How Quickly Things Change

It is funny how quickly things can change in sports. Just a few short weeks ago I wrote how the Penguins were in great shape heading into the second half of the season and were on the short list of Stanley Cup contenders. Since then, the Penguins have lost Evgeni Malkin for the season, remain uncertain about the status of Sidney Crosby, are still without Mark Letestu and have seen Chris Kunitz, Arron Asham and Dustin Jeffrey also miss time with injuries. If you haven't been paying attention and flicked on a Penguins game you could have thought you were mistaken and put on a Wilkes-Barre Baby Penguins game - whose players seemingly make up half of the parent club's roster right now. On the ice, the Penguins took a beating on Long Island, both figuratively and literally, and followed that up with what I thought was an even worse performance against the Rangers in Madison Square Garden. The Penguins did manage to squeak out two points in overtime against the lowly Avalanche Wednesday night, only their second win in six games. You talk about a complete 180 degree turn in a short period of time?!?

That, however, is the bad news. The good news is that Penguins remain in a healthy position to make the playoffs and in fact own a six point lead over the Capitals for the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference and home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs. More importantly, however, is that all of the players except Malkin are expected back in time for a playoff run. The one question mark remains Crosby, and it is the ultimate question mark for the Penguins, but you have to imagine that he will play again this year. I know post-concussion symptoms are unpredictable but I still think that it is best to remain optimistic at this point. If and when Crosby returns, and even without Malkin, I still maintain that the Penguins have the second best line-up in the Eastern Conference behind only the Philadelphia Flyers. Throw in the advantage in goal with Marc-Andre Fleury and the Penguins are still as good as bet as anyone to come out of the East.

The other good news, and it's the only good news coming from Malkin's injury, is that happened before the NHL trade deadline next week. General Manager Ray Shero has shown that he is aggressive and adept at making trade deadline deals and unless he knows something that we don't about Crosby's status, or if he just remains a bit more skeptical about his return, I would expect Shero to be aggressive once again. You cannot replace the production of a superstar like Malkin but with the rest of the Penguins forwards, their play on the blue line and in the net, a simple upgrade on Crosby's or Staal's wing could be the difference for the Pens.

The NHL regular season is a long grind and nothing has been more evidence of that than the past few weeks for the Penguins. That long season is a good thing right now though as the Pens still have 23 more regular season games before the playoffs begin. At this point, there are many reasons to remain optimistic as a Penguins' fan. Let’s just cross our fingers for Crosby’s healthy return to the line-up because without that, nothing else will really matter.