Stand In The Fire
Expectations Escalate for Pens
By Bob Grove

The Penguins are coming off a very satisfying season.

But being satisfied with the idea that their young, promising team is headed inexorably toward an even better winter will get them in trouble - and they know it.

Expectations for the Penguins have grown exponentially over the last 12 months, but there isn't a thing any of them can do about it. The Sporting News, for instance, picks them to win the Stanley Cup. What they do control is their own mindset about the challenge that lies ahead.

"You look at it the same way, whether you had a bad season or a good season. It's the same frame of mind coming into it, and that's whatever happened in the past means nothing now," says Sidney Crosby, named youngest captain in National Hockey League history this summer after winning the Ross and Hart trophies last spring with a team that piled up 105 points before being eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by Ottawa.

"Obviously, you don't want to take away the experience we gained, but outside of that it doesn't really mean anything. That's not an issue here at all. If anything, it's more brought up through expectations, whether it's the media or people around the team, and that's fine. It's to be expected. But we in here know how hard it is to win, and by no means are we living based on last year."

Coach Michel Therrien has done his best to defuse talk about the Penguins making a serious bid for the Stanley Cup - not because he doesn't think his team is capable of it, but because he believes it's not something his players need to think about in October.

"Sometimes when you look up at the top of the mountain," he says, "it can be scary. The expectation is always going to be there because of the season we had last year. When you're talking about that - are they going to become contenders for the Stanley Cup? - that's not even in our minds right now.

"We're going to make sure we're well prepared. The main focus of camp was to make sure we're going to have a good start. It's step by step. Before we get to the end of the season, it's a process, and we're going to do the process the right way. But they're working hard and have a great attitude, the same attitude they had last year. That's encouraging."

History is there as a reminder, too, that following up their 47-point improvement, the fourth-largest single-season move in NHL history, will hardly be automatic for the Penguins. The only team in NHL history to jump by 40 points or more in the standings and then follow it up by improving again the following season was the 1968-69 Boston Bruins; of the 14 teams in the modern era who made the largest one-season jumps, nine went backwards the following season.

"From a player's point of view, nothing comes easy," says Colby Armstrong. "Obviously, we made a big step last year, but you have to be focused and have to be in the now. You can't get too far ahead of yourself. We've got a lot of young guys on our team, but they've all got great attitudes. They know what it's going to take."

That's the message that's been delivered by not only Crosby but veterans Mark Recchi, Gary Roberts, Petr Sykora and Darryl Sydor, the latter two off-season acquisitions that figure to give Pittsburgh a great chance to win an Atlantic Division that will be very competitive.

"The next year is always tougher," says Sykora. "There are always huge expectations with the success the guys had last year, but with Philly getting better, the Rangers getting better. I think this is toughest group of teams playing. It's going to be way, way tougher."

Sykora should help Pittsburgh navigate its way toward the top of the Atlantic Division. The 30-year-old right wing, signed as an unrestricted free agent from Edmonton, has scored 20 or more goals in eight consecutive seasons and was immediately placed on Crosby's line in the preseason.

Sykora, whose nose was broken when he inadvertently got in the way of a Brooks Orpik hit in the preseason, should help the Penguins' No. 1 line be more productive at even strength, which was a problem last season.

"He is the best player in the league," Sykora said of Crosby, "and I have a feeling if I have a chance to be out there with him, I'm going to score some goals."

Crosby, who was expected to have Recchi on his left wing, has in Sykora precisely the kind of proven finisher he needs.

"He's scored for a lot of years now, and it's fun playing with him," Crosby said. "I definitely think there's an opportunity here to make things happen."

Therrien's second line was expected include Evgeni Malkin between left wing Roberts and Erik Christensen, while Jordan Staal had been moved from left wing to his natural center position on the third line with left wing Ryan Malone and Armstrong.

Malkin, coming off a Calder Trophy season in which he put up 85 points, will thus have to adapt to two new linemates, while Staal's challenge will be bolstering the Penguins' dismal faceoff performance - they were last in the NHL last season, winning only 47 percent of their draws. It marked their second consecutive season at the bottom.

Therrien's fourth line makeup is more likely to change than any other, with incumbents Maxime Talbot, left wing Jarkko Ruutu and right wing Georges Laraque all being challenged for playing time in the preseason. Right-handed center Tim Brent, acquired from Anaheim in June, can also play the wing and has had some success in the faceoff circle. Right wing Adam Hall, a veteran of 306 NHL games with Nashville, the Rangers and Minnesota, was given a tryout contract in camp and also reached the final cut along with youngsters Ryan Stone and Jonathan Filewich.

The puck-moving ability of veteran defenseman Sydor, signed as an unrestricted free agent from Dallas, should improve Pittsburgh's transition game and ease the pressure a bit on goaltenders Marc-Andre Fleury and Dany Sabourin.

Mike Weaver, who's played 149 NHL games with Atlanta and Los Angeles, was signed in early August and was pushing Kris Letang for the final defensive spot and the right to join returners Orpik, Sergei Gonchar, Ryan Whitney, Mark Eaton and Rob Scuderi.

Letang, a 20-year-old right-handed defenseman who played seven games with the Penguins last season before returning for his final season of junior hockey, was widely expected to take a regular lineup position in camp. But he did not, in the early portion of the preseason, leave the impression that he was clearly the best player for that spot.

Bob Grove is the studio host for the Penguins Radio Network. He has covered the Penguins and the NHL since 1981.