Stars brighten future
PITTSBURGH — His stick handling is better than the Pittsburgh Penguins expected, so is his ability to shed defenders and gain open ice to set up plays. They haven't seen anything like good-as-advertised young Russian Evgeni Malkin since ...
Since, well, when Sidney Crosby arrived last year.
Offensive talents such as the 19-year-old Crosby and 20-year-old Malkin generally come along only every decade or so, yet the Penguins have been bad enough long enough to have drafted two of them in three years.
To retired star and team owner Mario Lemieux's thinking, it means a streak of four consecutive last-place finishes by the once-good club should end soon.
As soon, of course, as Malkin gets over the dislocated shoulder than occurred barely minutes into his NHL exhibition debut Sept. 20 and may sideline him for up to a month. The Penguins are counting the minutes until he returns, and are certain he will be worth the wait.
Their initial look at him lasted barely a period, but it was long enough to tell them he is as good as they have expected. And that's very, very good.
"We've been lucky over the years to get some great players in Pittsburgh," said Lemieux, referring not only to himself but scorers such as Jaromir Jagr and Ron Francis. "We have two great ones here with Sid and Malkin. It's going to be very exciting around here for the next 10 or 15 years."
Malkin brought some intrigue, as well as excitement, this summer when the Olympic star sneaked away from his Russian pro team upon its arrival in Helsinki for training camp, disappeared for a few days, then reappeared in Los Angeles with his agents.
It was reminiscent of the clandestine maneuvers former Soviet stars Sergei Fedorov and Alexander Mogilny once used to evade their teams and reach the NHL — with Mogilny sneaking out of Germany in the trunk of a car. Malkin's camouflaged defection to the NHL illustrates his desire to play in North America, and not in another year or two.
"To tell the truth, it was always my dream to come here to play despite everything that was going on," said Malkin, the leading scorer for his Russian Super League Metallurg Magnitogorsk team a season ago at age 19. "I was always open about my desire to come to North America and be part of the best here."
To Crosby, whose NHL debut last season was better than expected as he scored 102 points as an 18-year-old, it told him all he needs to know about his new teammate.
"It's a pretty amazing story," Crosby said. "He showed a lot of guts to go through that and come over here. ... For anyone who has a dream to play and the passion to play, this is the league you want to be in. You'll do whatever it takes and take those risks to get here."
After seeing Malkin for only a few days during a Penguins training camp that so far has extended into two countries and three sites, coach Michel Therrien said, "Malkin's ready — by far."
When the Penguins finally get Crosby and Malkin together, they're unlikely to play them together except on the power play. They figure to be what may be the NHL's best 1-2 center combination since Peter Forsberg and Joe Sakic in Colorado because each can make those around him better.
Some early proof: Nearly every Penguins player was deep in the red in plus-minus a season ago, yet Colby Armstrong — a Crosby linemate much of the second half of the season — was a plus-15. The 5-foot-11, 195-pound Crosby looks even bigger and stronger than he was a year ago, when his lower-body strength made him difficult to knock off the puck.
The question is how far Malkin and Crosby can lift a team that has been buried in the NHL Atlantic Division cellar for four seasons.
The Penguins have a few veterans to provide direction — Mark Recchi, John LeClair, Sergei Gonchar — yet they were largely the same players being counted on for the same role when the Penguins lost their first nine games last season.
However, Crosby and Malkin are playmakers rather than pure shooters — more Mike Modano than Brett Hull, for example — with individual moves unique to each. The Penguins' Web page, for days, loaded with a scene of Malkin scoring a goal while flying through the air at this year's world championships.
"If we're both at our best and both lines are at their best, we're going to be tough," Crosby said. "It's always hard to play against teams who have a different couple of lines who can play against you. We're going to be a deeper team and a harder team to play against."
