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Four years later, are the Penguins still in Pittsburgh if they drafted second in ‘05 ?
by Tony on 07/30/09 at 01:20 PM ET
Comments (11)
With a hat tip to Sean Leahy over at Puck Daddy for the reminder, a happy 4th anniversary to the Pittsburgh Penguins on their extremely fortuitous winning of the #1 pick of the 2005 Draft Lottery (eight days earlier) after the ending of the NHL lockout, selecting Sidney Crosby of course. The Anaheim (Mighty) Ducks were the runner-up, selecting Bobby Ryan.
I’ve thought about this question many times over these four years, but with this being the anniversary and all, I’ll throw it out there for your input;
If the Penguins would have gotten the #2 pick, rather than the #1 pick, would the Penguins still be in Pittsburgh with Bobby Ryan ??
Sidney Crosby has been a magnet for both praise and criticism on a daily basis since his arrival in ‘05, mostly depending on who you’re rooting for. The NHL, in concert with the few television networks that nationally broadcast hockey, flooded Crosby images at every opportunity, to the scorn of many. [ Notice I said the NHL, not the Penguins and not Crosby nor his representatives. ] But while Crosby bashers may continue to bloviate about his supposed whining and diving, you can’t argue with his accomplishments in his four seasons in a Penguins uniform;
- Youngest player in NHL history to score 100 points in a single season
- Youngest player to be voted to the NHL All-Star Game
- Youngest player in NHL history to have 2 consecutive 100 point seasons
- 2007 Hart Trophy winner as NHL MVP
- Youngest player in NHL history to win the Art Ross Trophy in 2007
- Youngest player in NHL history to win the Lester B. Pearson Award in 2007
- Youngest player in NHL history to be named to the First All-Star Team
- Youngest player in NHL history to be named a full team captain
- Youngest captain in NHL history to win the Stanley Cup
Led by Crosby and ‘09 scoring champion Evgeni Malkin, among others, the Penguins have had sellout crowds at Mellon Arena for every home game since late in the ‘06-‘07 season. That streak does not look to be ending any time in the foreseeable future, with this upcoming season being the last for the Igloo. The Penguins will move into the Consol Energy Center across the street from Mellon Arena in time for the start of the 2010-2011 NHL season, and all 66 luxury suites are already sold out there.
But while the Penguins had drafted their core players after four woeful seasons and certainly had a very bright future, the future for the team in Pittsburgh was very much up in the air. The Penguins haggled with State, County and City officials for nine years over the funding for a badly-needed new arena to replace the Igloo, the oldest in the NHL. Early in 2007, owner and Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux took a highly-publicized road trip to Kansas City, with their brand-new (and empty) Sprint Center. The Kansas City officials were offering the Penguins a sweetheart deal, with free rent and an ownership stake in the Sprint Center. Whether Lemieux and his business partner Ron Burkle would have seriously left Pittsburgh, as well as whether the Kansas City trip was merely grandstanding in order to break the stalemate with local officals, all turned out to be a moot point as Lemieux announced before a frenzied crowd on Mar. 13, 2007 that the Penguins would be staying in Pittsburgh where they belong.
I want to stress, this is not to denegrate Bobby Ryan’s talent nor potential at all. The Ducks simply didn’t need Ryan his first few years in the organization, with the team making the Western Conference Final in ‘06 and winning the Stanley Cup in ‘07. With a much deeper NHL roster in Anaheim, as compared to what the roster looked like in Pittsburgh when he was drafted, Ryan finally made his Ducks debut this past season, scoring 31 goals and 57 points in only 64 games. But it wasn’t easy for Ryan. During his first rookie camp, his conditioning was so bad the team had him on a stationary bike for two of the three days of camp instead of skating with the others. So while Ryan had not gotten nearly the notoriety that Crosby has received, he’s not chop liver. He may easily become one of the better sniperes in the NHL.
So that begs the question. If you substitute Ryan for Crosby, does all of that still happen ?? Certainly, by that point the Pens already had Marc-Andre Fleury, Malkin and Jordan Staal, along with other significant players on their roster. But would the Penguins still have generated the same amount of excitement, not only in Pittsburgh but around the NHL when they play in other arenas, without Crosby ?? If the Pens’ first line is Ryan, Malkin and Colby Armstrong (for example), do Lemieux and Burkle make the same business decisions to keep the Pens in Pittsburgh ?? Honestly, I really don’t know if they do.
It’s a moot point now, of course, but in the heat of summer, it’s fun to speculate.
Bash away. After all, aren’t all Sidney Crosby articles ??
