Oh, But….

While I say that Crosby and Malkin will probably be impossible to shut down one day, I recall that the Florida Panthers managed to do just that to Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr in 1996—the year (aside from 1993) that leaves the worst taste in my mouth from all the Pens’ playoff losses in the nineties.

Yet the new NHL, the way the rulebook is actually enforced, the way Jaromir Jagr now thinks teams will seek to emulate the speed and skill of the Buffalo Sabres rather than the 10-year-old trap of the New Jersey Devils, I think the new NHL will make it that much harder to shut down Malkin and Crosby.

Kind of makes the nostalgic part of me wonder what might have been if this NHL has existed back when Jagr and Mario were still in their primes and playing for the Pens? But at least the future of the Penguins looks incredibly promising.