Pittsburgh Penguins season preview

I know, I know, they already have two games under their belt.

Hey all, my name is Tony Ferrante. Those of you who peruse the various Penguins blogs probably know me from MVN’s The Confluence of the Three Rivers. Thanks to Alin for asking me to guest blog several times throughout the year.

Lots of turnover results in lots of speculation in Penguins-land this season.

Penguins’ GM Ray Shero was one busy man this offseason, replacing several key members of the Eastern Conference champs, such as Marian Hossa, Ryan Malone, Gary Roberts, Ty Conklin and Jarkko Ruutu. Shero did an admirable job during free agency to fill the holes, not only in signing free agents Miro Satan, Ruslan Fedotenko, Matt Cooke and Eric Godard, but also in resigning veterans Brooks Orpik and Pascal Dupuis.

The key, as it has been for about three seasons now, is finding the right winger(s) to be on Sidney Crosby’s wing. They surely had it after the trade deadline last year when Shero traded for Hossa, but when Hossa bolted for Detroit, Shero had to go back to square one. For at least the first part of the season, as all Penguins fans know all too well how quick of a trigger finger head coach Michel Therrien has in terms of line changes, it’s going to be Fedotenko and Satan on Crosby’s wings. Satan is this year’s “Petr Sykora signing” for Shero. He’s been a natural sniper all his career. He’s not going to get a better opportunity to improve from a very disappointing season last year with the Islanders, especially in a contract year. Fedotenko will be the one who can dig the puck from the boards and get it to his linemates, as well as get a big body in front of the net. If that doesn’t work, all bets are off. Therrien has several options available to throw on the top line if need be, including Jordan Staal, Sykora, or even sparkplugs such as Max Talbot or Tyler Kennedy.

The Penguins’ second line is arguably the most potent in the NHL with Staal and Sykora on the wings for center Evgeni Malkin. Staal has been bumped up from the third line center, partly in an attempt to boost his goal scoring back up to the 29 goals he had in his rookie year two seasons ago. Sykora and Malkin had some great chemistry between them last year, which actually goes back to the lockout year playing in Russia. Unless Therrien breaks them up, this second line could result in a deadly 1-2 line punch.

The Penguins are surely looking for more secondary scoring from their third and fourth lines this season. Shero’s moves have allowed Therrien to bump Dupuis down to the third line (where he really belongs) along with Talbot and Cooke, making for a serious fast checking line. The fourth line will be a mix of rookie mucker Paul Bissonnette, Godard, Pittsburgh native Bill Thomas, and newly acquired Mike Zigomanis.

The defensive corps, which before the season was thought to have had a glutton of NHL-ready D-men, is now without their two best offensive defensemen. Quarterback Sergei Gonchar suffered a dislocated shoulder in the Pens’ first preseason game, after which he underwent surgery and will miss between four and six months. Ryan Whitney also underwent surgery for a malformed foot injury which he initially suffered in the 2007 playoff series versus Ottawa. He is scheduled to out until approximately December. That makes the performance of young offensive defensemen Kris Letang and Alex Goligoski that much more important. Letang played in Pittsburgh for the majority of the year last season, while Goligoski only played a few games. In addition, Shero resigned underrated defenseman Mark Eaton, as well as Orpik. Include steady defensive D-men Rob Scuderi and Daryl Sydor, who was thought to be on the trading block before the injuries to Gonchar and Whitney, and that allowed Shero to not have to go outside of the organization to fill the voids created by the loss of those two.

Marc-Andre Fleury, after suffering the high ankle sprain in December, came back in the springtime and put up numbers that ranked among the best in the NHL. He continued the superb play through the playoffs, while coming back down to Earth a little in the Finals against Detroit. If Fleury continues with that high caliber play, he will rise among the NHL’s elite goaltenders. It seems that Fleury’s been around for about 10 years, but the fact remains that he’s still only 23 years old. The Penguins are hoping that the loss of Ty Conklin, therefore making Dany Sabourin the backup goaltender, doesn’t come back to haunt them. Although Sabourin had 10 wins for the Penguins last season, the feeling is that most fans don’t believe that Sabouring can match the steller goaltending play that Conklin had to do when Fleury went down with his injury in December. Hopefully, Fleury will remain healthy throughout the year, and Sabourin will only have to play about 10-15 games.

It’s going to be a very interesting Atlantic Division. Philly and the Rangers look to be strong again this year, and the Devils can never be overlooked with Marty Brodeur. If the Penguins can keep their head above water while their top defensemen recover from their injuries, they’ll be right up there when they return and make another run towards the Stanley Cup.