Mad World
Budget Conscious Penguins Still Could End Season With A Bang
Aubin Will Get Chance To Prove His Worth
By Mark Madden

For the Penguins, the March 13 NHL trade deadline passed not with a bang, but with a whimper.

The Pens made three relatively meaningless deals, acquiring defenseman Bobby Dollas and goalie Johan Hedberg from San Jose, defenseman Frantisek Kucera from Columbus and winger Dan LaCouture from Edmonton. Those maneuvers, obviously, are enough to move any team closer to a championship -- in the IHL or AHL. They won't do much to increase the Penguins chances of winning a Stanley Cup, however.

It's likely that general manager Craig Patrick was limited in his wheeling and dealing by the Penguins desire to stick to their budget. That doubtless made the Penguins reluctant to acquire winger Keith Tkachuk and his $8.3 million salary from Phoenix, or even defenseman Phil Housley and his $2.5 million ticket from Calgary.

The Penguins aren't cheap -- they're paying Jaromir Jagr the equivalent of some countries' gross national product, for crying out loud -- but they understandably see no need to challenge the NHL record for quickest two bankruptcies.

For that, I say bravo. Ex-owner Howard Baldwin tried his best to win every year, borrowing against tomorrow for success today. He also had the team within a whisker of moving to Oregon. It's possible to be competitive and fiscally prudent, and the Penguins are commendably walking that fine line.

Patrick also should be congratulated for not trading young center Milan Kraft, seemingly the object of every opposition GM's desire. There's a lot to be said for winning a Cup while Lemieux is playing, sure. But there's also much to be said for being competitive once Lemieux retires. Kraft will be a big part of that.

As for the Penguins chances this year, they still have Jagr, Mario Lemieux and Alexei Kovalev, three of the best 10 forwards in the league. Teams rarely use a philosophy of "all offense, all the time" en route to the big silver mug, but it should be a lot of fun watching the Pens try to be the exception to that rule.

The offense is great. The defense is subpar, especially in front of their own net where their super-soft brand of passive resistance makes Gandhi look like Son of Sam.

As for the goaltending, I was happy when the Penguins didn't scrape the bottom of some other team's puck-stopping barrel for a jabroni like John Vanbiesbrouck or Trevor Kidd (Mike Dunham would have been a different story, however). I'm glad to see Jean-Sebastien Aubin get a chance to be the man in the post-season.

As I've said on many occasions, the main flaw with the Penguins organization is that it doesn't know how to develop young players. Why draft talented forwards like Aleksey Morozov and Robert Dome if they're never going to get a legitimate shot to play on one of the top two lines? Why take defenseman like Michal Rozsival and Josef Melichar if you're going to keep playing IHL retreads ahead of them?

And why have J-S Aubin hang around if you're going to turn to a veteran goalie at every moment of peril, perceived or otherwise?

I think Aubin will succeed. He's been through a lot, namely constantly driving back and forth between Pittsburgh and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and being abused by Tom Barrasso last season, enduring a contract dispute this past off-season, and having to deal with the non-support of his teammates this season. Aubin has a penchant for explaining every goal to the media like it's not his fault, a tendency that drives some of his fellow Penguins batty.

You tolerated it when Barrasso did it, guys. Learn to live with this kid doing it, too. At least Aubin won't run and hide when the going gets tough.

I believe Aubin has character. We'll find out for sure in the post-season. I know he has the skill. We'll see if he has the cool to function in tight spots.

For the Pens, the trade deadline passed without a bang.

But maybe the season can still end with one.

Mark Madden hosts "The Mark Madden Show" weeknights from 4-8 on ESPN Radio 1250, Pittsburgh.