Crosby is out for the all star game, and won't be back until sometime in February at the earliest. He still has headaches and nausea from his being cheap shotted, er, checked in the Classic and the next game against Tampa.
Malkin is out until after the all-star game as well, and probably longer than Sid. They want to give his knee time to heal, as they feel he's been rushed back too quickly both times he's had this problem this season. Hate to admit this, but personally, I'd love to see them trade Geno for some more balance on the front lines. Although with Jordan coming back and playing very well now these last few games since he's gotten into game shape, perhaps that will even things out a bit.

yeah, i love malkin, but his liabilities almost cancel out his assets.  he's a great talent, but that $9M could go towards two pretty decent snipers to play with cid that maybe don't have the same defensive problems and play a 100%+ every game.  :>

As I've said before, the team that gets the best player almost always wins a trade.  Even if you found a trade partner with a) the cap room, b)willing to part with the talent needed to make it a good trade for the Pens, and c) willing to risk those asset-cancelling liabilities, you may end up regretting trading him away in the long run.

Shero is a smart cookie.  He's had a plan to fill out the roster around his great centers and bolstered blueline.  But the plan may have to change as those centers contracts start running out of time.

I totally agree with that statement about the best player winning the trade kid, but Geno has been a disappointment for the last few seasons. This year, while still playing ok defensively, I've never seen so many turnovers from one player per game in my life. He either goes 1 on 3 coming down the center, or he makes those blind cross ice or drop passes at the blue line that lead to an odd man rush the other way. I'm honestly starting to think he is stuck in Sid's shadow and isn't going to get out from it without a trade. Look at him on faceoffs. He doesn't even try to win them. What is he, like 38% or something? I guess we are just so blessed with Sid and his desire to become the best the way he works on his game, it's frustrating to see Geno with all his talent act like he would rather be at home drinking some Russian Vodka. I'd love to see us get a young sniper, a high draft pick or two, and a veteran wniger. That would still free up about $3 million or so, thus helping in the long run with the cap.

If I could sit down and talk over personnel with Shero, I'd want to know what his plan is for Talbot, Kennedy, Letestu and Jeffrey.  If they feel that two from that group can anchor the 3rd and 4th lines for the next few years, and do so with cap-friendly contracts, that certainly would give the team more flexibility to try to move Malkin for a top-line winger and roll with Crosby at C1 and Stall at C2.

Nice gritty comeback win tonight for the good guys. Had to laugh though, as Prust deserves the Acadamy Award for best acting for going down and drawing the match penalty against Staal.

Usually when you take a punch like that you fall in the direction the punch was going, not towards it. should have been 2 min roughing 2 min diving

GREAT puch by Johnson on DiPietro tonight! Great to see Johnson sticking up for his teammates like that! Too bad he had to share the shutout though with MAF!

Doesn't look good for Geno

I'm starting to think he and Crosby might both be done for the year.

I heard last night that Crosby is on LTIR and went home to spend a few days with his folks.  Still not doing anything other than light skating.

that hurts.  with all the injuries this season, it's almost amazing that the pens are still only a point out of first in the east.  :>

It's a testament to Shero and Bylsma (as well as Granato and Reirden) that there hasn't been a huge dropoff in W/L.

But it's going to catch up to them soon.

yeah.  it'll probably catch up to them, but maybe not.  they have a pretty strong team overall, and if they can continue to play as a team, they may continue to win.   and then when crosby finally comes back, they'll win big.  heh.

when calgary was doing poorly, i was thinking it would have been cool to trade iginla and backlund (one of their only young assets) to the pens for malkin.  with malkin gone for the season, it might actually have been something the pens would have considered.  but calgary somehow started winning, and now likely won't want to trade iginla away.