Yardbarker: Bill Guerin

GETZLAF V. GUERIN

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 09:54:00 -0500

Last night's Penguin game had a lot to smile about, even though it came at the expense of a 6-10-3 Anaheim team, and this heavyweight bout between Bill Guerin and Ryan Getzlaf will rank near the top of the highlight reel of the 5-2 victory.Guerin scored his fifth goal of the season, Matt Cooke lit the lamp twice (hey, empty netters count!), Jordan Staal scored shorthanded, and Martin Skoula found the back of the net for the first time, sending 17,052 home happy. Marc-Andre Fleury stopped ...

Guerin, Penguins end Ducks' winless road trip

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 23:27:26 -0500

Bill Guerin ended Pittsburgh's eight-game streak without a power-play goal by scoring in the first period, Jordan Staal scored short-handed and the Penguins wrapped up Anaheim's winless four-game road trip by beating the Ducks 5-2 on Monday night.

Ducks end Penguins power-play streak in victory

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 22:58:02 -0500

PITTSBURGH(AP) Bill Guerin ended Pittsburgh's eight-game streak without a power-play goal by scoring in the first period, Jordan Staal scored short-handed and the Penguins wrapped up Anaheim's winless four-game road trip by beating the Ducks 5-2 on Monday night.

Special-teams goals help Penguins down Ducks

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 22:25:00 -0500

Guerin's goal, and fight, lead Pens past Ducks

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 21:24:07 -0500

PITTSBURGH (AP) -Bill Guerin ended Pittsburgh's eight-game streak without a power-play goal by scoring in the first period, Jordan Staal scored short-handed and the Penguins wrapped up Anaheim's winless four-game road trip by beating the Ducks 5-2 on Monday night.

For slow starters, playoff hopes can die in October

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 16:52:30 -0500

To paraphrase Pittsburgh Penguins winger Bill Guerin, a Stanley Cup can't be won in October, but teams certainly can start losing it. The same goes for a playoff berth. Despite their slow starts, teams like Detroit and Vancouver likely won't have to worry about that. There's just too much talent on those rosters. But for bubble teams, a slow start is not a luxury they can afford. That's why, for the following five franchises, a strong October is a must: 1. Nashville ...

Penguins RW Bill Guerin: 'Teams are gunning for you'

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 00:27:14 -0500

Bill Guerin on the Cup: 'You can't win it now, but you can creep toward losing it.' The Pittsburgh Penguins begin defense of their Stanley Cup championship Friday when they play host in a season opener to the New York Rangers. Bill Guerin is one of the reasons the Penguins can call themselves reigning champs. Acquired at the trade deadline last year, Guerin provided the veteran leadership — as well as the scoring winger on their top line with Sidney Crosby. Guerin...

Anatomy of a Trade: Bill Guerin Goes to the Penguins

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 09:08:42 -0500

by Adam GretzFiled under: Islanders, Penguins, FanHouse ExclusivePittsburgh Penguins general manager Ray Shero was kind enough to spend nearly an hour on the phone with FanHouse's Adam Gretz discussing a variety of topics. This is the second of a three-part series that will run throughout the remainder of the offseason. Wednesday's entry: Ray Shero discusses the anatomy of a trade, focusing on the deadline-day acquisition of Bill Guerin from the New York Islanders.Anatomy of a Trade: ...

Pens re-sign veteran Guerin to one-year deal

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 20:42:52 -0500

PITTSBURGH (AP) -- The Pittsburgh Penguins re-signed forward Bill Guerin for one year on Monday.

Penguins re-sign veteran F Guerin for one year

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 20:33:57 -0500

The Pittsburgh Penguins re-signed forward Bill Guerin for one year on Monday. The 38-year-old forward who helped the Penguins win the Stanley Cup this month would have become an unrestricted free agent Wednesday. A 17-year NHL veteran, Guerin scored seven goals and 15 points in the postseason after being acquired from the Islanders at the trading deadline in March.

BILL GUERIN VISITS THE ROWDY BBQ

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 14:34:00 -0500

A couple people just sent me this shot of Bill Guerin at the Rowdy BBQ on Route 51 today. Looks like he has good taste in food, because any friend of barbecue is a friend of mine.If you're not familiar with the place, they're located in the beautiful part of Pittsburgh that is cluttered with "For Rent - Levitske Brothers" buildings. And they're pretty famous (at least to me) for some great slogans on their signs, like the one during Lent that read, "Eat our fish or ...

