He is not, Georges Laraque insists, a throwback.

Simply a pragmatist.

He isn't the only Penguins forward or defenseman who uses a wooden stick because it harkens to the roots of the game, or because sticks crafted of natural materials were good enough for Jean Beliveau and Bobby Orr and Mario Lemieux, along with countless others of the game's greatest players.

Rather, Laraque has a few decidedly unromantic reasons for sticking with wood, despite a flirtation with composite sticks a few years back.

"I don't like the feel of [composites], and they always break," he said. "With me, with my weight and everything, I always snapped them like crazy."

That is not an issue with wooden ones, he said.

"I play with a new stick every game," Laraque said, "and they never break."

Laraque also contends that even when composite sticks, which cost hundreds of dollars, remain intact, their structural integrity can degrade quickly, detracting from their effectiveness.

"After a game or two, they lose their whip," he said. "They don't break, but the whip of the stick, it's not as stiff as it was, even though it's not broken.

"Parents are like, 'Oh, you save money with that,' but it doesn't matter, because after two or three games, the whip is gone. You have to change the stick anyway, and it's not broken. Some people try to make it last as long as they can because it's not broken, but it is broken."

Laraque doesn't second-guess colleagues who prefer sticks fashioned from man-made materials and knows from experience that peer pressure can be a powerful force when players are choosing equipment. Ultimately, though, he concluded that the merits of wood far surpass those of its competition.

"A lot of people went to [composites] just because everybody else was doing it," he said. "I tried it, like everybody else, but if you're happy with a wood stick, why change it?"

The Penguins are on the cusp of their first division championship since 1997-98 and can formally snuff the New York Rangers' chances of overtaking them by beating New York in regulation this afternoon at Mellon Arena.

The Penguins were in the Northeast Division when they claimed their most recent title, with Kevin Constantine as their coach and Jaromir Jagr as their leading scorer.

That's the same Jaromir Jagr who, if precedent holds, will be blasted with boos every time he touches the puck today. Presumably by people who prefer to take the final, tormented months of his time here as a personal affront rather than celebrating the incredible body of his work over 11 winters.

Ryan Whitney has been the target of considerable criticism during the past few months, and understandably so.

He has struggled through a difficult, disappointing season, only occasionally performing at the level the Penguins anticipated when they signed him to a six-year, $24 million contract last July.

Whitney hit what figures to be his personal nadir last week, when coach Michel Therrien transplanted him onto left wing for the Penguins' 2-0 victory at New Jersey Tuesday and kept him there for a 3-1 victory against the New York Islanders two nights later.

Like fellow defenseman Brooks Orpik, who received a similar assignment/punishment earlier in the season, Whitney had no previous experience playing left wing. Never expressed any interest in doing it, either.

Suffice it to say, Whitney's performance against the Devils during eight minutes, 35 seconds of even-strength ice time didn't inspire a wave of comparisons to, say, Michel Goulet, and even members of his immediate family wouldn't suggest he has a long-term future on the wing.

Still, something that happened Tuesday -- when it was hard to imagine things getting any more miserable for Whitney -- went a long way toward validating the belief that, at some point, Whitney will find it within himself to get his game back in order.

After Whitney showered following the game, he was approached by a couple of reporters who wanted to ask about how he had been used that evening.

Whitney, one of the most media-friendly guys on a team that has no shortage of them, could have begged off for any number of reasons, and it wouldn't have been an issue.

He has been too cooperative, too often for any reporter who knows him to carry a grudge about him declining to speak under such circumstances.

Instead, Whitney -- who clearly grasps the reality that when athletes speak with the media, they actually are talking to the fans who pay their salaries -- patiently fielded a series of questions. Some of the issues raised had to be unpleasant; Whitney's responses never were, and his answers didn't stop until the questions did.

Of course, there isn't a direct correlation between a player carrying himself with class and dignity in difficult situations and having on-ice success. Actually being able to play the game matters a lot, too.

There's never been a question about whether Whitney has the talent to be the high-impact contributor the Penguins expect. What he proved a few days ago was that he has the intangibles to make it happen, too.