Pittsburgh Penguins: Agents and Illness and Charity, Oh My!

The off-season is barely a week old and already there is almost, too much news to catch up on.

The city of Pittsburgh, and the Penguins' organization received some good news following their Stanley Cup Finals loss to the Red Wings.

For years, statistics have shown that young people are leaving Pittsburgh.

Lately, however, the youth of the city and its surrounding areas have been gathering to show a support that many thought they lacked.

Sure, the majority of ticket sales at Mellon Arena were coming from the pockets of season ticket holders and lifelong Penguin fans, but the youth made a promising stride as well.

"We noticed that there are a lot more young fans with this team," Penguins' President David Morehouse said.

The student rush program, which provided high school and college students with single tickets for $20, has been a huge success over the past three seasons.

The age of the players also has played a role in some fans taking a new liking to the Penguins.

Most of the guys on the ice are the same age, or even younger, than those people filling the stands. That establishes a different level of respect for someone very close to your own age that is performing at such a high level of competition.

On the dimmer side of things, one of the biggest mysteries of the Stanley Cup Finals was the play of Evgeni Malkin.

Malkin's performance steadily declined as the playoffs wore on, and the Post Gazette's Dave Molinari was finally able to get to the bottom of the suspicious situation.

It turns out that Malkin had been struggling with a flu-like ailment that made it hard for him to keep down food early in the Stanley Cup Final against Detroit. It’s also believed that he’s been bothered with an unknown injury sustained when he received a crushing hit from Philadelphia's Mike Richards during the Eastern Conference Finals.

Playing the first 100+ game season of his entire hockey career probably didn't help the situation much either.

Malkin suited up for every game for the Penguins during the regular season and playoffs, and let's face it, everyone gets worn down eventually.

Back to the positive side of things, the Penguins set a single-season attendance record during the 2007-08 season.

888,653 fans filled the seats at Mellon Arena during the course of 52 home dates, shattering the previous record of 847,204 by over 40,000.

Additionally, the sale of $5 tickets to fans that chose to watch road games during the playoffs on the Jumbotron inside Mellon Arena raised over $85,000 for the Mario Lemieux Foundation.

The Lemieux foundation focuses on cancer and neonatal research in Pittsburgh and the surrounding areas.

Finally, the story of the night:

Ryan Malone's agent, Mike Liut, met with Penguins' General Manager, Ray Shero, on Monday to discuss the possibility of Malone resigning with the Penguins before he becomes an unrestricted free agent on July 1.

"We don't know what the discount is. We do our homework and look at possibilities out there, see where opportunities are. But where you're playing and who you're playing with is important," Liut told the Post Gazette of the so-called ‘hometown discount.’ "The point of concentration now is: where are the Penguins and where are we? If there is a common ground, you can strike a deal."

Stay tuned for more Penguins off-season news as it develops, and as always:

Let's Go Pens.

Information and quotes taken from various Pittsburgh Post Gazette web-based articles. (Post Gazette Penguins Page)