Is Evgeni Malkin Pittsburgh’s Most Important Penguin?

For the second time in his career Evgeni Malkin has had to the man in Pittsburgh…

For the second time Malkin has made me ask myself this question, who really is the most important Penguin in Pittsburgh?

Three years ago during the Pens title run Sidney Crosby missed 28 games due to injury and the Pens didn’t miss a beat. It was mostly thanks to Malkin who did his best Crosby impersonation by racking up points and making life miserable for defenders.

Malkin finished second in the league in scoring to Alex Ovechkin and was a Hart trophy finalist also losing out to Ovechkin.

Fast forward to this season and here we are again. Same scenario just a different year. Crosby has missed the majority of the last two seasons thanks to a concussion suffered in last year’s Winter Classic. The Pens were supposed to falter, they were supposed to be a middle of the road team without the league’s biggest star…

So how in the hell are they 1 point back of the New York Rangers for the best record in the Eastern Conference with they’re second straight 100 point season and are the hottest team in the league?

Geno Malkin of course.

This year more than ever Malkin has proven himself to be considered a franchise alpha dog and even the best player in the league. He leads the league in points, is second in goals behind Steven Stamkos and has turned James Neal into a premier goal scorer on his line.

The Pens have done more than not lose a step without Crosby, in fact they have taken a giant step. With Malkin steering the ship Pittsburgh has maintained its elite status and looks just as invincible as if Crosby never left. Even if they don’t overtake the Rangers for the best record in the East you would still have to say that they are the favorites to represent the conference in the Stanley Cup Finals.

There’s no player hotter than Malkin in the league, Marc-Andre Fleury is finally playing at an elite level on a consistent basis, and Kris Letang, Neal, Pascal Dupuis and Jordan Staal have to be the most explosive role players in the league right now.

Adding Crosby to the mix now that his concussion has subsided makes them the scariest team on the ice right now.

However, down the road if you are Pittsburgh you have to ask yourself, is Crosby or Malkin your most valuable player?

Yes Crosby is a former MVP, gold medal winner, and captain of the Penguins, but is he their most important player?

Crosby has now missed big parts of the seasons due to injury. In all three seasons the Penguins have secured home ice for at least one round of the playoffs and Malkin has been the reason for two of those three occurrences.

Last year’s early playoff exit you can’t blame on Crosby’s injury or Malkin’s for that matter, but rather the lack of production from the wings. With the emergence of Neal and others the Penguins are cup contenders this year with Malkin leading the way and without Crosby on the ice.

If the roles were reversed could Crosby do the same?

Could Crosby make his teammates around him this good? Could he make the Pens a contender with Malkin? Could his goal scoring match his passing skills and get the Pens out of jams like Malkin?

Honestly I don’t think so.

I think this is Malkin’s ship and Crosby is along for the ride. If I’m Dan Bylsma I wouldn’t mess with the chemistry of his top line by inserting Crosby back in. Yes you aren’t supposed to lose your starting role do to injury but why mess with something that’s working so well?

Watching the Pens over the next few weeks will be interesting. They’re peaking right before the playoffs, their special teams are working and with Crosby back in the lineup it makes them even more lethal.

However, this is due to the play of Evgeni Malkin. Malkin has made them a contender, the most lethal offensive team in the league and has them staring at a second Stanley Cup in the last four years.

He is going to win the points title, he is the MVP of the NHL, and most importantly he’s the most valuable Pittsburgh Penguin on that roster.

They’ve proven that they can live without Sidney Crosby time and time again, if they were to lose Malkin I don’t think the results would be the same.

Once Again Crosby Is King

Sid on his way to another big night.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, if anyone in sports deserves the moniker of king it should be Sidney Crosby.

Crosby ever since he entered the league has stared greatness, high expectations and unreal challenges in the face and still has not flinched.

Rebuild a former champion into a perennial contender? Yep, done that. Return Canadian hockey to Olympic glory? Piece of cake. Contend for the scoring title each year while being one of the best leaders in hockey? I mean duh.

