Playoff Predictions

It's that time of year again!!!

And this year, I was lucky enough to be invited by my good Friends Adam and Derek from ThePensblog.com to offer up my predictions for the outcomes of the Stanley Cup Quarterfinals. One big thing I learned by participating: I don't know HALF as much as I should know about the Western Conference teams... I better start getting familiar with them since we will (oh yes - I said WILL) be facing one of them at the finals. Check out the predictions from hockey blogging heavyweights like James Mirtle, Eric McErlain, and Greg Wyshynski at ThePensblog.com. Oh, and my predictions are there, too! ;)



When you're done checking that out, head over to ESPN Radio 1250 online to listen to Mark Madden's interview with the Saint from yesterday's broadcast. If you want to download it to listen to it on your MP3 player, find the "Download" link and right click on it. If you're using Mozilla Firefox, choose "Save Link As..." If you're using Microsoft Internet Explorer, choose "Save Target As..." (Sid's interview begins at about the 9:15 mark.) Thank you for the link goes out to both pinkchavette21 and Sooska!

What a photo! (It's from the 04-02-08 game I was at - but I didn't take this one!!)

Finally today, if you're getting ready to drop some cash in the office playoffs pool, make sure you check out this Hockey Pool Cheat Sheet created by Steve W. He explains it for us:

It is a super simple web page that does Point projections based on how many games you think a team will play. So needless to say Sid's 1.36 Points Per Game, place him higher in this then most rankings that don't account for games missed.

Just make sure your office buddies don't find out about this tool and use it against you!! ;) Thanks for sharing the tool, Steve!

GO PENS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Whatever Crosby Wants, Crosby Gets

(Courtesy of a heads up from TSCS creator Jes Golbez) Many players have been less than pleased with the new RbK Edge jerseys, and not just because some of the new designs are desperately ugly. It seems that their new jerseys wick sweat away from the body as they were designed to do, but the moisture ends up collecting in the gloves and even the skates. But now that Saint Sid has complained, Reebok finally feels the need to take corrective action:

Never let it be said that Sidney Crosby doesn't have a whole lot of marketing clout. Whatever Crosby drinks, eats, or skates in will sell a whole lot more when his image is shown on TV consuming and using that particular product.

Of course, plenty of athletes have endorsed products without caring whatsoever how good the product actually is. When Wayne Gretzky shills for both Coke and Pepsi, you know he's full of crap.

Sidney Crosby, however, seems to have taken his endorsement duties a little more seriously, especially the new Reebok Edge uniforms, which have caused all sorts of controversy for their crappy designs and breakability in fights.

My question to Jes was, "After all the testing, how did they miss it?!" His answer? "Rbk and the NHL are so short-sighted, that is why. They wanted the unis to look 'cool' and sleek, but little did they know that hockey players are sweaty beasts." Good stuff! :)

Sidney gets what Sidney wants. Period.

Also on the docket today, I found a couple of articles I thought might interest you. First up, John Kreiser of NHL.com thinks there is stil room for Sidney to improve:

Sidney Crosby already is the NHL’s first teenage-scoring champion and the League’s youngest-ever captain. For the Pittsburgh Penguins to be as good as a lot of people think they are, Crosby will have to keep building on those accomplishments.

At age 20, Crosby is still a work in progress. Though he led the NHL last season with 120 points, he’s still growing, in terms of both maturity and skill.

Second up, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review released its season preview. They've uploaded the pages of the newspaper as it appeared in the print version. It is six pages of goodness under the headline "Their Time Is Now." (You'll need Adobe Acrobat reader to view the pages.)

My third item for you is something I found quite by accident. It's a survey that was posted in March on ESPN.com. If you'll notice, it was posted on the same day that Mario announced the Pens were staying in Pittsburgh. The survey is still active, and once you've filled it out, it displays the results. The last question asks who the greatest sports figure in Pittsburgh is. Not surprisingly, Mario wins this one by a landslide. What is surprising is that Sid comes in above legends Honus Wagner, Franco Harris, Jack Lambert, and Willie Stargell. Looks like Sid is on pace to claim the number 2 spot in the future.

And finally, Greg Wyshynski of TheFourthPeriod.com tells us why each team in the Eastern Conference WON'T win the Stanley Cup. I'll leave you tonight with his take on why Pittsburgh won't win:

Why They Won't Win the Stanley Cup: Because it's like, what, at least eighth or ninth on Sidney's "Trophies I'm Going To Win" list? He still has to snag the Richard, the Selke and figure out how to retroactively win the Calder; then there's the Pulitzer Prize and the Best Actress at the Golden Globes. But a good start on the way to the chalice would be the Atlantic Division title, which the Penguins will win this season.

