Questions Remain

For all that I love my Penguins, I cannot believe that they are a favorite to win the Stanley Cup this spring. I can’t even believe the team is guaranteed a playoff spot for several reasons:

∑ Will the goaltending be strong enough? With the stress of tight games with playoff implications, do we get "money" goaltending when it most matters?


∑ For all I love the Penguins’ offensive depth, the lack of defensive depth hurts. Save for Whitney and Gonchar’s offensive prowess, the remainder of the Penguins’ defenseman are not exactly stalwarts (and Whitney and Gonchar aren’t defensive stalwarts). The Penguins still lack the reliable, big-time shut down defender.


∑ While I never want to see injuries happen, what happens if an injury occurs to a player who is not easily replaced? Does the team have enough of the right kind of depth to overcome such an injury?

∑ Can the superstars and stars still do their thing amidst tighter checking and more specific game plans? W ill they be able to make adjustments, or we will have to endure watching them learn how to make adjustments and more often than not, being unsuccessful in those immediate adjustments?

∑ What factor does inexperience play? Does the inexperience of the kids matter when it comes to these tight one goal games? Does inexperience rear its’ ugly head for bad or can inexperienced ignorance actually be used as a propellant to great good, as in, "Well, we didn’t know we were supposed to go through this whole process of losing before we won" ?
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