Sure we’ve had moments where it has been easy to point out Crosby’s shortcomings. He flops, complains a little to much to the referees, continuously takes cheap penalties, and there was that point during the Penguins firs Stanley Cup run where he missed significant time due to injury and the team didn’t miss a beat thanks to the play of Evgeni Malkin. However, all Crosby does is raise his game play to new heights when his team needs it no matter the situation.

Take a look at his recent stretch of play that has him at the top of the points standings, the head of the MVP race and the Penguins looking like the best team in the NHL.

17 games ago the Pittsburgh Penguins were a mess. They were fourth in the division after a mediocre start, Marc-Andre Fleury was terrible in net, the defensive lines were in disarray, Jordan Staal went down with a broken hand that is healing slower than molasses and Geno Malkin has been slowed by a bum knee which has knocked his production way down past what we expect from him.

Although he's outshining them, Crosby is creating more opportunities for his teammates to shine.

So what does Sid the Kid do? Oh you know, have a 17 game point streak with 35 total points (20 goals, 15 assists). Lead the team to a 14-2-1 record over that time where they sit atop not only the Eastern Conference but also the entire NHL with the 5^th best offense and the 3^rd best goals against average. Steven Stamkos lead the league in goals and points at that time, he’s now second in both categories (behind by 5 goals and 10 points), The L.A. Kings were the league’s best team they’re now 5^th in their own conference staring tenth in the face. Yep, what a difference a month and a player can make.

Crosby is playing out of his mind right now. He’s the only player on his team with ten goals, he’s got 26. His play has helped bring out the best in his supporting cast that’s trying to weather life without Staal and an ineffective Malkin. Kris Letang has emerged as a legitimate Norris trophy contender, Chris Kunitz looks great playing next to Crosby on his line and is recapturing some of the pop he had when he was in Anaheim. Crosby’s leadership and play have helped to hide Pittsburgh’s thin bench and lack of talent on the wings and has them in a position to be the front-runner in the Eastern Conference.

Crosby and company have knocked off playoff contenders Vancouver, Tampa, Atlanta and the Rangers and have done so convincingly. He’s playing like the man that won the league MVP in only his second year in the league and has shed the image that he’s not a big goal scorer like Stamkos or Alex Ovechkin, Crosby is in another world right now. His vision, skill and predatory instincts are greater than anyone’s in the game and the Pens are reaping the benefits of it all and look like a cup contender.

Question is can it continue? The Pens stretch does get tougher with the Rangers, Flyers, Caps and Habs all calling in the next month including the nationally televised Winter Classic from Heinz Field against the Caps.

The road gets tougher, but with a guy like Sid the Kid on your side you cant worry too much. He’s the headman for the league’s MVP award with only Stamkos in any view of him and it aint even close. Crosby is taking a team that is ordinary at best and is making them extraordinary by lifting them onto his back and taking chare in leading them towards a playoff march and a possible Stanley Cup.

If Crosby continues on this pace and Malkin can somehow get healthy (and if they can keep Fluery’s head on straight) the Pens are going to be a huge problem whether they lose again or not.

We tend to throw monikers around like hotcakes, Prince this, King that, he’s great, blah blah blah… one thing is for sure one man that deserves to have a moniker thrown his way is Crosby. He has been a savior, become a king and is leading his soldiers into battle and is taking on the grunt of the load himself. The man can do it all, so once again repeat after me once again… his name is King Crosby. Get used to it, put it in your brain, make a t-shirt out of it because it should, and hopefully will, stick.

The Debate: Is Steven Stamkos The Best Player In The NHL?

The best in the game? Maybe.

So correct me if I’m wrong or a little misguided here… but at some point when we going to realize that Steven Stamkos might be better than Sidney Crosby or Alex Ovechkin?

As crazy as that sounds, as much hype that has been placed around Sid the kid and Alex the great (and rightfully so) maybe we’re wrong about whom the best player in the game is.