Uniform Improvement or Fashion Disaster? Disaster. I still hate the colorful fabric on the sides of the sweaters. It makes the players look like they're sweating out a Marti Gras decoration.

Worst Case Scenario: The outstanding young players on the Penguins simultaneously all hit a sophomore slump, and head coach Michel Therrien's formidable shortcomings are exposed. (But, going forward, his inevitable removal might be a best-case scenario).

Oh, and if you haven't already, don't forget to check out my predictions for the Penguins this season! I posted that today, too, and hopefully you'll take a minute or two to check it out. :)

LET'S GO PENS

TSCS's 2007-08 Penguins Preview

With the puck about to drop (okay, I know it officially dropped last night, but for real Pens fans the season doesn't start until the puck drops in front a Pittsburgh Penguin), everyone and his brothers are making their season predictions. I've read countless articles online, and I've been listening to Hockey in the Morning on XM Radio's Home Ice (channel 204). The common thread between the dozens of predictions that I've seen: the Pens are going to be good. No, not just good - AWESOME.

While not everyone agrees how far the Pens will go this year, the general consensus is that the Pens will almost assuredly make it to the playoffs again. The opinions then split pretty evenly after that. One side thinks the Pens' youth and inexperience is an Achilles heel; the other side thinks that the team learned a valuable lesson from Ottawa in their short-lived playoff run last season and now the abundance of young, raw talent on the team has what it takes to go all the way this year. Anyone looking for my opinion, here you go:

I think the Pens have a legitimate chance of winning the Stanley Cup. I'm going on record with my predictions here. I think the Pens will win the Atlantic Division and come in second in the Eastern Conference. [Unfortunately, I think the top spot in the Eastern Conference will go to Ottawa, but this isn't The Dany Heatley Show (← oh, that makes me sick to my stomach), so I'm not even going to go into that.] I'm going to say that the Pens will definitely make it all the way to the semi-finals. From there, I'll say they'll likely make it to the finals and probably go on to win the Cup. To prove I'm not just being biased, the following is an explanation of how I came to this conclusion.

I won't really talk about Saint Sid. He's the best in the league, and that statement needs no justification. We all know he's going to do great things, so it's moot point to go into it any deeper than that. As long as he stays healthy, he'll be golden. He's the best thing to happen to the Penguins since Mario. I'm pretty sure everyone knows that, despite all his health problems later in his career, #66 led the Pens to 2 consecutive Stanley Cup championships. (Imagine how many he could have won if he'd been healthy...)

Even if something GOD FORBID! happens to Sid and an injury sidelines him for a while, the rest of the team is still good enough to keep going in his absence. With players like Evgeni Malkin (33G-52A-85PTS) and Jordan Staal (29G-13A-42PTS), both of whom could realistically crack the 40 goal club this season, the Pens are definitely set. But with a healthy Sid all season long, this trifecta (as FSN Pittsburgh refers to them) is going to be tough to stop.

The young forwards will be complemented with the talents of defensemen Ryan Whitney and Sergei Gonchar (who finds himself splitting alternate captain duties with Gary Roberts and will be wearing an "A" on his sweater this season during home games). Gonch is one of the league's better d-men, proving he's able to help defend the net AND score some serious points with 13G-54A-67PTS in 82 games played last season. For the record, Whitney, who is coming into this season after signing a longterm deal with the Pens in July, isn't far behind with 14G-45A-59PTS in 81 games played.

The young team is no doubt growing up before our very eyes, but they will still definitely benefit from veteran leadership. This season, it will again come from Stanley Cup winners Mark Recchi, an alternate captain for his third consecutive season, and Gary Roberts, who will be sporting the "A" on his jersey during road games. These two guys will be able to show the young stars the kind of discipline it takes to win a Cup.

(Left to right: Sid, Staal, Malkin, Fleury, and Whitney) What a photo. But don't stare at it - prolonged exposure to its awesomeness may cause temporary blindness.

There are, however, a few question marks in the Pens' future that give me pause. The first being the somewhat minor issue of faceoff percentages. As stated yesterday, this is an area where Sid and the rest of the guys needed some serious work. This was especially evident during power plays, where winning the faceoff is crucial. Hopefully this was an area of focus in training camp, but even without any faceoff-winning-fiends on the team last year, the guys had an outstanding season, so it doesn't really have me all that worried.

