http://www.yardbarker.com/content/player/5543 Recent articles about Ryan Whitney en-us After word of Ryan Whitney's surgery and extended absence from the team for 3 - 5 months, I've been browsing sites and talking with fellow fans about the situation. Plenty of discussions, and alot of them bring up a common question - why did he wait until now to have the surgery and not have it done sooner (like at the beginning of summer)? At first thought, it does seem like a legitimate question and appears to be a bad choice on Whitney's part; however, his explanation also seems reasonable to me. Just like alot of other people, Whitney was hesitant to have the surgery because it's something major (from what I've read, an osteotomy is very major surgery). Why choose a drastic solution when there are other, less invasive ways that could provide relief? It's understandable to me even if I do feel that the wait may have been a little bit too long. Just for some background, here is information taken from WebMD.com which may give better insight to the situation than what I can: If you get little or no joint pain relief from osteoarthritis medications, it may be time to consider joint surgery. How do you decide? First, ask yourself and your doctor the most important question: Is there any other conservative treatment? Second, is joint surgery indicated? ... Puck Daddy chalks it up to "a dreadful summer for Pittsburgh." Still, how crappy has this off-season been for Penguins fans where losing their No. 2 defenseman for five months is seen as a relative inconvenience by comparison? Seth from "Empty Netters" looks at top point totals by defensemen over the past 2 seasons and comes up with "Whitney's Worth." It appears his value lies within his offense since he ranks in the top 10 defensemen and is tied for 9th with Lubomir Visnovsky of the Kings with a total of 99 points (26 goals, 73 assists) - that's impressive and something I hadn't thought of considering his less than average season last year. One thing is for sure, we'll definitely see Whitney's importance to the team within the first few games. Defensemen's contributions aren't always apparent until they are out of the line-up completely. As much as alot of us complained about him, we may be begging to have him back in the lineup by the end of the 3 - 5 months! Like any "relationship," maybe this will be a good "break" that all of us need (and allow us to realize just how much we may take Whitney for granted)! Tue, 19 Aug 2008 18:03:28 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/309199 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/309199 Join the forum discussion on this post - (1) Posts In a surprise development, Pittsburgh Penguins’ defenseman Ryan Whitney underwent surgery on Friday to correct a left foot misalignment that he has secretly been dealing with for some time.  The procedure, an osteotomy, is a surgical operation Sat, 16 Aug 2008 17:51:46 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/307227 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/307227 In a surprise development, Pittsburgh Penguins' defenseman Ryan Whitney underwent surgery on Friday to correct a left foot misalignment that he has secretly been dealing with for some time. The procedure, an osteotomy, is a surgical operation whereby bone is cut to shorten, lengthen, or change its alignment. It usually involves taking out a wedge of bone near a joint to correct the alignment and alleviate pain. The typical recovery time for a procedure like this is 3-5 months, which means (at a minimum) Ryan Whitney won't play for the Penguins until mid-November. Sat, 16 Aug 2008 10:14:11 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/307100 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/307100 Admittedly, I was fairly critical of Ryan Whitney's performance this past season. I felt his overall defensive play took a significant step back compared to recent seasons. And while naturally it wasn't his doing, his placement on the left point of the powerplay drives me nuts to this day. Sat, 16 Aug 2008 09:54:07 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/307096 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/307096 Looking back on Marc-Andre Fleury's masterful performance in Game 5 of the Finals in Detroit. The best game of the young netminder's career was also arguably the finest piece of goaltending by any Pittsburgh Penguin ever. Tue, 03 Jun 2008 22:15:44 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/274071 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/274071 Ryan Whitney of the Pittsburgh Penguins came out and made a statement last night to the Ottawa Senators, don't touch their captain. In the 2nd period, Senators defensemen Wade Redden tried to get under Sidney Crosby's skin and got into a little scuffle with him by the Ottawa net. Whitney didn't like this, so he stepped in, dropped the gloves with Redden and Whitney proceeded to thump Redden to the ice and sent a clear message to everyone. The Sen's will have a tough time doing anything against one the 3 teams they knocked out of the playoffs only a season ago. This is a more mature Penguin lineup and they showed it by dominating every facet of this game and look to do the same all series. Thu, 10 Apr 2008 16:52:53 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/234676 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/234676 Thoughts and reactions to the Penguins Game 1 demolition of the Ottawa Senators. Gary Roberts, Evgeni Malkin, Marc-Andre Fleury