesn't figure to earn a roster spot right out of this year’s training camp, their presence alone in a barren prospect cupboard goes a long way in setting the Penguins up for long-term success post-Crosby.
Which teams could the Penguins trade with?
Here are the top 10 teams based on draft order. The Penguins are slotted with the 11th overall pick.
- New York Islanders
- San Jose Sharks
- Chicago Blackhawks
- Utah Mammoth
- Nashville Predators
- Philadelphia Flyers
- Boston Bruins
- Seattle Kraken
- Buffalo Sabres
- Anaheim Ducks
Barring some miracle, I imagine the top three teams will keep their draft selections. Could Pittsburgh offer something like Rickard Rakell coming off a career year, the 11th overall pick, the second-round pick from the Washington Capitals from the Anthony Beauvillier trade (59th overall), and the third-round (73rd overall) to the Utah Mammoth for the fourth overall selection?
Maybe. Maybe not.
Instead of that seismic jump into the top five, could the Seattle Kraken emerge as trade partners for a lesser package?
Kyle Dubas recently said, when speaking with The Athletic’s Josh Yohe, that he plans to form the roster via trades rather than free agent acquisitions, and while the context of the answer was based around acquiring young forwards for a “change of scenery” trade, the same logic could apply for why Dubas would want to trade up to get “his guy” in the draft.
Dubas and the Penguins have a bushel of draft picks and several veterans they’re willing to trade. In return, they hope to acquire young, talented players who, for whatever reason, are no longer proper fits on their teams.
Be it for young NHLers or prospects, trading picks (or players) seems like the most likely route Dubas takes to accomplish whatever goals he has.
Prices for past draft-day pick swaps
Jumping up into the top five would likely be an expensive undertaking for Dubas. Here are some recent returns for trades to move up in the draft order.
- The Buffalo Sabres traded their 2024 first-round pick (11th overall) to the San Jose Sharks for 14th overall and 42nd overall.
- The Minnesota Wild traded a 2025 third-round pick to the Philadelphia Flyers to move up from the 13th to the 12th overall pick in 2024.
- The Montreal Canadiens traded 26th overall, 57th overall, and a 2024 seventh-round pick (198th overall) to the Los Angeles Kings for the 21st overall selection last year.
- The Anaheim Ducks traded a 2024 first-round pick (31st overall) and a 2024 second-round pick (58th overall) to the Toronto Maple Leafs to move up to the 23rd overall pick in 2024.
- In 2019, the Arizona Coyotes traded 14th and 45th overall selections to move to the 11th overall spot.
Who could the Penguins select with a higher draft pick?
The million-dollar question is: What player is Dubas targeting (depending on where he trades up to)?
Players like Matthew Schaefer, Michael Misa, Anton Frondell, Porter Martone, or Caleb Desnoyers are generally believed to be selected within the top five picks.
What comes after that is anyone’s guess. Mock drafts vary wildly.
But we do have some breadcrumbs to go off of to get a general idea of what Dubas may be thinking when it comes to trading up, based on which players the team hosted for dinner/lunch during the NHL scouting combine.
The Pittsburgh Penguins may be looking for size in the 1st round this year.
— Cam Robinson (@Hockey_Robinson) June 7, 2025
I'm told they took both Radim Mrtka and Roger McQueen out for dinner this week.
This tweet from Elite Prospects’ Cam Robinson sheds some light on Dubas’ potential rationale: wanting to make the Penguins a bigger, tougher, or nastier team to play against.
Based on Dubas’ prior draft history, we also have some noticeable trends that have emerged since he began calling the shots, namely selecting an OHL or WHL player, likely a forward.
Let’s dive deeper.
Radim Mrtka (D, WHL) — A hulking, 6-foot-6, 200-plus-pound right-shot defenseman would certainly add to the line of thinking of being tougher and nastier to play against. As Hooks described in his draft profile, Mrtka doesn't exactly do one thing better than anything else, but teams will be attracted to an 18-year-old right-handed defenseman to try and mold him into a forceful shutdown defender.
Roger McQueen (C, WHL) — Most mock drafts have McQueen being selected before the 10th pick, but a potential trade with a team like the Kraken could allow the Penguins to draft a tall, offensively gifted center, but lingering injury concerns could scare Dubas—and a few other general managers—away from the Saskatoon native.
