A good problem to have is still a problem

You'll have to forgive us for being very excited about the imminent return of Marc-Andre Fleury. The kid groomed to be the franchise goalie has certainly had a bumpy development, but hey he's a goalie. What has he missed?

Ty Conklin
16-4-3
2.18 GAA (tied for 4th in the league, behind the 2 Detroit goalies and that Brodeur fellow)
.932 save % (1st in the league)

As you can tell, though he's played about half the games of a guy like Brodeur or Luongo, Conkblock's numbers rival or surpass them this year. And it seems more than just lightning in a bottle. Hotstreaks come and stay for a while but Conklin's appeared in 24 games now and has not been totally solid perhaps 2 or 3 times. This wave he's riding doesn't appear to be dying down anytime soon.

• So what of Fleury, the "golden" boy (but thankfully not in those pads anymore), what becomes of the former #1 overall pick that's probably always been "the guy" at every level of his young career?
• Or what even of Dany Sabourin? Do the Pens risk him to waivers? Don't be so quick to scoff, Dany Sabs was already claimed once when the Pens waived him.

To the first question, we stress communication. Obviously Fleury knows the team has been winning not only with Conklin, but on many nights because of Conklin. When your getting that kind of performance out of a netminder it's impossible not to use him as the go-to guy.

Will Fleury like this arrangement? Probably not. But he must also realize Conklin is a UFA after this season and probably isn't in the Pens long-term picture. Also, as any Edmonton fan could tell you, Conklin could fall apart at any minute, perhaps his wave will finally crash. Just because Conklin should be the #1 goalie right now doesn't mean the team won't be in a position where they will need MAF.

On the second point, waiving Sabourin is no easy matter. As we pointed out, Conklin is a UFA and with the season he is having his agent must be doing backflips. Goaltending is of the utmost importance and without it you're doomed (see Kings, Los Angeles or the Coyotes pre-Bryzgalov). Sabourin has a contract next season and an affordable one. While he couldn't carry the torch through Fleury's injury, Sabourin's proven to be a decent NHL backup goalie, enough to pickup the slack for the 13-15 games MAF won't start. So Dany Sabs should be kept.

Another point is goalie depth. What seems to be an advantage right now could quickly turn. Imagine Sabs is picked up and Fleury tweaks the ankle injury that's already kept him out almost 3 months. By this point the trade deadline has passed and Dave Brown is sitting #2 on the organ-eye-zational depth chart. You could even imagine if the Conkblock magic ran out? Worst case scenario, to be sure, but hey it's out there.

No one--and we do mean no one--likes the arrangement of carrying 3 goalies on the roster. The Sweater Ted hasn't quite figured out how to handle this tricky situation, but then again it's not like we're cashing consulting checks from the Pens (but we're open to it!) so this decision is up to them.

Can't do any better than 6 out of 6

The Penguins took all 6 possible points out of their road trip in Western Canada. The likely stars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin played well but obviously the star of the show was the 20 year old defenseman that scored 2 shootout deciding victories.

Marc-Andre Fleury who? (Just kidding) Dany Sabourin played very well filling in for the injured Fleury but hopefully he won't have to for long.

Way to go, Kris Letang, you've single handedly won 2 extra points for the Penguins.....I think you might stick in the NHL now! Letang made the best goalie in the NHL (excuses to Dominik Hasek and Marty Brodeur) look like an amateur. Roberto Loungo did his part to get his team at least one point, but he was absolutely undressed by Letang.

The Penguins have now won 6 out of the past 7 games.....That's how you get back in the playoff chase right there.

Dressing 7 defensemen

With the return of Sergei Gonchar from his groin injury, Michel Therrien's employing an altered lineup. Instead playing the regular 12 forwards/6 defenseman, he's going with 11 forwards and 7 defensemen.

I can understand not scratching Darryl Sydor; a veteran who hasn't been bad, but not that great of late either. And of course you cannot scratch a player like Kris Letang, he's obviously proving himself as a guy you have to play.

The result though, is players get less icetime. Sydor has about 25 minutes of icetime....For both games combined. Brooks Orpik has been getting about 12 minutes a night too.

I don't run the show, but I would rotate scratching Sydor and Rob Scuderi until injury/performance dictated otherwise. Sure, Scuderi's been great in his role and a terrific surprise, but he's a bland 5/6 defenseman that isn't going to create much one way or another.

Another result of this strategy is that Erik Christensen and Jarrko Ruutu have been scratches.

Night off for the boys tonight before a final game in Western Canada with arguably the toughest opponent of the trip: Roberto Luongo and the Canucks....Haven't heard anything about the severity about Marc-Andre Fleury's ankle, but hopefully it's not a long-term injury. Seemed kind of minor.

Avalanched, Pens fall in Game 12

Apologies for no gameday post for the 12th game, the Penguins up in Colorado for a 3-2 regulation loss. Some thoughts:

• Sidney Crosby is all of a sudden 3rd place in the NHL scoring race. He's now on a career high 11 game point streak after scoring both the goals for the Penguins in the first period. Crosby is also currently rocking a 4 game goal streak.
• Ryan Whitney left the game with a groin injury, no timetable on his return.
• Obviously the Pens collapsed in the 2nd period, giving up all three goals and not being able to recover. Disappointing, but things like that happen in a long season.
• Sergei Gonchar, in large part due to Whitney's injury had to log 28:19 of ice-time. I continue to be amazed at the time he puts in, night in and night out. All the other healthy Pens defensemen played between 18:02 (Eaton) and 18:52 (Scuderi), so that's very even. Except for Lord Gonch who had a +1 rating while playing almost half the game.
• Crosby's biggest improvement this year is probably in the faceoff circle and it is going largely un-noticed. Last night he was 13-9 in faceoffs for a solid 58%. For the year he's at 55.6%, good for 25th in the league right now. Last season Crosby was under the 50% mark, so it just goes to show how Sidney continues to round out and improve his game even further.

Not much else to say about this one. The Pens bring back 2 out of a possible 4 points from a quick trip west, which is about the same .500 hockey they've played all year. As I'm about to point out, the next stretch of games will be crucial in shaping the season.

More Evidence Crosby's On A Different plane

http://broadband.tsn.ca/tsn/?id=349&vid=18492

NHL GMs were asked who they'd most want to build a franchise upon, given every player in the league.

Every player, except one Sidney Patrick Crosby.

If one ever needed any more evidence how far and away Bing has separated himself from every other player in the league, even the marquee ones, this is it.

FYI, the results were:

Luongo: 16

Lecavalier: 2
Ovechkin: 2

Getzlaf: 1
Lundqvist: 1
Malkin: 1
S. Niedermayer: 1
E. Staal: 1
J. Staal:1

Things of surprise and note:
--No surprise Luongo was the majority winner. A young dominant goalie is not a bad franchise corner piece.
--Only one defensemen, and that's a guy (Scott Niedermayer) who may never play again! I suppose if Nik Lidstrom or Chris Pronger were about 5 years younger, they would merit more consideration.
--No Joe Thornton? No Dany Heatley or Jason Spezza?
--I am a little surprised at the spread, and especially some of the guys listed. Ryan Getzlaf, really? Henny Lundqvist, really? And, as much as I like him, an NHL GM would really taken Jordan Staal over every single player in the league to build around?


My vote, other than Crosby would have been Malkin. A strong, electric center who showed glimpses of brilliance even through all the drama and turmoil of last season. Plus he still doesn't know much of the language or intricacies of the NHL. He's a well rounded, amazing skill player with an even higher ceiling.