
Can you believe it has been almost three full weeks since our Game 7 victory? As soon as the game ended I had several blog ideas that I wanted to get to but haven't gotten around to them yet for various reasons. I am a little behind schedule so please forgive the lateness of this post. I realize that I'm going to be talking about hockey into July but oh well.
One of the ideas I had was to go through the roster and explain why I was happy for that person winning the Cup. So without further ado, here on my thoughts on the 2008-2009 Pittsburgh Penguins:

Craig Adams: I'm glad he won the Cup because he is the type of player I would be if I had an ounce of talent. Back in March when the Penguins claimed Adams off of waivers from the Chicago Blackhawks, I thought nothing of it. I knew he was going to be a fourth line player at best but I also had faith in Shero since he has a knack for finding these diamond in the rough guys. Adams filled a vital role on the team by logging quality minutes on the fourth line and for being an excellent penalty killer. He also showed a little scoring touch by notching 3 goals in the playoffs when he only had 2 during the entire regular season. Finally, and this will be a common theme, you cannot discount the importance of being a Stanley Cup winner. I think that is one of the reasons Shero brought him to the team and it turned out to be a very smart move. I'm happy for you, Craig.

Phillipe Boucher: I'm glad he won the Cup because he never bitched about being scratched. He was a healthy scratch the majority of the playoffs but when Gonchar went down in the Washington series he stepped in and played the best hockey I have seen from him all year. While only playing limited minutes as the 7th defensemen when Gonchar came back, Boucher was still able to contribute 4 points in 9 games. He can also lay claim to the fact that he had the game winning goal in Game 1 of the Carolina series. A previous Cup winner with Dallas, Phillipe seemed to really enjoy the Cup win as much as guys almost half his age. While he won't be back next year due to age, injuries and cost, I'm glad he got to have one final go-round with Lord Stanley. I'm happy for you, Phillipe.

Matt Cooke: I'm happy he won the Cup because he was an aggressive hitman without taking stupid penalties. When Jarkko Ruutu left in the offseason, it was one of the few losses that I was upset about because I thought we lost something very valuable. Leave it up to Shero to go out and find a player who filled the same role but did it better. He finished 5th in the league in hits during the regular season and was third in the playoffs (most by a Penguins' forward). There were times during the playoffs that the third line was the best line on the ice for either team and a lot of that has to do with the work of Cooke along the boards. He also contributed valuable minutes on the penalty kill. I'm happy for you, Matt.

Sidney Crosby: I'm happy he won the Cup because he had the weight of the world on his shoulders and he accomplished what very few in his situation have in the past. Think about this for a minute, the guy is only 21 years old and has been in two Stanley Cup Finals. He already has a Calder Trophy, an Art Ross Trophy, a Hart Trophy, and now the biggest one of them all, the Stanley Cup. The amount he has accomplished in such a short amount of time is amazing. Gretzky was 23 when he won it for the first time and Lemieux was 25. Lesser men have crumbled under the enormous pressure similar to watch Crosby is going through. Eric Lindros comes to mind. Lindros only made it to the Stanley Cup Finals once, coincidentally enough losing to the Detroit Red Wings in 1997. The fact that Crosby went through a similar loss last year, but was able to come back and lead his team to the Cup is remarkable. I'm happy for you, Sidney.

Pascal Dupuis: I'm happy he won the Cup because he played the roles we needed him to play. Last year Therrien made the mistake of trying to shoehorn Dupuis into a top line position with Sidney Crosby, probably because of his blazing speed. The problem is he has the scoring touch of a comic book nerd who lives in his parent's basement. With the acquisition of Guerin and Kunitz, Dupuis was able to settle into a role more suited to him, a 3rd/4th line guy who kills penalties. While Dupuis was the only Penguin who didn't score in the playoffs, he played a big role in their Stanley Cup victory, especially against Detroit, by blocking shots and hustling to loose pucks. It must be nice for him to be 'the other guy' in the Hossa trade who now has his name on the Cup. I'm happy for you, Pascal.

Mark Eaton: I'm happy he won the Cup because he was steady all year long. When Shero signed him in the offseason I had my
reservations. Our overall defense did take a dip when he was injured last year, but he had never played even a half of a season in two years with the Pens. But this year he almost played as many games as the last two years combined. He also tied career highs in goals in 7 less games so he was providing solid defense with a touch of offense. Once he got to the playoffs he helped anchor an underrated defense and also chipped in four more goals, tying Kris Letang for the most among defenseman. I'm happy for you, Mark.

