PSR Showdown
Are The Pens Stanley Cup Contenders?

Not Yet
By Rob Rossi
Pittsburgh Tribune Review

Sorry, Sidney Crosby, but you will have to wait another year before taking a skate with Lord Stanley's cherished chalice. Maybe next year, and for many years to follow; this season, though, your Penguins will fall short.

If Crosby is healthy, the Penguins will return to the playoffs. However, the key to these Penguins making a legit run at the Stanley Cup falls on the shoulders of two players: goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury and veteran defenseman Darryl Sydor.

Yeah, it would be nice if Evgeni Malkin and Mark Recchi did not disappear down the stretch and turned in solid playoff performances. Sure, it would help if Erik Christensen and Ryan Malone played to their potential. And there would be cause for celebration if Sergei Gonchar did not start slow (as is his custom), and Petr Sykora provided Crosby with a legitimate scoring option as a top-line winger.

Still, even if all that happens, playoff success will come down to Fleury and Sydor.

Fleury won 40 games last season. He was good in two of the five games against Ottawa in the playoffs. He was great in the Penguins' lone win in that series. However, for this team to challenge for the Eastern Conference title, Fleury has to at least match the level of play that Ottawa's Ray Emery provided in the playoffs. For the Penguins to win the Cup, he will have to prove the equal of stellar Eastern goalies such as New Jersey's Martin Brodeur and the New York Ranger's Henrik Lundqvist.

Even if he is up to the challenge, his defense is not.

That is where Sydor must be worth his $2.5 million contract. A four-time Cup finalist and two-time winner, Sydor is a sure upgrade on the blueline. He will play physical and smart, but whether that is enough for him to elevate a defense corps that was humiliated by bigger and faster Ottawa forwards in the playoffs - well, we will see. The Penguins enter this season hoping that a prospect, Kris Letang, can significantly contribute as a top-six defenseman. How many Cup-winning teams have said that?

Not many.

The Penguins will have many glory days in the future. This season, though, they will not play much beyond the first week of May.

Rob Rossi covers the Penguins for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.