The offseason is slowly coming to an end and for Pens fans across the country, it comes as bitter sweet relief. On one hand the boys of winter will be back on the ice and we have 82 games to look forward to. On the other hand we may be entering the season without our captain Sidney Crosby. It doesn't need to be said that 2011 has been nothing short of torture for Pens fans right from the start, and it's possible that the adversity still hasn't ended.
Hockey is a different breed of sport, and adversity is a vital ingredient in molding great hockey teams. Nothing in this sport is ever given to you, and nothing comes easy. It's a long season and we know all too well of the obstacles that are certain to occur. We as fans need to have faith that the Pens as a team can overcome the adversity and find a way to win, much like they did last year. The adversity may come early this year. Actually it may come very early, and be the biggest challenge the Penguins have faced since the lockout. Sidney Crosby realistically may not be able to lace up his skates when the puck drops for the regular season. This could be the story-line of the entire season: Will the Pittsburgh Penguins overcome the absence of Sidney Crosby? Would our beloved Pens be able to overcome the long-term loss of the world's best hockey player? After the jump we will take a look at the 2011-12 Pittsburgh Penguins and try to answer that question.
We are definitely in uncharted waters going into this season. We have never had to deal with not having Sid in the lineup to begin the season for the past 6 years. We also have not to face the possibility that Sid may not play an entire season at all. In light of this situation, there may be some relief because the 2011-12 Pittsburgh Penguins may be one of the deeper teams they've put on the ice for a few years. Make no mistake, if Sid can go from day one, this team is as legitimate contender as there is to offer in the NHL.
The Penguins would have no trouble staying at the top half of the Eastern Conference without Sid, but being a contender may be out of the question. However, this team with at least a healthy Evgeni Malkin will not be one that any team in the league can take lightly.
We'll first take a glance at the players who departed from Penguins this offseason, then we will take a look into the new guys pulling over the black and gold sweaters as well as the entire outlook of the forwards, defenders and our goalies.
The Departed
Ray Shero had a relatively smooth sailing offseason, outside of the Jagr debacle, and he did not lose any players that were not replaceable with regards to their on-ice duties. Chris Conner was a fill-in player last year because of the ridiculous string of injuries that the Penguins suffered from, and was relatively ineffective at times. Not to knock on Mr. Conner, because he did play his role well, but he was a player that was not necessary for the Pens to re-sign. Conner went on to sign with the Detroit Red Wings and will likely start the season with their AHL affiliate Gran Rapids Griffins.
Mike Comrie was injured last season and basically had no impact during the regular season. It was a low-risk signing last season by Ray Shero, but it didn't pan out. The biggest news regarding Comrie was that he knocked up Hilary Duff, and that came after he was not resigned by the Penguins.
Alex Kovalev's return to Pittsburgh as a trade-deadline acquisition did not work out, and he looked like he was just not capable of playing at the NHL level any longer.
Seeing Mike Rupp depart to the New York Rangers, was a bit tough, but the Pens really didn't have the roster or cap space to keep Rupp and Arron Asham, who resigned with the Penguins this summer.
Max Talbot basically ripped the heart of the Pens fans when he signed with the Philadelphia Flyers. Lets get one thing straight. There will be no sympathy shown towards Max Talbot this season. It's not even the fact that Talbot took more money, or that he left the Pens for our most hated rival. That was his choice, but as with all choices his carries consequences. These consequences include that there is no longer any love for the guy who scored 2 goals in game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals a few years ago. There is no "I hope Max Talbot has a great career." All of the well-wishing goes out of the window. He will be wearing black and orange. That is a fact, and we are entitled to hate him as a player wearing those colors. So Max Talbot will be hated because he is a Philadelphia Flyer. Make no mistake, those two goals were big, but Max Talbot is no superstar, and he should be treated as the enemy, as are the rest of the members of the Philadelphia Flyers.
