Patience is a Virtue

"Patience is a virtue, but not one of mine," my best friend frequently says. Fortunately, my best friend, bless her heart, is not a diehard Penguins fan like me. Because during the 2006-07 season, Penguins fans are going to have to internalize the belief that patience is a virtue.

I’ve already explained why I believe patience is going to be necessary when it comes to Evgeni Malkin, but frankly, Malkin is not the only player on this team with whom fans and coaches alike are going to need to have patience. Sidney Crosby, phenomenal as he was last season and still is, remains a kid. Hopefully Crosby gets his "yapping" at officials under better control this season, but there are going to be occasions (hopefully very few) when the fact that Crosby is nineteen will supersede his incredible talent.

Even more so than Crosby and Malkin, however, are the young defensemen the Penguins will presumably have playing top 4 or top 6 minutes this year. Unfortunately, whether fans or coaches like it or not, the only way young NHL defensemen learn how to play defense in the NHL is by playing defense in the NHL. Knowing that mistakes are going to be made and then learned from, coaches have got to put the young defensemen on the ice and just let them learn by playing the game. Given that the Penguins do not have a Chris Pronger or Scott Niedermayer to pair with their young defensemen and to help cover up youthful errors, well, the inexperience of our defensemen will be put on display mostly every night until our defensemen gain enough experience to know the right play and how to execute the play. And watching that while screaming at the TV about how that’s been the third time in as many games that a defenseman got beat because he’s not as strong on the puck as a forward isn’t going to make that defenseman gain strength any quicker. Like it or not, Pens fans are going to have to be patient.

Oh, and on that patient bit? Ask Hartford Whalers fans (any still remaining) and St. Louis Blues fans how long it took Chris Pronger to become Chris Pronger. Heck, even ask Glen Sather to remind you that it took him half a season to convince Paul Coffey (yes, the Hall of Famer who later starred for the Penguins) to rush the puck up the ice. Ask any coach who’s had to coach a young, talented defenseman, and ask that coach if the player really put it altogether in his first or second season—and the answer is generally going to be, Not yet.

That doesn’t mean coaches need to tolerate repeated mistakes, and it doesn’t mean fans should back off all criticism of young players. It just means be aware of what you’re getting. When it comes to Ryan Whitney and Noah Welch, you’re getting young, talented defensemen. Are they talented enough? What’s their talent level really like; what’s their career going to look like?

The answers to those questions are "We don’t know yet." And in the midst of beginning to discover those answers in the 2006-07 season, the truth of rooting for a talented but very young team remains:

Patience is a virtue.