Ruslan Fedotenko: I'm happy he won the Cup because he was a clutch playoff performer. When he signed here unfortunately a lot of people thought he was going to be a Ryan Malone type player and put up his numbers. But anyone with half of a brain could have checked his history and saw that he was a consistent 16-19 goal scorer. But short sighted people decided to throw him under the bus, including the supposed 'authority' on Penguins hockey, the Pensblog, who repeatedly called him "Fedostinko" during the year. He got slammed for not being more productive, but if you look at his stats for this year he preformed as good as he has throughout his career. In fact, he had career high numbers for assists (23) and plus/minus (+18) while tying his second highest point total of his career (39). I'm convinced that if he didn't break his hand on Colby Armstrong's face that he would have had career high numbers across the board because the injury limited him to a career low 65 games. I really would like to see how he played under Dan Bylsma for an entire season. He scored 5 goals and 13 assists with a +11 rating in the 25 games under Bylsma. That would calculate out to almost a 60 point season. He then proceeded to take his play to another level in the playoffs, where he was tied for fourth on the team in scoring (14) and first on the team in plus/minus (+9). He scored timely goals, mainly against Washington which always tied the game, and dished out some fine passes. Oh yeah, and don't forget that he was a previous Cup winner. He proved his worth and hopefully they grant his wish and sign him again for next year I'm happy for you, Ruslan.

Marc-Andre Fleury: I'm happy he won the Cup because he proved his critics wrong, including myself. I'm not going to profess my love for Fleury because it would be hypocritical. Like Enviro said in
his post from a few weeks ago, Fleury ranks near the bottom in all statistical categories for Stanley Cup winning goaltenders in the last two decades. My problem with him has always been consistency. He will be lights out amazing one game, then give up the softest goals in the world the next. That infuriating problem is the reason I can never truly get behind him as an elite goaltender. But all that bitching aside, the simple truth is he was the winning goaltender in the Stanley Cup Finals. I thought he played his best game in Game 6 and was sharp when he had to be in Game 7 (although that goal he gave up was soft...sorry). If he could ever harness his talent on a consistent basis I think he has the potential to put his name on the Cup numerous times. He still has time considering he doesn't turn 25 till November. I'm hoping he can do it. I'm happy for you, Marc-Andre.

Mathieu Garon: I'm happy he won the Cup because...um...he was there? Yeah, I have no real ties to Garon. He came over in the trade that sent Dany Sabourin, Ryan Stone, and a 2011 4th round draft pick to the Edmonton Oilers and really didn't do much. He only played in 4 regular season games with the Pens (one in every month) including 3 starts. He finished the year 2-1 with a 2.91 GAA and .894 SV %. Nothing really impressive. His claim to fame in the playoffs was coming in for Fleury in Game 5 of the Finals when Detroit was already ahead 5-0. I guess he will be the answer to the trivia question "What goalie replaced Marc-Andre Fleury in the Finals before Fleury won the finals two games to claim the 2009 Stanley Cup?" He did stop all the shots he faced in that game though so congrats on that. I'm happy for you, Mathieu.

Hal Gill: I'm happy he won the Cup because he proved size matters and speed isn't everything. Enviro and I were unabashed Gill supporters for the entire year and all through the playoffs. When everyone was throwing him under the bus for being slow, we kept plugging how effective he was being. It still amazes me how much flack people were giving him in the Carolina series because their speedy forwards were beating him to pucks, yet we never lost a single game in that series. Gill has proven himself year in and year out as a guy who could shut down top forwards, like he used to do against Jaromir Jagr. This year was no different as he combined with Scuderi to shut down Jeff Carter (1 goal, 0 assists) in the Flyers series, limit Alexander Ovechkin (4 goals in the final 5 games) in the Capitals series, and Eric Staal (1 goal, 1 assist) in the Hurricanes series. He finished the playoffs an impressive +8, which was only one behind the team leaders while logging nearly 20 minutes of ice time a game. Let's not forget about his work on the penalty kill. Do you know who won that race in the classic Aesop Fables tale? Harold Priestly Gill. Fuck that rabbit. I'm happy for you, Hal.

