They're Back

The Pittsburgh Penguins are back in action tomorrow night at 10 o'clock against the defending Western Conference champs, the Vancouver Canucks. This will be the team's first "real" game since the embarrassing game seven loss to Tampa Bay last season. Tomorrow will be the beginning of one of the most anticipated seasons in Penguin's history. A revamped and refocused lineup, the return of a 100% Evgeni Malkin, and the much anticipated potential return of the greatest player in the game Sidney Crosby are the leading causes for the Penguins to be Stanley Cup favorites.

Heading into the regular season the Penguins have been a very popular Stanley Cup pick and not just by fans. Many of the most respected hockey analysts and experts are picking the Penguins to win it all. Even Sports Illustrated has made the Penguins their Stanley Cup pick. As a Penguin's fan this makes me think two things. One, I am extremely excited for the season to start. It is very rare that your favorite team is the preseason pick to win the Stanley Cup. Two, it makes me a little nervous. The preseason champ almost never becomes the actual champ. I cannot remember the last time Sports Illustrated accurately picked a champion, in any sport. Either way it is still a lot of fun to have the Penguins talked about so highly.

One of the reasons everyone is so excited for the new season is the Penguins revamped lineup. They added three players in the off-season that will play an important role. Steve Sullivan looks to be a good veteran winger that can help a desperate powerplay. Training camp reports suggest he has surprisingly good chemistry with Evegeni Malkin. Richard Park is a perfect Dan Bylsma player. He plays with a lot of speed and effort. He does not bring much goal scoring, but he is a perfect fourth line player for this team. Lastly they signed defenseman Boris Valabik. He is an enormous blue line presence at 6'7" 255 lbs. He is a solid, well rounded defenseman, much like Hal Gill. Maybe just as important is the return of Matt Cooke. I have never been much of a Cooke supporter, but there is no denying that he is a good enforcer and penalty killer. These four guys automatically make them better than a season ago.

Last season's team was definitely lacking something during the series with Tampa Bay. That something was a superstar. In the season opener the Penguins get a superstar back in Evgeni Malkin. There is no denying that Geno is one of the top ten players in the NHL. Geno is a potential 100 point scorer back in the lineup. Which makes a huge difference on a team that struggled to score more than 3 goals a game last season.

The most exciting part of this season is the potential return of Sidney Crosby. Sid is the best player in the game today. Before his injury last season he was on pace to win the scoring title, Maurice Richard trophy, and MVP. He is the face of the NHL and unquestioned leader of this team. Usually it seems the team goes as Sid goes. The belief is that when Sid does return to the lineup he will be right back to the form he was pre-injury. However, I am not certain that he will be able to snap right back into superstar mode. Nobody can be out for ten months and return like nothing happened. However, I have no doubt that he will be back to 100% at some point this season.

It is very tough for me to predict how the Penguins will do this season. I think they have a great team and will definitely finish better than last season. However, the Eastern Conference is very deep and tough. The always strong Capitals finally have a good goalie. The Flyers overhauled their entire roster and may be better or worse. The Rangers have definitely improved their scoring punch. The Bruins are defending Stanley Cup champions. The Lightning are still a dangerous team. All these teams are potential threats to beat the Penguins out for the Eastern Conference title. If you put a gun to my head and forced me to predict I would say the Penguins make it to the Eastern Conference finals. The Pens always seem to fall victim to Cinderella teams with hot goalies and I have a feeling the same thing will happen this year. A team like Buffalo or Montreal definitely has the ability to sneak up on everyone at playoff time and make a run. Regardless of any predictions it seems like this going to be a great season and most importantly a lot of fun for the fans.