“I’m a substitute for another guy. I look pretty tall but my heels are high. The simple things you see are all complicated. I look bloody young but I’m just back dated, yeah!”

-The Who, “Substitute.”

The Pittsburgh Penguins claimed Kris Beech off waivers from the Washington Capitals. He is obviously a substitute for NHL talent. Maybe it’s a depth thing, but I want nothing to do with this guy. Don’t we already have a guy like this? Isn’t his name Erik Christensen? I mean, seriously, with a line up that is center heavy, do we need this slug on the team?

I think this is very telling of the feelings Penguins management has about Christensen. Crusher, as the boys like to call him, has always been the odd man out in the Crosby, Malkin, Staal, center love fest the Penguins have going on. With Crosby out for an extended period of time, I almost expected Christensen to be up centering the second line while having Staal be the third line center in an exclusively checking role, considering that he hasn’t been scoring at all. Well, no dice. The Pens grab Kris Beech, hopefully only as a substitute and a depth player so that when Cros comes back, Beech’s white ass’ll be shipped down to the minors.