Brady Martin (C/RW, OHL) — Being a Soo Greyhound is nothing to laugh about when it comes to Kyle Dubas. He’s shown an affinity for players who come from his local team. Beyond that, Martin plays a “high-energy, physical game” that goes beyond what some may consider a small, 6-foot, 180-pound frame.
Porter Martone (RW, OHL) — Perhaps the longest shot of any of these players, drafting the 6-foot-3, 205-pound winger would likely cost the Penguins a draft package of multiple picks and/or a capable NHL player, like described above. We projected Martone as the No. 3 best player in our prospect rankings as of June 7, and it’s unlikely he falls outside the top five picks.
These players are but a few of several possibilities that could fall the Penguins’ way by June 27.
Whether or not a trade comes to fruition, it appears Kyle Dubas’ vision for the rebuild is coming into clearer focus with a bevy of draft picks over the next few seasons, a growing amount of salary cap space, and a desire to acquire young players on the cusp of becoming NHL regulars.
USCSS Prometheus
Jun. 10th, 2025 09:00 pmqwertee_feedThe USCSS Prometheus is a sleek and futuristic exploration ship. With intricate details and flashing lights, this design embodies the cutting-edge technology and human progress.
USCSS Nostromo
Jun. 10th, 2025 09:00 pmqwertee_feedUSCSS Nostromo - Cool design for Sci-fi movie fans.
Dan Muse ready to get to work
Jun. 10th, 2025 08:41 ampensburgh_feed
Pens new coach has first day on the job
With almost eyes full of wonder, or at least the magic amped up for a team-produced video, new coach Dan Muse arrived to work at PPG Paints Arena for the first time as an employee to take it all in.
"Knowing that you are part of something special, an amazing organization, and an amazing city - legendary is the best way to describe it."
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) June 9, 2025
Dan Muse is excited to get to work pic.twitter.com/B9UErXlXC3
There’s been enough Stanley Cup DVD’s and HBO specials and ‘In the Room’ TV shows that it is strange to see a new face that isn’t Mike Sullivan or Dan Bylsma sitting in that coach’s office within the arena. The times they are a’changin’.
As any fresh employee, Muse is ready to get to work and the boss who hired him in Kyle Dubas gives a warm introduction filled with optimism. The Penguins are diving right into work this week, back from the NHL scouting combine the team must get on the same page and start to develop a plan regarding upcoming free agency (starts in three weeks!)
The first order or business is deciding with their own free agents about who to retain and in which cases can they improve or seek comparable options for less money. Do they really need to send qualifying offers to Connor Dewar and Philip Tomasino when they have Sam Poulin and FIlip Hallander under contract already and questions of those nature.
Muse will be a part of that as Dubas looks to tailor a team that will work for and with his new coach. There’s also a coaching staff that needs to be assembled around Muse.
There’s no games this summer but still lots to do for the new coach to get used to the organization as they prepare to get going for next season.
Looking at the Penguins’ salary cap situation in 2025-26
Jun. 10th, 2025 07:00 ampensburgh_feed
The Penguins are heading into the summer with nine potential free agents and a projected $24.5 million in cap space.
The Pittsburgh Penguins are projected to rank top ten in cap space among NHL teams when free agency opens in three weeks.
Here’s a look at the Penguins’ cap situation ahead of the June 27-28 NHL draft and July 1 beginning of unrestricted free agent signings.
Like the rest of the league, the Pens will benefit from the upcoming rise of the salary cap, which is projected to increase by $7.5 million to an upper limit of $95.5 million next season.
The Penguins currently have five restricted free agents in Connor Dewar, Philip Tomasino, Vasiliy Ponomarev, Pierre-Olivier Joseph and Conor Timmins.
The Pens will also have four players hitting unrestricted free agents in Matt Nieto, Boko Imama, Joona Koppanen and Matt Grzelcyk.
Without any of those players re-signed, the Penguins are heading into the 2025-26 campaign with 18 active roster players signed and what PuckPedia projects as $24.5 million in cap space.
That’s good for the 10th-most cap space in the NHL, according to PuckPedia.
