2006-07 record: 47-24-11, 105 points.  2^nd in division/4^th in conference.  Lost in first round to Ottawa Senators.

Coach: Michel Therrien (3^rd season)

General Manager: Ray Shero (2^nd season)

Home arena: Mellon Arena

Capacity: 17,537

The Penguins had a major turnaround last season going from the 29^th worst club in 2005-06 to making the playoffs and bettering their record last season by 47 points.  Owner Mario Lemieux was heard singing “The future’s so bright, I gotta wear shades” as youngsters Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Jordan Staal, Ryan Whitney and Marc-Andre Fleury played to their potential.  The Pens have a good mix of young players as well as seasoned veterans such as Mark Recchi, Sergei Gonchar and Gary Roberts, so it is safe to assume that the club will be in the playoff hunt for a while, and with a new arena deal in place to keep the team in Pittsburgh, Pens fans will enjoy it for a long time.

Coach Michel Therrien has done an admirable job working the youngsters into the mix and preaching a defensive responsibility philosophy.  It seems to have worked, as the Penguins had a goals-scored/goals-against ratio of +31.  The powerplay was awesome, finishing 5^th best in the league but the penalty-killing left a lot to be desired.  Even though Staal led the NHL with seven shorthanded goals and the Pens collectively scored 14, the PK finished ranked 17^th in the league.

Forwards

Look across the top of the scoring categories and all you see are Penguins.  Crosby led the league in scoring with 120 points and cleaned up the post-season awards, winning the Hart Trophy for league MVP, the Lester B. Pearson Trophy for league MVP (as voted on by the players) and the Art Ross Trophy for the league’s leading scorer. Malkin led all rookies with 85 points and finished 18^th in league scoring, capturing the Calder Trophy.  The Pens finished with eight forwards that had better than 30 points and four forwards that were in double figures in powerplay goals.  There are many fantasy studs on the team: Staal was a nice surprise and finished with 29 goals, Eric Christensen scored 33 points in 61 games and Recchi took full advantage of playing with The Kid, finishing with 24 goals and 68 points.  Michel Ouellet, who notched 19 goals and finished with 48 points, has gone to Tampa Bay and been replaced by Petr Sykora.  Sykora should excel if he plays on Crosby’s line.   Little should change this season as both Recchi and Roberts have been signed and the Pens replaced Ouellet with Sykora.

Defence

The Pens have one of the league’s best 1-2 scoring punches on the backline in Gonchar and Whitney.  Say what you will about Gonchar’s defensive lapses—the guy averaged 26.5 minutes of ice time per game last season and finished second in defensive scoring with 67 points.  He had 38 assists on the powerplay to go along with 10 goals and is a prime fantasy selection.  Whitney has learned much from watching Gonchar and pitched in with 59 points—33 of them on the powerplay.  After the top two, the remaining defencemen such as Darryl Sydor, Alain Nesreddin, Rob Scuderi and Brooks Orpik concentrate on defence.  Kris Letang is waiting in the wings in the minors and can add additional offensive punch this season on the blueline if he makes the cut.

Goaltending

Fleury had a superb year between the pipes.  He finished with 40 wins, 5 shutouts, a .906 save percentage and a 2.83 GAA.  He played his angles extremely well and should top the 40-win mark this season.  Ty Conklin will battle with Dany Sabourin to serve as Fleury’s backup.  Neither will see much action.

Outlook