James_Taipei: Do you see the Penguins trying to pick up another winger for the Stanley Cup drive?

Shelly Anderson: For a high-impact winger, a la the Marian Hossa acquisition in 2008, the Penguins would have some big salary cap concerns. They might not be willing to give up enough to be able to swing that financially since they are always riding close to the cap ceiling these days. But, if the past two years are any indication, general manager Ray Shero is a patient man who is willing to evaluate his team's needs as it gets close to playoff time, and he's also someone who has been able to swing good deals close to the trade deadline.

SDWC: Can the Pens continue winning at this pace with a PP less than a 15% success rate?

Shelly Anderson: Well, they're doing pretty well so far with 41 points in 30 games. That's pretty amazing considering they have sputtered so much on the power play. It speaks to the amazing overall talent they have, including at goaltender with Marc-Andre Fleury. An ineffective power play will be a larger detriment in the postseason, so it would serve the Penguins well to get it together over the next few months.

James_Taipei: What do you think is the Penguins biggest weakness currently?

Shelly Anderson: I'll refer you to the previous question. It's got to be the power play. Most nights, especially when they are healthy, the Penguins are on top of other aspects of their game.

SDWC: What is your opinion on the Flyers replacing Stevens with Laviolette?

Shelly Anderson: Peter Laviolette is a very intriguing choice for the Philadelphia Flyers, who fired John Stevens. Laviolette's style wouldn't seem to jibe all thatwell with the rough-and-tumble Flyers, but then again I have heard him described as a chameleon who is good at adapting to the style best suited for the players in his charge. The Penguins have a home-and-home series with Philadelphia next week, so we'll get a closer look.

Ashrubbery: With Crosby set to play tonight, will Letestu play or sit?

Shelly Anderson: I would have thought Mark Letestu, who was something of a last-minute call-up Saturday when center Sidney Crosby determined his sore groin should keep him out of the game against Chicago, would be sent back down. That hasn't happened, though, and Letestu played well in that game, winning a faceoff on the game-tying play. Coach Dan Bylsma was asked about Letestu after the morning skate. He said he was still mulling his lineup options and that Letestu would be in the pregame warmups and perhaps in the lineup. If he is, it will be interesting to see who else sits.

SDWC: What has happened to Carolina?

Shelly Anderson: It's amazing, isn't it? The Hurricanes have really tumbled his season and have yet to win a road game going into their game tonight here. A lot of it can be traced to the injury bug that seems to have spread across the league. They played pretty well against the Penguins in October. Eric Staal is back. Cam Ward is expected back later this week. I would be shocked if they don't make a significant move up the standings with a big stretch at some point.

fred_mertz: The Rash of injuries just unlucky or possibly caused by the prior two long seasons?

Shelly Anderson: You can look at the two long seasons, with consecutive runs to the Stanley Cup final, as something that might have left the Penguins a bit rundown and vulnerable to injuries. But two things work against that. One is the nature of some of the injuries, such as Sergei Gonchar getting knocked into the boards and breaking his wrist. That's not fatigue. The other thing to note is that there have been a lot of injuries to key players around the league, including players who have not had long playoff runs. It might just be the way the game is played now, with such speed and tenacity.

noedig: Does Bourque getting picked up by the Caps give them some additional insight into Pen's players and systems? If so... good pickup for them.

Shelly Anderson: Well, Chris Bourque was initially assigned to Hershey of the American Hockey League after he was picked up off waivers by Washington. He was with the Penguins about 2-1/2 months after they picked him up off waivers from the Capitals. He might be able to pass along some information, but there's not a lot the Capitals don't know after the intense games the teams have played the past few seasons and, especially, the seven-game playoff series they had last spring. In addition, the Penguins don't play against Washington until late January.

katpens: A few years ago you wrote an article aboutt Kris Letang dealing with migraine headaches. I wonder if this could be the reason he would miss a practice from time to time or seems off in a game. Is this still an issue with him or does he tough it out and play with the migraines?

Shelly Anderson: There has been no official reason that defenseman Kris Letang missed Saturday's morning skate, then played that night against Chicago. It is entirely possible it was because of a migraine. He does still have them and has not found a surefire remedy.

noedig: On Friday Pen's twitter account @pghpenguins said there were "many great seats available" for tonights game ... that surprised me. Is the game in threat on not being a sell out?

Shelly Anderson: I haven't heard that the Penguins are desperate to sell out tonight's game. It seems to me that alerting students when there are games with extra tickets would bring in enough student rush fans to pretty much ensure a sellout every night for the foreseeable future. It also seems to me that the Penguins would rather sell those seats at the regular cost rather than the student rush discount and so will get word out when seats are available for particular games. I believe they only reserved about 2,000 seats per game above the season tickets.

Shelly Anderson: Thanks everyone. Sorry about missing last week, but you can't really skip jury duty. We'll chat again next week.

Penguins Plus, a blog by Dave Molinari and Shelly Anderson, is featured exclusively on PG+, a members-only web site from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.