Hanging a banner to note how many times a particular artist has sold out the building seems to be particularly popular in Atlantic Division venues.

There's nothing wrong with that, but when the Penguins move into the city's new multi-purpose arena in 2010, how about if they pass on noting how many times Billy Joel or Bruce Springsteen or Donnie Iris or Jeff Jimerson sells out the place and instead put up a banner honoring all of the Art Ross Trophy winners in franchise history?

(An aside: With Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin on the payroll, it probably wouldn't be a bad idea to leave space for a few names to be added in coming seasons.)

Penguin players have won 12 scoring titles since the team entered the NHL in 1967, the second-highest total in league history. That's no small accomplishment, considering that five franchises they've outdone -- Boston, Toronto, Chicago, Detroit and the New York Rangers -- joined the league decades before they did.

Indeed, the only team with more than the Penguins is Montreal. Members of the Canadiens have earned 16, but the team also picked up its first, courtesy of Joe Malone, in 1917-18, a full half-century before the Penguins came along.

The Ross, by the way, was presented to the scoring champion for the first time in 1947-48, when Elmer Lach of the Canadiens won it.

For the record, the Penguins' Ross winners to date are Mario Lemieux (six), Jaromir Jagr, (five) and Crosby (one.) Of course, none of those guys ever made it to No. 1 on the Billboard charts.

For those keeping score at home, the Penguins don't have a stranglehold on the No. 2 all-time spot --- the Bruins and Blackhawks are just one behind --- but at least they're not going to be overtaken by the Toronto St. Pats, Quebec Bulldogs, Montreal Maroons or New York Americans, who combined to win five.

There's every reason to believe genetics play at least a small part in a player being able to reach the NHL.

Far less certain is whether bloodlines influence how players go about their jobs once they make it.

If the Ruutu brothers are any indication, though, they apparently do.

Heading into the weekend, Penguins winger Jarkko Ruutu led the league with three diving minors; only four other players in the league had as many as two.

Coincidentally or otherwise, one is Carolina forward Tuomo Ruutu, who happens to be his younger sibling.

The others are Nikolai Zherdev and Jared Boll of Columbus and Chicago winger Martin Havlat.

Luca Caputi made a highly favorable impression on Penguins management in September with his performance in a rookie tournament and training camp.

Now, he's made a lasting one on his junior team's record book.

Caputi, a 6 foot 3, 185-pound left winger with the Niagara IceDogs, has set a single-season franchise record by accumulating 107 points on 49 goals and 58 assists in 63 games, heading into this weekend.

That's 42 points more than he accumulated all last season and was good for fourth place in the Ontario Hockey League scoring race.

Caputi was the Penguins' fourth-round choice in the 2007 entry draft, and general manager Ray Shero said management is not surprised by what Caputi has done this season because of his performance last fall.

"We really liked what we saw, from our conditioning camp on, and certainly the way he played [at the rookie tournament] in Kitchener, we really liked," he said.

Although Caputi is a candidate to join the Penguins' farm team at some point this spring, Shero is reluctant to predict when he might contend for work in the NHL.

"I hate to put any time frames on kids, because you never know," he said. "Some guys have trouble adjusting, other guys jump in. We'll see. We want to be patient and develop these kids properly."

Shero's observation in this space a few weeks ago that Jarkko Ruutu "might be the best zero goal-scorer in the league" didn't go unnoticed by Ruutu's teammates.

"We were all laughing about that comment Ray made about Jarkko being the best player in the league with no goals," defenseman Brooks Orpik said. "I'll bet half the [dressing] room didn't know that he didn't have a goal."

Ruutu shed that distinction the same day Shero's remark was printed, as he beat Buffalo goalie Ryan Miller on a breakaway in a 4-1 victory at HSBC Arena.

Trouble is, that meant Ruutu could be classified in any number of new ways, not all of them flattering.

"So what does he become now?" one teammate wondered aloud after a morning skate a few days later. "The worst one-goal scorer in the league?"

No chance of that. Ruutu got No. 2 a few hours later.