The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
The Mighty Pens is a term you may hear the media use when talking about the Pittsburgh Penguins. GM Craig Patrick has assembled a team that may be a powerhouse in the Eastern Conference and duplicate their cup glory years of the early '90s. During those years, Mario Lemieux was part of a star-studded cast featuring Jaromir Jagr, Ron Francis, Kevin Stevens, Paul Coffey, Mark Recchi, Tom Barrasso and so on. This season looking at the roster on paper, it could make you jump out of your seat. Just imagine how Penguin fans feel? During the free agent frenzy, they signed Zigmund Palffy, Sergei Gonchar and now John LeClair to join Sidney Crosby, Mario Lemieux, Mark Recchi who signed the year before, as well as sophomore Ryan Malone. LeClair is a powerforward the Pens have lacked since Stevens was in town. I'm sure that will make Flyer GM Bob Clarke smile. Letting his power forward go couldn't have been easy, but watching him go to Pittsburgh could be as hard as swallowing a brick. With the signing of Palffy, the teams has a speedy winger who scores and can complement their young phenom well. The only scary part of the team is defense. The most notable name listed is Gonchar, who joins Richard Jackman, who scored 24 points in 25 games, and Dick Tarnstrom who led the team with 52 points in 80 games. The physical blueline presence comes from Brooks Orpik, who has a year under his belt. Rounding out the 'D' is defencemen Josef Melichar and Steve Poapst who came over from the Blackhawks. The younger defensemen will have to learn a lot from Gonchar and Tarnstrom so the coverage in their zone isn't a circus, which leads to nightmares for the goalies. Speaking of puckstoppers, the Penguins felt they needed to upgrade their goaltending. When they lost out on Sean Burke, they opted for Jocelyn Thibault, who became expendable with Chicago signing Nikolai Khabibulin. While Thibault never proved himself as a bonafide starter, he will be a good fit to backup Marc-Andre Fleury, who has been touted as a franchise goalie. Fleury has some NHL experience with the Penquins as he posted a 4-14-2 record with a 3.68 GAA and one shutout in the 2003-04 season. Those numbers are far from impressive, but he performed better in the AHL, where he got a full year behind him and earned a 26-19-4 record and 2.52 GAA along with five shutouts. He also played in four playoff games, which will prove important if this Penguins team can make the playoffs. It would be shocking if they didn't. While Patrick has upgraded his team, the crucial thing to pay attention to is how well the players play together. There shouldn't be a problem with Lemieux and Recchi, as they have played on the same team before. Recchi also played with LeClair in Philadelphia. Depending on how the veterans blend in with the young guns such as Crosby and Evgeny Malkin, if the Penguins are able to sign him, and if the stars align just right, the Penguins should be a threat to teams in the East. It would be a stretch to say they will be in the top three unless they can topple rival Philadelphia.
