Reviews and Perspectives:

Shelly Anderson, over at the Post-Gazette doesn't think there's much of a chance that Marc Andre Fleury, the Tower of Flower Power, will play Wed. against the Islanders in her Penschat transcript. Speculation (which is all we have) is now that he's suffering from some sort of leg injury.

With 0.25 (that's 1/4 for the mathematically impaired) of the season in the past, it seems to be time to do a review of some type. Aw hell, everyone else already thought of that! So, being the lazy sub-human that I am I'll just direct you to a couple. Rob Rossi over at the Trib seems to think that we can cut and paste this years start with last years finish and add a cup. Nice idea, but let's not forget the 62 games yet to play. PP.com has stolen an article by Phil Coffey, Senior Editor of NHL.com, so I'll jump on that bandwagon and steal it from them. (Recieving stolen news articles isn't a felony, is it?) Basically he says that the Pens are doing a good job, Flower is winning, El Sid and Geno are leading the way, and you'd hardly even notice that Gonch and Whitney aren't on the blue-line. ( I notice, I really do). Also, at the end of the article there's a mini-tribute to St. Patrick Roy, patron saint of goaltenders and my and Flower's favorite retired goalie. It's only wild speculation that Roy is behind the injury plot to keep Uncle-Daddy from breaking all his records. The reports of the Vudu doll with the pins in the elbow at Patrick's house was greatly exaggerated.

The Pens are firmly ensconced in 4th place in the Conference (with more points than the 3rd place Crapitals. I have a problem with that, but I'll get into it later in the season) Their 27 points places them 3rd in the Division and that's much better than last year at this time.

FPL member Ryan Whitney began practicing with the team Friday, and hopes to be ready to play by Christmas. That could be something to ask Santa for, yes?

By all accounts HC Michel Therrien is less than pleased with the power-play. (16th in the League) Too much emphasis on 'style' and not enough on 'sweat'. Translation: When the crowd is screaming 'Shoot!' it's probably a good idea. Oh yeah, and sit someone in front of the net to bash in some 'garbage' and create some traffic might be a good idea.

Alex Go-Goligoski has his very own Pop-Up Video over at PP.com, and since I was over there stealing stuff I thought I'd swipe this too.

For some 'strange reason', The Cookie Monster, doesn't want to talk about his early game misconduct exit in the Vancouver game. Could it be, that he's not happy about it? Hmmmm... could be. BTW, that Player's Emergency Fund is getting lots of contributions this year from suspended players. I don't think Cooke needs to contribute.
Other Stuff: Roberto Luongo is going to be out 4-5 weeks according to his agent. Luongo pulled his groin (on national TV?, the sensors are going crazy!) on an odd double move during a save in the first period of Saturday's game. Sanford will be getting most of the Net-time, with Cory Schneider serving as his back-up. This is a guy the Canucks can ill afford to lose. He's been a beast in net, he's 11-2 with a .928 save percentage and a 2.17 goals against. That's two big-time goaltenders out and the season's only 1/4 the way through.

Pics, Flicks, and Sticks:

My friend Jodie, over at The Sidney Crosby Show, sent me this pic of the Flower at the practice Wed, so I immediately rushed to my keyboard to post it up.
EJ Hradek, of ESPN the Magazine fame (ESPN/hockey=me confused) has a ranking of 10 'people to watch' in the 08-09 season, and no. 2 on the list is the Tower of Flower Power. Now I find EJ about as annoying as everyone else does, but when the guy's right, he's right.
Marc-Andre Fleury, G, PenguinsRecent hockey history tells us clubs that lose in the Stanley Cup finals don't fare so well the following season. Wayne Gretzky's 1984 Oilers were the last team to turn the trick. If the Penguins want to break the trend, their newly minted stopper ($35M, seven years) must build off his strong, albeit injury-shortened, season. Fleury's task will be tougher because of significant injuries to key defensemen Sergei Gonchar and Ryan Whitney. Can the 23-year-old handle the added pressure? We think he can.
We think he can too. BTW, EJ thinks you should also watch Hose-a, but isn't too clear as to why you should. (see what I mean about him being annoying?) also seems to think the Redrags will ditch the Hose after this year. One more note: EJ, Jenny Craig or something man, damn!. Looks like you've found all the weight that LeGreka lost.

Malkin no Rudulov: In a fairly eye opening post, David Staples, blogger for The Edminton Sun, writes about how Gino did have an 11 mil. offer from Mettalurg, and basically told them to stuff it, he liked it here. Also goes on to talk about the 'A' on his chest, and getting his own place so he can have his parents visit occasionally, and (possibly more importantly), bring his girlfriend over for a visit. Quote for the ages: (or at least this season) When asked about his goals for this year, Malkin said, "To make the last step we stumbled upon when we got there last season ... Detroit's good, but so are we ..." I don't know about you, but I think his English is Fine......

One to watch, Future: Check the new Promo-vid, and say it with me, 'It's a Great Day For Hockey!'

