The Pittsburgh Penguins will play their final season at the Igloo. Will they finally raise the Cup there?
The Pittsburgh Penguins ended the 2008/2009 season the way every NHL team wants to: holding the Stanley Cup over their heads.
But all that means now is that they were league champions last year. No team has won back-to-back Stanley Cup Championships in over a decade and, if the Penguins hope to break that streak, they need to focus all of their attention and energy on the coming season.
So, how do the Pittsburgh Penguins stack up against the rest of the league? Quite well.
OFFENSE
Only one forward that dressed in game seven against Detroit is no longer with the Penguins (Miroslav Satan.) That number becomes two if you take into account that the injured Max Talbot will miss the first month or two or the season. Petr Sykora, who sat for the majority of the playoffs, has also left the Penguins. He signed with the Minnesota Wild as a free agent.
What you’re left with is a very powerful offense. Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are generational talents that are maturing and growing every year. No one can doubt their intensity and passion for the game and their skills are among the best in the NHL. They are supported by a strong cast of reliable performers including Bill Guerin, Chris Kunitz, Ruslan Fedotenko, Jordan Staal and Tyler Kennedy. They definitely aren’t lacking toughness either. Players like Eric Godard, Matt Cooke and Mike Rupp will make life difficult for the Pens opponents.
Perhaps the best aspect of the Penguins offense is that, in many cases, their grit and toughness comes from their top offensive players. Chris Kunitz and Tyler Kennedy are strong, physical players and Jordan Staal and Bill Guerin do not shy away from confrontation. Ryan Bayda is still in the running to make the team as well.
Their offense is a little small in stature, however and the Pens could always use another top flight winger but, despite that, they remain one of the top offensive teams in the league.
Grade: A
DEFENSE
A lot has been made of the departures of Rob Scuderi and Hal Gill and with good reason. The two men formed a strong defensive pairing on the Penguins blue line and without Scuderi’s game saving efforts in game six of the Final, the Penguins would not have claimed the Cup.
However, the Penguins defensive corps is still very strong. Led by veteran Sergei Gonchar, Pittsburgh has a great deal of mobility and offensive fire power on the blue line. Kris Letang is quickly showing signs of becoming Gonchar’s heir apparent and Alex Goligoski isn’t far behind. Mark Eaton, Brooks Orpik and newcomer Jay McKee add a strong defensive base. A healthy Gonchar will do wonders for the Penguins defense and power play.
Grade: A-
GOALTENDING
The talent of Marc-Andre Fleury has frequently been questioned. However, the Flower is coming off two strong playoff performances in the last two seasons. He can sometimes stumble, but Fleury has proven that he can play in big games. His play in a pair of game sevens against Washington and Detroit have removed any doubts that he cannot play under pressure.
He will likely be backed up by Brent Johnson. Johnson, when healthy, is a very strong backup goaltender who will be able to shoulder his share of the load.
Grade: A-
COACHING
If the Penguins have a question mark on their team, it may come from behind the bench. Dan Bylsma had a dream come true last year as he joined the team in February, went on an outstanding run and ended his season with the Stanley Cup in his hands.
The question is, can he bottle the intensity and drive that powered his team last year and spread it out over an entire season? If he can, the Penguins become one of the most formidable teams in the NHL.
Grade: B+
For the first time in years the Penguins prospect pool is very deep. Eric Tangradi and Luca Caputi are the most NHL-ready players in the Penguins system, but Chris Conner, Paul Bissonnette and Dustin Jeffrey have shown they could have what it takes as well.
On defense, Ben Lovejoy, Nate Guenin, Brian Strait and first overall draft pick Simon Despres are the top prospects. Despres has been returned to the QMJHL, but both Guenin and Lovejoy could see time in the NHL this year. Despres was very impressive in the preseason.
The Penguins top goaltending prospect is John Curry, who has been very strong in his NHL appearances thus far. Brad Thiessen has also showed promise.
Grade: B
Overall, if the Pittsburgh Penguins can maintain their focus and stick with Bylsma’s aggressive strategy, a second Stanley Cup isn’t out of the question.
