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Q: How much input do NHL clubs have with player positioning (outside the NHL)? I imagine they would have a great deal of input with minor-league affiliates, but what about with other leagues. For example, would the Penguins have any say as to what position a player they drafted plays in junior or college? Would they request someone drafted as a center be tried at wing, or a forward be tried as a defenseman?

Dave Stanek, Durham, N.C.

MOLINARI: The Penguins can dictate everything about how players on their farm teams can be used; they can tell Wilkes-Barre/Scranton coach Todd Richards who they want to be on the power play, what position they want a particular prospect to play, or how he should use his goaltenders. They don't make a habit of doing so -- coaches, understandably, don't appreciate having other people make their personnel decisions -- but do have that authority if they are inclined to exercise it. (Which they should do only if they're interested in finding a new coach, because no self-respecting one is going to tolerate being undercut that way.)

Officially, the Penguins have no input on such matters when it comes to players still in college or junior, because the coaches of those teams do not work for the NHL teams that draft their players. The priority of such coaches is to do things to enhance the chances of success for their programs, not to develop players for the NHL.

Still, some coaches are receptive to honoring requests from NHL teams, or simply doing things they believe will work to a player's benefit as his career progresses. Quebec Remparts coach Patrick Roy, for example, gave Angelo Esposito, a natural center, work on the wing last season, because he believed demonstrating versatility would be to Esposito's advantage. And with the encouragement of the Penguins, who have a surplus of promising young centers, Roy has played Esposito there again in 2007-08.

It's important to note, though, that Roy has no obligation to do anything the Penguins (or any other club) requests, in terms of how he uses a prospect.

Q: I would like some clarification on the unsportsmanlike penalty that gets called for a dive. If a player takes a dive and gets called for it, how could a penalty have occurred in the first place? If there was a dive, there can be no penalty.

Bryan Balla, Nottingham, Pa.

MOLINARI: Actually, the two are not mutually exclusive, although a lot of fans seem to believe they should be.

A diving penalty is assessed when the referee determines that a player exaggerated the effect of an infraction, real or imagined, in an effort to make sure it does not escape the notice of the officials.

Think of it this way: If Player A hooks Player B and Player B responds with a flying-forward-one-and-a-half-somersaults in the pike position, both are guilty of a punishable offense. The fact that Player B was caught diving does not mean that Player A didn't foul him in the first place, or that Player A's actions should be overlooked.