Penguins (Crosby/Malkin) Mania

Question

Disclaimer: I understand that the Penguins are a solid team and that Crosby and Malkin are both elite players in the game, this is just my opinion on the matter.

Crosby and Malkin. World class players, but not as world class as they're made out to be.

It seems like nowadays, half of hockey fans and most (not all, some know what they're talking about) Penguins fans have this state of mind: "Sidney Crosby is only 21 and was and is doing amazing things at such a young age! Evgeni Malkin is almost as good and just as young! The Penguins are unbeatable!"

We've seen this disproven this year, if not enough the year before. Yet despite the losses of Malone, Roberts, and Hossa (I know I'm missing somebody else too), I consistently see Penguins top the east in multiple preseason power rankings and are listed as favorites to win the Stanley Cup or President's trophy far more often than they should be.

Don't get me wrong, I understand that Malkin and Crosby are both elite players that can work wonders for a team, but enough is enough. Some fans of the game need to understand that there's a limit to what 2 players can do.

A far too large chunk of people whom I talk to or see talking about hockey bring up Malkin, Crosby, and Ovechkin as players that will make a big impact once more. Names that seem to be fading amongst this are Iginla, Thornton, Alfredsson, and more among the masses of "fans" that only seem to know "Crosby and Malkin are good and really young, so they're unbeatable!"

The Pens, due to these players, still in top favorites to win the Cup is something I see too much, despite the facts that:

The losses of Malone and Roberts lost some grit for the Pens and Hossa was a huge scoring punch...

The Habs are looking just as good as last season....

The Sharks beefed up on defense....

The Wings have virtually the same roster as their Cup team that SMASHED the Pens in the first 2 games, plus Hossa for a potential 40 goal guy....

The Stars are still just as elite as before...

...and more!

Seriously, am I the only one who's grown absolutely sick of this?

Answer 1

I saw your disclaimer and yes Malkin and Crosby are elite players but they are only part of the reason the Penguins will stay in the top part of the east.  Yes Montreal should be a decent team but it pains me to say this since I want new jersey to help keep the rangers and flyers down but new jersey has slipped a lot.  Ottawa is falling fast as well.  The rangers look like they may take a few steps back.  Maybe the flyers might as well.  So besides montreal and pittsburgh who else could be at the top well maybe washington.  I know they won the pathetic south east which isn't saying much but they have a lot of young talent too.  Tampa bay I see as a contender but not this year.  So yes malkin and crosby are part of the reason but you are forgetting staal as a great defensive minded forward, like madden of the past, fleury a great young net minder, I believe satan and fedentenko have something to offer, a great young defense especially with the great long signing of orpik, whitney, gonchar, eaton should be healthy hopefully, plus young players like talbot, kennedy, taffe, etc.  

Answer 2

As a Pens fan, i can understand where you are coming from...

But i'm not a Pens fan that thinks that Crosby and Malkin are unbeatable. They are human. They are NOT good at everything, they make mistakes and there ARE people that are better at them at certain skills, and i KNOW that. But that doesn't take away the fact that they are awesome in general! lol

& yes, Sidney Crosby HAS accomplished many tasks at his young age.. that many will never accomplish; or will accomplish at a much older age.. But i don't understand why you can say that isn't true because... if i read correctly and took it the right way: because, they got so close to the SC & lost? that's bull.

Answer 3

wait, wats the question?????????

Answer 4

I think they do get all the "oh they are so young and blah blah blah" but they are really talented. Yes we did lose several great players ( you forgot Ruutu) but we also gained some new guys. Their age has nothing to do with how they lead the team because Roberts (besides when he was hurt) played awesome for being in his 40's.

Answer 5

ok i don't even know the question but yahh malkin & crosby are great players. glad to have them on one of my favorite teams the pens. :) i think they can win the stanley cup within the next few years. you never know, maybe they will be back in the finals again next year. i'm hoping for my sharks to play my penguins in the finals. i was really hoping for that this past year but nooo the sharks let me down again. :( the sharks probably would have won though but since the sharks are my #1 favorite team that would have made me happy. but then again maybe i don't want to see them play each other for the stanley cup. i mean goshh whenever they play each other in the regular season, it's already hard enough, so just imagine how i'm going to feel if they have to play each other in the stanley cup finals.

ok enough of me rambling hahaha.

