The New Dynasty
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The New Dynasty (written for Hockeyleaks.com)
The New Dynasty Marc Valeri Hockeyleaks.com February 14th, 2007
Some say that, with the new NHL, there will never be another one.....And there may not be. But, if there is a new 1980’s Oilers team that dominates an entire decade, then these Pittsburgh Penguins are going to be the team that does it.
The Pittsburgh Penguins of today and the Oilers of the 80’s were both cored around a bunch of teenagers that were on a team that was rebuilding. The 80’s Oilers, literally, re-wrote the record books, guided by possibly the greatest player to ever lace on skates (not in my opinion, at least) in Wayne Gretzky, followed by the likes of Mark Messier, Jari Kurri, and Grant Fuhr, among others. The Penguins, at the moment, are guided by young phenom Sidney Crosby, followed by Evgeni Malkin, Jordan Staal, and Marc-Andre Fleury.
As of right now, nothing drastically huge been accomplished by the Penguins as a team – so far, everything has been done by Sid the Kid in terms of what he has done as a rookie. The Penguins, as a franchise though, rose from 15th in the East (29th in the NHL, and four straight seasons where they finished in the basement of the Atlantic) to 4th in the East (10th in the NHL), and have become very serious competitors for Lord Stanley’s Cup.
There is no more “Super Mario” in Mario Lemieux. These are the big boys that are leading the NHL out of the lockout and into the future. Fleury (1st overall in 2003), Malkin (1st overall in 2004), Crosby (1st overall in 2005), and Staal (1st overall in 2006) have all proven to be excellent picks, and I doubt that Pens GM Ray Shero is adding these guys to his list of regrets.
The Penguins, although they may not be the next dynasty, are headed in the direction at the moment, and definitely have the team chemistry and the right players to get it done. A core of young guns playing a game designed to reward speed and intelligence rather than brute force and power can lead to good things; they have plenty of role players on the team, as well as other youngsters, that can provide when called upon: Mark Recchi, Sergei Gonchar, Ryan Whitney, Colby Armstrong, and Michel Oullet, among many others.
At age 19, Sidney Crosby is already looking like a beast. He possesses a great sense of the ice, and knows where to be at all times and where the puck is being played without being directly involved in the play. With the new lockout, as I mentioned earlier, rewards speed, and I’m sure that, even if you don’t watch hockey often, you have seen this kid split defenders like a fat kid in a small pair of jeans. Crosby is currently leading the league in assists, and if he keeps dropping dimes at this rate, he’s going to be off the charts when his career is said and done. Crosby really has two problems that will be fixed over time; one, he does whine and dive quite a bit. Over time, he will realize that refs will not put him on an elevated platform because of the hype surrounding him, and that in order to play at his level, he is going to have take more pain (a lot of calls he doesn’t get going his way are pretty bad, and I think it is due to inconsistent refereeing – see my “Sid the Kid vs. Alexander the Great” article for more). The second, which I have found by watching quite a few Pens games (I live in Toronto), is that he feels that he needs to pass unless he has a clear cut shot at scoring a goal. Again, with time, he will shoot more, and already scores a lot in comparison to the number of shots he takes.
Evgeni Malkin, the man who almost had to do a “Bourne Identity” storyline to play with the Pens, has not disappointed. His 6’3” frame is great, and once he gains some weight (he’s 186), he is really going to be bossing people around the boards. I have heard many comparisons of Malkin to guys like Lecavalier, Sundin, and others; I, however, see him as a Lecavalier type player more than Sundin, simply because of the way he plays – I can’t really explain it in words. Like Crosby, Malkin is the complete package, and is a shoo-in to get the Calder Memorial for Rookie of the Year – if he doesn’t, there is something wrong with the NHL.
Jordan Staal was almost let go back to the minors at the beginning of the year – the Pens had a limited amount of time to see how he played before signing him to a contract, and as we can clearly see, he is NHL ready. I am becoming a big fan of the third NHL Staal, simply because of his blue-collar work ethic and his aggressiveness in the corners, with and without the puck. And as you all probably know by now, I am a fan of good penalty killing, and Staal excels in that category. I’ve noticed that when Staal shoots, unlike Alex Ovechkin, the puck goes in – a lot. Staal has a 28% shooting efficiency rate – he’s 23 for 82. Wow. WOW.
Last, but not least, comes probably the least dominating Penguin that could become the cornerstone of the next NHL dynasty – Marc-Andre Fleury. Fleury is a great net minder who gets better with every game, I just find him too inconsistent and too unfriendly to pressure. Hopefully, for the Pens sake, Fleury is able to better perform come crunch time, as this will become a great skill to have when the Pens reach the playoffs this year. Considering that Fleury is in his second NHL season, playing basically one and a half in the AHL, Fleury has been doing alright given his amount of experience. He has improved vastly from the guy who was a coin flip away from letting in one goal or letting in four. Again, it is going to come down to consistency.
Will they be the next NHL dynasty? Will there ever be another NHL dynasty, considering the lockout and salary cap were put into place to prevent teams from running decades of hockey? I don’t know – it’s their first year together, and from what I’ve seen to date, it looks very possible. Will they be Gretzky and company? Maybe. Probably not, but maybe. I think that, if the Pens become a true NHL dynasty, it would be truly impressive – getting around the salary cap by taking low paychecks in order to keep the core around, having to deal with a faster, more up-tempo style of hockey, and having players become bigger, stronger, and faster biologically.
Possibly joining the Canadiens of the 50’s, the Habs and Isles of the late 70’s and early 80’s, the late 90’s and early 21st century Red Wings, and the 90’s Devils (I think so, no?), plus the many others that I have left out, the Penguins have the best chance to join that list of championship caliber teams (to be honest, I think that the Pens should win one before the word ‘dynasty’ gets thrown around, but it’s fun thinking of what could be).
This is all, of course, assuming that the big four in Pittsburgh stay together. And injuries – those aren’t good.
