Word on the street is that Evgeni Malkin has been skating for at least three days now and part of that has been working with strength and conditioning coach Mike Kadar. Mike Johnston said the following about Malkin’s next step ( h/t Josh Yohe)
“The next progression would be for him to do a prepractice skate and get into at least the first four drills of a practice,…
The Penguins are off today (cue up the country club atmosphere digs) and Malkin will get his first attempt at real practice on Tuesday. Malkin may still miss the opening game but the fact he is skating without setbacks is encouraging that his return to the ice full time is much sooner than it is later.
Also from Josh Yohe’s piece is the fact that Johnston really likes the grouping of Spaling-Goc-Comeau. Expect that to be the third line if Malkin cannot go.
Some recent trades made in the Eastern Conference are sure to impact the Penguins this year. Both trades involved the Islanders and both trades are going to help out that team quite a bit. I had the Islanders as a playoff team before making the moves for Johnny Boychuk and Nick Leddy, their additions make it close to a lock. I think the Islanders are the second best team in the division now. Great forward group, solid goaltending, and now a competent defense corp. One team that is not thrilled about the Islanders wheeling and dealing are the Buffalo Sabres who hold their first round pick this year. What once looked like a potential lottery pick is now almost guaranteed to be a mid-round selection. Still a very good trade for the Sabres, but it had the potential to be an all-time great trade just months ago.
I broke down the impact Boychuk and Leddy will have on the Islanders here
The Bruins losing Boychuk should help out the Penguins. The Bruins lose a guy who played somewhat difficult minutes for them and did a good job with them. Boychuk played around 21 minutes per game on the Bruins and they are going to need somebody to step up to take those minutes. Torrey Krug has played sheltered minutes to this point in his career, will they go with him or try somebody else? One thing is for sure if the Bruins run into some injury trouble on the blue line they will struggle to remain as one of the superpowers in the East. Peter Chiarelli is finding out what Ray Shero did, money gets tight after you have to pay all of you star players.
Former Penguins defenseman Matt Niskanen could potentially be missing out on his Washington Capitals opening night debut. Niskanen caught Jeff Skinner with a forearm shiver (intentional or not) and caught him good. Skinner has a history of concussions so who knows how long he will be out (this should not play into the discipline process). The onus is on the hitter to avoid that contact and Niskanen should be suspended, question now is for how long?
Depending on how long Skinner is out this is just another reason why the Hurricanes should be considered one of the favorites for finishing dead last in the league this year.
Ken Hitchcock didn’t care for analytics, until he did:
“It took me a year and a half to get past being offended by somebody telling me to look past the visual,… Hitchcock told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “I was (angry) about analytics coming in, but now it’s changed. I see how useful it is, but I had to get past, ‘You’re telling me …’ I found it offensive when I first started. Now I use it for what it is and it’s good, but I had to get past the mental block of that.…
I have the St. Louis Blues defeating the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Stanley Cup Final this year.
Dejan Kovacevic had a really nice article on Saturday. He asked the Penguins players about possession in a well put together piece. You can find that here(potential paywall).
If you thought Mario Lemieux was ticked off at the end of last offseason just wait if the Penguins start off slow this year…
Photo was taken from yesterday’s 6.6k run and family walk to benefit the Mario Lemieux Foundation. It was also the big guy’s birthday. Happy belated birthday, Mario is now 49 years young and the big five-0 is fast approaching. I would still take a 49 year old Mario Lemieux over much of the Penguins bottom six from last year.
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