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Q: Do you think that Sidney Crosby will continue his scoring dominance in the second half of the season and go on to win the Art Ross trophy?

Patrick Jackson, Ellwood City

MOLINARI: Step back for a second and consider that we're talking about a 19-year-old here, and that question -- to say nothing of the answer it elicits -- probably should strike just about anyone who follows the game as borderline absurd.

Can a teenager -- a teenager who missed three games because of injury and plays on a team that has gotten meager production from its wingers for most of the season -- continue to dominate, and actually win an NHL scoring championship?

The very concept sounds ridiculous. Except that yes, he can. Perhaps emphatically, if he's able to stay healthy and his linemates, Mark Recchi and Ryan Malone, continue to score the way they have of late.

If he wins the Ross outright, Crosby will be the youngest player in NHL history to do so. He will be 19 years and 244 days old when the regular season ends April 8; Wayne Gretzky, who holds that distinction now, was 20 years, 69 days when he earned his first Ross in 1980-81. (Gretzky had tied Marcel Dionne in points the previous season, but lost the Ross on the goals-scored tiebreaker.)

It is, of course, far too early to pass judgment on Crosby, or to project what he might accomplish before he gives up the game in another 15 or 20 years. But there is a growing suspicion that all the over-the-top hype that surrounded him for so many years before he turned pro -- when Crosby became the first player in history to deal simultaneously with the onset of puberty and the pressure to be the next Wayne Gretzky -- didn't go nearly far enough.

That describing him as a once-in-a-lifetime-if-you're-lucky-player -- you know, the kind Penguins fans have gotten used to having turn up here every 10 years or so -- is a woefully inadequate way to characterize what he is capable of achieving. And, perhaps more important, what he is hard-wired to achieve.

Q: With the mixed reviews for the new sweaters unveiled at the All-Star game, is it possible and/or probable that we will see enough negative response from the fans and players to force the NHL to 're-introduce' the old jerseys, the way the NBA did with the new basketballs it tried this year?

Scott, Frederick, Md.

MOLINARI: Most, if not all, of the players who wore the new uniforms during the All-Star Game seemed to give them favorable reviews, with particular praise for their lightweight nature and the way they do not absorb moisture. A few mentioned that the more snug fit of the new sweaters takes a bit of getting used to, but did not cite that as a significant flaw.

How they will be received by fans, especially traditionalists, might be another matter, though. A certain percentage are sure to disapprove, simply because they don't care for any change, and others likely will be partial to the look of the current sweaters.

The bottom line, though, is that regardless of how much public displeasure is expressed, the league is highly unlikely to reverse course after it has had a prominent sponsor invest so much money in researching and developing the new uniforms, which are supposed to go into general use next season. Some people might not like them, but those folks had better plan to get used to them.

Q: I know Mario (Lemieux) 'took the team off the market,' but we all know he intends to sell after a new agreement is reached. Why not sell now for way more than he paid and let the new owners reach an agreement with the city? Greed is everywhere. Some savior.

Jim Everard, McKeesport

MOLINARI: Good point. Get past 1984, when his talent breathed life into a franchise that barely was registering a pulse, and 1999, when he brought the team out of bankruptcy and kept it viable, and what has Lemieux really done for hockey in this area? OK, there were those two Stanley Cups and six scoring championships and three MVP awards and countless other memories, but beyond that, almost nothing.

You probably are correct, though, that after the arena issue is resolved, Lemieux and his partners aren't likely to wait all that long before putting the team back up for sale. Lemieux had made it clear from the time he got the team that he had no real interest in ownership, and his partners want out, too.

But the reason the team was taken off the market after the deal to sell it to Jim Balsillie fell through in December was that there simply was not enough time to negotiate a sale from scratch before the arena issue had to be resolved.

If anything, waiting until it's known where the franchise will be based in the future might cost Lemieux and his partners some money, because prospective buyers won't have the option of placing the team where they want it to be, and that might prompt some to not even bother investigating a purchase. If Balsillie, for example, truly wanted to acquire the team only because his ultimate objective was to transplant it to Ontario, he isn't likely to be interested now that its base of operations will be pre-determined.

But, hey, this is no time to let logic sneak into the process.

Q: Alexei Zhitnik cross-checks Crosby in the face and then Jason Blake spears him. In both cases, Sid was given the more severe penalty on the play. How much of these situations can be attributed to some officials exacting 'revenge' on Sid for his on-ice antics last season, and how much can be attributed to just the usual NHL officiating incompetence?