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puckpedia.com
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puckpedia.com
Dubas hasn’t committed to wanting to bring any RFAs back. He told DK Pittsburgh Sports’ Taylor Haase on June 7 that the Penguins still needed to “stack those guys up versus what’s going be available on the market, and for how much, and make the best decisions for the club.”
The Penguins GM also didn’t commit to pursuing Grzelcyk, but said the team “has made it clear” to Imama they want him to return, per Haase. Imama played last season on a one-year, $775,000 deal.
Cap space available could also change before the 2025-26 season if players like Kris Letang, who underwent heart surgery in April, or Imama, who underwent bicep surgery with a four-to-six month recovery timeline in late March, start the season on LTIR.
After July 1 signings like Ryan Graves and Tristan Jarry went wrong for the Penguins, it sounds like Kyle Dubas will be more cautious about using this space to make a splash when free agency opens next month.
Kyle Dubas indicated when speaking with The Athletic’s Josh Yohe earlier this week that he plans to use that space on extending trade acquisitions rather than signing free agents. As Yohe wrote about Dubas’ plans:
Dubas and the Penguins have a bushel of draft picks and several veterans they’re willing to trade. In return, they hope to acquire young, talented players who, for whatever reason, are no longer proper fits on their teams.
If the Penguins are aggressive in the next month, it’s likely to be on the trade market more than in free agency.
“Yeah,” Dubas said, confirming that he’ll potentially be busy on the trade market. “Trade, (then) sign guys for longer range (after they’ve been acquired). UFA isn’t a good place to find good value.”
Dubas can consider longer-term contracts given the upcoming expiration of several contracts currently restricting the team’s salary cap.
Eight current contracts (notably including Evgeni Malkin’s) are set to expire ahead of the 2026-27 season, leaving the franchise with a projected $53.8 million in cap space, per PuckPedia.
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puckpedia.com
It is not yet clear if Malkin will be back for the 2026-27 campaign. He did tell The Athletic’s Rob Rossi in February that he would be back for another season after 2024-25, and that when he eventually retired it would be with Pittsburgh.
PuckPedia’s numbers reflect the projected rise of the salary cap over the next few seasons, which is estimated to jump to $104 million in 2026-27 and $113.5 million in 2027-28, according to a January NHL Players’ Association memo obtained by ESPN.
Those numbers could change based on outside factors, ranging from tariffs impacting exchange rate between the U.S. and Canada and the collective bargaining agreement currently being negotiated by the NHL and NHLPA ahead of the current CBA’s September 2026 expiration.
But the current expectation is for the cap to continue rising, giving Dubas the projected space to continue an almost complete rebuild of this roster over the next few seasons.
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Hey Look At This... Comic? The Timekeepers of Eternity
Jun. 9th, 2025 06:59 pmstorming_ivory_tower_feedTimekeepers of Eternity rips and tears the material of classic Stephen King serial the Langoliers to shreds. It might just accidentally be the greatest motion comic ever made, and it's made of photocopies. What's the deal with this strange fan edit?
Motion comics were a bit of a bust huh? Oh, there's examples here and there, especially when talking about independent weirdo hypercomics, of works that incorporated motion convincingly and compellingly, but most corporate offerings amounted to taking still images and having their panels slam across the screen, pile on top of each other arbitrarily, or fade into view one at a time accompanying voice acted lines--the worst of film, comics, and audiobooks combined. Easy enough to explain: paying people who work exclusively in print comics to do (or adapt) a "motion comic" just isn't going to result in much latitude or incentive for bold formal experimentation, nor does it play to the training of the artists handed the task.
On the other side, there's the real structure perverts, mad scientists of comics. They face the same problem as every other avant garde artist: how do you get paid? Where does your audience come from? Criticism for comics in general is underdeveloped; criticism for webcomics and hypercomics even more so. Launching what by necessity must be a more fine arts oriented career in what's still widely understood to be mass market commodities seems daunting, as does coaxing a mass audience out of its comfort zone.
It makes some sense, given all that, that one of the best showcases of the potential of motion comics would come not out of comics itself but the weird and heady film fan edit scene. Blessed with an abundance of material to work with (especially in the cases of franchises, miniseries, or films with extensive cut content or rereleased versions) fan editors have a latitude to screw around without having to produce a bunch of raw footage or drawings themselves (though, the nature of enthusiast projects does inspire people to do things like, say, redo all the special effects from Alien3).