Eric Godard: I'm happy he won the Cup because he was able to kick people's asses and make Lori swoon. Godard tied career highs in goals, assists, points, and PIM while playing the majority of the year on the fourth line. Well, actually, where else would he play? When we lost Georges Laraque I was worried about losing not only arguably the best fighter in the league but also a guy who could grind it out behind the net. However, the problem with Big Georges was always that if the other team got the puck and went the other way, we were screwed because Laraque couldn't catch a zamboni. Godard proved to be not only a good fighter, he also was defensively responsible. He did finish -3, but Laraque was a -6 in 38 less games. While he didn't play any games in the playoffs, he helped get us to 4th in the conference. I'm happy for you, Eric.

Sergei Gonchar: I'm happy he won the Cup because he came back from two major injuries in the same season. When Gonchar went down to a major shoulder injury in the preseason, I figured it would allow players like Kris Letang and Alex Goligoski to shine. I actually thought this might help the Penguins because if they showed they could replace him, we could let Gonchar and his $5 million contract go. Things were actually looking up when they went 9-3 in November. But the wheels fell off the bus in December and January and the Pens found themselves in 10th place. Gonchar came back in mid-February and the Pens took off. They went 17-4-4 with Gonchar in the line-up to jump all the way to 4th place. After dispatching the Flyers in 6, the Pens faced their old nemesis, the Capitals in the 2nd round when tragedy happened again. Alexander Ovechkin's blatant illegal hit on Gonchar in Game 4 knocked the defenseman out of that game and the following two. Gonchar would make a miraculous return for Game 7 and a 6-2 route in which he had the opening assist. He averaged 22 minutes a game over the rest of the playoffs, which is incredible considering it was revealed that he played all of those games with a partially torn right MCL which would have caused a lesser player to miss months. He battled through the pain to hoist his first Stanley Cup in a illustrious 14 year career. I'm happy for you, Sergei.

Bill Guerin: I'm happy he won the Cup because he recaptured his youth while sparking our young players. Whomever that draft pick is that the Islanders get in the third round, he will be hard pressed to match what Bill Guerin meant to this team. It was obvious for a majority of the season that they lacked a strong, veteran voice in the locker room. Gonchar is too quiet, Gill is too much of a jokester, Boucher was hurt for major parts of the year, and everyone else is under 34. Guerin joined the team on March 5th and after busting Crosby's chop in his first practice quickly solidified his place on the team. Over the 17 games with the Pens he scored 5 goals and added 7 assists. But his biggest contribution to the team came in the playoffs where he finished third in scoring behind the Big 2 with 7 goals and 8 assists. Those 15 points were the most he has ever scored in any Stanley Cup playoff year in his entire career and he did it at the age of 38. He scored timely goals, he set up huge goals, and most importantly he shared his Cup winning knowledge with the young guys. Many cited him as one of the main reasons we won. He had to wait 14 years between winning those Cups, but I'd be willing to bet he'd say it was worth it. I'm happy for you, Billy.

Tyler Kennedy: I'm happy he won the Cup because he is our Energizer Bunny. Remember all throughout the playoffs they were showing that commercial about the seconds ticking away? They showed TK slamming his stick on the bench during last year's Finals loss and you could tell he wanted it then. Well, he wanted it more this year. Probably the only other person on the team who tries hard every single shift like Talbot, Kennedy was the spark plug on the 3rd line who scored huge goals. While he only had 5 in the playoffs, we won every single game he scored in. Of those 5 goals, 3 of them were game winners, including the eventual game winner in Game 6 against Detroit. The scary thing about TK is he has room for improvement considering he is still only 22. Yet another guy on this team who can barely drink in a bar yet has gone through two Stanley Cup Finals already. I'm happy for you, Tyler.

Chris Kunitz: I'm happy he won the Cup because he was the reason we no longer have Ryan Whitney. Kunitz came over in the big trade with Anaheim that happened a week before the actual deadline, but no deal was bigger as far as I'm concerned. Not only did we get rid of the albatross that was Shitney, we go a quality, gritty player who added a dynamic the Penguins desperately needed in the playoffs. Kunitz lit it up when he first came over, scoring 7 goals and 11 assists in the 20 games he played in the black and gold while mainly playing with Staal and Kennedy. When Crosby came back from injury Kunitz joined him and Guerin on First Line A and provided the checking and board work necessary for success. A lot was made of Kunitz not scoring in the playoffs (he only had 1 goal) but he did a lot of other things that don't show up on the stats sheet. And it's not like he didn't score, he had a career high 13 assists and his 14 points were easily the most he has ever scored in the playoffs. It also didn't hurt to be a former champion who knows what it takes to win. I'm happy for you, Chris.

