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"Sergei Gonchar" by Thebeev on Flickr
Last season Sergei Gonchar missed significant playing time at the beginning of the season and the Penguins struggled without him. They rapidly fell down the standings and soon found themselves on the outside of the playoff picture. When he returned, the Penguins went on a great run, made the playoffs and ultimately won the Stanley Cup.
Sergei Gonchar is very important to the Pittsburgh Penguins and now he has broken his wrist. He will miss four to six weeks of action.
What does this recent injury mean to the team today?
The Pittsburgh Penguins are a different team than they were a year ago.
Their young core of Malkin, Crosby, Staal and Fleury is a year older and a year more mature. The entire team now has the experience of winning a Stanley Cup championship. Alex Goligoski and Kris Letang have improved by leaps and bounds over last season. And they have Bill Guerin.
While Gonchar was injured last year, the Penguins were without veteran leadership. Gary Roberts was no longer with the team and the young Penguins were left to fend for themselves. Now they are older, wiser, more experienced and have Bill Guerin to guide them through troubled times. The Pittsburgh Penguins are much more prepared to face an extended stretch without Gonchar than they were last year.
The Pittsburgh Penguins will depend on Kris Letang (pictured) and Alex Goligoski to step up while Sergei Gonchar is injured.
In Tuesday night’s game against St. Louis, the game in which Gonchar was injured, 13 out of the 18 Penguin skaters registered at least a point. This is no longer a team solely powered by the scoring of Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby.
Tyler Kennedy leads the team in goals. Alex Goligoski, Jordan Staal, Bill Guerin, Ruslan Fedotenko, Kris Letang and others are scoring as well. Even Mike Rupp and Matt Cooke have two goals each. The Pittsburgh Penguins are third in the league in goals for, sitting behind only the New York Rangers and the Calgary Flames.
The Penguins also have the luxury of adding veteran defenseman Martin Skoula into their line-up to fill Gonchar’s position. While not at Gonchar’s level, Skoula is an experienced player that will not look out of place on the team.
Even if Gonchar’s loss turns out to be devastating for the team, keep in mind that it’s the beginning of the season and the Penguins have an 8-1 record. They could struggle considerably for six weeks and still remain in the playoff picture.
Gonchar’s injury is a loss for the Penguins. While rarely mentioned among the Penguins’ superstars, Gonchar is an extremely talented, unique individual and a great hockey player. The Pittsburgh Penguins will be a worse team without him. His patience, skill and leadership ability will be missed. However, this year’s Pittsburgh Penguins team is skilled enough to survive without him for a relatively short period of time.
Images:
“Sergei Gonchar” by Thebeev on Flickr
“080228 Kris Letang” by Dan4th on Flickr
Rick Moldovanyi is a freelance journalist from Toronto. He covers the Pittsburgh Penguins at Penguins Experience and has written for several publications in the Toronto area.
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