Happy 26th birthday to our Russian Prince, Evgeni Malkin! Let’s hope that he takes a break from training like a beast to celebrate with friends and family and cake!

In honour of the MVP’s birthday, here’s his most MVP worthy goal from the past season. Let’s hope for a few more of these next season!

Another weekend, another Penguin gets hitched. After weddings this summer by forward Jordan Staal and defenseman Brooks Orpik, goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury married long-time girlfriend Veronique in Montreal Saturday. The two have been dating since they were 15 years old!

Many Penguins were in attendance for the big day. Sidney Crosby, James Neal, Pascal Dupuis, Matt Cooke, Ben Lovejoy, Kris Letang, Deryk Engelland, and Brooks Orpik were all seen outside the Notre Dame basilica. Former Penguins Colby Armstrong, Jordan Staal, Ruslan Fedotenko, Brent Johnson, Max Talbot and Hal Gill were also in attendance.

The guys and their dates got to show off their fashion while walking to the bus that transported them to the reception, but that does not always mean that money can buy style. Max Talbot stole the show (not in a good way) with his black suit, red bow tie, and red shoes. James Neal was seen wearing his usual purple shirt with plaid jacket. Someone get these guys a stylist!

25stanley.com has many pictures of the beautiful couple and guests. Gotta say, (in most cases) the boys know how to clean up!

So our congratulations to the newlyweds! Here’s to many more happy years!

Today the Pittsburgh Penguins prospects put on a show for over 7,000 fans that packed the Consol Energy Center to watch their team’s future. The prospects were split up in two teams. Team White was coached by assistant to the General Manger, Tom Fitzgerald while Team Black was coached by former Penguin Bill Guerin. The game consisted of two 25 minute halves that included an overtime and shootout.

The first goal of the game was scored on a penalty shot by Reid McNeill (Team Black) after Alex Velischek was called for interference.

Recent draft pick Matia Marcantuoni evened up the game at 1-1, but minutes later Team Black took the lead after a goal by forward Zach Sill. Defenseman Simon Despres, who played 18 games with Pittsburgh this season, scored a late goal with two minutes left to tie it for Team White.

Newly acquired defenseman Brian Dumoulin (Jordan Staal trade) scored during the three-on-three overtime period. Dumoulin, 6-foot-4 219 pounder from Boston College, stood out at camp all week. His impressive play on the blueline shows just another upside from the Staal trade.

Speaking of recent acquisitions, Harrison Ruopp who was part of the Zbynek Michalek trade with Phoenix impressed with his size and strength. The Penguins had their eye on Ruopp even during last year’s draft before he was picked by the Coyotes. Although the Pens have a stacked blueline throughout their system, Ruopp brings more of a physical game that is sometimes hard to find in other players.

Other Camp Notes:

Try to keep your eyes open for Matia Marcantuoni, that is if he doesn’t skate by. The 2012 draft pick was easily one of the fastest guys on the ice. His stellar skating ability and good hands seem to point towards a bright future.

There’s not enough I can say positive about Brian Dumoulin. In addition to having an extremely fan-friendly personality, the defenseman who played at Boston College, is used to playing on a system based off the Pens blueline and it shows through his play.

One of the players that stood out the most during the scrimmage was free agent goaltender Ryan Faragher. Faragher played last season for St. Cloud State where he ended the season with a .915 save percentage. The 22-year-old played the entire game for the Black Team and made a handful of stellar saves and received several ovations from fans.

Forward Beau Bennett, who recently signed his first professional contract with the Pens, continues to recover from his wrist injury suffered while playing for the University of Denver this season. Although he says he is not yet 100% he still showed brilliance stick-handling and being mentioned by Head Coach Dan Bylsma as a candidate for Sidney Crosby’s line probably didn’t hurt the ego either.

Benn with his former team, the San Jose Sharks

The Penguins announced this morning that they have signed former San Jose Shark Benn Ferreiro to a one year contract.

The center scored 7 goals and 8 assists in 35 games with the Sharks. He also played 20 games for their AHL team.

Welcome aboard, Benn!

Evgeni Malkin will join a bunch of other NHL stars in an exhibition game dedicated to the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl hockey team.

Last year, the entire team was killed when the plane they were in crashed.

Geno will be joined by Ilya Kovalchuk, Pavel Datsyuk, Zdeno Chara,  Ilya Bryzgalov, Sergei Gonchar, Alexander Semin, Alexei Kovalev, Alexei Yashin, Sergei Fedorov and Sandis Ozolinsh. 

The team will play against the Kolten Flyers of the Swiss National League, and will be called “Memory Night”. It’ll take place on August 4th.

This isn’t the first thing Geno has done to honour the memory of the players lost on that tragic day. On October 13, the game against the Washington Capitals was a charity game to help raise money for the families of the players. He also hosted a fundraising auction to help.

Although most Penguin fans are waiting for #PariseWatch to end in their favor, that has not stopped General Manger Ray Shero from making signings on the first day of free agency.

Forward Tanner Glass has signed a two year/$1.1 million deal. The 28 year year old spent last season with the Winnipeg Jets where he had 16 points in 78 games along with a career high 246 hits. Glass played college hockey with current Penguin Ben Lovejoy at Dartmouth.

The Pens also resigned enforcer Steve MacIntyre to a two year, two way contract for $625,000.

That leaves the Pens with about $11 million left under the cap, so don’t be surprised to see a trade or two if the Pens are serious about making a push towards either Zach Parise or Ryan Suter.