[SBRforum Staff]

Can The Penguins Compete
By: SBR Staff

After a disappointing 2006-07 season, Penguins fans aren't getting their hopes up too high only to have them dashed once again. At least they know next season can't be much worse than the last one.

Pittsburgh Penguins fans were full of optimism at this time last season. Sidney Crosby had just been drafted by the team. Zigmund Palffy, John LeClair, Mark Recchi, Sergei Gonchar, and Jocelyn Thibault had all been brought into the fold. And team captain Mario Lemieux was preparing to bring one more season of stellar play to the Steel City.

And that meant the Penguins’ Stanley Cup odds improved throughout the summer, to the point where they were actually pegged as a contender at the start of the season. However, those odds didn’t stay there for very long - the Pens reverted to their old ways and ended up with the worst record in the Eastern Conference at the end of the season.

So, needless to say, Penguins fans are not quite as optimistic about their team’s chances this season. As well, the oddsmakers have looked much less inclined to give Pittsburgh decent championship odds - at VIP.com they’re currently pegged at 50/1 to win the Eastern Conference, and at a league-worst 100/1 to win the 2007 Stanley Cup.

What went wrong for Pittsburgh last year? Pretty much everything other than Crosby’s incredible production. Lemieux and Palffy both retired. Thibault was hurt most of the year, and ineffective when healthy. Gonchar took awhile to get going. And Recchi and LeClair were both up-and-down, and finished the season with brutal plus/minus marks.

Things have started to look up in the past couple of days, however, as word came out of Europe that Pens super-prospect Evgeni Malkin had skipped out on his Russian pro team during training camp in Finland. Malkin was expected to spend one more season with Metallurg Magnitogorsk, as he had just restructured his deal with the Russian club.

But Malkin’s desire to play in North America has been well known, and a dispute between the NHL and Russia’s Super League has left many of that country’s players in limbo - and looking for loopholes that would allow them to jump across the ocean for this season. Still, no one expected the cloak-and-dagger antics that we’ve been seeing.

Does Malkin’s flight from Finland mean he’ll be suiting up for Pittsburgh during the 2006/07 NHL season? That would seem to be his goal, although no confirmation about the forward’s plans are yet available. One thing is certain though: Russian hockey is not amused, and there will likely be legal proceedings in the weeks ahead.

Should Malkin be available to join the Pens this season he’d provide a big boost for their offense - an offense already blessed with the presence of the elite Crosby. Known as the ‘Best Player Outside the NHL’ last year, Malkin had 47 points (including 21 goals) in 46 games to lead Metallurg Magnitogorsk, and he was the second overall pick (behind only the Washington Capitals’ superstar Alexander Ovechkin) in the 2004 Entry Draft.

Still, Pittsburgh’s major problem last season was preventing goals, not scoring them, and they will find themselves in tough in the Atlantic Division this season even if they manage to get Malkin into their lineup. Three Atlantic teams - the Devils, Flyers, and Rangers - had 100 points or more in 2005/06, while the Pens finished the year with 58.

The Devils are the Atlantic’s current top Cup contender, as they’ve been given 12/1 championship odds at VIP.com. The Flyers are next at 16/1, followed by the New York Rangers at 25/1, and the New York Islanders at 50/1. A Malkin signing could push Pittsburgh’s line closer to that of the scattered Islanders, but bettors and oddsmakers are both likely to wait to see the on-ice results before they gamble on a Pens upswing.