Last season, the Pittsburgh Penguins did some amazing work being able to fight through injuries to Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin and finish fourth in the Eastern Conference. The Penguins were one point away from winning the Atlantic Division and coach Dan Bylsma was rewarded for his work in keeping the team together by winning the Jack Adams Award as coach of the year.
Despite those accolades, the Penguins still bowed out of the playoffs in the first round, losing in seven games to Tampa Bay despite taking an initial 3-1 series lead. Obviously not having Crosby and Malkin made a big difference there offensively, but after a summer that sees both of them doing their best to get back into game shape and adding Steve Sullivan to the mix, Dan Bylsma is feeling good about the upcoming season.
Bylsma tells Sam Kasan of the Penguins website that he thinks they’ll be even better next season.“I think we’re a better team now than we were at the start of the last hockey season. That’s a pretty exciting thing to think about,” said the 2011 NHL Coach of the Year. “We have to get to work and that starts in September. There is still a little bit of a waiting game. I’m looking forward cranking it up and get ready for training camp and the rest of the season.”
The Penguins have added several players at forward and defense, like Steve Sullivan, Jason Williams, Alexandre Picard and Boris Valabik, to an already impressive depth pool within the organization.
“We’ve added a lot of depth to our team with defensemen and forwards that can have an impact on our team,” Bylsma said. “As last year was an indication, injuries always play a part, and we’re going to need these players to play a role on our team.
The Penguins additions in the offseason aren’t name-grabbing types of guys, but getting healthy Crosby and Malkin will be all the additions they’ll need to be even better. With the torrid start to the year the Penguins had last year, losing Crosby in January to a concussion and then Malkin to a knee injury later proved to be offensive killers. The team’s dedication to toughness and defense helped keep them rolling along.
Should that same dedication to defense couple with the comeback of the Penguins’ offense as well as top flight goaltending from Marc-Andre Fleury, the Penguins will again be major contenders out of the Eastern Conference. Of course, everyone will feel better off once Crosby is participating in full on-ice activities and Malkin gets cleared to practice in full when he gets back to Pittsburgh, but there’s every reason in the world for Penguins fans to be excited and Pittsburgh haters to be nervous about the upcoming season.