THE PLAN – CHICAGO OR PITTSBURGH. PART II of III

Mario’s Men

2001-2002: 26^th overall, 69 points

Mario played 36 games and had 31 points, team leading scorer was Kovalev – 76 points.

Draft: Ryan Whitney

2002-2003: 29^th overall, 65 points

Mario played 67 games and acquired 91 points, team leader.

Draft: Marc Andre-Fleury

2003-2004: 30^th overall, 58 points

Lemieux played 10 games with 9 points. Defenseman Dick Tarnstrom led the team in scoring with 52 points.

Key pieces to attain cup team – Marc Andre-Fleury, Brooks Orpik, Ryan Whitney, Rob Scuderi

Draft: Evgeni Malkin

Lockout plus rigged lottery ;)

SECOND COMING OF CHRIST – Gretzky 2.0

2005-2006: 29^th overall, 58 points

Sid the Kid, 102 points for the scoring lead.

Key pieces to attain cup: Colby Armstrong, Erik Christensen, Sidney Crosby, MA Fleury, Sergei Gonchar, Brooks Orpik, Rob Scuderi, Max Talbot, Ryan Whitney

Draft: Jordan Staal

2006-2007: 10th overall! 105 points! Hallelujah, they fought themselves out of the cellar!

Crosby tallied 120 points for the team, and NHL lead.

Key pieces to attain cup: Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Sergei Gonchar, Ryan Whitney, Jordan Staal, Colby Armstrong, Erik Christensen, Max Talbot, Rob Scuderi, Brooks Orpik, MA Fleury.

2007-2008: 4^th overall, 102 points

Evgeni Malkin leads the team with 102 points.

Key peices to attain cup: Colby Armstrong, Erik Christensen, Sidney Crosby, Pascal Dupuis, Mark Eaton, Hal Gill, Alex Goligoski, Sergei Gonchar, Tyler Kennedy, Kris Letang, Evgeni Malkin, Brooks Orpik, Rob Scuderi, Jordan Staal, Petr Sykora, Max Talbot, Ryan Whitney.

2008-2009: 8^th overall, 99 points. Stanley.

Evgeni Malkin – 113 points to lead the team. Sidney Crosby – 103 points.

C – Crosby, Malkin, Staal, Kennedy, Talbot

LW – Kunitz, Fedotenko, Cooke, Dupuis

RW – Guerin, Satan, Adams, Sykora

D – Gonchar, Letang, Eaton, Scuderi, Orpik, Gill, Goligoski

G – Fleury, Garon

How they got here?

Centers – Drafted Crosby 1^st overall, Evgeni Malkin and Jordan Staal 2^nd overall, Max Talbot in 2002 (234^th overall), Tyler Kennedy in 2004 (99^th overall).

Left wing – Fedotenko (FA), Kunitz (acquired in Whitney trade along with Tangradi), Cooke (FA), Dupuis (traded with Hossa to Pittsburgh for Armstrong, Christensen, Angelo Esposito and a 1^st)

Right wing – Guerin (NYI traded for a 3^rd), Satan (FA), Adams (waiver claim), Sykora (FA)

Defense – Gonchar (FA), Letang drafted 62^nd overall in 2005, Eaton (FA), Scuderi drafted 134^th overall in 1998, Orpik drafted 18^th overall in 2000, Gill (traded by Toronto for a 2^nd and 5^th rounder), Goligoski drafted in 2004 – 61^st overall.

Goaler – MA Fleury drafted 1^st overall, Garon (traded by Edmonton for Danny Sabourin, Ryan Stone and Tobias Reider).

I really hope Edmonton doesn’t suck as long as Pittsburgh did, they’re well on their way though and it’s scary. I think we’ll be picking bottom 4 this year, I just hope it’s not first, for my pride’s sake. Ryan Murray will help this team as early as next year. Edmonton also doesn’t have Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin, we have a big three. I don’t think our three will ever be as good as the Pittsburgh two; Nuge might get close in points a couple times but I think our big three’s combined points will match Sid and Geno’s points when everyone’s in their prime. The obvious hole here is defense, we need help badly and I hope Marty McSorley is right! We also need a bonified starter for the future, Dubnyk could do us all a favour and get consistent.

One thing I've noticed with both teams, the core of the team had to play together for a couple years before they made their push. The Oilers have some big pieces filled, but there are still a couple things that need to be fixed. After that, we just need to watch them play and gel. We won't be winning the cup tomorrow.

I think the Chicago way fits us better, as we don't have the center depth Pittsburgh has (does anybody?). Chicago also didn't suck as long either, I hope our new GM realizes we need an impact defender in the summer and gets one, because Ryan Suter will never come here in a trade with Tambo as the helm.

Katz needs to show some initiative, losing needs to stop.