30 for 30 in 30 - Pittsburgh Penguins

**AS OF TIME OF WRITING**

Bik Nizzar: I love the days leading up to the playoffs because the whole world just anoints one team from the West and one team from the East as the two teams that will just inevitably play for the Stanley Cup. As if the 1st 3 rounds are just a formality, a warm-up for these two teams. WELLLLLL the Pittsburgh Penguins were that team from the East (Vancouver from the West *sigh*) and found themselves getting spun in circles in their own defensive zone in the opening round against the Flyers. It just seemed destined to work. They had Evgeni Malkin on a torrid pace, putting up MVP numbers.... THEN you add in Sidney Crosby back healthy?! Why wouldn’t that work?! Well Marc-Andre Fleury provided a few answers for that, plus the defense as a whole showed some flaws....

I don’t see Marc-Andre Fleury as the problem. I look at this defense, and it doesn’t really wow me at all. Outside of Kris Letang, they don’t have anybody that really strikes me as a mobile defenseman. Zbynek Michalek (I had to triple check that I didn’t typo that first name) and Paul Martin both possess decent first passes out of the zone, but are still just average in terms of skating ability. I know 2009 1st rounder Simon Despres will feature more this season and that will help, but for me adding some mobility to this defense is the name of the game this off-season and replace what Alex Goligoski gave them before he was traded.

One other question that surrounds this team.... Jordan Staal. His name is coming up in trade rumours and his deal is up next season. Now both sides have said they want to work something out, but given the Penguins tight cap situation, do you move him? Enter Semi-Flyers fan TJ Molland

TJ Molland: I can't tell you how excited I was for that Flyer victory....ESPECIALLY against the Penguins (that unnecessary hate we have for certain teams....this is mine). But really they were supposed to walk through the Eastern Conference. Just about everyone (including myself when I didn't have my hate on and looked at it rationally) thought they were a lock for the finals. For some reason they just imploded. The Flyers game plan of pestering the Pens stars until they were frustrated and off their game worked. When they exploded for 10 goals in game 4 of their series I thought that was a turn around point and they were going to get focused....apparently it was just a one time performance.

On to Jordan Staal now. As much as they want to keep him I just think that is a lot of money to tie down to three centers (the others being Malkin and Crosby). And with each guy capable of (and should be) playing 20+ minutes a night that eats up a lot of ice time. A simple solution is to move Malkin to the wing, but do you really tamper with the league’s current Art Ross/Hart winner? I mentioned in the Calgary post that they should move Staal for Jarome Iginla. It would give them another scoring winger to go with James Neal, and like I said in that post...Iginla + Crosby...drooooolll. There doesn't appear to be anyone ready enough to make that jump as far as prospects go so why not move a center that isn't completely needed for a winger that would be more beneficial to your team?

The off-season free agent signings haven't even started and already the Pens have made one of the more interesting moves trading a 7th round draft pick for goaltender Tomas Vokoun, and then signing him for 2 years at $2 million per season. What do you make of this? Lost faith in Fleury or just a security blanket?

Bik Nizzar: I liked the Vokoun move. Brent Johnson, unlike the year before, provided very little in way of relief and support going 6-7 with a 3.11 GAA and a .883 save%. Fleury played 67 games last year, and I don’t think that number is too high, it’s just the placement of Johnson’s starts were so weird. He got 4 in October, then only 5 between November and January, 3 more in February, and 2 in March. So I think with Vokoun’s addition it will not only keep the total number down, but he won’t have to start so many in a row to keep him fresh for the playoffs.

I used to get angry at this team and their inability to provide wingers for 87 (just FYI, I refer to Crosby as 87... I paid an ASTRONOMICAL price to get him in my fantasy league, and considering how much I gushed over him during the season, it got tedious to continually type out C-R-O-S-B-Y to my league mates) and Malkin, but they solved that with Neal who they got for Goligoski (a deal I’d still do despite my previous e-mail lamenting mobile d-men on this team). 2010 1st rounder Beau Bennett should be featuring with the team sooner or later though. Plus they’ve got this Pascal Dupuis guy. What, you think he’s a grinder?!? I can understand why you might think that considering he’s never eclipsed the 40 point mark. Last year he hit 59 and before you think “well he musta played with 87 (I’m glad you’re starting to say 87) when he came back” – wrong!  He played with Crosby roughly 2% of the season. He had a NHL HIGH 17 game point streak to round out the Regular Season. So the wing issue is fine.

With the wing issue fixed I don’t think you need to panic and make that Staal for Iginla move. This team got CRUSHED by injuries to key players last year.  Most notably with 87’s concussion, but Letang only played 51, Staal featured in 62.... I think keeping a guy like Staal would be huge for them. It’s not like they’re struggling with scoring that they NEEEEED Iginla. They averaged 3.33 goals per game, which was tops in the league and the next closest was Boston at 3.17. Staal has a role on this team, playing 1st line minutes if you need him to, or playing a checking role if you need him to. He just... fits.

TJ Molland: OK....welll....good goaltending....unlimited top line centers......good wing depth.....uhh I guess we talk defense now? I....uh....yeah pretty much set there too I guess eh? THIS IS WHY I HATE THIS TEAM!! There shouldn't be any reason why they don't win the league next year (barring injuries of course). They have such a great core, good depth, , good management,  good coaching and draft reasonably well. I am digging deep but I am going to find something to rant about that they don't do well.

Ah, here we go. Pittsburgh finished last in the league, 30th, the WORST in......takeaways....Like really that's all I've got. BUT here is why it is important. Takeaways lead to scoring chances. When you have the puck, the other team can't score either. So it is IMPERITIVE that the Penguins fix this problem. Otherwise we will have to continuously mock them for their inability to get the puck from other teams. They are like that poor kid you make the 'piggy' in piggy-in-the-middle. You know, the one that everyone knows won't ever get the puck/ball and will forever be in the middle of the circle. And everyone is laughing at his poor athletic ability.....man my friends were cruel to me....

But no really, I had to DIG, and DIG DEEP just to find some stat the Pens weren't in the top half of the NHL in. They don't have any glaring weaknesses, and have pretty much the same roster returning. The few players that are free agents, Eric Tangradi, Matt Niskanen (both RFA's) Aaron Asham (UFA), can all be re-signed (if they choose) for reasonable prices that you have the space for. So your turn Bik?

Bik Nizzar: I really like Matt Niskanen and it baffled me that he was a throw in from the Goligoski-Neal trade. He could help what I was talking about earlier about having more mobile d-men, but yeah it’s baffling why this team was ousted in Round 1 with such ease.

You forgot to mention the great coaching this team has. Dan Byslma definitely is in that elite tier of coaches in this league, and that takeaway stat surprises me so much given how this team plays. He encourages vertical hockey, constant north-south action (another reason finding a mobile defenseman could help that), but it’s all going to boil down to how this team plays in the playoffs. I think having 87 back healthy for a full year is gonna do wonders, and maybe we were just a year too early on predicting a cup for these guys.