Answer 6

dude the pens have great players in crosby, malkin, staal, sykora, pessonen (led the swedish elite league in scoring last year), Satan (will have a better season playing on a better team with a center like crosby or malkin), whitney has tons of potential and hes pretty good, gonchar, letang who will be amazing in a couple of years, fleury will be in the allstar game this year or next year thats why their in the stanley cup and presidents trophy conversation plus those who say the the pens dont have a good d are out of their mind orpik, gonchar, whitney, letang thats a good d but whitney orpik and letang have to develope next year will be a great year for them

Answer 7

I think most people have, and I'm not sure that either Malkin or Crosby are in the top 3 in the game.  I'm also not sure that I would put Pittsburgh in the top 3 in the EAST, let alone in the league.  They lost a lot of guys that had build decent chemistry with the team, and lost a valuable back up in Ty Conklin.  I think after this season a lot of people have realized that it is nowhere near impossible to shut Crosby and Malkin down (at least in the playoffs), but a lot of "fans" are still brainwashed and under the impression that Crosby is the next Gretzky.  Both players have a lot of maturing to go still.  They are really young like everybody says, and they proved that in the Cup finals.  They need a couple more seasons under their belts before they can take what remains of the Pens deep into the playoffs again.  Hossa seemed to be the only one to show up in the SCF for them.

Answer 8

The NHL is trying to expand the popularity of Hockey by creating celebrities from it's younger players. (ie. Golf, w/ Tiger Woods). Thus you keep being bombarded in the media with names like Ovechkin, Crosby and Malkin... the young rising Superstars of the sport (there are other players like Iginla and Alfredsson that are as good, but they're older, so they do not get the same attention given to them). There is rather a large gap in offensive talent, between those 3 and other players of the same age.

Regarding their chances at the playoffs, I don't see that happening without changes to Pittsburghs defense. Gonchar is good at scoring and moving the puck but overall the Pittsburgh defense lacks defensive talent. Your offense cannot score, if you cannot keep the puck out of your own Zone, as was the problem versus Detroit in the playoffs. It will not be the offense in my opinion that determines whether they win or lose...

Answer 9

Well I'm a Pens fan so I can't say I'm getting sick of it, but obviously I'm a little biased :P

But honestly, trying to be as unbiased as possible, you can't dispute that Crosby and Malkin are doing great things.  Sid won the Hart trophy last year, and Malkin was a finalist this year.  And you obviously can't dispute their ages.  Those other players you listed are all phenomenal as well, but they're not as young.

Losing Hossa isn't going to help the Pens, but keep in mind they were doing VERY well last year before Hossa even came over from Atlanta.

I'm not guaranteeing a Cup or anything, but you can't deny that the Pens have 2 of the most talented players in the game and a very good supporting cast for them, which makes them a contender whether you like to hear about it or not.

Answer 10

Another hater. I guess this goes to show that even some know it alls dont know much about the Pens or you would realize that they did just fine before Hossa, Roberts barely played last year, and Malone had a career year last year.  The only thing I have grown tired of is the constant whining the so called experts do about the Pens.  

Answer 11

I'm not going to say that the Pens are unbeatable, but I can definitely see why they would be at the top of the Eastern Conference.

Losing Malone is going to hurt, but I don't think it will hurt as bad as everyone thinks.  He had a great year last year, but he has been incredibly inconsistent throughout his career.  From what I hear about Fedotenko, he is a similar player to Malone in the offensive zone.  His numbers aren't much worse than Malone's and I'm sure if he's put on a line with Malkin or Crosby those numbers will go up.

Losing Roberts sucks because he was, well, God.  But he's also 42.  He only played 49 games last season including the playoffs.  Yes, he's a beast, but replaceable.

We also lost Conklin, Ruutu, and Laraque.  Of the three, Conklin is the toughest one to replace.  Sabourin is not the goalie that Conklin is, but with some luck we won't need him to be.  Ruutu was replaced with Cooke and Laraque was replaced with Goddard.  I know Goddard isn't as good a fighter as Laraque, but I'm willing to bet he gets into a lot more fights than Laraque did.

Fleury is poised to come into his own as an elite goaltender in the NHL, if he isn't one already.

We didn't lose anyone on defense, which is as strong as I have ever seen the Penguins defense in my life

As far as losing Hossa, I don't see it as a big deal since we started out without him last season and still found a way to make the playoffs.

Saying that the Habs look just as good as last season doesn't really mean much to me.  They are the same team that got stretched to game 7 with the Bruins and got rocked by the Flyers.

I think that even though our team doesn't look as good as the team that finished last year, they look better than the team that started last year.

Answer 12

Every era of every sport has a 'great one' or a 'next one' or a 'potentially the best one ever'. Nearly every year there's a 'potential hall of famer' or 'the one who's going to change the game of' whatever. I am just old enough to remember people carping on Gretzky vs Lemieux, or just bi!ching that Gretzky or Lemieux weren't as good as... take your pick. Also the same whining about how he was/wasn't the face of hockey. Are Crosby/Malkin/Ovechkin, the next Gretzky/Lemieux/ Richard? I don't know, call me in about 15 years and I'll let you know...