Will the Pittsburgh Penguins Express Derail Early in 2008?

Was it really only two seasons ago that the hockey world gave the Pittsburgh Penguins so little chance of making the playoffs?

Coming off a horrible season, the loss of veterans, and the re-retirement of Mario Lemieux, it looked like playoff contention might be a couple of years away for the talented-but-young next generation of Penguins.

After a slow start in 2006, the Penguins caught fire down the stretch. As the regular season wrapped up, they made the playoffs as one of the hottest teams in the Eastern Conference. Although they were rudely dispatched in the first round by an experienced and determined Ottawa Senators team that went on to the Stanley Cup Finals, the vast improvement over the previous year was downright historic.

By 2007, it was clear that the young guns had bought into Coach Michel Therrien's system and that Pittsburgh was on the rise—so much so that the fans were elbowing for room on the shiny new Penguins Bandwagon.

Ticket sales shot up—way up—the next year, leading to a first-ever waiting list for Penguins Season Tickets. The stated goal in 2007 was contending for a Cup. Once unthinkable, that goal now seemed realistic, at least to the team and its fans—even if a bit of a stretch to everyone else.

Unexpectedly perhaps, Pittsburgh stumbled out of the gate last season. The talk quickly shifted from winning the Cup to just making the playoffs. Then, when Sidney Crosby and Marc-Andre Fleury were both lost for an extended time, the mainstream thinking was that they just had to find a way to hold on to their dwindling playoff hopes until the superstars could return.

Hockey analysts concluded that the Penguins would not match the regular-season record from the year before, and suggested the playoffs might slip away.

However, Pittsburgh flourished during the next month or so, playing so well that some folks actually wondered if the return of Crosby and Fleury might disrupt that success. I would venture to say that 100 percent of coaches in the league would be willing to take that chance.

The final twist in the eventual success story of the 2007 Penguins was the last-minute acquisition of Marian Hossa to play alongside Sidney Crosby. That brilliant trade paid dividends in the playoffs, and Pittsburgh stormed through the Eastern Conference with a vengeance, only to fall in the end to the stronger and vastly more experienced Detroit Red Wings.

Even though the Pens seemed to get their feet under them after Game Two of that series, the eventual outcome was never really in doubt.

At the time, some folks questioned the Hossa deal, and when Hossa signed with the Red Wings after last season, they questioned it even more. Make no mistake—put that deal squarely in the "brilliant" bucket. Pittsburgh didn't lose anyone significant in their near-term plans except Colby Armstrong—the true cost of the deal—but how can you put a price on the experience gained rumbling through the Eastern Conference playoffs and playing for the Stanley Cup?

Simply put, the value of that experience is huge. If they learned about playoff hockey in 2007 against Ottawa, think what they learned about Stanley Cup hockey facing Detroit.

Here comes 2008-09, and with it, even higher expectations. Anything short of a Stanley Cup victory parade might be seen as a disappointment, given the rapid rise to the top for these Penguins. Last season's Stanley Cup Finals loss is still a bitter taste in the mouths of these hungry young players, and Sidney Crosby makes no effort to hide it.

So will we see a 10-0 start to this season's campaign? Doubtful. It is more likely we will see another slow start for Pittsburgh as the team shakes off the short offseason, the cross-continental travel to start the regular season, and gets used to the new faces in its lineup.

Nonetheless, the Penguins are a better team right now than they were a year ago. Not so much in personnel or talent, but in experience and motivation.

Last year, there were lingering questions about Marc-Andre Fleury, a suspect defensive corps, and as to how long it would take the team to mature into a true contender. Those questions are history, and the taste of the Stanley Cup Finals has made this team downright bloodthirsty.

Assuming a few more exceptional personnel moves during the season from general manager Ray Shero, and you have to consider Pittsburgh as the favorites to win the East again. Now that may be an easy pick right now, but let's see who sticks to that pick two months from now if the Pens stumble out of the gate.

I, for one, will stay the course, even if there happens to be considerably more legroom on the Penguins Bandwagon after a dozen games are in the books.