The New Guys
After being spurned by former Pens' superstar Jaromir Jagr, Ray Shero went on to sign a few guys to fill in his roster, and the result was a fairly deep team coming into camp.
Steve Sullivan is a veteran guy who will likely fulfill a top 6 role with the Penguins, and if he can stay health for a good part of the year, he may be a bit of a surprise addition to the team. Coming from Nashville, he has never had centers like a Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin or Jordan Staal.
Steve MacIntryre, the 6'5" 250lb heavyweight will more than adequately replace Eric Goddard's departure.
Jason Williams, is primarily a depth signing for Ray Shero and he played in 27 games for the Dallas Stars this past season. This was a two way deal, and who knows he may be seeing some time with the Pens if this season goes any was like it did last year.
Defensemen Alexandre Picard and Boris Valabik add depth to an already deep blue-line. Picard played in 43 games for the Montreal Canadians, recording 8 points (3G, 5A). The 6'7" Valabik played in the AHL last season, and does have 80 games of NHL experience. At 6'7" if Valabik can become an NHL regular for the Penguins at some point, it certainly won't hurt the franchise. If anything this makes it a possibility for Ray Shero to move a defender at the trade deadline if the Pens need help upfront.
The Penguins re-signed some of their own players including Pascal Dupuis, Tyler Kennedy, Dustin Jeffrey, Craig Adams, and Aaron Asham.
The Outlook
Goalies
The Penguins are in very good shape with their goaltending situation. After a rocky start to the 2010-11 season Marc-Andre Fleury finished the season with 36 wins, .918 save percentage and 2.32 goals against average. Fleury was a primary factor, if not the factor behind the Pens almost clinching the division last year, and every year he proves his doubters wrong by keeping the Pens afloat when times get tough.
When Fleury has some lapses or Bylsma deems it's necessary to give him a break, Brent Johnson has proven he is a more than capable backup net-minder, and there was a point last year that fans were calling for him to be the #1 goalie for the Penguins.
The Defense
A year ago at this time, and even up until the start of November, people were criticizing Ray Shero for spending the amount of money he did solidifying his defense. That mentality quickly changed as the Penguins defense started to click, and this defensive unit will only get even better after having a season to play together.
Everyone on the blue-line is back and the Pens are in great shape to deploy a unit of six guys to give Fleury a chance to make the saves he needs to make. The top four Kris Letang, Brooks Orpik, Paul Martin, and Zbynek Michalek are arguably the best top four defenders in the league. As for the third paining, Dan Bylsma has his options because Ben Lovejoy, Matt Niskanen and Deryk Engelland all shared time in those two spots this past season. Another bonus to the two offseason acquisitions of Alexandre Picard and Boris Valabik and the overall depth of the franchise's defenders is that Ray Shero could easily move a defender to acquire a forward at the deadline if the Penguins show signs of struggle in the scoring department. Overall there could be at the minimum of 5 guys competing for the last two spots on the blue line and this should make training camp very interesting. You can thank Ray Shero, because baring any injuries there will be very little questions concerning the Penguins defensive unit for the entire season, which is something we as fans have taken for granted over the years.
Forwards
Everyone may think that this season hinges on whether Sidney Crosby will be Sidney Crosby again or even skate this year. However, while the Penguins need Crosby to be a great team, with a healthy Evgeni Malkin, they are still a very good team. Because of this the 2011-12 season hinges on whether Geno can bounce back from his knee injury and return back to the elite player we witnessed in 2008-09. That year, he carried the team while Sid was injured and did so in a way that had people comparing him to Mario Lemieux.
Without Sidney Crosby, the Penguins will be fine, they will survive. Will they win a Stanley Cup? Who knows, but they won't just fall to the basement of the division or conference.