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Tags: NHL-Hockey, Pittsburgh+Penguins,
Comments
It worked out better for them anyway, because, had they won the ‘04 lottery, they would have had less of a chance of winning the lottery in ‘05. Plus, it can be argued that they’d rather have Malkin than Ovechkin. (I know, as a Pens fan, I much prefer Malkin to that flashy, offense-only OV.)
Posted by NHLJeff from Pens fan in Chicago, IL on 07/30/09 at 02:02 PM ET
It is always fun to speculate. Why not go back further. The season prior to drafting Lemieux, the Penguins tanked the last 30 or so games of the year with an abysmal record. That same year the New Jersey Devils were an arguably worse team but didn’t try tanking: they just plain sucked. If the Pens don’t tank, the Devils get Lemieux. If that is the case, there would be no love of Pittsburgh and therefore no lobbying to keep the Penguins in Pittsburgh.
Crosby is the number one player in the NHL today. He is also arguably the best player ever. He has an all-around game that the other “greats” just didn’t have: Gretzky lacked…physicality?; Lemieux had an unfortunate series of events that only Lemony Snicket can fully respect - otherwise he may have been the greatest; Howe played in a different age with different limitations except age apparently; Ovechkin hasn’t smelt the defensive side of the red line in a while; and Geno tends to have mini-Kovalev bouts.
Bobby Ryan is a heck of a player. Anaheim’s team philosophy is to develop all talent in the system until the team feels they are ready to move up. Crosby probably could have used a system like that but Pittsburgh did not have that available to them.
I agree that Crosby is number one. Tavaras will prove that he is much like Ovechkin
Posted by Sandwiches1123 from Thunder Bay, ON, CA on 07/30/09 at 03:17 PM ET
“He is also arguably the best player ever.”
Very arguably, this early in his career.
Posted by Shane from Saskatoon on 07/30/09 at 05:26 PM ET
Best player ever? I think that’s pushing it considering he owns one Stanley cup (no thanks to his individual effort considering he totally the same number of points as the play-off bust Hossa). His lack of effective two-way play, and overall leadership on his team (as exemplified at multiple points in the SCF against Detroit), I would be wary to place him any where in the top 10 greatest players of all time, maybe not even in the top 25, at this point in his career.
Posted by J.R. on 07/30/09 at 05:44 PM ET
I beleive the best is yet to come. If you go back and look through history ,most players REAL breakout season is usually around the age of 22 - 24 years old. Crosby will be 22 next week. I beleive this season will be his REAL breakout season. I think he can score 40-50 goals with around 90-100 assists. I think it’s possible for Crosby to have a few (maybe 4 or 5) 140 point seasons in the next 7-10 years. He’s just entering his prime and having won the Stanley Cup already ,it takes that pressure off him (you know ,the old “never won a Cup”).
He’s motivated, he wants to be the best. With good health, a great second line center in Malkin solid teamamtes (could use a good right-hand shot finisher like Kovalchuk) I think Crosby is poised to really BREAK OUT!!
Oh yeah, about the question. The Penguins would be the Kansas City something or other.
Posted by Lindas1st on 07/30/09 at 06:35 PM ET
J.R. without looking it up, i’m sure Crosby had 31-32 pts while Hossa was something closer to 22-23 wasn’t he?
and you could argue the only above average, or atleast up to hossa’s standards anyway, playoff season he had was with the Pens and Crosby as his center.
Posted by Greg on 07/30/09 at 07:16 PM ET
This is a terrible article. I know it’s the offseason, but writing an article based on speculating if the Pens had lost the lottery? “What if’s” are just plain stupid because it didn’t happen and doesn’t matter. What if Wayne Gretzky played baseball instead of hockey? What if ice didn’t exist? What if humans only had one leg? Stupid.
Posted by HockeyDude on 07/31/09 at 12:26 AM ET
Damn, and I was specifically shooting for your support on this…
It will be my goal in the future to write articles that meet your seal of approval, have a nice day….
Posted by Tony from Virginia Beach, VA on 07/31/09 at 07:27 AM ET
Yeah but can you imagine if the Ducks had won that lottery and got Sid? Now that would be something to really speculate on.
Posted by Vince from Anaheim CA on 07/31/09 at 11:10 AM ET
I’m talking about the SCF specifically where both Hossa and Crosby had 3 points a piece. Not the entire playoffs, which Crosby obviously had more then Hossa.
Posted by J.R. on 07/31/09 at 02:09 PM ET
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they also lost the lottery in 2004 to draft Ovie. At least the number two was Geno.
Posted by letsgopronovost from unfortunately Philly, but its better than Detroit on 07/30/09 at 01:32 PM ET