Mike Crow, Herndon, Va.

MOLINARI: There's no question Crosby alienated officials with his on-ice griping during his rookie season, and odds are that at least some of them won't forget it anytime soon because they don't like to be shown up by players. Especially 18-year-old ones.

Consequently, at the very least, Crosby isn't likely to get the benefit of the doubt on could-go-either-way calls from at least some guys. At least not until they accept that the restraint he has demonstrated this season -- a pretty obvious example of how he is maturing -- is what they can expect from him under all but the most extreme circumstances.

Still, it's unthinkable that a referee would intentionally ignore something as potentially dangerous as a spear if he actually saw it. The odds are much greater that Blake's act went undetected, but Crosby was penalized because of the way he reacted to it. A textbook retaliation call.

And while speaking on behalf of NHL officials probably is about as popular as rising to the defense of tax auditors or sports writers, the simple truth is that refereeing is a tough way to make a living. Two officials have to try to keep an eye on 10 skaters -- and, often, two goaltenders -- who often are trying to get away with as much as possible and do it while thousands of people let them know, at high volume, just how inept, stupid and/or visually impaired they are.

Q: From what I've read, an arena is going to be built, regardless of whether the Pens are in Pittsburgh. The Sports and Exhibition Authority has bought most of the land already. My question is, if the Pens leave, where does the $4 million in annual contributions and $8.5million upfront money that the Pens were to contribute come from? This doesn't seem a sound fiscal option for the city.

Chuck Ziolkowski, Phoenix

MOLINARI: There aren't many people -- not people who have more than a fleeting grasp of the situation, anyway -- who dispute that this region needs an up-to-date multi-purpose arena, for reasons that go far beyond retaining its NHL franchise. Mellon Arena isn't going to collapse tomorrow (probably), but it has significant design and infrastructure shortcomings that wouldn't necessarily be cost-effective to correct. (That shouldn't surprise anyone, since it opened decades before things like rock concerts morphed into the entertainment extravaganzas they have become, with many tons of equipment and props.)

But even though an arena plays host to everything from circuses to concerts to tractor pulls, it's hard to see how a new one would be economically viable here without an anchor tenant, which there would not be if the Penguins left. It's great that the groundwork for erecting a building has begun, but it might be awfully difficult to justify proceeding with the project if the Penguins weren't part of the economic equation.

Q: Any idea what Craig Patrick has been up to since he left the Penguins? Any hints about which teams may be interested in hiring him?

Dave Harford, Portland, Me.

MOLINARI: Patrick, never one to seek the spotlight when he was with the Penguins, has remained far from it since the team decided against giving him a new contract last spring. He ignored all interview requests, at least from the local media, after losing his job and went for months without speaking to some longtime colleagues who made repeated attempts to contact him. There now are occasional sightings reported by people who worked with or recognized him, but he has continued to maintain an extremely low profile.

Whether Patrick ever will get another general manager's job -- assuming he still wants one -- is hard to say, but it's entirely possible that he will be viewed as too old-school to effectively oversee a team's entire operation because of new wrinkles associated with things like managing the salary cap (not that Patrick didn't have ample experience at working with a limited budget). He does have a lifetime of accumulated hockey knowledge, though, and it's easy to see why clubs would be interested in tapping into that by hiring him as a consultant.

Q: With the prospect of the team relocating after this season, I believe that both management and the players owe it to the fans to do whatever is necessary to assure four months of top-flight play every night and a solid effort in the playoffs.

Doug, Dallas

MOLINARI: No, they owe the fans the same well-conceived front-office moves and honest on-ice efforts that every team owes its fans, every night and every season. Poorly thought-out personnel decisions and less-than-100-percent efforts are no less -- or more -- acceptable for the 2006-07 Penguins than they would have been in any previous year, or for any other club.

The franchise would not cease to exist if it left Pittsburgh, so it would be foolish and short-sighted for anyone associated with the team to treat the balance of this season as a last chance to accomplish anything. GM Ray Shero, for example, has a mandate to assemble a team capable of being a perennial Stanley Cup contender; it would be foolish for him to sabotage that by making a trade that would help the Penguins in the next few months but hurt them over the long term.

If the Penguins' run here were to end, it would be terrific if the team could give its large and loyal fan base a final set of pleasant memories by pulling off a nice playoff run. But no one should expect that unless it can happen without anything being done that would impede the Penguins' progress toward becoming the championship-caliber club they clearly will be within a few years.