Kris Letang: I'm happy he won the Cup because he is the player Ryan Whitney never could be. Letang, in just his second full season, nearly doubled his output from last season. There were times he looked really jittery at the point on the power play, but I constantly had to remind myself that he just turned 22 in April. The thing with all of these young players is the fact that they are getting the majority of their experience at a very high level. Nearly 25% of all the games Letang has ever played in the NHL have come in the playoffs. That is a staggering amount. Letang was a menace against the Capitals, scoring three of his four goals against them. He certainly had one of the largest goals in the playoffs when he scored midway through the opening overtime period in Game 3 against the Caps. If he doesn't score there, who knows what would have happened? I thought he matured considerably this year and took great strides to becoming the replacement Gonchar when Sergei finally calls it quits. I'm happy for you, Kris.

Evgeni Malkin: I'm happy he won the Cup because he proved all of his doubters wrong. Last year Geno ran out of gas in the Finals and he took a lot of flack for it. People failed to realize that in just his second season he was playing over 100 games in 8 months. That is a lot of hockey to be played when you are used to playing a fraction of that. But like for all the young Penguins, it was a learning experience. That translated into a great regular season in which he lead the league in scoring for the first time with 113 points and had an even better playoffs where he scored 36 points in 24 games, the most points scored in the playoffs in over a decade. Geno established himself as arguably the best player on the team, if not the entire league. His offense improved, his defense improved, his English improved, etc. While he did benefit from having Crosby on the other line, he took steps to set himself apart as well. Plus, he has the greatest hockey parents in the world. He's got it all. I'm happy for you, Evgeni.

Brooks Orpik: I'm happy he won the Cup because he didn't chase the money after last season. After we lost in the Finals last year I figured Orpik was a goner. He was by far our best defenseman in the Finals and it was obvious teams around the league took notice. How could you not with a guy who was near the top in hits during the regular season and lead the playoffs? He was heavily coveted by the Rangers and was prepared to make a killing on the open market like his friend Ryan Malone. But something happened very uncommon it today's sports world, he chose a good situation over ridiculous amounts of money. He was paid well, but not nearly what he could have made elsewhere. He recognized the talent level here and wanted to be a part of it. That decision worked out a helluva lot better than the one Marian Hossa made. I was surprised to see that he had career high numbers in assists and points during the year because I actually thought he had an uneventful season. He got stronger as the playoffs wore on and was once again one of our better defenseman in the Finals. He was second in the league in hits and easily first on the team. Good thing is we get to see those hits for another five years. I'm happy for you, Brooks.

Miroslav Satan: I'm happy he won the Cup because he was a professional during a trying year. Satan had unachievable expectations heaped on him by fans and the media before the ink was even dry on the contract. He was a former 40 goal scorer who many thought was going to play with Crosby and reclaim his former goal scoring touch. His arrival was supposed to take the place of Marian Hossa, who defected after last season to the hated Detroit Red Wings. What people chose not to realize was the fact that Satan only scored 40 goals once in his career (1998-1999 season) and only scored more than 70 points twice in his career (73 in 2001-2002 and 75 in 2002-2003). Anyone who thought he was going to come in here and put up 80+ points like Hossa averaged, then they were just fooling themselves. It's obvious to me now that Satan did not fit in with Therrien's style and his play suffered because of it. He did score more goals this year than he did last year with the Islanders in 15 fewer games. His 36 points were the second fewest in his career, but what can you expect when you're playing on the fourth line for 7 minutes a night? But his crowning achievement is when he was demoted to the Wilkes/Barre Scranton team to free up money to land Billy Guerin at the trade deadline. He easily could have declined seeing as how he is a 13 year veteran of the league, but he accepted the move. There were reports out of WBS that Satan took the entire team out to dinner for a bonding experience and impose his wisdom on guys trying to make it to the NHL. He then got the call back up to the Pens for the playoffs and replaced an extremely underperforming Petr Sykora in Game 5 of the opening round against the Flyers. He produced a goal and 5 assists in 17 playoff games and was even out sacrificing his body to block shots in Game 7 against Detroit. I'm happy for you, Miroslav.

