Andre Roy has lost his mind

On Thursday, the Penguins made what I thought was an inconsequential free agency pickup when they signed wingman/enforcer Andre Roy to a three-year $3M contract. He knows that his role on the squad will be to protect Crosby and Lemieux. However, he's earned his entry into the Red and Black Hockey Cracksmoking Hall of Fame by saying he's going to do that while scoring 50 goals. That's right. That's not a misprint on my part.

In this article, from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, he made that lofty claim. Twice.

New Penguins tough guy Andre Roy knows his role.

"I'm going for a 50-goal season," he said yesterday.

Why, oh why didn't the reporter challenge him on that? Or if it was meant as a joke, why didn't he simply include the phrase "Roy jokingly said ..."

Then later, perhaps to suggest that it wasn't a joke, he said it again. Alluding to his past run-ins with officials and his tendency to lose focus :

I did some silly stuff obviously in the past," said Roy. "I'm a little hot-blooded. I've learned. I think I'm ready for my 50-goal season."

In seven partial NHL seasons, the tough guy has scored a grand total of 25 goals in 310 contests. His best offensive output was 2002-03, when he lit the lamp 10 times for the Bolts. That's pretty impressive for an enforcer, but that's sheer insanity fueled by crack smoking for him to even joke about scoring 50 goals. The reality of it is that Sidney Crosby might not score that many goals this season, and we're all aware of his offensive potential...

Who does Roy think he is?