At 19, Sidney Crosby is the youngest to win the NHL scoring title, but even better things should in store for the start and his Penguins teammates.

PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Penguins crammed a decade's worth of improvement and uncertainty, progress and hope, accomplishment and anticipation into a single 6Z\x-month season unlike any other in their 40-year history.

But what most encourages their fans is that there may be more to come, even after a season that saw Sidney Crosby become the NHL's youngest scoring champion at age 19 and the Penguins make the playoffs after the fourth-best turnaround in league history.

It will happen in Pittsburgh, too, not Kansas City or Las Vegas or Portland, following protracted but successful negotiations to build the Penguins a new home to replace 46-year-old Mellon Arena. That deal took eight years and the franchise's near departure to accomplish.

"This is a great day for hockey," co-owner Mario Lemieux said after the arena negotiations were successfully concluded with state and local leaders March 14.

Great day? The entire season would be difficult to top, unless the Penguins had somehow won the Stanley Cup.

Given their remarkable assemblage of young talent, one that may be the NHL's best since Wayne Gretzky's early days in Edmonton, there is considerable speculation around the league they may soon be ready to accomplish that.

A season after winning 22 games, finishing last in their division for a fourth straight season and placing 29th in the 30-team overall standings, the Penguins won 47 games and ended with 105 points. It was the second-best total in their history, and they barely missed going from worst to first, losing out on the Atlantic Division title by three points.

Their first-round playoff elimination in five games by Ottawa, disappointing to the franchise but not unexpected given the Senators' vast edge in experience, may prove to be only a slight detour on their road to a championship.

"I think looking at the big picture it's a great season for this franchise, it's a huge step and we're optimistic about the future," coach Michel Therrien said after a 3-0, Game 5 loss in Ottawa on Thursday. "We learned over the course of the season about our team, about the character of our players."