Thanks to the shootout wins by the Buffalo Sabres and Florida Panthers on Friday night, the Pittsburgh Penguins enter their game in Toronto on Saturday five points out of the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. It's pretty much a must-win game for the Penguins, and thankfully, they'll be getting some fresh bodies in Sergei Gonchar and Ruslan Fedotenko. Gonchar has missed the entire season to this point thanks to a shoulder injury suffered in the preseason. He's been the light at the end of the tunnel for Penguins fans, hoping he can return to the lineup and instantly boost a dormant power play unit. Probably not that simple, but, hey, let's hear it for hope!
As we've already pointed out, without Gonchar manning the point on the power play, the Penguins have gone from a top-five unit with the man advantage to the No. 24 team in the league. While it's nice to think he's just going to ride in on a white horse and instantly turn this ship around, it's probably not going to work out that way. At least not right away. Still, having him in the lineup should be, if nothing else, a slight boost to a team that needs a major boost for the stretch run.
While Gonchar is the big name back in the lineup on Saturday, Fedotenko's return should help as well, seeing as how he was playing his best hockey of the season before breaking his hand on Colby Armstrong's nose.
With the trade deadline just about three weeks away, rumors are flying, and one of the big ones has been the possibility of Martin St. Louis heading to Pittsburgh for a package that might include, among others, defenseman Ryan Whitney.
On Friday, Greg Wyshynski pointed out how some folks in the Tampa Bay media are overvaluing the type of return St. Louis could bring, as they're expecting Whitney, Jordan Staal and more from Pittsburgh. Yeah, that's pretty crazy. Unfortunately, it's not the worst trade proposal I've heard recently.
Reports out of Pittsburgh are that Whitney, 25, is indeed on the trade block in the never-ending quest to add a top-line winger to the team. On Friday afternoon, a Pittsburgh talk show host made a remark about how you don't trade future Norris Trophy winners for 33-year-old forwards like St. Louis.
I agree. Except, I'm not sure what that has to do with Whitney. We're not exactly talking about Mike Green here. Beyond that, the Penguins wouldn't even be able to get St. Louis for Whitney straight up. They would almost certainly have to add more (though, not quite Jordan Staal -- and then some! -- more). Still, if the Penguins have any shot at getting St. Louis (assuming he would waive his no-trade clause) for a package that is headlined by Whitney, they should be all over it.
Sure, St. Louis is 33, but he's still a point-per-game player and is signed through 2011 at a salary that is nearly identical to Whitney's. Plus, with Kris Letang (21) and Alex Goligoski (23) it's not like the Penguins have a shortage of young, up-and-coming offensive-minded defenseman in the orginization that they can't afford to part with Whitney.
