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Moved to late in the week because I'm tired of having half the cells blank. Keep in mind that this ultimately means next to nothing next to actual playoff seeding and Stanley Cup victories.
| Website | Last Week | This Week | Comment |
| CBS | 1 | 6 | It certainly wasn't Pittsburgh's best week with losses at Winnipeg and vs. Toronto, but they recovered with a shootout win at Ottawa. … The great news is that Marc-Andre Fleury has been pretty good. |
| ESPN | 4 | 8 | Losses to Toronto and Winnipeg were a reminder that the Penguins need fine-tuning. They had a good win over Ottawa on Sunday, but let's see if they get caught overlooking the Islanders on Tuesday [Ed. note: yup, sure did] in anticipation of Thursday's big one with the Rangers. |
| FOX | 2 | 5 | If there’s need for concern with the Pens it’s goal differential. They are currently plus-1 through the first five games. Also, losses to the Maple Leafs and Jets aren’t a good look for a team expected to make another Cup run. |
| The Hockey News | 2 | 7 | The Pens slip this week, but considering they’ve only had one home game so far, their situation isn’t all bad. Coming off two rivalry games, Pittsburgh was dreadful against Toronto at home, but earned a hard-fought victory in Ottawa two games later. Still perfect against their own division [Ed. note: spoke too soon...]. |
| NHL | 2 | 5 | There aren't too many unheralded scorers getting the job done for the Pens, but defenseman Paul Martin is off to a strong start. He has a goal and two assists in five games and has been far more effective defensively this season. He played 30:26 on Sunday in Ottawa. |
| Sports Illustrated | 1 | 5 | We won't get too alarmed at the previously top-ranked Pens' fairly mediocre start. The good people of Pittsburgh are still certainly jacked that their team is back. TV ratings for the Pens' first few games set local records and $500,000 worth of merchandise was sold last Wednesday at team stores — despite much of the merch being 50-percent off. Evgeni Malkin is off to a slow start, and the big Russian even blew his stack at the referees at the end of a lshootut win over Ottawa. "I lose control. It was bad emotion. It was my fault," Malkin told local reporters afterward. Rumors in Pittsburgh already have GM Ray Shero snooping around for another winger to play with either Malkin or Sidney Crosby, with 2009 first-round defenseman Simon Despres — currently playing as a third-pair guy — the possible trade bait. |
| TSN | 1 | 10 | Dominant in their first two wins, the Penguins haven't notched a regulation win in three games since and top-four D Matt Niskanen left Sunday's SO win over Ottawa after playing just 6:39. |
| Hockey Prospectus | X | X | Nothing published yet. |
Aggregate rating last week: 1.86. This week: 6.57.
Publishing days:
CBC – removed!
CBS, FOX, THN – Mondays
ESPN – Wednesdays
NHL – Fridays
HP – Monthly