With Sidney Crosby the Penguins may be ridiculously good, because Ray Shero assembled his roster very well and depth exists because of the players within our system. Outside of Sidney Crosby, the 2011-12 Pittsburgh Penguins lineup may be one of the deepest since the lockout. With Crosby in the lineup the Pens will be scary good because teams still have to deal with Sid, Geno and Jordan Staal. The fourth line center duties are likely to go to Mark Letestu, who showed that he was capable of NHL time, but not top six time. Letestu will be a very capable third or fourth line center for this team.
The Penguins may have gotten their winger for Sid at the trade deadline in James Neal. While Neal did not quite fill the back of the net during his short time with Pens last season, he did show that he had the ability to get to prime scoring spots and that he has a quick release with his shot. Had he been with Crosby or Malkin, the city may have fell in love with Neal. Give him time with either of our top two centers, and Neal can easily put up 25-30 goals.
Both Pascal Dupuis and Chris Kuntiz return and will be versatile players on either of our top two lines, whether it be Crosby and Malkin, or Malkin and Staal. Another key resigning was Tyler Kennedy, much to the dismay of those Pens fans calling for Jaromir Jagr to replace him. However, resigning TK makes more sense because it keeps the line of Matt Cooke, Jordan Staal and Kennedy in tact, which is a line that has bailed the Pens out of some bad situations during games. Kennedy, who tallied 21 goals, and 45 points total last year mainly because he was given more ice time out of necessity, did prove that he can find the right place on the ice to score goals. Another 20 goal season from TK would be a huge boost for the Penguins who have lacked goal scoring from their wingers in past season. The fourth line will likely be composed of Arron Asham, Mark Letestu and Craig Adams which could be a line that will give teams fits during the limited time they are deployed on the ice. It would be even better if Mark Letestu could show improvement on the face-off dot, which down the stretch he seemed to struggle a bit.
Two younger players who would have been regulars in the lineup last season at some point, but due to injury they were put on the shelf have an opportunity to break into the top two lines of this years team. Dustin Jeffrey showed that he will be capable of being a top-six forward with this team. However, at this point, it is dependent on when Jeffrey returns to top form once his knee injury allows him to. Another player who's chances to break in with the club are running out is Eric Tangradi. There were huge expectations for Tangradi when he came over from the Anaheim Ducks organization in a trade that brought he and Chris Kunitz to Pittsburgh for Ryan Whitney. However, Tangradi really hasn't shown his capability to be the power-forward the Penguins have been looking for since Ryan Malone's departure. Adding a capable power-forward to one of the top two lines of this team would make it even better, even without Crosby. Another topic of dispute is the opportunities that Tangradi has gotten, which have been very few. Either the coaching staff and management do not believe he is as talented prospect as believed or his style of game may not fit in Bylsma's system. Either way, this may be Tangradi's most important camp as an NHL player.
Closing Argument
As stated above the Penguins are in uncharted territory because they are unsure of whether the World's best player will be able to begin the season. However, it is not time to panic. It sounds crazy, but the Penguins will be alright without the World's best player for the time being. Maybe they won't win the Cup, but they still will be a very tough team to play against. Nothing will come easy against this team. In face we learned this during the second-half of last season, without Malkin in the line up for most of that time.
If Evgeni Malkin is 100% physically ready to go for this season, and we see the Malkin we saw during the Cup year, then the Penguins will still be a formidable team. It's way to early to hit the panic button in September. The Pens will be in the division title hunt from the first puck drop, and you can take that to the bank. When April arrives and Sid isn't in the lineup then it's time to panic, because it will be a tall task for this Pens team to win a Cup without their captain.
Until then, buckle up, a new season is upon us. We do know one thing, a hockey season has its ups and downs and we won't be able to see them coming. When the downs come they will hit us like a PAT bus we didn't see coming against traffic on an Oakland street. When the best parts of the season appear, we will enjoy ourselves, and life will be good. 82 games of a long season are ahead and we will feel every win and loss in our own individual way. Then, after a season long battle it's one game at a time to reach an ultimate goal. Get ready, hockey season is upon us. Let's Go Pens.
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