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Tags: Dan Bylsma, Evgeni Malkin, Igloo, Jordan Staal, Marc-Andre Fleury, Mellon Arena, NHL Season Preview, Pittsburgh Penguins, Sergei Gonchar, Sidney Crosby, Stanley Cup Champions
Chris- Did you even watch the playoffs after the Flyers series? The Caps were thoroughly outplayed throughout the second round series. Hot goaltending was the only thing that allowed the series to go seven games. The finals were two outstanding teams playing on equal ground until the final seconds of game seven. The Carolina series was obviously a mismatch.
Your Flyers did outplay the Pens for long periods of their series, however, the cream rose to the top as Philly choked on home ice while squandering the big lead and any chance for advancing.
Just to clarify, I didn’t say this team was the New York Islanders plus Crosby and Malkin. I said that this team is the New York Islanders without Crosby, Malkin, Gonchar, Kunitz, and Guerin. In a word you take out the number one defensemen and their only decent talent on the outside and this team is out of the playoffs even with Malkin and Crosby.
I don’t think they are the favorites in the east mostly because I feel they overachieved in the playoffs to begin with. That doesn’t mean that they aren’t one of the favorites though.
As for Tangradi, Caputi, and Conner, only Tangradi has a decent chance at being a legitimate threat. Despres will be a good defenseman in a couple years as well, but Pittsburgh’s prospect pool is one of the worst in the league. The fact that many of these guys are getting promoted to the roster due to cap restraints caused by the combined salaries of Crosby, Malkin, Staal, and Fleury should be troubling to Pens analysts.
Chris – We’ll soon see who the THW favorites in each conference are. I’ll be compiling our writers selection’s this weekend and posting early next week.
Crosby is a much better leader than people give him credit for. So is Malkin.
I ranked the prospect pool relatively high because there are several players that could walk into the NHL right now and not look out of place.
Tangradi, Caputi and Conner could easily dress for an NHL team this year. The same can be said for goaltender John Curry. Despres showed during the preseason that in a year or two he will be a very strong defenseman, if nothing goes wrong.
There are no superstars in the Pens system, but there are many players that complement the Pens existing system.
The Pens, Flyers, Caps and Bruins are without a doubt the upper tier in the Eastern Conference.
Even if they were Islanders plus Crosby/Malkin (and that is stretching more than my grandma’s thong) you’re not talking about Abbott & Costello. These are arguably 2 of the top 3 players on the planet. You could stick them on any team in the league and they would be cup contenders. Pitt. also has an unbelievable working class (think Talbot & Stall) that all Champs need – plus decent pressure goaltending. And I saw Gonchar play 2 nights ago, he was in fine form.
A top team by All accounts and they don’t float on talent – they play a very tough brand of hockey – playoff hockey. They have to be considered as favorites to win the east with Philly and Boston giving them something to think about. And of course there will be that one team that surprises everyone as well as the possible meltdown of one of the aforementioned front-runners (nothing’s a given anymore)
Based on last year we know that this team minus Sergei Gonchar and two top 6 forwards (happened to be Kunitz and Guerin) this team goes from the Stanley Cup winning Pittsburgh Penguins to the New York Islanders of the last couple of season plus Crosby and Malkin.
I don’t like all this Bylsma hype. He inherited a bad situation that immediately got better when Gonchar returned and Shero made THE deadline moves of the new era NHL. We haven’t seen his coaching do all that much but benefit from timing.
I don’t necessarily have problems with the offense, defense, and goaltending grades. Though they could be a little generous it’s not off enough to make a fuss about, especially taking into consideration my inherited bias. The coaching I’ll leave as a question mark though it was impressive to see the Pens win the cup on heart instead of talent. People make the mistake of thinking that superior talent won them the Stanley Cup. Yes, Crosby and Malkin are superior stars, but that doesn’t mean their entire team is that great. They were outplayed in three of the four rounds they played in but still managed to hoist the Cup. That could be the result of coaching. Nobody really knows despite biased analysts looking to make their publications a quick buck by praising Bylsma. So yes, question mark, but if it is coaching it was certainly something. Crosby’s leadership?
As someone who covers all prospects I can honestly tell you that Pittsburgh’s prospect pool is terrible. Very generous there.
I originally had the defense as a B+, but thought they deserved better than that.
The offense alone coming from the blue line makes them top quality.
A little generous on ranking the blueline and prospects, Rick, but Pens more than make up for the latter with the youthfulness already any in the lineup…The “D” is more than adequate, but do not deserve an A- at this point, especially when they go head to head with the likes of the Flames, Blackhawks or Red Wings blueline.