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Q: Why doesn't the league institute a policy that would, during preseason games, allow teams to make substitutions between periods? All it would require is for an assistant coach from each club and the linesmen to come out a bit earlier during the intermission to iron out any changes. A limit on the number of substitutions could be applied to manage potential paperwork chaos. I see no reason why a guy like Sergei Gonchar must play a 60-minute preseason game, although I understand why a coach may want him to suit up for game action for the first period, just to get some timing and such, then send him to the showers so the coach could get a look at guys down the depth chart.
Keith Justus, Las Vegas, Nev.
MOLINARI: That's an interesting concept, although it's worth noting that veterans such as Gonchar are not obligated to carry anything resembling a regular-season workload during exhibition games. If coach Dan Bylsma wants to limit Gonchar to four or five minutes of ice time per period -- whether it's to avoid taxing Gonchar or to set aside more playing time for other people -- that's his option.
Although teams generally take just 20 players with them when they travel to pre-season games (unless it's part of a multigame trip), bringing along a few extra bodies -- which they obviously would not be compelled to do if it didn't suit their plans -- should be neither a problem nor a financial burden, since clubs generally arrive just a few hours before the game and fly out immediately afterward.
Q: Isn't it usually tradition that the President gets a jersey with the number 1 on it? The Pens gave him a No. 44. Was there special significance with that number?
Ian Wadycki, Chicago
Molinari: Penguins officials say that President Obama was given a No. 44 sweater when the team visited the White House last Thursday not because he is a Brooks Orpik fan (although what head of state isn't?), but because he is the nation's 44th chief executive.
Q: What is the feeling around the Penguins brass about Theoren Fleury, now that he is being reinstated? Have you heard anything around the Penguins about Theo? His past has been turbulent, but assuming he has been sincere about his progress and leaving it in the past (being sober for a self-proclaimed long-enough time), this could be a mutual beneficial match. Fleury could get a long overdue and very realistic shot at reuniting with Lord Stanley's Cup, while the Penguins get a needed (and apparently still capable) winger at what, I assume, will be a very low price. If Ryan Bayda is good enough for a tryout, wouldn't it seemed worth it offering one to Theo, too?
Neil Lifeson, West Palm Beach, Fla.
Molinari: Not long after your note arrived, word began to circulate that Fleury has accepted a tryout offer from Calgary, the team with which he broke into the league during the 1988-89 season, so whether the Penguins might have been interested in bringing him to their camp is moot.
It's hard to imagine, though, that management would have been inclined to bring in a 41-year-old who hasn't played in the NHL since the 2002-03 season and who has a well-documented history of alcohol abuse, even though he professes to have been sober for four years. While any fan -- or anyone else associated with the game -- can root for Fleury to keep his life on track and to have a long and productive one, there's very little reason to believe that he could be productive at this level anymore.
Few players can perform to NHL standards at his age, and even fewer after being away for six seasons. There was a time when Fleury was a valuable player, but that time was long ago.
Bayda, a left winger who previously played for Carolina, hardly is guaranteed of sticking with the Penguins -- anyone would attends camp on a tryout generally has to be decidedly superior to talent already under contract in order to claim a roster spot -- but Bayda is a lot younger (29) and doesn't have Fleury's off-ice history to overcome. If he did, it's hard to imagine the Penguins would have invited him to try out.
First Published: September 14, 2009, 10:45 a.m.