There's certainly a mountain of frames to work with in the Langoliers miniseries from 1995. Probably an overabundance, actually. That's great for Aristotelis Maragkos, though, whose recut of the miniseries into the tight hour long experience The Timekeepers of Eternity needs a lot of raw matter.
I actually mean that literally: Timekeepers is a film produced by physically printing out photocopy versions of the miniseries' frames, manually altering them, re-photographing them, and re-cutting the audio to fit the new narrative. Its runtime is partially achieved by layering scenes onto each other, so actions happen in parallel, or characters expound on a subject while a pan of the environment fills in detail. Sometimes, astonishingly, footage of cloudy skies becomes an abstract 2001 style gradient as characters get lost in their own thoughts, or staring eyes from a close up rip eerily into a shot of a still landscape. What another compressing edit might discard, Maragkos collages back into the frame in unexpected ways.
This could be just a fun gimmick or novelty, and can occasionally come across as just a fun flourish on an otherwise kind of awkwardly acted and plotted original. But just as often Maragkos finds incredible possibilities in the strange hybrid medium. There's a shot early on of Toomey, the murderous time-obsessed business boy going through a breakdown, that blew my mind and immediately convinced me of the film's vision. Toomey, who pitched a tantrum when the plane failed to reach his board meeting in Boston, gets his nose nearly broken by another passenger. Outmatched, he retreats, resentfully, turning and walking back through the plane. As he does so, the film tears, creating a multiframe of instances of Toomey looking back, petulant tears in his eyes.
What happens when you turn a film into a comic in this way? In a static comic, splitting up this action into a series of "prolonger" panels helps clarify small movements and draw out the action, but in a film that's not really necessary. we can just watch that sequentially in time, like we do in real life. What else does this breakdown do in a comic? It can heighten a moment, suggest a psychological intensity, a kind of distending of time or hyperreality. Isn't that exactly what's happening for Toomey? He retreats, literally--we watch him do it. Yet he remains in place simultaneously, staring, seething. He might physically go, but psychologically he is still rooted in place, boiling over with anger at his rough treatment.
Shortly after this scene, we discover the textual rationale for Maragkos's bizarre aesthetic endeavor: Toomey has a bizarre tick of his own, am almost eroticized need to stim by tearing and shredding paper. As he sits and stews after another confrontation with the rest of the passengers, he tears at a magazine, and the screen tears too, layers of the frame peeling back to reveal other elements of the scene, so that his tearing becomes the ubiquitous context for the other characters talking about him and around him.
Maragkos loves to turn the material of the film--its mise en scene especially--into a reflection of characters' internal thought processes, emotions, or fixations. Take another scene from early in the film, after the ensemble cast uncovers the mysterious vanishing of all other crew and passengers on their flight. Bob Jenkins, the mystery writing Stephen King self-insert character, gazes bewildered around the deserted cabin, accompanied by his kid sidekick Albert. The paper tears in to cut Jenkins out and expose the background: a slow pan back and forth across the empty cabin, various belongings scattered about where they fell when people disappeared. Jenkins muses about what could cause people to leave things like their hairpieces behind, while the scene shifts in the background. What would have been two separate shots gets merged into one, condensed efficiently and eerily, information not presented sequentially but simultaneously, allowing for a focus on both scope and details in the mise en scene, AND physical acting.
This seems like one of the most obvious benefits of the motion comic format, the ability to juxtapose so much at once in a compressed way, but I don't think I've really ever seen it done. And what's more, it emphasizes Bob's roving attention, the way his mind picks over all the clues, like in one of his mysteries. Elsewhere in the film we see him repeatedly replaced with a silhouette of an empty sky, as though his head is in the clouds, or rather, his whole being is consumed by trying to solve the puzzle of what stole the rest of the world away.
So, we have a couple of techniques:
- Arrested motion, where a fluid action leaves a series of panels in its wake.
- Simultaneity, where two moving images, or a still and moving image as appears elsewhere in the film, get juxtaposed so that they can contextualize each other.
