In the Pitts
Don't expect much change to the Pneguins line up for next year, despite the rough post-season.
After several years of extended playoff runs, the Pittsburgh Penguins find themselves facing a longer then normal off-season.
The Season 12 WCHL champions were bounced from the opening round of the playoffs in just five games by the Montreal Canadians. It was the first time in several years the Penguins failed to move past the first round.
"It was tough to swallow for sure" said Patrick Matthews, before breaking into laughter after a fan in the background yelled "That's what she said."
It was the only laughing Matthews has done since the playoffs started. A strong finish to the regular season seen the Penguins overcome a tough first half to finish with home ice in the opening round and a 114 point season in a very tough Eastern Conference. None of that mattered in the playoffs, where the club allowed 19 goals to Montreal, getting soundly beaten in the process.
It will be interesting to see if the Penguins make any moves of significance in the off-season. On one hand they don't really need to, with a largely vetern yet still youthful team returning for next year. On the other hand, the club as always has a great influx of youth coming up from the farm, including the likes of Vyacheslav Voynov, Roman Josi, Artem Anisimov, David Savard, Matt Martin and Patrice Cormier. While only one or two will actually push for a roster spot, with there likely to be no change to the salary cap bringing up a young player or two could give Pittsburgh some flexibility to make other moves.
Sidney Crosby is expecting big things next year.
Expect Pittsburgh to push to add a veteran top four defenseman, and maybe upgrade at backup goaltender, but for the most part Pittsburgh looks set to try and overcome this hiccup of a post-season.
"We need to be ready to bring it and I think this year we got to much confidence from our finish to the regular season and from how well we've done in the past in the playoffs, esepecially the first round," noted star centre Sidney Crosby. "We can't let that happen again, it's what sunk us."
Pittsburgh really wants to have one more long run next year, as it could be the last for star forward Teemu Selanne. The Finnish stud has toyed with retirement in recent years, but would be coming back on a strong note after leading the team in scoring with 85 points, including a team high 58 assists.
"It was disappointing to go out like we did after so much hope, but we know we have the group in place to go all the way and it'll be interesting to see if we are able to build off of this," said Selanne, adding he won't make any final commitment on if he's going to retire or not until closer to training camp.
Will he be back or won't he? That's the biggest off-season question for the Penguins and Teemu Selanne.
Selanne's loss would be a big blow to Pittsburgh, and leave some serious question marks on the wings. Selanne only carries with him a cap hit of $3 million as well, meaning there won't be much cap space to fill his spot should he call it a career.
"We hope not to have to cross that bridge but if we must we will," said Matthews, adding that the club has a plethora of draft picks and prospects to use as bait.
In the meantime, the team will digest this defeat, and use the extra time off to refresh themselves for a better playoff push next year. It's likely only a matter of time before the Penguins manage to return to the top of the heap in the WCHL.
Don't expect much change to the Pneguins line up for next year, despite the rough post-season.
After several years of extended playoff runs, the Pittsburgh Penguins find themselves facing a longer then normal off-season.
The Season 12 WCHL champions were bounced from the opening round of the playoffs in just five games by the Montreal Canadians. It was the first time in several years the Penguins failed to move past the first round.
"It was tough to swallow for sure" said Patrick Matthews, before breaking into laughter after a fan in the background yelled "That's what she said."
It was the only laughing Matthews has done since the playoffs started. A strong finish to the regular season seen the Penguins overcome a tough first half to finish with home ice in the opening round and a 114 point season in a very tough Eastern Conference. None of that mattered in the playoffs, where the club allowed 19 goals to Montreal, getting soundly beaten in the process.
It will be interesting to see if the Penguins make any moves of significance in the off-season. On one hand they don't really need to, with a largely vetern yet still youthful team returning for next year. On the other hand, the club as always has a great influx of youth coming up from the farm, including the likes of Vyacheslav Voynov, Roman Josi, Artem Anisimov, David Savard, Matt Martin and Patrice Cormier. While only one or two will actually push for a roster spot, with there likely to be no change to the salary cap bringing up a young player or two could give Pittsburgh some flexibility to make other moves.
Sidney Crosby is expecting big things next year.
Expect Pittsburgh to push to add a veteran top four defenseman, and maybe upgrade at backup goaltender, but for the most part Pittsburgh looks set to try and overcome this hiccup of a post-season.
"We need to be ready to bring it and I think this year we got to much confidence from our finish to the regular season and from how well we've done in the past in the playoffs, esepecially the first round," noted star centre Sidney Crosby. "We can't let that happen again, it's what sunk us."
Pittsburgh really wants to have one more long run next year, as it could be the last for star forward Teemu Selanne. The Finnish stud has toyed with retirement in recent years, but would be coming back on a strong note after leading the team in scoring with 85 points, including a team high 58 assists.
"It was disappointing to go out like we did after so much hope, but we know we have the group in place to go all the way and it'll be interesting to see if we are able to build off of this," said Selanne, adding he won't make any final commitment on if he's going to retire or not until closer to training camp.
Will he be back or won't he? That's the biggest off-season question for the Penguins and Teemu Selanne.
Selanne's loss would be a big blow to Pittsburgh, and leave some serious question marks on the wings. Selanne only carries with him a cap hit of $3 million as well, meaning there won't be much cap space to fill his spot should he call it a career.
"We hope not to have to cross that bridge but if we must we will," said Matthews, adding that the club has a plethora of draft picks and prospects to use as bait.
In the meantime, the team will digest this defeat, and use the extra time off to refresh themselves for a better playoff push next year. It's likely only a matter of time before the Penguins manage to return to the top of the heap in the WCHL.
