NHL training camps are set to unfold this weekend so you know what that means, it’s prediction time!

Offensively, a healthy Malkin and the POSSIBLE promotion of Jordan Staal to the second line, should give Pittsburgh enough to equal, if not score more goals than last season. Crosby should be up to his old ways and my gut tells me Mike Comrie is going to have a great year along side the co-Maurice Richard winner. The power play will be a developing story as a new anchor will have to emerge with the departure of Sergei Gonchar. Malkin could move to the point creating a four forward PP or Kris Letang could simply slip into the slot Gonchar once reined.

Defensively, Pittsburgh should be much more stable with the afro mentioned Martin as well defensive stud Zbynek Michalek. While Gonchar was great offensively, his liabilities in his own zone caused major issues with the Penguins brass and his replacements should be sufficient. For a team that gave up the second most amount of goals among all playoff teams last season, a major improvement is on the radar in my books. Also, Marc-andre Fleury should rebound from his below par year and a better team in front of him should give the 25-year-old everything he needs to have a breakout year.

So, with that being said, where do the Penguins finish next season?

Atlantic Division: 1^st
New Jersey will be good but not great with the aging Martin Brodeur and the Philadelphia Flyers will cruise into the playoffs still weary from their playoff run last season.

Playoff seed: 2^nd
Same story, different year. The Capitals are the Cleveland Cavaliers (with Lebron) of the NHL-all pizzazz but no finish when it’s on the line. But with all that talent, they’re bound to defend their Presidents Trophy.

Playoff performance: Loss in Stanley Cup Finals
I think the Flyers will still be reeling from their run last season and will not be good enough to beat the Pens in a seven game series. Besides these two teams, no one in the East in my opinion is strong enough to even make it to the Conference Finals. Boston is still a year or two away and ditto for a few other teams. Who the Penguins lose to in the Cup finals is still hazy to me but Chicago, Vancouver among others I believe may be too much for them.

Do you agree or find I’m a complete moron, let me know what you think!

After falling to the surprising Montreal Canadiens, the Pittsburgh Penguins had two objectives:

1.Get stronger on the wings
2. Improve defensively

Defensively, they certainly got better. Paul Martin and Zbynek Michalek are quality defensemen that both bring different, but effective styles to the Penguins back end. Martin is the puck moving defenceman they needed with the departure of Sergei Gonchar, and Michalek will add the poise and toughness every team needs.

Offensively however, the wings still look fairly depleted. GM Ray Shero brought in former Philadelphia Flyers forward Arron Asham and just recently Mike Comrie, who is rumoured to be playing with Sidney Crosby this season.

Comrie was once believed to be a top six forward but after several seasons of mediocrity, that status is certainly in jeopardy. But the Pens are hoping playing alongside arguably the best player in the league can change that.

There have been talks of Asham centering the third line while Jordan Staal would move up to the second with Evgeni Malkin but this is not yet confirmed.

In this event, Malkin would move to the wing which according to Coach Dan Bylsma, he is willing to do. Staal would obviously need to produce more offensively, an opportunity he could relish with his talent and size.

However the soon to be 22-year-old, will also miss the first part of camp as he still is being hampered by the foot laceration from last season’s playoffs.

Meanwhile with Asham, the Pens will get a poor man’s Jordan Staal to anchor their penalty-kill and will bring toughness to the line-up. As many Penguin players have said, they’re happy Asham will be wearing the black and yellow this season so they don’t have to play against him.

Shero took some risks this off-season acquiring injury prone Paul Martin and Hilary Duff’s husband Mike Comrie, but the pay out could be huge if all goes well. Dan Bylsma will also be looking for more from another player who got out-dueled by Jaroslav Halak in the playoffs.

Marc-andre Fleury, the new Penguins whipping boy, will try to rebound from his sub-par season and find the consistency he had in his Cup winning year.

The Pens will for sure be a tougher team to play against this time around but whether or not they are strong enough offensively will be the biggest question in the 10-11 season.

After a sub-par performance in the past seasons playoffs, Ray Shero knew his d-core needed an upgrade and when July 1^st came around, he went right to work.

The finishing product resulted in Paul Martin and Zbynek Michalek coming to the Pens which will surely boost a shaky back-line into a playoff ready contender.

Both also signed five year contracts which will allow Pens fans to get very familiar with the duo.