Neither of these feels completely original to this--arguably, simultaneity is just the thing that makes comics tick generally, and this just applies it to moving images! I haven't seen it play out in a way that makes it so clear what the point of all this scampering around is, though, and they're accompanied by other elements taking advantage of the photocopy medium to build up a whole symbolic language that belongs to this film.
I have to shout out, here, other moments of animated brilliance, even if they're not directly what I'd call "motion comic specific". When Toomey stares into the glasses of the story's Stephen King Certified Fresh Blind Psychic Child, Dinah, the paper ripples and distorts on both their eyes, amping up the creepy qualities of a scene that could otherwise be rote, and setting up Dinah's later psychic manipulation of Toomey. The world unravelling as it's devoured by the titular timekeepers of eternity, the langoliers, is simply torn away, exposing blank paper that the frames of the film sit upon. What once were kind of cheesy and unconvincing 90s 3d animated effects to create the langoliers (which, in fairness, I still think look cool and alien) have been replaced by jagged toothy layered holes in the paper, the material of the film come to life to devour itself. When a character dies, the part of the frames that her body rests on are animated to gust upward like pages of an abandoned magazine, her life story ended and discarded. So much of the film's horror and poignancy comes from these stop motion experiments and the transformation of the material of the film into a constantly shifting vehicle for story. What mainstream work swings for the fences like this? Lynch? Schoenbrun? Anime directors like Anno and Ikuhara? I think that's as mainstream as you get.
Ang Lee's Hulk?
Whatever, you get my point.
What all this reinforces again and again is that this film is made of paper, and that paper will be torn and manipulated to make a point. By the end of the film, it's incredible how much interpreting its torn edges feels like second nature. I suspect there's a reason a lot of my cases come from early in the film: at that point, I was still observing the technique, rather than responding to its effects on a visceral level. By the climax of the film, it's got me firmly in its grip.
So, one more technique, from the climax of the film, that uses the medium's ability to specifically play stillness and motion off each other.
At the climax, as the langoliers begin to appear to devour reality, Toomey hallucinates a meeting with the board in Boston that he's been dreading and longing for. He plans to tell them that, in one of the miniseries' most quotable lines: "I didn't make any money for you! I LOST money for you! I lost! 43! MILLION dollars! And I did it deliberately! I DID IT DELIBERATELY! I DID IT DELIBERATELY!" But something's wrong: the board members are sometimes animated, but more often are sliced in half, with still frames covering them. They are like paper cutouts pasted onto the frame to give Toomey someone to shout at. Also, Stephen King is there in a cameo playing the boss of the company! He too is only partly real, partly paper cutout... until the paper crumples back, revealing Toomey's domineering father, who denounces his foolishness. The whole scene operates by contrasting motion and stillness. The original miniseries conjures these same hallucinations, but they're all the more uncanny because of how they violate the motion of the film. Oh, and the ragged edges of the pages are particularly intrusive here. In some shots Toomey even is blocked from view by the overlaid still image! It's sloppier than just about anywhere else in the film, which works perfectly for his final breakdown.
And by this point in the film, I was completely on board, so when Toomey's dad makes a little chomping motion with his hand, and the paper of the frame crumples around it, I didn't stop to think about the mechanics but felt the thrill up my spine of knowing the Timekeepers of Eternity were coming. Coming to clean up the mess of history in the most efficient way possible: by eating it.
These moments thrill me with possibility. Stillness, and motion. Reassertion of the medium. Timekeepers reminds you constantly of its material in a way that the hollywood invisible style we mostly grow up with hardly ever does, except for an occasional arch postmodern break of the fourth wall. This film constantly reveals the "fourth wall" to just be another comforting metaphor that preserves the illusion of another three dimensions we peer into. With the frame made aggressively tangible, we discover exactly what the characters in the story do: that the surface of every moment is a thin and insubstantial sheet, just waiting for us to punch through into the gnawing void on the other side.
Sure, that doesn't make the film scary in the same way a more immersion-focused or jump scare heavy offering seeks to grab you by the throat. It's cosmic horror, confronting you instead with an absolute reality, as parsed through a visual language all its own, built up and ripped down.
