How long before the Penguins draft a goalie?
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Q: A big deal was made about Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin having no shots in the game against Philadelphia Sunday. Not that it really matters, but I recall Crosby getting robbed by Martin Biron when Crosby shot it toward what was a open net. Biron dove and the puck hit his stick and went over the net. The goal light even went on for a second and they showed the replay about 10 times. Was that not a shot?
Marc Enie, Shaker Heights, Ohio
MOLINARI: Officially, no, it wasn't, because it isn't recorded as one on the official scoresheet.
Whether it should have been might be another matter.
More than a few Q&A readers wrote to mention the sequence to which you referred, and several passed along a link to a rather grainy YouTube video that appeared to show Biron being forced to make a lunging stop on Crosby, although the picture quality was so poor that it was impossible to make a conclusive determination about whether Crosby's shot actually had been on goal.
The Mellon Arena off-ice officials are experienced and diligent, and routinely consult video replays to make certain that statistics are recorded properly and that players get proper credit for quantifiable things they do during games. That doesn't mean they can't make an occasional error, however, and it's possible that happened Sunday.
There is no dispute about the one stat that really matters, though. The Flyers won, 3-1, and that won't change whether Crosby should have been credited with no shots or one or 10.
Q: How long before the Penguins draft a goalie? They have passed up some good goalies in the past drafts.
Kevin, Pittsburgh
MOLINARI: Actually, they try to get the rights to at least one every year, and actually claimed two in 2008 despite not having a selection in the first three rounds. They took Alexander Pechurski in the fifth and Patrick Killeen in the sixth.
If you're talking about investing an early round pick in a goaltender, that doesn't seem like a priority for the Penguins because Marc-Andre Fleury is only 24 years old and is under contract for six more seasons.
At this point, there's no reason to think that he won't be their go-to goalie for most, if not all, of that time, so there's no urgency to invest a high pick in someone who plays his position.
It wouldn't be prudent, of course, to wait until Fleury is ready to leave the franchise -- whether by his choice or that of management -- before beginning to groom his successor, but with his departure something less than imminent, the Penguins probably are better-served by addressing more pressing needs with early round choices.
If a prospect for whom they project great things happens to slip to them, they would be foolish to not claim him and start the time-consuming process of developing him into an NHL-caliber performer, but finding one doesn't have to be a front-burner issue just yet.
First Published March 25, 2009 12:00 am
