The 06-07 Pittsburgh Penguins

[brode]

Since I appear to be the only Penguins fan in the world, for my and anyone else's pleasure, I'm going to start a thread where people can guess or personally set up the lineup for opening night.

Ryan Malone - Sidney Crosby - Colby Armstrong
Nils Ekman - Evgeni Malkin - Mark Recchi
John Leclair - Dominic Moore - Jarkko Ruutu
Ronald Petrovicky - Maxime Talbot - Andre Roy

Sergei Gonchar - Brooks Orpik
Ryan Whitney - Mark Eaton
Noah Welch - Josef Melichar

Marc-Andre Fleury
Jocelyn Thibault

[TestSubjekt]

[I still get a Craig Patrick vibe when I look at most of the roster you predicted they'll be sending on the ice. Isn't Shero going to make a real mark on the team?

[brode]

He just went and bought an entire checking line in Moore, Ruutu and Petrovicky. He got Nils Ekman. He got Mark Eaton. He basically bought a PK unit. He got rid of Tomas Surovy, Sebastian Caron, Konstantin Koltsov and Shane Endicott, and sent Ouellet back down to the minors. There's also a rumor of him bringing in Yannick Perreault (who I can only see on the fourth line andon the second PP unit). Furthermore, the draft picks he made in his first year all look to be solid Pens in 5 years; Jordan Staal, obviously, and two solid defensemen in Sneep and Strait, who can promise to be reliable 3-4 guys.

I don't think it's wise to dismantle a solid crew of young guys like Colby, Malone and Brooks just to spice things up. That said, I think Ryan better make a forward move and score 30+35 this year, at least.

[TestSubjekt]

The names you're telling me Shero brought in seem more like role players than names I'm going to associate with Pittsburgh like in the old days of the Cup winning teams. I don't know if that explains what I meant better...?

But I totally agree about not dismantling a solid crew of young guys. I'm a Sabres fan. That's like preaching to the choir. I guess I'm just not used to those young guys being counted on as the future of the Pens.

How much of an improvement do you see in the team with the changes Shero made? Are they playoff bound? On the verge of the playoffs?

[brode]

Well, they are role players, but I think role players are a big part of teams. Sure, Detroit was Yzerman, Lidstrom, Shannahan, but where would they be without Draper and Maltby on the third line? There's really nothing we can do to un-CPize the team, if we consider Sid, Malk, MAF and Ryan Whitney to be 'CP players'. I would hate to see Shero trade them just to make the team 'his own'. I think bringing in those role players really speaks to Shero's influence, if you remember the moves in Nashville, those are not guys that CP would have brought in. CP has an extreme history of only bringing in names while letting Baby Pens populate the lower lines (the Naslund situation comes to mind). Shero has brought in role players, while letting Baby Pens fight for the higher lines (guys like Ouellet, Christensen and Shero pickup Libor Pivko will have to fight to get a 2nd line role, instead of being handed an easy 4th line role).

Beyond the marquee level guys like Crosby, MAF, Malk, Whitney, and maybe Staal... I think our young guys that are there right now are great pieces. Ryan Malone is a great 20-goal 2nd liner anywhere he goes, and is only in his junior year. Colby Armstrong would probably be a 2nd liner if he didn't show such a chemistry with Crosby. Still, he's talented enough (and you should see his hits!) that he can play a Kevin Stevens role. Dominic Moore isn't farm grown, but he might be around a while, he's just a sophomore as well, and he managed to become a NYR fan favorite in one year. Talbot is also like him, works his buttocks off all game long. I can't see his game developing enough to be any more than a 4th liner (he's a little too small for a pure checking role, and his offensive skills aren't 2nd line quality), but he'll be one of the best 4th liners in the league. Shero is going to align the management of this team to actually stress defense, so he'll have help developing into that role. CP didn't even hire a full-time goalie coach for Caron and Fleury, and Hillier was an incompetent defensively.

On the blueline, there's Whitney, who is sure to be a rounded No.1 when he gets his physical game in order. He's already an impressive puckmover and will continue to grow. Welch has alike skills, though maybe not as blessed as Whitney. I can see him being a great 2-3 guy, as soon as he improves his defensive hesitancy. And Brooks Orpik... last year he got suspended, and broke his foot and missed a month of hockey... and he still managed to be second in the league in hits. Maybe he gets out of position sometimes, but so did Kaspar and he was one of the better defensive guys we've had on the backend since Ulfie.

I can't see us being much worse than 11th, or maybe 12th. Right as we're coming together, most of the other teams are falling apart. Jersey's woes are only beginning. The Rangers are not as good as they were for the first 3/4ths of last year, and you never know which Jagr will show up. The Islanders, less said the better, but we can't finish lower than them. Philadelphia is possibly the biggest rival available, but they're caught in a bad transition. Their older key players are permanent injuries; Hatcher, Rathje, Floppa, Primeau, even young Gagne is bait. Not to mention if you check out the fantalk, they're all running down Gagne because they think he might be moving. The transition problem is that their old guys are going down and I'm not sure if Carter, Richards, Pitkanen and Umberger are neccessarily ready to take over. They got Sanderson, who despite being 100 years old, I don't think has ever even been in the playoffs, and Calder, who is young but ditto. Basically, for Philly or Jersey to succeed, they'll have odds to overcome. For us to succeed, we don't have to overachieve or rise above our own situation. We just have to play at a level that we're more than capable of. I wouldn't say we're a playoff team, but if we play average, we'll place 9-11th. If we play amazing, we just might win the division. If we play poorly, or some freak injury happens, then God knows.

[TestSubjekt]

I'm glad I could get you to open up and talk a little brode I'll try and pay a little closer attention to the Penguins this year.