You can find Timekeepers of Eternity on Vimeo, where you can watch for free. You can also get it on VHS, which we have, and which is a very cool experience: we got it on a random VHS, which meant that the film rips into both the original VHS box and the original VHS film, like an incursion into our reality. It's an art object that straddles all sorts of lines, so it's fitting that this article does too. This is part of the titular Hey Look At This Comic series of reviews that I post on Tumblr. It's also part of my Big Horror Ranking List, originally published in a three article series, and significantly expanded more recently for my Patrons in a big interactive website... thing. Out of a now astonishing 163 film long list (!), Timekeepers is lucky number 17. You can get that by signing up there, which you should do in any case since this article was so good and you definitely want to see more of it.
Nic Hague, the upgrade the Pens need on defense?
Jun. 9th, 2025 09:15 ampensburgh_feed
The Pens want to add via trade, and Vegas’s Nic Hague looks like a good place to start
The NHL’s decision to hold a “decentralized” draft this year, where teams remain in their home cities (akin to the NFL draft) instead of the traditional venue where they all meet on the same floor at the host city means that the recently completed NHL draft combine was the event where all the managers were in the same place at the same time.
Given that the trade market resets and teams start to think about the moves needed for cap compliance now, wheels are starting to turn about which pieces are going to fit where. Penguins GM Kyle Dubas acknowledged as much that younger players may no longer be a fit with their current teams and could be targets for the Pens.
One such name is Vegas defenseman Nicolas Hague. Nick Kypreos tied Pittsburgh and the Montreal Canadiens as two teams interested in the 26-year old defender.
Fourth Period’s Dave Pagnotta set the stage last week to give more detail on the situation. As usual, Vegas is tight to the cap but still has ambitions to wheel and deal in order to aggressively seek improvements. That could price Hague out for them, considering that the Golden Knights already have Shea Theodore and Noah Hanifin as high-end (and high-priced) left side defenders. Brayden McNabb is an unheralded but very nice fit with the club as well, marginalizing Vegas’s need for Hague even further as the defender begins to become more expensive in his approach to unrestricted free agency.
Speaking of Vegas, the Golden Knights have just over $9.6 million in salary cap space and a few decent holes to fill. Word on the street is they are entertaining calls on defenceman Nic Hague, who is set to become a restricted free agent July 1 and is due for a solid paycheck.
Multiple sources indicated this week that Vegas has already started to engage in trade discussions involving Hague, who brings size, accountability and a championship pedigree to any club looking to strengthen their defensive corps. Several teams will be poking around, and this should be something to keep an eye on leading up to Draft weekend.
For the Pens, someone like Nic Hague makes a lot of sense. Young, has incredible size and could be the type of stay-at-home partner for one of their right shot blueliners of Erik Karlsson or Kris Letang.
Pittsburgh’s left side defense outlook for next year is incredibly weak with only Ryan Graves, Ryan Shea and Vladislav Kolyachonok signed for next season, along with prospect Owen Pickering waiting in the wings. Dubas has outright said that addressing that very weak position is a task that he has this offseason. Hague isn’t Chris Pronger or anything, but he should be able to be a 18-20 minute second pair type of defender that will acquit himself a lot better than the names like Graves and Shea that the Pens have available.
Hague is also something of a redemption candidate, he didn’t have the best 2024-25 and his ice time went down to a 17 minute average. That’s usually the case with “buy low” type of candidates, they wouldn’t be available if they were coming off incredibly strong seasons.
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If the Pens could get Hague back towards his results and impact in 2023-24 as a capable defender, his value as a potential future trade chip to a contender or value on the ice to them as a competent NHL player would be a nice addition for either way they wanted to take it. Vegas should be a very motivated seller since their blueline is stocked and they need the certainty of keeping salary cap space clear for future moves. It’s been rumored that Montreal, and in some places Philadelphia might also be in the running to add Hague, which will make his destination something to track and monitor as the draft draws close on June 27th.
Debating the merits of a player like Hague and what he may be able to add to the organization ought to be a topic of conversation for Pittsburgh in the coming days and weeks as they conduct their pro scouting meetings and also incorporate the feedback of new coach Dan Muse to figure out how well a player like this might (or might not) fit within the new schemes and strategies that the Pens will be using. If it’s a fit, it could be a nice opportunity to improve.