Michalek, who was instrumental in the Coyotes’ improbable run last season, is a defensive defenseman that will add some grit to a soft back end. His poise and smooth skating will be an asset with the departure of Sergei Gonchar.

Speaking of incredible skaters, meet Paul Martin. The Minnesota-native had an injury plagued season last year which forced him to miss out on the Olympics, and is looking to get back into the ranks as one of the best American defensemen on the planet

With the defense in tact, Shero now is $2.9 million under the cap and which he will hopefully use to acquire a winger which could slip into the top four.

Most forwards are under contract for next year which makes me think he is settled on the players currently on the roster.

But as we saw against Montreal, a lack of depth on the wings is the Penguins kryptonite and those short comings could spell another early exit, come next year.

Shero also signed defenceman Andrew Hutchinson to a one year, two-way contract that will pay him $500,000 at the NHL level.

Hutchinson has made several stops around the NHL and will likely start the year in the AHL.

That’s it for now, we will check in later.

The Penguins have been busy the past few weeks, signing plenty of young talent while deciding to keep a feisty veteran around for at least three more years. For starters, Matt Cooke was signed for three years with an average of $1.8 million per season.

While he may not be the biggest scorers (15 goals last season), he has proven his worth in the playoffs with his aggressive play and excellent penalty-killing. A week earlier the Penguins also signed 2009 fourth round pick Nick Petersen to a three-year contract.

The 20-year-old posted 79 points with a plus-46 rating in 59 games with the Saint John Sea Dogs of the QMJHL. At right wing, Petersen can help the Pens with their depth on offense but do not expect an immediate impact from him.

He will need some time to get used to the NHL game and will hopefully spend some time in the AHL before making the jump to the big club. To the back end now where Pittsburgh has been busy getting pieces together for the upcoming season.

While they’re both AHL defencemans, they could become full-time NHLers in the near future. The Pens signed Steve Wagner to a two-way one-year contract worth $500,000 and he will look to fill in the sixth or seventh defenceman’s role.

They also signed Ben Lovejoy to a three-year contract worth $525,000 per season. Lovejoy, 26, spent most of last season with the Baby Penguins but was called up for three games and was impressive posting three points and a plus-8 rating.

 He is believed to have a guaranteed spot on the team and with the appearing departure of Sergei Gonchar, the Pens can use his smooth skating. Gonchar has been reported to be on his way to San Jose and it could be finalized by the end of the week.

Pittsburgh power play will certainly change with his departure and this could mean moving Evgeni Malkin to the point if they cannot get another defenceman with a good shot from the point.

I am curious to see what Pittsburgh does to improve to the team that was not physically big enough to contend with Montreal and likely Philly. As mentioned they need to get bigger upfront and they could use a shutdown defenceman to play against the best in the NHL.

According to the Pittsburgh-Tribune Review, two sources have confirmed that Evgeni Malkin will not be traded this off-season from the Penguins.

Malkin, who is coming off career lows in points, game and goals in the 2009-2010 season, has four years left in a contract that pays him $8.7 million.

Jordan Staal has not been said to be off the trading-block which makes one assume he could be in a different jersey come next season.

GM Ray Shero has $21.4 million invested in the “Big Three” of Crosby, Malkin and Staal, money that could be used to acquire a top-six winger.

Staal has only missed one game in the past four seasons and has collected 168 points during that time.

There is not much to say about game seven between Montreal and Pittsburgh. One team came to play at 7:00pm/EST and the other around 8:30. Pittsburgh turned the puck over regularly in the first period and for a portion of the second while Marc-Andre Fleury continued his unspectacular play before being pulled in favour of Brent Johnson.

 When Pittsburgh did start playing their brand of hockey it was just too late and that is simply because of Jaroslav Halak. Against any other goaltender Pittsburgh may have tied the game in the third but not against him, he was too”Halakian.” If Montreal can advance to the finals we could see the third player in 23 years to get the Conn Smythe despite not winning the cup.

J.S Giguere did it with Anaheim when they lost to the New Jersey Devils while Ron Hextall also won the playoff MVP award in 1987 after Philadelphia lost to the Edmonton Oilers. Halak could be up next for the honour.

Montreal was able to take advantage of Pittsburgh’s lack of depth on the wings and this may be something the team has to take a look at this off-season. Pittsburgh has $20 million invested in their top three centres and a change via a trade is not out of the question (look out Jordan Staal!).

Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin will continue to shoulder the offensive load for the Penguins while veteran Bill Guerin, who is 39 years young, will ponder his career as he is currently contract less in the NHL. Also up for grabs among forwards are Ruslan Fedotenko, who sparingly played in the playoffs this season, and pest Matt Cooke.

 Fedotenko is likely done with the Pens while Cooke could earn another stint with his improved play in the playoffs. Alexei Ponikarovsky is a question mark going into next season as he did not have a good two series or stint in a Pens jersey (called it!) but is a useful big body if Guerin is not brought back.

On the back end, Pittsburgh has some big decisions to make about the future of some of their players. Sergei Gonchar, Jordan Leopold, Jay Mckee and Mark Eaton are all unrestricted free-agents heading into the Penguins golfing season.

With the signing of Kris Letang to a multi-year contract, Gonchar’s run in Steele town could be coming to an end as Pittsburgh could use his $5 million dollar cap hit to fill some holes. Mark Eaton, who is nothing more than a five or six defenceman, could be brought back for a price similar to his $2 million previous contract while Jay Mckee is a possible rotation player in the Pens core.

After Marc-Andre Fleury’s performance in the playoffs, a new goalie that could push him might be in order. Brent Johnson has been good and the Pens need to decide if he is capable of challenging Fleury in net. Johnson’s contract is now up which means we may see a new face in Pittsburgh’s goaltending tandem.

I thought Sidney Crosby looked tired or injured in the series versus the Canadiens because frankly, he just did not have any jump in his step. It is easily noticeable when Crosby is feelings good and during this series, he was not able to beat players one on one and was not the one man wrecking crew he was against Ottawa.

This may be because of Montreal’s play but that is just a hunch I have and I’m sure we will find out in the coming days. The grind of the past two seasons could have caught up to Pens or perhaps they did not have the drive for another run.

Regardless, Pittsburgh has some serious decisions to make on defence and need some more depth on the wings if they want to improve on this years showing. Also, Fleury…figure it out!!!!

Ok so I was wrong about the Pittsburgh and Montreal series. I’m not perfect. I was almost certain Pittsburgh was going to end it on Monday but they were unable to capitalize on their chance as they lost 4-3.

When this series began we were talking about what Montreal needs to do to beat Pittsburgh but in a winner take all game, the conversation has changed to how Pittsburgh will defeat the Canadiens

Sidney Crosby finally scored a goal as he batted a puck out of mid-air and past Jaroslav Halak for the first goal in Pittsburgh loss.

Pittsburgh was up 2-1 at one point but Montreal answered back with two quick ones and never relinquished the lead.

Marc-Andre Fleury was out dueled by Halak which in my opinion cost the Penguins a birth into the third round. You can say the goals were not all stoppable but when your save percentage is .860 in a game, a better performance could have been displayed

And so we enter game seven territory where the Canadiens just a round ago eliminated the top seed Washington Capitals. Montreal will enter enemy lines for the second round in a row in hopes of once again beating an East favourite.

As a person who wants the Penguins to win, I am a slightly concerned. In a one game winner take all, Halak is not the goaltender I want staring at me across the ice. Pittsburgh’s players have much more accumulated experience in game seven’s in comparison to Montreal’s and they will bank on that to win.

The game being in Pittsburgh could have a positive or negative effect on the home team. Either they come out with a burst of energy and sustain it for the entire game or they play tentative and get down on themselves if they happen to get behind early.

We have seen both cases from Pittsburgh in this series so who know’s which team is going to show up.

Montreal’s defence could also get healthier for game seven as Hal Gill could make his return after missing game six and there have been whispers of Andrei Markov making a miraculous return.

Evgeni Malkin and Crosby will need to be firing on all cylinders for Pittsburgh to pull this game out. Gill missing in game six could have helped Crosby get back on the score sheet and if he can return for the final game of the series it could be a different story.

Pittsburgh defenceman have been great on the offensive but will need to be stingier of the back end (Cough Goligoski Cough) to get the win. Perhaps the Pens could take a lesson from Montreal and how they’re controlling Crosby and use it on Mike Cammalleri, just a thought.

It is going to take solid play from Fleury and execution on the offensive end for Pittsburgh to pull this win out. Should be fun!