Crossroads

Sun, 15 Mar 2009 21:04:09 -0500

Right now is an interesting time to be an Islanders fan. Half the fanbase wants the team to play as well as possible. The other half wants the Islanders to lose the rest of their games. Who's right? Who knows.
It's tempting to come out and say something like, "If you're rooting for the Islanders to tank the rest of the season, you're not a real fan." Because it's not true. We've seen this many times in the past - a season becomes a total loss, after which the Islanders suddenly start playing well and get everybody all excited about the following year. Remember the second half of the 1999-00 season, when the Islanders were better than .500 and played some pretty good hockey despite giving regular shifts to guys like Mark Lawrence and Mats Lindgren? After that season, the Islanders won the draft lottery, made the infamous Rick DiPietro deal, ended October 2000 in first place... and went on to finish dead last in the NHL. Similar late-season "flourishes" occurred in 1992, 1997, and 1998; only the '92 example yielded any sort of success the following season. So you'll forgive Islanders fans if they're not buying the hype this time around.
Let's face it - Islanders fans deserve something. Anyone who has supported this team, anyone who has bought a third jersey; hell, anyone who has so much as paid for a ticket this year deserves something. Islanders fans went into this year knowing it'd be rough, and they willingly went along. And all you have to do is look at the Islanders' DVD set to see how little they've had to cheer for lately. The past 20 years have brought about pretty much nothing. The 1993 team easily could have won the Stanley Cup, but lost out to Patrick Roy and the Canadiens. Nearly a decade of atrocious play followed, and when the Islanders lost to Toronto in that bitter seven-game series in 2002, many fans thought it was the start of something special. Turns out that the series itself was not just the only reward for years of mediocrity, it was the only significant two weeks of Islanders hockey to take place this century. I know you're supposed to pay a big price for winning four straight Cups, but the Islanders' faithful have had more than their fair share of heartache.
That's where all of this is coming from. It's not about tanking in the sense of wanting your team to lose. It's more about having gone through so much that it doesn't faze you anymore. To Islanders fans, a 30th place finish wouldn't mean anything except just one more bad year in a string of them. They've been the 8th seed before, and they've been anonymously awful before. Why not be awful when there's a reward for it?
On the other hand, it's hard not to be inspired by the Islanders' play of late. In fact, it's been nearly a month since they've laid a total egg. In that period of time, their only regulation losses have been a 1-0 loss to Pittsburgh, a tough 4-2 loss to the Rangers, and a well-played 2-1 loss to Boston. Those are three playoff teams, and two of those were road games. (Insert your own joke about how the Rangers game was really a road game.) Granted, the Islanders haven't exactly played the toughest schedule, but they've taken road games in New Jersey, Montreal and Chicago over that stretch and have developed a ton of confidence playing well against teams they should play well against. Today's lineup included one player who was waived earlier this season and eight players who have spent significant time in Bridgeport this year. And yeah, you might have seen this kind of thing in prior years, but this is pretty cool.
The difference between this Islanders team and the ones in the past is that this team has a plan. They have an organizational philosophy and stability at coach and general manager. They know what kind of team they want to build and they seem to have a pretty good grasp on how to build it. They also know which players don't fit and have gotten rid of these players. It's no coincidence that the Islanders are 8-3-2 since trading Chris Campoli and Mike Comrie to Ottawa; 4-2-1 since trading Bill Guerin to Pittsburgh. Not to denigrate these players, but certain players fit this system best and the Islanders deserve credit for weeding out the parts that don't fit. This isn't rebuilding with the likes of Eric Fichaud and Niklas Andersson - this is a team, and it's starting to show.
Of course, if you're of the mindset that the Islanders should intentionally lose every game for the rest of the season, that's your prerogative. You're certainly not incorrect, that's for sure. I, for one, believe in karma, and tanking sort of plays with the fates a little too much. Besides, you can't coach players to lose, and this experience will help them in the future. And there's always the chance that the Islanders could finish as high as 26th and still end up with the first overall pick. The moral of the story is, you can't worry so much about draft picks, because you can never control what will happen. What you can control, though, is the talent you have, and it looks like many of these players are starting to turn the corner. And in a season that has given Islanders fans very little to cheer about, I'll take it.

Guerin Pulled... Trade Imminent...?

Sat, 28 Feb 2009 21:53:18 -0500

((HT: TSN-Dreger))

How's this for a little on the weird side...?

The New York Islanders' Bill Guerin ((pictured, thanks Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)) made it through warm-ups okay, but he didn't play in the Islanders game with the Buffalo Sabres.

Guerin was pulled off the ice under the thought that a ...

Isle's 'C' Is Surprise to Guerin

Tue, 10 Jul 2007 14:21:18 -0500

According to the AP, the announcement came as a surprise to Guerin, who learned the news along with everyone else when his brand-new Islanders jersey was unveiled at yesterday's press conference, its left breast adorned with the captain's "C." In the Post, Brooks cautions that the no-move clause in Guerin's contract guarantees that the soon-to-be 37-year-old winger will count fully against the cap through the 2008-2009 season. There are legimate concerns as to whether Guerin has another two seasons left in the tank. While he had a phenomenal 36-goal season for the Blues and Sharks last year, he tallied just 13 times in the season prior. The Islanders are expecting much higher returns on their investment.