One to watch, Past: In anticipation of the North American portion of the season, I dug out this vid of MAF's game-saving goal in the SCF last year. (I know I encouraged you to ditch your Youtube gm5 vids, but I didn't think anyone would actually do it)

One to watch, Present: Keep your eyes on this 'kid' John Curry. He led the WBS Pens through the play-offs last year, and I've seen him in the practice scrimmages. He's sharp, and if Sabu needs to jump the fence to find somewhere he can be a no 1, then look to see Curry step in, and step up to play big league hockey. After being sent back to the Baby Pens he told the local paper that working with the team has made him hungry for more.

Flower Protection League Report: Orpik on Therrien, to paraphrase Clint Eastwood in Heartbreak Ridge, "Just because you let me play, doesn't mean we're going to be taking long walks in the moonlight together". (yeah, I could have used the 'swapping spit in the shower' line, but waaaaaaay too many bad images). According to Ron Cook over at PPG, Brooks and MT aren't exactly 'warm and fuzzy', but Orpik is surprised and glad to be playing in da 'Burgh. And we're suprised and happy having him here dishing out the Free (still not going to say it) Hits.

Other Hockey Stuff: Vancouver smothered the Flames 6-0, Roberto looking snazzy with his 'C' on the chin of his mask. Before the game they had a very cool tribute to Kris Letang's friend and 'Canuck Forever' Luc Bordoun. Or you can watch the whole thing here.

Riding The Learning Curve

Marc-Andre Fleury may be just 23 years of age, but there can be little doubt that he has put himself up with the best goalies in the game with his play this spring. Since returning to the Penguins lineup in late February MAF was arguably the best goalie in the NHL until the clock hit all zeros at the end of Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals.

With that in mind, I thought I would compare Fleury's performance up to this point in his career to other current goalies in the NHL to see how he compared to what they had accomplished by age 23. Below you will see a statistical breakdown for most of the NHL's current top netminders at age 23:

Marc-Andre Fleury

• Regular Season: 173 GP, 76-67-19, 2.95 GAA, .905 SV%, 11 SO
  
• Playoffs: 25 GP, 15-10, 2.30 GAA, .922 SV%, 3 SO
  

Martin Brodeur

• Regular Season: 168 GP, 82-53-26, 2.40 GAA, .910 SV%, 12 SO
  
• Playoffs: 38 GP, 24-14, 1.86 GAA, .926 SV%, 4 SO
  

Roberto Luongo

• Regular Season: 194 GP, 55-105-19, 2.73 GAA, .916 SV%, 16 SO
  
• Playoffs: none
  

J.S. Giguere

• Regular Season: 64 GP, 19-31-7, 2.86 GAA, .904 SV%, 4 SO
  
• Playoffs: none
  

Rick DiPietro

• Regular Season: 80 GP, 28-38-8, 2.71 GAA, .900 SV%, 5 SO
  
• Playoffs: 6 GP, 1-4, 2.08 GAA, .911 SV%, 1 SO
  

Ryan Miller

• Regular Season: 18 GP, 6-11-1, 3.03 GAA, .886 SV%, 1 SO
  
• Playoffs: none
  

Henrik Lundqvist

• Regular Season: 53 GP, 30-12-9, 2.24 GAA, .922 SV%, 2 SO
  
• Playoffs: 3 GP, 0-3, 4.41 GAA, .835 SV%
  

Note: I was going to include Evgeni Nabokov, Marty Turco, and Mikka Kiprusoff in this comparison, but none of them had made an NHL appearance by age 23.

There were a few interesting observations I made while putting these numbers together. Some of them are quite obvious, but others are a little more subtle. Of all the players above, Martin Brodeur is the only one to have won a Stanley Cup by age 23. At the same time, Marc-Andre Fleury is the only one of the players looked at to have a 40-win season to his credit by age 23. Fleury and Brodeur are also the only two to have won at least one playoff round by age 23. It bears noting though that Rick DiPietro's playoff stats suggest that he was hardly to blame for his team's failure to advance in the post-season in 2003-04.

So what does this all mean? To me these numbers validate the thought that Marc-Andre Fleury is on the verge of establishing himself as one of the best goalies in the NHL for many years to come. His number compare very favorably to those of Brodeur and Roberto Luongo and I think most people would agree that they have both turned out to be pretty solid players in their own right. MAF's goals against average (GAA) may not be up to the standard of those two early in their careers, but you have to take into account the teams they were playing behind to put those numbers in perspective. Brodeur inherited the net for a veteran Devils team that was primed to become one of the powers in the NHL for many years to come, and Luongo played on some teams that while not that great still had some talent and play defensive oriented systems. Fleury on the other hand played behind Penguins teams that were downright awful, especially defensively, for most of his career. MAF never really had the luxury of playing behind a good defensive team until just this past season.

There are all kinds of variables that need to be taken into account here. For instance, Brodeur would likely have a few more wins to his name had the OT shootout been in place at the start of his career, but at the same time the style of hockey in the NHL at that time was much more favorable to goaltenders that what we see today. While I'm sure 100 people could look at these numbers and walk away with 100 different conclusions, I continue to have the overwhelming sense that Marc-Andre Fleury's future is incredibly bright. When you take into account the talent around him in Pittsburgh and the improvements he has made to his game MAF could be in a position to make a run at the NHL record for career wins before all is said and done. Regardless of lofty goals like that, it is clear that Fleury is ahead of the curve compared to most of his peers and the Penguins should be set in goal for quite a long time once they get MAF signed to a new contract.