As Pittsburgh Penguin fans we’ve have grown accustomed to being spoiled with star players. We’ve gone from Mario Lemieux, and Jaromir Jagr; fast forward to now with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. Crosby and Malkin are arguably the two best players in the world, and both of them happen to be wearing that Penguin logo on the front of their sweater.
Until last year neither of them had played a full season with an elite winger on their side. And if you think about it, Malkin wouldn’t have gotten to play with James Neal if it wasn’t for Crosby being sidelined at the time of the trade. That duo of centerman and winger has grown into one of the top connections in the National Hockey League.
There are rumblings now that Malkin could use another winger to compliment Neal and himself. The Eric Tangradi experiment failed, and although Zach Boychuck has been better than Tangradi, he’s still not the answer. Boychuck just doesn’t have the finishing ability that it takes to play alongside those two elite players. He’s looked better than Tangradi because he has the speed and grit to keep up with Malkin and Neal, but things still seem to not be clicking for him.
Malkin and Neal played together for a full season last year and put up great numbers. Malkin lead the league in scoring with 50 goals and 59 assists. Neal had a career year scoring 41 goals and adding 40 helpers. That has to be one top point totals of two players on the same line. Those two seem to have a chemistry unlike any other. The faceoff play where Malkin wins the draw straight back to Neal is almost unstoppable if Neal picks the right corner.
Ever since Crosby has been in the league, the Penguins have been trying to find him an elite goal scoring winger. Someone who can score goals at a decent rate skating alongside Crosby, to go along with a second line that includes Malkin and Neal would almost seem unfair to any opponent. General Manager Ray Shero has tried to make that happen a few times by trading for Marian Hossa who is an elite winger, and more recently, the very strong attempt to sign superstar Zach Parise.
Over the years Crosby has played with guys like Bill Guerin, Pascual Dupuis, Chris Kunitz, and even last year he was playing with Matt Cooke and Tyler Kennedy at points. All of those guys are great hockey players, and at one time, Guerin was one of the best goal scorers in the league. Crosby has never played at length with someone the same caliber as Neal.
The question that has to be asked is which center would you like to see have a new winger alongside them; Crosby or Malkin. The Penguins are about 10 million dollars under the salary cap and could afford to add a rental player to raise their chances at a cup this year. If the Pens were to make a move you’d have to think it would be for an offensive player since the defense is playing so well at the moment. So if a move was to be made would you rather see what Crosby could do with an elite player on his side, or would you rather see Malkin play with a star like Neal and another high-quality guy?
Photo Credits: ESPN.com
