Dropping The Gloves
ESPN’s Scott Burnside

ESPN.com's Scott Burnside followed the Penguins on their recent run to the Stanley Cup finals, catching every playoff game. Last month, Burnside talked with PSR's Tony DeFazio about the new hot topics on and off the ice.

TD: How did the Penguins acquit themselves in the Stanley Cup Finals?

Burnside: Well I think this is a team that is probably two or three years ahead of the curve. I think people imagined this was a team that would be a Cup contender but I don't think anyone anticipated they would become a Cup contender as quickly as they have. Obviously what they learned in losing in the first round a year ago against Ottawa; they applied that knowledge. They had very few missteps through the first three rounds, and even against a Detroit team that had much more experience and was very deep and very talented, they rebounded after getting down 2-0 in Detroit to make a very entertaining and very compelling Stanley Cup finals, one of the most compelling in recent years. I think it bodes well for the future of the franchise and speaks well to a team that became very mature very quickly.

TD: Why were they so far ahead of the curve?

Burnside: I think coaching has a lot tom do with it. I think the fact that Michael Therrien had a number of those players in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton before he became head coach in Pittsburgh helped… Comfort-zone is not the right word because he's not a coach who wants his players to be comfortable, but I think the players understood from the get-go where he was coming from. I think they bought into his systems and his schemes. If you look at the defensive strides that the team made and their special teams play, especially their penalty killing… This was a team that everyone thought was all about offense and yet it got terrific goaltending from Marc-Andre Fleury and played tremendous team defense all through the playoffs, so I think coaching has a lot to do with it.

I don't think you can underscore the impact of a player like Sidney Crosby. I know we talk about him a lot and he's covered in accolades and it's all deserved. But in terms of preparation, in terms of focus, in terms of producing at the highest level at the most important times, he really set the tone for this team. It's obvious in terms of his point production, but he was the leader in that dressing room and on the ice. The players in the dressing room take their cues from Sidney Crosby and he didn't disappoint in his first long playoff run.

TD: In the end, what separated Detroit and Pittsburgh?

Burnside: Experience. Sometimes we equate experience with how old the players are, but I think for the Red Wings, this was a team that two years ago got knocked out in the first round by the Edmonton Oilers. This is team that has gone through some playoff disappointment. This is a team that was the President's Trophy winner in the spring of 2006 and then became the first President's Trophy winner to be knocked out by a No. 8 seed. So they have had their disappointments and I think they learned from that. They were very close a year ago - a couple of unlucky bounces against Anaheim and they could have been the defending Stanley Cup champions this year. So I think the experience of guys like Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk… Niklas Kronwall I think had a breakout playoff year and was terrific in the Finals. I think the experience was there, but it's not necessarily about age, it's more about the actual experiences those guys have had that the Penguins haven't had.

TD: Are there any warning signs you've noticed as this club prepares to move forward?

Burnside: They'll face the same problems that all good, young teams face in today's NHL. How do you keep your core group together as long as possible, knowing full well you can't keep them all? I think people get confused sometimes and think that when a team goes as far as the Penguins-and the Red Wings will go through this same process too-that if you bring back that same line-up, you'll have the same results. But some amount of turnover is healthy for all hockey teams.

The Penguins are going to run into issues because they have so many good, young players. Crosby just signed an extension, Evgeni Malkin is expected to sign an extension before the start of next season. But how do you keep Jordan Staal in the fold, what to you do with Marc-Andre Fleury beyond salary arbitration? What do you do with a defense core that was underappreciated and a player like Brooks Orpik, who when he goes to the open market will command a lot of attention and a high dollar figure. So these are the problems facing Ray Shero, but they're not any different from the problems facing any other. The exception is that he probably has more top end young talent than any GM in the league, so it's going to be harder for him to keep things under the cap.

But this is not a team with a bunch of old players and now young unproven players will be forced to play their roles. The good thing for the Penguins is that their core players are so young and they simply matured quickly. They played at a high level very early on in their career, and they struck me as a hungry bunch so I don't think complacency will bet an issue.

Now there's usually a Stanley Cup final hangover - we saw it with Edmonton two years ago and with Ottawa last year, so there will be those issues to deal with. But those are not specific to this team.

TD: Did Marc-Andre Fleury answer all of his critics with his playoff performance?

Burnside: I think there will always be questions asked of goaltenders unless you are Patrick Roy or Martin Brodeur, but even those great goaltenders, if they have an off playoff year, there will always be questions - it comes with the territory. But in terms of answering the most important question-can Marc-Andre Fleury play at the highest level when the games mean the most?-he answered that question emphatically. He had very few missteps throughout the playoff run. I assume he will come to camp with the confidence knowing he can do that kind of job. His technical game has improved dramatically since he first came into the NHL. I think the Penguins have to be very happy with where they are in terms of their goaltending future.

TD: How good were the Wings?

Burnside: They were impressive not because they are talented, but because they didn't falter. When the Penguins won the improbable Game 5 in triple overtime in Detroit, a lesser team might have been rattled. To me what was so impressive about them was not just that they are talented, but that they are completely and totally committed to the system Mike Babcock put into place. There are a lot of talented teams in the NHL that never achieve what the Red Wings were able to achieve.

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