Rob Scuderi: I'm happy he won the Cup because he was the Piece. Far and away our best defensive defenseman, Scuds was the guy given the tough assignments against the opponent's top players night in and night out. You rarely heard his name called, which meant he was shutting down the players he was assigned to without taking dumb penalites. In fact, he only had three penalites called on him during the entire playoffs, which tied Gill for lease amount of PIM for regulars. Where would we be without him in Game 6 against Detroit when he stopped not one, not two, but three potential game tying goals in the waning seconds? He almost had as many saves as Garon. His solid play and quiet demeanor started to endear himself to the fans, yet Enviro and I have been huge fans for years. Hopefully he will re-sign here because he is a vital piece to puzzle. I'm happy for you, Rob.

Jordan Staal: I'm happy he won the Cup because he matured as a player during the toughest round of his life. Make no mistake, I have never been a big fan of Staal. It mainly has to do with his outrageous salary for an underperforming third line center. If he only made $2 million a year I probably wouldn't bitch about him as much. But the contract is what it is at this point. I thought Staal improved with each round and was one of the guys assigned to keeping the other superstars in check. There were points in times during games that the third line was easily our best line. He started showing flashes of why the Pens are psyched about him when he became more physical, especially in the Detroit series, and started using his size to his advantage. He scored the potential series changing short handed goal in Game 4 which tied the game at the midway point and helped the team to win the game. He also had the game tying goal in Game 6 which the Pens won 2-1. And I can't name a lot of guys who seemed to want to win Game 7 more than Staal did. If he keeps this up I will change my opinion of him. He has time considering he doesn't turn 21 till September. I'm happy for you, Jordan.

Petr Sykora: I'm happy he won the Cup because he has a dirtier mouth than I do. What a difference a year makes? Last year he was set up to possibly go down in history as one of Pittsburgh sports' greatest memories when he scored in OT of Game 5 against the Red Wings to force another game. If Pittsburgh would have rallied to win that series Petr's goal would have been replayed on highlight reels for generations. But then things fell apart this year. His production dropped to the lowest output since the third year of his career over a decade ago. He only played 7 games of the playoffs, registering just one assist. Sykora was one of my favorite players when the season started (I was legimately psyched to meet him in February) but it slowly turned to frustration followed by resentment. I resented the fact that he had a longer goal scoring dry spell than Miro Satan yet everyone was bad mouthing Satan without mentioning Sykora. He did nothing in the playoffs and when he got benched for Satan, people cried foul. Well, Satan scored 6 points while playing on the fourth line and Sykora didn't score while playing with Malkin. You do the math. Anyway, I'm still glad he won because he was cursing like a sailor during the Stanley Cup presentation which made me laugh. I'm happy for you, Petr.

Maxime Talbot: I'm happy he won the Cup because he is a Superstar. It's been no secret that Talbot has been one of my favorite players since his call-up four years ago. He was gritty, tenacious, and had a certain something about him that was undefineable. What that something was turned out to be the fact that he is a winner pure and simple. He played his ass off last year with a broken foot and forever earned my respect when he willed the puck across the line with 34 seconds left to force overtime in Game 5 against Detroit. He signed a two year extension and everyone was happy. But 2008-2009 was a down year which had fans and so called Penguins blogging experts talking about getting rid of him. He had a horrendous plus/minus number the majority of the season (I believe a -17 at one point) and wasn't scoring. In fact, he went 24 games straight from mid-November to early January without scoring a goal. But then Dan Bylsma took over and Mad Max was back in action. He scored 6 of his 12 goals in the 24 games coached by Bylsma and was a +3. Then he took his play to another level in the playoffs. One could say he turned the tide of the Pens fortunes when he fought Flyers tough guy Daniel Carcillo in Game 6 against the Flyers. The Pens were down 3-0 with only four minutes gone in the second when Talbot baited the lunkhead Carcillo into a fight. Although he lost, he spurred his team on and they made a dramatic comeback to win 5-3 and close out Philadelphia. He started putting points on the board against the Hurricanes and was even better against the Red Wings. His four goals in the Finals were more than Zetterberg, Hossa, Datsyuk, Hudler, Lidstrom, Holmstrom and Samuelsson combined. For a guy who was selected 234th in his draft year, that's not bad at all. I'm happy for you, Max.
A lot of research went into this article and I am officially exhausted. Stay tuned for my post about which guys can suck my dick since we won the Cup. It'll be great!