There are less than 50 days left until the NHL opens the 2013-14 season and the Pittsburgh Penguins will be looking for redemption. However, the Penguins have faced adversity the last few years which will be on the minds of players, management, fans, media, etc. The Pens will be Stanley Cup contenders as long as 87 can remain on the ice on a full-time basis. Sidney Crosby is without a doubt the best player in the NHL today.
Crosby is vastly becoming Ben Rothelisberger, without question the most valuable player to their respected teams but both of them have trouble staying healthy. Crosby has only played more than 70 games in a season four times in his eight-year career. Furthermore, Crosby has missed 50 percent of the pens regular season games over the last three seasons. The second best player in the NHL, in my opinion is, Evgeni Malkin. No. 71 continues to be the workhorse for the Pens year in and year out. However after watching Ilya Kovalchuk leave $100 million on the table in New Jersey, how do we know Malkin, a fellow Russian , won’t pull the same move in a few years?
Marc-Andre Fleury has been one of the league’s top regular season goaltenders over the past five seasons. Unfortunately for Fleury, he has had a tough time living up to that reputation in the playoffs the past two seasons. Fleury was 2-4 with a .834 save percentage and 4.63 GAA in the 2011-12 playoffs. Fleury was 2-2 with a .883 save percentage and 3.52 GAA in the 2012-13 postseason. The Pens have too much money invested in Fleury as a buyout this summer would have cost them over $7 million. That being said, the Pens will need him to be better or we could be seeing Tristan Jarry much sooner than expected.
The Penguins were simply outmatched in terms of physicality and grit by the Boston Bruins. This summer the Penguins responded to the Bruins when they brought back a guy who never should have left in the first place, Rob Scuderi. Scuderi is a solid rock on the blue line who will bring veteran leadership, staying power, and endurance to solidify this defense . This could be prove to be Ray Shero’s best offseason move or for any NHL team for that matter this offseason.
There have been constant rumors that owner Mario Lemieux and Dan Byslma don’t see eye to eye on certain aspects of the game. Lemieux and the Penguins’ executives were rumored to have had a few discussions on whether to retain Bylsma after another disappointing end to their season. In addition, the Penguins hired Jacques Martin as an assistant coach this offseason. Martin has 17 years of head coaching experience and it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that he would be next in line should the Penguins falter at all this season.
The Pittsburgh Penguins are loaded with talent on offense and defense will be considered of the top teams, if not the top team heading into the 2013-14 season. With that being said a lot can happen over a mentally and physically draining season as we have seen in recent years. The lack of success for the Penguins in the post season will be a huge question mark for this team, along with Fleury’s mental state of mind and Crosby’s health. However, the Pittsburgh Penguins when physically and mentally healthy are without question, the top team in the NHL.
