Penguins... Again

I keep getting asked about the Penguins and whether or not they need an enforcer, so that means I have to keep talking about it. Aren't you lucky?

Once again, as I stated last week, I believe the Pens should acquire Georges Laraque. The people who disagree typically offer the same arguments against the move, all of which I will now deftly counter.

1. It's the league's responsibility to protect Crosby: I wholeheartedly agree. It is the league's responsibility. Unfortunately, the NHL is a garage league. Always has been, always will be. The NHL has already proven it will do nothing to protect Crosby or its other superstars. Until the leadership changes, nothing else ever will. If you're honestly putting your faith in the league, well, I doubt you're even bright enough to operate a computer, so let's move on.

2. No one fights; it's a new NHL: No, it isn't. Anaheim leads the league with 54 fighting majors. Nashville is second with 34. Good teams fight and protect their own. Detroit is dead last with only six fighting majors, which, according to our good friends at hockeyfights.com, is the exact same number they had all of last season. And, like last season, Detroit will once again get bounced in the first round when things get chippy.

Look around the league. Teams are muscling up for the stretch drive. Having never adequately replaced Laraque, who was beloved in the dressing room and the community, the floundering Edmonton Oilers recalled Zach Stortini. The Rangers brought in Sean Avery. Dallas called up Krys Barch. Even Calgary, hardly a shrinking violet, inserted Eric Godard into the lineup, sparking the club to a 9-1-3 run.

Until fighting is completely outlawed, it's still a very real aspect of the game. Ignoring it, or pretending it doesn't have an impact, is preposterous.

3. There's no fighting in the playoffs, so enforcers aren't needed: Okay, first of all, the Penguins have to get to the playoffs. And they won't if Crosby gets injured.

Obviously, there are fewer fights in the postseason, since one bad penalty can swing an entire series, but that's why I'm saying Laraque is the answer, because he's also a decent hockey player. He can take a regular shift. He appeared in 15 postseason games for the Oilers last season, registering a goal, an assist, and a plus-2 to go with 44 penalty minutes, including two fighting majors. And the Oilers just happened to go to the Stanley Cup Finals.

But any Penguin fan who insists fighting isn't a part of playoff hockey is either too young to remember the team's glory years or too foolish to learn from past mistakes.

Remember, if you will, the year 1992-93. The Pittsburgh Penguins, led by the great Mario Lemieux and boasting a roster full of superstars such as Jaromir Jagr, Ron Francis, Rick Tocchet, Kevin Stevens, Larry Murphy, and Tom Barrasso, were atop the hockey world, having won two straight Stanley Cups and steamrolling their way to a third, when they met an undermanned New York Islanders squad in the second round of the playoffs. The Isles, no match for Pittsburgh under the best of circumstances, went into the series without Pierre Turgeon, who had been introduced to the boards by Dale Hunter the previous round. It seemed a sure sweep, if, you know, the Isles could even last four games before quitting. Fans were already envisioning a potential Lemieux-Patrick Roy matchup in the Conference Finals.

Well, a funny thing happened on the way to a third Cup. The Islanders didn't roll over. They came to play. Or, more precisely, they came to physically punish Lemieux. From the opening faceoff of Game One, the Isles, in particular Darius Kasparaitis and Claude Loiselle, hacked and whacked Mario every chance they got, relentlessly slashing, spearing, and punching The Greatest One game in and game out.

That Penguin team could handle itself. No one messed with Lemieux back then. Tocchet made sure of that, which is why Mario averaged 2.66 points per game that season, the highest total of his career. But for whatever reason, the Penguins made the unfortunate decision to not retaliate. It was actually a team mandate. As a group, Scotty Bowman and the boys agreed to let the officials handle it, thinking they could bury the undisciplined Islanders on the power play, apparently forgetting their superstar's injury history.

Needless to say, the ploy didn't work. New York was all too happy to continue beating Lemieux silly. The refs didn't call everything, and the Pens didn't score on every power play. And it wasn't long before the punishment took its toll on Lemieux's brittle back.

Over a seven-game series, those little slashes and hooks add up. Mario's body gave out. He spent the nights before games in traction. By the time Game Seven rolled around, he could barely skate, even missing a breakaway against Glenn Healy. That's how sad it was.

Dave Volek eventually put Pittsburgh out of its misery in overtime, rifling a one-timer past Barrasso, but the series was lost the minute the Penguins decided not to protect Lemieux. No doubt, the Penguins would have three Stanley Cups today if they would have let Tocchet pummel Kasparaitis and crew the minute anyone touched Lemieux.

Granted, Crosby is younger and stronger than Lemieux, but he won't be for long if the Penguins keep letting teams take cheap shots. It adds up.

4. The Penguins have team toughness; they don't need an enforcer: I agree, the Penguins do a great job sticking up for one another. Ryan Malone, Colby Armstrong, Maxime Talbot, Ronald Petrovicky, Jarkko Ruutu, Chris Thorburn, and even Brooks Orpik have shown a willingness to drop the gloves. But being willing to do something and actually being good at it are two decidedly different things.

The Penguins have enough grit to handle guys like Jason Blake or Maxim Lapierre, although it should be noted no one did anything to either of those punks. But the Penguins need an enforcer to handle idiots like Aaron Downey. Crosby shouldn't even know a stooge like Downey exists. The fact he was able to verbally accost Crosby for several minutes without anyone but Mark Recchi coming to his defense is embarrassing.

And do you really want guys who don't fight regularly, and who are important cogs to your team, punching people in the face? Malone missed six weeks earlier this season after breaking his forearm in a fight. Guys like Armstrong and Talbot are crucial to Pittsburgh's success, both as penalty-killers and third-line energy guys. What happens if either one gets injured defending Sid? Leave the fighting to the professionals.