Evgeni Malkin was around but a non-factor in the loss which will need to change for Pittsburgh to grab hold of this series.

The Pens need either Crosby or Malkin to step up in the remaining games or they could be in for a shocker in Pittsburgh.

Marc-Andre Fleury also has to play better hockey if he plans on being able to out-duel Halak. While he was pretty good in game three, Fleury was unimpressive in Montreal’s win on Thursday which included a floater from the left circle extended getting by him for the Canadiens’ first goal.

Fleury has shown the ability to make the big save at crunch time but a bad goal is so costly for Pittsburgh because of the strong goaltending on the opposite end of the ice. A full 60 minutes display is exactly what Pittsburgh needs and they would like it on a game-to-game basis.

The danger with the Canadiens’ is they have already proven so many wrong and losing this series would be no real surprise for anybody. I’m not saying they don’t want to advance but they’re not under the same pressure the Penguins are which is a concern.

It will be interesting to see how the Penguins come out in game five as the series becomes a best of three for a birth in the conference finals.
I originally predicted Pittsburgh in 6 and I am staying loyal to my original guess. I thought the series would be tied going back to Pittsburgh for game five, which means I need the Pens to make their move!
Let’s see what happens!

The three-headed monster of the MVP race in the NHL breaks down with Sidney Crosby of Pittsburgh Penguins, Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals and Henrik Sedin of the Vancouver Canucks battling it out for the reign as the league’s most valuable player. Notice the exclusion of either Ryan Miller or Ilya Bryzgalov on the ballot which in my opinion, is just wrong.

Anyways, the votes are already made and all we have to is wait until that summer day in June when the season is over to findout who will get the trophy. But it’s more fun to speculate so let’s take a look.

Henrik Sedin
Had by far his best season in the NHL. He was the first Canuck to ever win the Art Ross trophy for most points with 112 and is hoping to become the first player in the 40 year history of the Vancouver organization to win the Hart. He, along with brother Daniel, took great strides this season as both players become offensive juggernuats combining for 197 points in the 2009-2010 season. Henrik led the league with 83 assists while scoring a career-high 29 goals. He also boasted a plus-35 rating in his 82 games and has been a plus player in every one of his nine seasons in the NHL, with exception to his minus -2 rating in his rookie year. Henrik is one smooth character as his fluent passing and slick skating makes him one of the most talented players to watch.

Sidney Crosby
He continues to improve in every facet of hockey. At the end of each season, he gets a list of things he has to improve on and he doesn’t just get better, he goes above and beyond. He needed to improve his face-off percentage and this season, he finished eighth with 55.9 among players who haven taken atleast 1,000 draws. He needed to score more goals and he went out and scored 51, good enough to be the co-winner of the Maurice Richard trophy along with Steven Stamkos. He had 109 points on the season and was arguably the most clutch scorer during the season. I am not talking about the Olympics, although that was the epidimy of clutch, but during the NHL season, Crosby was always seen scoring the game-winning goal or getting the shootout winner. He plays both sides of the ice and ranked third in ice time among forwards during the regular season.

Alexander Ovechkin
The most prolific scorer in recent memory in the NHL. The guy takes a heck of a lot of shots but scoring 50 goals in 72 games is no easy feat. He is looking to become the first three-time MVP since the Great One, which will put him in some exlcusive company. He scored atleast 50 goals for the fourth time in his career and finished as a plus-45, putting him in second among NHL players. Despite missing 10 games with injury or suspension, the Russian sniper still tied Crosby with 109 points on the season. Ovechkin is the most charismatic and energetic player every time he steps on the ice and a third MVP is not out of the question.

Prediction
Guranteed to get some flack for this but I’m writing this and I can write what I want! My pick for the Hart Trophy is none other than the player who scored the game-winning goal to clinch Canada the gold medal in the Olympics, Sidney Crosby. Crosby likely had every Penguins forward on his line and continued to produce. Evgeni Malkin was injured peridoically throughout the season, which put added pressure on the Cole Harbour-native to rack up the points, and he did. Crosby makes everybody around him look like All-Stars and his attention to defense makes him one of the best two-way players in the league.