It’s kind of hard to prove this point especially when Crosby and Ovechkin play in highly popular sports towns that obsess over their stars and teams while Stamkos plays in the strip club capital of the world. However, if you’ve ever gotten the chance to watch Stamkos play then you understand possibly where I’m coming from.

He is the league’s leading scorer in goals and points while leading the Lightning to a surprising start at the top of the Southeast division ahead of everyone’s Stanley Cup favorite Washington Capitals who are led by Ovechkin. Stamkos’s offensive output is overshadowing one of the league’s most dismal goaltending situations as the Bolts are 20^th in the NHL in goals allowed at 3 per game. He’s also carrying a team that is getting little to no production from Ryan Malone, Simon Gagne and high priced center Vinnie Lecavalier.

Stamkos’s production is similar to LeBron James with the Cavaliers, one supremely talented player who is carrying a bunch of scrubs (except Martin St. Louis who is quietly putting together another solid season) and making the entire team look better.

Conversely look at Pittsburgh and Washington.

Coincidence that Stevie Y's hiring has lead to the Lightning's first place start?

In Pittsburgh, Crosby leads his team in scoring but is getting lots of help from Evgeni Malkin and defensemen Kris Letang and Alex Goligoski. Also Goaltender Brent Johnson is saving their goaltending situation with his 5-1 start and a 1.70 GAA while Marc-Andre Fleury is floundering (which reminds me, is it time for the Pens to give up on Fleury? He was terrible against the Habs last playoffs and has never truly been a consistent goalie. Sure he was great in their Cup run in 2009 but that was after a rocky regular season. I wonder if Mario Lemieux might be doing some shopping for a backstop before the trade deadline). Crosby has a great supporting cast around him which has helped the Pens to a second place standing in the Atlantic.

Let’s not even start with Ovechkin’s help. Alex Semin is getting better yearly (tied with Ovie in goals with 7) they’ve got one of the best passing centers in the game in Nicklas Backstrom and Brooks Laich is having a breakout season with a +8. As great as Ovechkin is, and as exciting I’m starting to get the feeling that his teammates are catching up to him the production department (which actually may speak volumes about Ovie’s affect on the team. Before it was the Ovechkin show with Mike Green riding shotgun and Backstrom right behind. Now I think everyone’s following balls to the wall way of playing. There’s nothing finesse about these guys anymore, Semin goes hard, so do Laich, Tomas Fleischman and others. Maybe after last season’s playoff disappointment the entire team got the message of maybe it’s time to play hard all the time instead of in spots. Hmmmm, Ovechkin becoming a great leader, who’d a thunk it?).

Crosby and Ovechkin are at a greater advantage than Stamkos. Stamkos is on a young team that really has no great defenseman, underachieving forwards and questions in goal. Yet Steve is coming out every night and controlling the action on the ice and leading the charge as if he doesn’t care. Maybe he’s under the influence of new Lightning VP and one of the game’s great captain’s Steve Yzerman. Yzerman’s hard work ethic and leadership was the sole reason that the Red Wings became the league’s flagship team in the last 20 years and its continued even in his absence with Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg and others in Detroit.

Stamkos, though he wears no C or A might also be following Yzerman’s way of game play. He’s scoring goals at the same clip but now his passing his better and his defense is improving with a +9 rating which is a vast improvement over his combined -15 from his first two years in the league. He’s getting faster, stronger and just plain better with each game. I know the Lightning have been cooling on the idea of trading Lecavalier but why not? Getting Stamkos a center or wing that can get a few goals to help out would be huge for him and the Bolts. Stamkos is light years beyond Vinnie already and the Bolts don’t need a lame duck center as the team’s captain. You gotta wonder if a few years ago the Lightning wish that they would’ve traded him instead of Brad Richards who is also an early MVP candidate for the Dallas Stars.

