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Q: Do you think the team is being extra careful with players and giving them a little more rest than usual? It would make sense, since a majority of these players have played a significant amount of games the last couple of seasons.

Kyle, West Mifflin

MOLINARI: Coach Dan Bylsma has been very generous with days off this season; the Penguins have regularly had one day, and often two, per week without practice for much of this season, and not because Bylsma is trying to curry favor with his players.

Telling guys to stay away from the rink is a lot easier for Bylsma to justify when the Penguins are 19-9, as they were before facing Colorado last night, than it would be if they were, say, 9-19. The idea is to win games, and the Penguins obviously have done a pretty good job of that through the first third of the season, with or without a workout on every off-day.

If the Penguins weren't piling up points the way they have been, calling off practices might be more difficult to do in good conscience -- in fact, it probably wouldn't happen very often -- but that doesn't mean that time to rest would be any less important if the Penguins' record wasn't as good as it is.

The Penguins obviously hope to contend for another Stanley Cup next spring, but the challenge of doing so will be complicated by having gone through lengthy, draining playoff runs in each of the past two seasons. The road to a championship is long and grueling, and fatigue, like injuries, can sabotage even the most talented club. Overcoming such adversity is part of what makes winning a Cup such a monumental achievement.

If a team must drain its energy reserves simply to get into the playoffs, well, that's what has to be done, because you can't win a Cup if you don't qualify for the postseason, but a tired team isn't likely to last long in the tournament. That the Penguins are contending for first place in the Eastern Conference while still having frequent opportunities to rest and recharge clearly is a best-case scenario and can only be a plus for them when April arrives.

Q: Are there still plans to re-sign Kris Letang? I remember reading something about us re-signing him. With Alex Goligoski signed to a multi-year deal and Sergei Gonchar's (contract in its) final year, will it still happen and, if so, when?

Travis Embacher, Uniontown

MOLINARI: Re-signing Letang remains a priority for the Penguins, because right-handed defensemen with his skills set just don't come along very often.

While there have been preliminary talks about a new deal, they appear to have gone on hold earlier this season until both sides can get a better handle on what the salary-cap situation for next season will be. That also is the case with Gonchar, who will be an unrestricted free agent in July if he doesn't agree to a new deal here.

The key difference between Gonchar and Letang is that the latter will be a restricted free agent, which seriously undermines his leverage. While there certainly would be a market for him if he's not re-signed before summer, the Penguins would have the right to match any offer Letang would get from another club, or to compensation in the form of draft choices if that's what they'd prefer.

That's why very few teams pursue restricted free agents. More often than not, all that accomplishes is to remove the burden of negotiating from the player's current team. Most of the time, the second team's only hope of luring a player away would be to seriously overpay him, and that's not prudent in the salary-cap era.

Even with those factors working against him, however, Letang can expect a healthy raise over what he's making on his entry-level contract, which carries an annual salary-cap hit of $835,000.

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