My Arguement
Henrik Sedin had a great year but his brother had every bit to do with that. Daniel’s season has been overshadowed by his brothers point totals, but the truth is, if he didn’t miss 19 games with injury, he probably would have been right where Henrik is. Henrik did score 10 goals in the games Daniel missed, but Vancouver’s record was 11-8 during that time. Not impressive. An MVP has to be the most valuable player to his team and although Daniel doesn’t wear an “A”, he is every bit as important to the success of Vancouver as Henrik. Vancouver finished with 103 points on the season and also had six players achieve 25 goals or more. Pittsburgh on the other hand had 101 points and had just two players finish with 25 goals or more (Malkin, 28). Interesting.

As for “Ovie”, his team can score just fine without him. During the 10 games Ovechkin missed, Washington had no problem scoring and had just as good of a record without the reigning MVP. I am not saying the Capitals don’t need Ovechkin becuase that just is not true, but I will say they’re still a very good offensive team without him, because we all know they don’t play defense. Ovechkin’s importance is on the offensive end and if his team can score without him, does that not hurt his MVP value? Nicklas Backstrom and Alex Semin are possible All Stars on their own and then you have Mike Green, the best forward playing defense, on the back end so how important is Ovechkin to the Capitals. Is it in his toughness and grit? Ok I will give him that but I can’t see that willing him to a third Hart Trophy.

Crosby is more important to his team simply because he has done more with less. Both Henrik and Ovechkin have outstanding supporting casts while Crosby has Malkin who had an off year. He scored 50 goals for the first time in his career and became a two-way player in the process. If that isn’t MVP worthy, I don’t know what is.

To make matters worse, Andrei Markov left the game and did not return after Matt Cooke laid A CLEAN HIT on the Russian which left him squirming in discomfort. Markov is expected to miss the rest of the playoffs with a “lower body injury”, which will require Montreal’s fountain of experienced D-men to step up.

This will also call for rookie P.K Subban to stay with the big club likely for the rest of the playoffs. (Your loss is my gain)

In Pittsburgh, injuries showed its ugly head with Jordan Staal suffering a foot injury in Game one and its unclear when he could return. There have been reports of him coming back in this series or next round if Pittsburgh is to get there so keep your eyes peeled for reports on his progress.

In Game two appeared it was going to be a similar finish when the new line combination of Max Talbot-Matt Cooke and Tyler Kennedy connected for a goal after a pretty passing in the first period. However that would be Pittsburgh’s only goal of the game.

Michael Cammaleri scored his playoff leading seventh and eight goals of the post season including a display of great hand eye co-ordination when he batted a puck out of the air and past Marc-andre Fleury on his first.

Jaroslav Halak, who was under seige throughout the game, made 38 saves in the win, giving Penguins players a dose of what Capitals players had to deal with in the past round.

Montreal blocked 15 shots in the game with most of them coming in the thirdperiod when Pittsburgh was putting on the pressure for the equalizer.

Sidney Crosby was a minus-2 in the game including the turnover which led to the third Canadiens goal late in the final period.

Crosby, who seemed frusturated throughout the game with the clutching and grabbing of the Canadiens defencemans, was pointless and if you ask me, lacked the physicality to be a factor in the game.

Goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury was good but not great, but I could have that opinion based on Pittsburgh outshooting Montreal by 20 and losing. Halak of course had a lot to do with that but Fleury needs to match Halak in the goaltending category regardless of the amount of shots. Cammaleri’s second goal was a great shot, but stoppable and Fleury needs to make that save for Pittsburgh to compete.

Looking forward to Game three the big boys in Crosby and Malkin need to perform better on both sides of the ice and the forwards have to do a better job of getting in Halak’s grill because frankly, he can’t stop what he can’t see.

Pittsburgh’s five on five play was superb and they did not take many penalties which is encouraging but they need to execute offensively. The dump and chase has worked all season long for Pittsburgh and there is no sense in getting away from it at this point in the season.Montreal’s trap allows opportunities for Pittsburgh to control the puck but it has to be done with an aggressive forecheck.

Also, the entire team has to start shooting high on Halak because his pads are far too quick to get beat down low. Throughout the game, Pittsburgh were getting chances of rebounds from shots hitting the chest of Halak and I’m willing to bet they can get a few more goals if they focus on capitalizing on rebounds

Over the past two seasons, the Pens have had success in the playoffs playing on the road and the atmosphere in Montreal should be fun for both teams in Game three.