Just take the time out this year to watch Steven Stamkos and you’ll understand what all of the fuss is about. I picked him to win MVP this year and he’s not disappointing early on. He’s got the Lightning playing with great confidence and at a high level while leading by example. He also has them ahead of Crosby and Ovechkin’s teams respectively while beating the both of them in the scoring race. I might be wrong in thinking he’s better than those two, the numbers ain’t lying. 91 is greater than 87 or 8.

 

A Letter To Marc-Andre Fluery

Marc-Andre Fluery needs to strp it up tonight.

Dear Marc-Andre Fleury,

Hi Marc, I’m Kevin Anthony Howard. I’m pretty sure you remember my letters to C.C. Sabathia and Lane Kiffin last year when they we’re facing tough situations and they did pretty well after we talked. So I figured after watching you get demolished by a weak scoring Canadians team last night, again, I figured you could use a little talk.

First off just to let you know I hate the Penguins, I’m a Rangers fan, it’s a rivalry you know? So I kind of actually want the Canadians to win tomorrow night at the igloo and send that place to ground in defeat and the fans home teary eyed. Yet not in the fashion that it seems like it’s going to happen in. that being with you being the goat for the eventual loss.

Yeah I know King Crosby just scored his first goal of the series last night, and I know Kris Letang sort of burned you the other night in Montreal and his mistake led to the Canadians knotting up the series, but last night was on you dude. You allowed some soft goals like the Mike Cammalleri back hander, ugly, and that Maxim Lapierre goal where he shook you out of your shoes, uglier.

This isn’t the first time I’ve noticed this in you Marc. No one really paid attention in the Ottawa series, but on the low, you we’re terrible. Games 1 and 3 for you we’re rough to watch especially. I mean you got bailed out by Crosby and Malkin but dude, even you know that that’s not going to cut it especially this year with you all as defending champions and all.

Let’s be real for a minute. Crosby, Malkin and Staal aren’t the only top draft picks on this team. You were the number one pick in the draft in 2003 and the Pens envisioned you as being the best goalie that they had had since Tom Barasso. It was a rough transition to the league but you’ve done a decent job, you made the Canadian gold medal winning team this year, you’ve got a ring from last year and made the finals the year before. Yet Marc, you know as well as I do that you tend to disappoint more than amaze.

Your stats are average, the team actually played better with Ty Conklin in net in 2008 when you we’re injured, and you don’t exactly raise your game with stakes high late in the season or in the playoffs. In the six games you lost to the devils this year you allowed 3 or more goals in every game, against the Caps, 4 or more. That was the reason the pens weren’t a top 3 seed in the first place because of your poor play (which in hindsight doesn’t matter right now because look at where they all are).

With all of that said Marc tomorrow night is your shot. Possible last game in the Igloo, where Barasso won two cups and 300 games, where the Pens turned Pittsburgh into a raging hockey town once the Steelers closed up shop for the season, where Lemieux and Jagr were as synonymous as Jordan and Pippen, where the Pens face elimination and the possibility of being dethroned. This is your shot to come through and prove that that number one pick on you was a worthy one. You can be the best goalie on the ice and carry your team to victory much like your French-Canadian idols Patrick Roy and Martin Brodeur.

The season is on your shoulders. You have to stop Cammalleri from continuing his amazing playoff run; you have to be better than Jaroslav Halak who has been putting on his best Mikka Kirprusoff in 2004 or J.S. Giguere from 2003 impression. The pressure is on you more than any other Penguin tomorrow night, much like an ace pitcher in a game 7 in baseball, you have to bring your best stuff in a do or die scenario tomorrow because your team needs you more than ever.

So remember that when the clock strikes seven and the puck is in your corner. You are the number one guy tomorrow night. The pressure is on you to get it done and you better live up to it, or else there are going to be some sour Pens fans come Thursday morning.

Good luck Marc, and remember the reason why you we’re picked number one in 03. Bring that game with you or the Pens are done

Sincerely,

Kevin Anthony Howard