Ever since he knocked out Toronto's Kris Newbury, everyone is proclaiming Petrovicky as the answer to all of Pittsburgh's problems. Sorry, but no. Petro is a tough guy and all, but he's strictly a middleweight. And where was he when people were messing with Sid? Why did it take a personal confrontation with Newbury to get his gloves off? You don't fight to protect yourself, you fight to protect your teammates. If someone sticks you in the face, feed off it. If someone sticks your teammate, feed them a right hand.

With players like Petrovicky, Ruutu, Armstrong, Talbot, and Thorburn on the third and fourth lines, this is easily the grittiest, toughest Penguin team since the Cup years. They're excellent role players. Adding Laraque will only make them better. It will free them up to be even nastier.

5. It's not worth screwing with team chemistry: Once again, nothing will mess with team chemistry more than an injury to Crosby. And Laraque is a good citizen. He'd only make the team tighter.

6. Carolina won a Cup last year without an enforcer: And they won it without Crosby, either. You can't compare good but mortal hockey players like Eric Staal and company to Crosby. Sid is on a whole different level. Teams simply cannot compete with Crosby. The only way to stop him is to take penalties. And he's so much better than everyone else, his dominance will only foster frustration and anger in the opposition.

Circle March 4 on your schedule. The Penguins host the Flyers. The Pens are 7-0-0 against Philly this year. Chances are Peter Forsberg will be gone by then, and that score could get ugly early. If the Penguins don't acquire Laraque, and the contest does get one-sided, keep an eye on Ben Eager. That's all I'm saying.

7. Enforcers don't intimidate anyone: Oh, really? ESPN's David Amber recently interviewed Lindy Ruff, and he asked the Buffalo coach if anyone took liberties with Wayne Gretzky back in the day. Here's his response...

"You might have thought about taking liberties, but you knew what was coming next [laughs]. [The Oilers] had a cast of characters that could mess you up. I still remember a game in Edmonton. Within three minutes, I was sitting in the box with [Larry] Playfair and [Mike] Ramsey, and the guys we had fought were [Dave] Lumley, [Dave] Semenko and [Marty] McSorley, or somebody like that. I remember thinking, 'Nice visit to Edmonton!'"

And the game hasn't changed. Those who think the Penguins don't need a heavyweight have either never played hockey or never been punched in the face.

But look at the December 30 game between Washington and the NY Rangers. Colton Orr and Donald Brashear fought in the second period. Brashear was kicked out of the game in the third. Brashear was barely gone six minutes when Orr ran Alexander Ovechkin, drilling him in the head with a flying cross-check. Do you think Orr does that if Brashear was still around?

Listen, if the Penguins get Laraque, that doesn't mean they're gonna start gooning it up. But it gives them options. If the other team wants to do something stupid, the Pens will have an answer. They'd be a complete hockey team. Because honestly, what's stopping someone from running Crosby? The league? Hardly. The fear of fighting Malone or Talbot? Please.

First and foremost, the Penguins need to find a winger to play with Crosby. Malone is much better as a third-liner. And Erik Christensen isn't the answer. Maybe they can kill two birds with one stone and get someone like Bill Guerin, Gary Roberts, or even Owen Nolan to ride shotgun for Sid, providing both goals and guts.

The Penguins need a first-line winger. They don't need Laraque. He's not a necessity. They might be able to do just fine without him. But what does it hurt to have him around? Be prepared.

BIRDS WADDLE PAST BLACKHAWKS
The Penguins beat Chicago 5-4 in a shootout last night, running their record to 12-0-2 in the last 14 games.

To be honest, the Penguins aren't playing that great, but they're finding ways to win. And that's the sign of a good team. Last night, after blowing a 3-1 lead, the Birds fell behind 4-3 with just six minutes to go in regulation when Tuomo Ruutu scored, in large part because Chicago had too many men on the ice.

It would have been easy for the Pens to crack, but they tied the game only 1:11 later, getting the equalizer when Evgeni Malkin knocked a Sidney Crosby rebound behind Nikolai Khabibulin.

Marc-Andre Fleury took over from there, robbing Martin Havlat in overtime with a brilliant left toe save, and then stoning Havlat and Bryan Smolinski in the shootout. Fleury was unreal. That's why he's the coolest player... IN THE WORLD!

It's also worth noting Malkin won the shooutout with the backhand version of The Move, crumbling the Bulin Wall like David Hasselhoff. It was wicked sweet.

And even though Crosby didn't score a goal in regulation for the eighth straight game, and later missed in the shootout, he was still phenomenal. He absolutely dominated the final minute of overtime, carrying the puck down low and barreling through defenders at will.

The win sets the stage for Friday night's tilt in New Jersey. A win would mean the Pens are only five points back with a game in hand. If El Diablo is capable of being in an exciting game, this will be it. And then the Pens come home for a Sunday game with Ovechkin and the Caps. It's a big weekend in the Burgh.

DOAN DEAL DONE
The Phoenix Coyotes locked up Shane Doan with a new five-year, $22.75 million contract, committing to rebuild around their 30-year-old captain. It was thought the Coyotes might completely rebuild, trading away all assets, including Doan, who was set to become an unrestricted free agents.

Doan is hardly a superstar. He's never going to be the centerpiece of a championship team. But he's the closest thing the Coyotes have to an identity. Personally, I would have sent him packing, but I'm sure a lot of Phoenix fans are happy to see him stay. And the Coyotes have to sell tickets. So whatever.

I mean, it's not like I just traded for him in my fantasy league, thinking he'd get moved to a contender at the deadline. I'm not bitter. Honest. Who the (sunshine) wants a Coyote on their team? Son of a (sunshine)!

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