and company took it to their rivals from the north. Highlights included. Thu, 10 Apr 2008 15:55:19 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/234626 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/234626 The Pittsburgh Penguins traveled to Montreal on Thursday night and picked up their 3rd straight win by beating the Canadiens 5-4, despite falling behind 4-3 early in the 3rd period. Sergei Gonchar scored the game winning goal midway through the 3rd to pick up his 50th point of the season, and 600th of his career. Evgeni Malkin picked up 3-more points (1G, 2A) to extend his lead to 4-points over Alexander Ovechkin in the Art Ross scoring title race. Malkin has surged to the top by scoring 41-points in his last 21-games. He now has 82-points (35G, 45A) on the season. The win puts the Penguins back in a tie with New Jersey for the Atlantic Division lead, and just one point behind the Eastern Conference leading Ottawa Senators who lost in a shootout on Thursday. ....click the link for the rest of the article.... Fri, 22 Feb 2008 00:08:15 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/159372 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/159372 The Pittsburgh Penguins continued their solid play on Thursday night by beating the New York Islanders 4-3 and advancing past the Devils to tie the Flyers for the lead in the very tight Atlantic Division. The Flyers have one game in hand against the Penguins and Devils. Defensman Ryan Whitney, singled out by Coach Therrien in Monday night's loss to the Devils, answered the call by scoring 3-points (2G, 1A) against the Islanders. Ryan Malone and Kris Letang also scored and Ty Conklin stopped 29 shots as the Penguins improved their record to 30-19-5. ...click the link for the rest of the article.... Fri, 08 Feb 2008 18:55:59 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/131973 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/131973 The Pittsburgh Penguins lost to the Atlanta Thrashers 4-1 on Wednesday, one night after beating the New Jersey Devils 4-2. The Penguins outshot the Atlanta Thrashers 30-27, but were only able to put 1 (legitemately) past Kari Lehtonen on a chip shot by Ryan Whitney midway through the 3rd period. Despite giving up 4-goals and being replaced by Dany Sabourin after letting in 2 early in the 3rd, Ty Conklin made some great saves to keep the Penguins in the game through the first 40-minutes of play. Wed, 30 Jan 2008 23:45:43 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/115741 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/115741 Sidney Crosby is arguably the best player in the NHL and should be for years to come. So the Pittsburgh Penguins would surely be crazy for thinking of trading the young superstar. Or would they? Could the Penguins actually improve their chances of capturing Lord Stanley's Cup by trading away the NHL's shining star? It's not as crazy of a thought as you might think. Fri, 25 Jan 2008 03:50:18 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/84558 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/84558 The Pittsburgh Penguins lost to the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday night by a score of 4-3. For the Penguins, it was just their 2nd regulation loss since December 23rd. Ty Conklin got the call for the Penguins and made 29-saves on 33 shots to move his record to 10-2-2. The Penguins (27-18-4) have lost all 4-meetings with the Flyers this season, after sweeping them in 8-games last season. With 59-points, the Penguins are still just 1-point behind the Atlantic Division leading Devils and Flyers (1st place tie). ...click the link for the full article.... Fri, 25 Jan 2008 03:24:01 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/84288 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/84288 Not everyone thinks so highly of Crosby but its not always Crosby's fault at the same time. Erin takes a look into it for us as we welcome in the New Year. Wed, 02 Jan 2008 02:00:48 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/58214 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/58214 Each week, Comcast presents a 30-minute show entitled "Inside Penguins Hockey" that airs on FSN Pittsburgh. The show provides an exclusive inside look at the Pittsburgh Penguins from game strategies to behind the scenes action. One of the best elements of the show is the Q&A with various players. Episode 4 of Inside Penguins Hockey originally aired on December 15th and featured Petr Sykora and Erik Christensen. Click the link below to see the videos....... Sun, 23 Dec 2007 04:48:40 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/51481 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/51481 The Pittsburgh Penguins stopped a 2-game slide as they beat the New York Islanders by a score of 3-2 on Saturday night at the Nassau Colliseum, to pull within 3-points of the division leading Devils. The Penguins who were playing without Marc-Andre Fleury (high ankle sprain), Sergei Gonchar (Flu), Max Talbot (high ankle sprain), and Erik Christensen (sore neck), outshot the Islanders 40-29 in the win. Dany Sabourin was very strong in net for the Penguins, making 27 saves on 29 shots. In the first period, Sidney Crosby scored his 1st goal in 8-games at 2:48 on a botched play by defenseman Marc-Andre Bergeron and goaltender Rick DiPietro. Bergeron attempted to pass ................. Sun, 16 Dec 2007 18:20:39 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/46320 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/46320