Sidney Crosby is the best player in the world. Kris Letang was writing his candidacy for the Norris ballot. Neither has been on skates recently and heaven only knows when one, or both, might be back in the lineup. It's certainly no time in the near future.

Despite this, the rest of the Penguins will have to carry on. The next five games could well be the toughest they see all season.

Friday, the Pens play host to the Eastern Conference-leading, outdoor-rink-saluting New York Rangers. After a long layoff, how will their legs be?

Saturday, they're right back at it when Ilya Kovalchuk and the New Jersey Devils (who thumped Pittsburgh in their last game) make an appearance at Consol.

Next Tuesday, Jan. 10, the Ottawa Senators come to town. Ottawa has been one of the biggest pleasant surprises in the East, currently clinging to sixth place in the conference and are winners of three straight games. The last time they faced the Pens, the Sens tallied six goals to secure a win.

Then the Pens have to fly to Washington for the back-end of a back-to-back with the Caps. Don't look now, but Washington's won four straight games. Furthermore, apparently Alex Ovechkin remembered he's capable of racking up points, as he has multi-point games in those four games.

Finally, the Pens finish up this highlighted segment by flying down to Miami for a game with the Southeast division-leading Florida Panthers. Florida's fallen off a little lately, but they did take the first game against Pittsburgh down in their barn.

The Penguins have yielded positive results against the weaker teams in the league, but have a tough record against the better teams. And on the surface, this is common sense and basic: The good teams are gonna beat ya more than the bad ones.

Evgeni Malkin and James Neal have been phenomenal and the missing offensive muscle from last year. Paul Martin is on the comeback trail and should be back soon to help bolster the defense with Brooks Orpik, Zbynek Michalek and Matt Niskanen. Pascal Dupuis' been a five-tool player, if hockey had such a term, and Jordan Staal's been a force at both ends of the ice. All of these guys, plus Chris Kunitz and the surging Tyler Kennedy, will have to continue to lead the way on the ice for the Pens to have a chance.

The NHL regular season is a long and grueling test, and this next five-game stretch will give the Penguins a pretty good chance to measure themselves.

As was the case last year, I'm putting up threads for each position:  C, W, D and G.  Maybe it's just that the Penguins don't figure to be big players this year, but it doesn't seem like the crop is that strong.  These lists are based on the TSN lists minus people who had salaries under $1M last season because otherwise the lists would be as long as both my arms.  I'll include Penguins anyway, though.

Jump for the list.

Continue reading this post »

As was the case last year, I'm putting up threads for each position:  C, W, D and G.  Maybe it's just that the Penguins don't figure to be big players this year, but it doesn't seem like the crop is that strong.  These lists are based on the TSN lists minus people who had salaries under $1M last season because otherwise the lists would be as long as both my arms.  I'll include Penguins anyway, though.

Jump for the list.

Continue reading this post »

As was the case last year, I'm putting up threads for each position:  C, W, D and G.  Maybe it's just that the Penguins don't figure to be big players this year, but it doesn't seem like the crop is that strong.  These lists are based on the TSN lists minus people who had salaries under $1M last season because otherwise the lists would be as long as both my arms.  I'll include Penguins anyway, though.

Jump for the list.

Continue reading this post »

From the Pens main site:

Penguins captain Sidney Crosby was back on the ice for the first time since missing 29 games with a concussion.

Crosby skated on the ice for about 15 minutes in full gear early in the morning at CONSOL Energy Center. He stick handled around some cones and shot a few pucks. 

 

Everyone has been frustrated by the lack of progress and reports in Sidney Crosby's concussion (and probably no one more than Sid himself).  Various rumors have been floating around, none of them having much truth.

The fact is, with concussions, one never knows.  But that Crosby was able to get back on the ice has to be a tangible sign of his recovery.

Will he be back soon?  Who knows.  He took a little twirl on the ice today, it's not like Crosby's going to be back in the lineup tomorrow night or anything.

But, for now, let's be happy with what it is and not try to read too much or too little into it.  Sidney Crosby skated today, for the first time in a long while.  That's enough to give any hockey fan a little sunshine on this Monday.\

UPDATE: Check out the Pens site for a short video...And more to come as Crosby's expected to talk to the media at 11:00 AM.

UPDATE 2: From Sid himself:

“I may not feel great this afternoon and not be able to skate tomorrow,” Crosby said. “The only reason I was able to skate today is because I’ve had some good days here, done a little bit of exercise and got through that. That doesn’t mean there are any guarantees. It’s just a progression.

“I’ve been symptom free the last few days. That doesn’t mean that when I exert myself that I won’t have symptoms. That could always happen. That’s pretty normal when you have that. It’s a process and we’ll see how things go.”

Dan Bylsma announced recently that daily updates on Sidney Crosby's concussion will no longer be the topic of discussion during media scrums.  I'd imagine this mean Bylsma will be the one to issue updates whenever he sees fit, and frankly I can't blame the guy one bit.

"We are not going to give daily updates on Sidney Crosby.  He needs to be symptom-free to move forward."

Asked whether Crosby has had the tests, Bylsma repeated, "There will not be any daily updates on Sidney Crosby."

Tribune-Review

There had to have been a reason for Mike Comrie's lack of production to start the season, right?  After all, he looked pretty solid during the preseason, was even rumored to be a perfect fit on Sidney Crosby's wing and had the makings of a first liner at best, second liner at worst.

It turns out Comrie was playing through a hip injury for most of his 2010 season, an injury he sustained in the Penguins' second game of the season against the Canadiens, as noted in today's Trib Review. 

And now, the news is worse. 

Continue reading this post »

A couple friends of mine and I have been having fun the last two seasons with the Extra Attacker game on the Penguins website.  The concept is pretty simple as fantasy-type leagues go:  for every point a player scores and for every plus or minus they get, it is multiplied by a multiplier that is related to the player's production level.  For example, since Eric Godard isn't exactly expected to fill the net, he gets a x12 multiplier.  If he gets an assist and is a +1 in tonight's game, he will be worth 24 points in that game.

I've taken the liberty of making a PensBurgh league on the Extra Attacker website.  The information they've asked me to give anyone interested in joining is as follows:

Name:  PensBurgh

ID:  1599

Password:  frankrules

I don't have any specific plans for the league other than just to have some fun and for bragging rights, but it's possible I could be persuaded to do something for the overall winner at the end of the season.  Keep in mind, too, that weekly winners and the overall season winner get actual prizes from the Penguins.  Usually it's tickets or an autographed stick or something.  This week, it's a Bronze Inaugural Game Ticket from Wendell August Forge and the game program.  The season winner is usually cash money, always helpful especially to the perpetually-broke young folks we have on the site.

Go ahead and comment if you join the league.  My team is "The Doormats".