The other issue that has me a bit more apprehensive is Pittsburgh's goaltender situation. Marc-Andre Fleury is getting better and better every season he plays. Last season he still had some issues with being a tad inconsistent; even so, he's shown he has what it takes to get the job done when it counts by getting an impressive 40 wins last season. He's not the problem. The problem is that MAF doesn't have a strong backup goalie. Without one, if again GOD FORBID! an injury strikes MAF, the entire Pittsburgh season is in jeopardy.

That said, I must admit that I don't know a whole lot about the new back up goalie, Dany Sabourin. What I do know is that he hasn't played many games in the NHL (only 14 regular season games and 2 playoff games) and that he played a couple of times for the Johnstown Chiefs. Last season, the Pens had a fairly reliable backup in Jocelyn Thibault, but he left for what I'm sure he hopes will be greener pastures in Buffalo. With MAF playing in 67 games last year, T-Bo wasn't getting as much of the action as he wanted. (I think T-Bo misses Pittsburgh, though, because throughout this preseason, he wore his Penguins goalie mask.) This season, no one really knows how reliable Sabourin will be.

But don't panic. So far, Pens General Manager Ray Shero has shown that he knows what he's doing. If Shero wanted Sabourin, there must have been a good reason behind his decision to sign him.

I guess all that's left to say now is that it's a GREAT time to be a Pens fan. For those of us who stuck by the Pens through the, um, shall we say "lean" years, these next couple of years are going to be our reward. For new fans, get ready for a great ride - but be warned: it's not going to be easy. There are going to be a lot of 1-goal games. There will be a bunch of blown leads accompanied by heart stopping comebacks. Probably more than a few ties will need to be broken in spectacular overtime shootouts (Erik Christensen, we'll be counting on you!!!). They don't call them the "Cardiac Kids" for nothing, you know!

LET'S GO PENS

What To Expect From Sidney

Now you should probably sit down for a minute before I tell you where this next story came from. Are you sitting? Okay, don't say I didn't warn you: it came from ESPN.com. (I know! I thought the same thing: Is the Ice Bowl Winter Classic going to be played in hell now?) Well, E.J. Hradek of ESPN The Magazine felt that the NHL mattered enough at least to chime in with his speculations of what we're going to see from Sir Sidney in the 2007-08 season. Let's take a closer look at what Hradek's got to say.

No pressure, Sid, but everyone's expecting BIG things from you this season...

Obviously, Hradek isn't stupid. He pretty much states the obvious and tells us that Sid is going to be good this year:

...while he's a very unique athlete and he's mature beyond his years, Crosby just turned 20. We shouldn't forget that. Sometimes, when someone is this good, this fast, we tend to lose sight of that. We shouldn't.

On the flip side of that statement is a frightening message to opponents -- he's getting better. In fact, after rehabilitating his injured left foot, Crosby got back to some serious training. And, according to one source, Crosby feels he'll be stronger and faster as a result. Now there's some good news for the other 29 teams, eh? I guess they all should be happy that he's not 25 yet, when he'll be approaching his prime as an athlete.

For the record, though, Crosby's improved strength and speed will make him tougher to catch and harder to knock off the puck when you can get to him.

Hradek goes on to predict that "Darryl" will become a 40 goal scorer this season. He scored 39 in his rookie year and 36 last season, so this is where I respond to Hradek "Thanks for the newsflash, Tom Brokaw." Even people with limited knowledge about the sport of hockey could have safely predicted that one without worrying that they end up looking stupid.

The one spot Sid needs to work on according to Hradek (as well as most of the rest of hockey fans everywhere) is his faceoffs:

Last season, his 49.8 win percentage ranked him 52nd in the league. That was better than the 45.5 faceoff win percentage he posted during his rookie campaign. So, he is getting better on the draw. As he gets older and stronger (good faceoff guys use their experience and strength), we suspect his faceoff percentage will improve. Crosby understands the details of the game and knows the value of winning key faceoffs.

It's worth pointing out that faceoff percentages are actually a weakness throughout the entire Penguins team. Hradek closes the article with an observation that puzzles me:

Crosby also has done a good job at handling his celebrity status. That can be a problem in a hockey dressing room, where the emphasis should be on "team" rather than the individual. Crosby hasn't let the hype interfere with his focus. It's another reason why he's earned the respect of his teammates.

