Season Preview: Pittsburgh Penguins
Major Additions: Mike Weaver, Ty Conklin, Jeff Taffe, Darryl Sydor, Danny Sabourin, Petr Sykora
Major Subtractions: Jocelyn Thibault, Michel Ouellet
Analysis
Well, I’m no Ian Mendes, so I’m not going to argue that the Penguins will miss the playoffs this season, though I can see some cause for concern.
First off, the likes of Petr Sykora, Mark Recchi and Gary Roberts aren’t getting any younger. How much longer can they continue to play at a high level? For another, as Mendes points out, it’s not unheard of for young teams to go through a sophomore slump of sorts after a surprisingly successful season. Finally, the Atlantic Division is looking like one of the toughest in the league this summer, with the Flyers and Rangers making some huge free agent acquisitions. The Devils and Islanders both took steps backwards but both boast excellent goaltending and coaching.
The flip side, obviously, is that the Pens boast the best player in the league surrounded by a number of excellent young forwards and defencemen. With both Crosby and Whitney signed long-term, the Penguins can focus on getting Evgeni Malkin Marc-Andre Fleury and Jordan Staal resigned. Fleury is in the last year of his entry-level deal, while Staal and Malkin each have two years left - and all three would make very tempting targets for offer sheets should they reach free agency.
Are the Penguins ready to make the next step? They looked lost in the playoffs a year ago, unable to find that next gear so necessary to be make the jump from a playoff team to a true Cup contender. No doubt they will learn from the experience but the very team that embarrassed them so thoroughly took far more than a single year to become a hardened playoff team.
As with the playoffs last year, the Penguins are not a team I would choose to face but nor are they a team I would be particularly worried by. Until they get more playoff experience under their belt - throughout their entire lineup, not merely from a few veterans - they look like a contender for the President’s Trophy but not the Stanley Cup.