Oh, yeah, My team.....


Speaking of my team, Ray Shero seems intent on building a team. The Penguins will have two former Harvard captains on their team this year, so at the very least, we’re acquiring some of the most educated players in the NHL, if nothing else.

Likewise, Shero seems intent on bringing in players to play different roles. He obviously knows he has a young core to build around (if Malkin can ever get signed, for the longer that situation drags out, the worse I feel about the upcoming season). Yet he also knows a team needs to be a team—and not every player need be a star, and some players have different skill sets that are used differently.

Of course, one might say, "Duh!" But for fans of the Penguins over the past fifteen years, it’s important to note that we loved our stars. We first watched Lemieux, then Jagr, and now Crosby. We really don’t know what it’s like not to have one of the best players in the league suited up in our sweater. We get caught up in what our stars can do. Sure, we fondly remember our championship teams, and some of the"role players" on our championship teams had once been first-round draft picks. We still have fond memories of those guys and have heard them doing color commentary and such on the radio and TV. We know that role players are important, but I feel it’s important to note that Penguins fans, particularly those my age, grew up spoiled rotten and rooting for stars.

Ray Shero can check the videotapes of the early and even mid-nineties to see Penguins teams that would be well-suited to play in the new NHL of the past year. Of course at age eight I watched Lemieux, Francis, Mullen, Trottier, Coffey, Recchi, Stevens, Murphy, and a young Jagr, but even when I was thirteen I was watching still watching Lemieux, Francis, Jagr, and Sergei Zubov star. I remember the stars, fondly, of course, but I remember them because the teams on which they starred won.

So, I know Ray Shero’s concern is to build a team that can eventually contend, and I applaud that being his primary concern. But while Shero focuses on building a team, a little advice for fans like me so spoiled by stars—as you build a team, make sure you’re building a winner.

Even fans spoiled (who’ve only recently realized how spoiled they were) by years of watching superstar after superstar after superstar—we’ve cheered for stars, but we cheer hardest when the team wins.