With two seasons of experience behind him, Crosby figures to have an even bigger impact on the game. The kid from Nova Scotia will continue etch his mark on the NHL.

This season, he'll again do everything for the Penguins … except buy the beer.

"Everything?" I think Therrien, Malkin, Staal, Roberts, Whitney, Fleury, et al. would beg to differ. I don't care how good a player is - Sid is the best in the entire league right now, but even he can't carry a whole NHL team by himself. Between this guy and the countless idiots that refer to the Penguins as "The Pittsburgh Crosbies," I don't know how these people have jobs as sports writers.

He doesn't work alone.

I don't know how I missed bringing you this. It's a couple of weeks old, but The Chronicle Herald Sports of the Nova Scotia News compiled a list of the 10 best players to have passed through the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. It may not shock you that Mario Lemieux has a firm hold on the number 1 spot. What may surprise you is that our title man Sid checks in at a stunning number 4:

4. Sidney Crosby, C (Rimouski Oceanic, 2003-05) — Not many people around here need an introduction to this guy. The Cole Harbour native is the reigning NHL scoring champion and is the face of hockey around the world. He holds the Q record for the most points by a 16-year-old with 135 in 59 games. But he also represents the modern QMJHL era because he is the first Maritimer to make a huge splash in the NHL since the league expanded to Halifax in 1994.

I'll leave you today with a very cool and very strange fact that was in my inbox this morning courtesy of Friend of The Show and "Saint Sid" nickname submitter Chris L.:

Here's an interesting thought. The only numbers ever retired by the Pens are Michel Briere (21) and Mario Lemieux (66).

21 + 66 = ??

"Look Ma, no helmet!!" Michel Briere - what a tragic loss.

Of course we all know that if the Penguins didn't retire #10 for Ron Francis, the next number to be retired by the organization will be number 87. It must be fate!!! :)

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LATE EDIT:
I forgot to give credit: my friend Jonny V. from Commentorblog of The Pensblog pointed out the ESPN.com story.

All Sidney, All The Time

I have all sorts of Sid stuff for you today.

First up, the Wizard of Croz graces the cover of the NHL's new book "Reflections on a Hockey Season," sales of which will benefit Hockey Fights Cancer. The coffee table book features photos of on-ice action as well as candid behind-the-scenes shots. It is the first in what is proposed to be an annual series.

Next up, were you as nervous as I was last week when Sid left practice early because of groin pain? Friend of The Show and fellow Crosby blogger Eric B. takes a look at the issue to give us some perspective. Check out his article over at the Sidney Crosby Spotlight.

This next one comes courtesy of Empty Netters. Business Week Online compiled a list of the 100 most influential people in sports. As you can probably guess, the list is dominated by football, baseball, and basketball players. Even a golfer claims the number 2 spot. But our title man checks in at number 61, and that's actually not bad considering he's up against the numerous superstars in all of American sports. (The only other member of the NHL to make this list was commissioner Gary Bettman, who came in at number 27.)

ONLY 3 MORE DAYS TO GO!!!

The Penguins' website reports that in a column written for USA Today, sports writer Kevin Allen picks the Penguins as his favorite to go all the way and win that Cup:

“My thought process is this: The Eastern Conference is really wide open, probably more so than it’s been in the history of the NHL,” Allen said. “If you look at what happened in the offseason, Buffalo was a good team and they got hit hard. New Jersey was a good team and they got hit hard by free agency as well. The two other playoff teams, the Rangers and Atlanta, both lost players and the bottom teams got better. I think the Penguins proved themselves as well. With it being wide open, I think there is a real shot for the Penguins to rise up and win that Eastern Conference. If you can win that Eastern Conference, I think you’ve got a shot. Anything can happen.”

Allen believes the leadership of Sidney Crosby, who became the youngest captain in the history of the NHL this summer, will play a key role in Pittsburgh’s drive to the top.

“I have a lot of faith in Sidney Crosby as a leader. I just think there hasn’t been too many, if any, players as young as him who really know what it takes to be a flag carrier for an NHL,” Allen said.

Allen goes on to explain that Sid isn't the only reason he favors the Pens. With players like Malkin, Staal, Whitney, et al., the Pens are going to be a force to be reckoned with!

Finally today, you can check out a transcript of yesterday's NHL conference call that featured a Q&A session with Saint Sid courtesy of Kuklas Korner. There's nothing groundbreaking in the interview, but it's a good refresher to get up-to-speed on where Sid's head is at going into this new season.