Q: Considering the years of top picks (in the lower rounds as well), why haven't the Penguins been able to develop any prospects outside the first round who can contribute to the team? (A prospects-oriented Web site) has the Pens rated as having the 24th-best set of prospects. That's ridiculous, considering where the Pens have drafted in the past five years.

Ian DeArdo, New York City

MOLINARI: Not so long ago, the Web site to which you referred had the Penguins ranked No. 1. Trouble is, guys like Evgeni Malkin and Jordan Staal no longer meet its definition of a "prospect," so the Penguins have tumbled through the ratings. That's the downside of having so many early choices in the first round, which allowed the Penguins to consistently select players capable of stepping directly into the NHL.

Rankings aside, you'd be hard pressed to find a club that would decline to swap its collection of under-22 talent for that of the Penguins, so it's not as if their franchise is built on a foundation of aging talent. Quite the opposite, actually.

And while it is true that most of the young players who've cracked the Penguins' lineup in recent years have been guys taken in the top five, if not the top two, there are a few younger players chosen later who aren't far away from claiming a job here. Defensemen Kris Letang (third round, 2005) and Alex Goligoski (second round, 2004) and forwards Tyler Kennedy (fourth round, 2004), Ryan Stone (second round, 2003) and Jonathan Filewich (third round, 2003) all have a chance to make it to the league this season.

What's more, the first time the Penguins had a high No. 1 choice in this decade, 2002, not only netted Ryan Whitney (fifth overall), but Erik Christensen (second round) and Maxime Talbot (eighth round). Daniel Carcillo (also third round, 2003) and Noah Welch (second round, 2001) are two other recent draftees now playing for other NHL teams because of trades.

Bottom line: The Penguins could have drafted and developed more of the talent on their current roster, but haven't been a total failure in that regard, either.

Q: I know he has not done much in Montreal and the decision to not pursue him was a good one in hindsight, but if the Canadiens don't do well out of the gate, do you think the Pens might look to acquire Alex Kovalev? Do you know if his contract is up next summer or if he has another year left?

Michael Litzenberger, Reading

MOLINARI: Kovalev is breathtakingly gifted -- you can find people in the industry who insist he, not Mario Lemieux or Wayne Gretzky, is the great pure talent to pass through the NHL during the past quarter-century -- and his seasons with the Penguins were the most productive of his career, but there's no real reason to believe he'll play here again.

It's not that the Penguins couldn't use another winger who can score goals, but Kovalev is 34 now, and there have to be questions about how consistently productive he could be (even though he still can be downright mesmerizing at times). More important, though, Kovalev has this season and another left on his contract with an annual salary of $4.5 million, and it's hard to imagine the Penguins being interested in adding that kind of obligation to their payroll. (Remember, per the league's current labor agreement, teams no longer are permitted to pick up part of a player's salary after trading him.)

So while it would have been interesting to see how Kovalev could have meshed with centers like Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin if the Penguins had signed him as a free agent in 2005 -- Kovalev certainly wanted to come back, but then-general manager Craig Patrick did not aggressively pursue him -- the point almost certainly is moot.