By the time the Pirates season ended, I was worried whether I’ll have enough time off to go home for the holidays, I had thousands of emails in my inbox and—hey, look at that!—the Penguins were already 3-0-0!

Pittsburgh sports fans are little like Miami fans, they really only have enough bandwidth to support one team at a time. In Miami, this is because fans are simply indifferent, and only care about whichever team happens to be winning. In Pittsburgh, this is because people invest all of their energy into one team and go a little crazy over it. Now that the Pirates are done until the spring and fans have had time to breath, it’s time to turn our attention back to the Boys of Winter.

We all know about the star power the Pens have on offense. And it would be a waste of time if I “previewed” what Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin can do this year. Hell, Crosby’s line with Chris Kunitz and Pascal Dupuis might even stay together on Team Canada (boo, Canada!).

The two questions going into the season were defense and goaltending. The Penguins reaffirmed their trust in Marc-Andre Fleury—after he saw a psychologist, of course—and brought back Tomas Vokoun to help ease the load of a full season off Fleury’s shoulders.

Then, Vokoun almost died. And now the Penguins have no legitimate back-up in net. Fleury has started 8 of the first nine games, going 7-1. The one game they gave Fleury the night off, they lost 6-3 to the Panthers, in Jeff Zatkoff’s first NHL appearance.

So while he may be off to a great start, Fleury looks like he may have to play in quite a few games this year. Luckily, he has a little more stability in front of him this season.

Some credit Fleury’s newfound calmness in the crease to his therapist, but I choose to praise Rob Scuderi. The Penguins thought they could live without Scuds after they won the Stanley Cup in 2009. But since then, only Scuderi has won another Stanley Cup. He just brings a stability to the blue line that calms everyone around him. He’s already made some clutch blocks and saves this season.

Kris Letang proved to be the Penguins’ best offensive defenseman last year (at least during the regular season), but an early season injury has kept him out of the lineup thus far. However, rookie Olli Maatta is quickly making a name for himself. He’s giving the coaching staff a difficult choice for when Letang returns to the blue line.

But who am I kidding? Nobody is worried about the Penguins this year…during the regular season. We’ve seen it four years in a row. The Penguins stroll through the regular season—with the exception of 2010-11, where they injured themselves through the regular season—only to flop on the big stage.

The Penguins regular season looks to be just like all the rest in recent memory. They should have no trouble finding a playoff spot, even if they don’t finish at the top of the standings. The only thing different this year is that the fans are getting anxious for more playoff success. Yes, a conference finals appearance last year was nice.

But the way that they lost left a bad taste on the season. Losing in a close-fought, seven-game series to the Bruins would have been a respectable way to go out, but scoring as many goals in the entire series as the Blackhawks did in 17 seconds against the Bruins is a little embarrassing.

Thus, the playoffs will define the Penguins’ season this year, and—unless something crazy happens—the regular season will be of little consequence. But hey, there’s another outdoor game this year!

Because if there’s one thing that NHL fans want more of, it’s the Penguins playing outdoors.

The theme of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ 2013 free agency: Let’s make Boston feel better about losing the Stanley Cup.

As if the Penguins didn’t already give Boston whatever they wanted in the Eastern Conference final, the Penguins handed over Jarome Iginla and finally got rid of Matt Cooke. The Bruins wanted Iginla from the beginning, and well, we all know how Bruins fans felt about Cooke.

That said, the Penguins had a pretty successful free agency. Nobody could have honestly expected Iginla to stick around. He was a rental player, and everyone knew it. It’s a shame the Pens couldn’t get him a Cup, but life goes on.

If you ask any average hockey fan that watched the playoffs what the Penguins’ biggest weakness was (besides Marc-Andre Fleury) everyone would say defense.

So what does Ray Shero do? He brings back Rob Scuderi. Scuds was idolized by fans during the 2009 Stanley Cup Run. Heck, he basically single-handedly saved Game 6 to force Game 7 in Detroit. And Pens fans were rooting for LA last year because of him. (Well, and Pens fans just really wanted New Jersey to lose). And just look at him: the man can rock a beard.

Also, the Pens re-signed some of the key parts of what made their regular season so successful – Pascal Dupuis and Craig Adams. Dupuis lit it up on offense playing alongside Sidney Crosby this year, and Adams helped the Penguins maintain one of the best penalty kills.

Shero also made sure Pens fans would have a great head of hair to ogle for another eight years. Sure, Kris Letang had a rough postseason, but you don’t get nominated for the Norris Trophy if you don’t have potential. Perhaps he just needs a guy like Scuderi to help settle him down in his own zone.

Two questions remain for the Penguins, though. First, which defensemen gets left out of the picture now that they have Scuderi? (Answer: Matt Niskanen) And Second, who can replace Matt Cooke on both the penalty kill and the other teams’ nerves? (Answer: I have no idea).

In Shero we trust.

“Paul Martin supports cancer. #PaulMartinSmearCampaign”

“Paul Martin thinks that you’re supposed to pass it to the other team. #PaulMartinSmearCampaign”

“#PaulMartinSmearCampaign was just trending for me. And people say flyers fans are too harsh on their players, this never happened in philly”

When Philadelphia is calling you goony, you know you’ve got a problem.

I really have felt like Susan Powter many times when reading and hearing much of the conversation surrounding Paul Martin this past season. Instead of trying to remind people that diets don’t work, though, I’m trying (despite it being a gross exercise in futility) to remind people that he isn’t the worst defenseman in the world or even on the Pittsburgh Penguins. Not even close to it, actually.

While anyone who’s spoken with me can attest to the fact that this has been a season-long struggle of mine, and while I’ve touched on this in some of my previous entries, I never felt the need to dedicate an entire post to Paul Martin and his perceived suckiness, for lack of a better word. The newly hatched #smearPaulMartin campaign that popped up on Twitter this past week was the final straw that broke this bitch’s back, and it’s time for some real talk about the unwarranted and disproportionate amount of hate being heaped on #7’s shoulders. To borrow from my muse, Lady, in her song “Garbage Ass”: the way you hatin’ I would think you gettin’ a check to do it/you’re dedicated, you’re loyal, I mean you’re so into it.

I’m here to tell you what’s really hood, and what’s really hood is that the PaulMart hate is pretty out of line and that, at least in part, its magnitude can be linked to our ideas about masculinity and how they translate to play on the ice.

The hate he gets certainly isn’t justified if we’re looking at numbers and statistics. For the uninformed (and that would be an embarrassingly -large portion of the Pittsburgh Penguins fan base, it would seem), those are the pesky bits of information that can be tested and verified and confirmed and stand up to repeated analysis. Because there are some wonderful people out there on the internets, I don’t have to present them; you can read these posts to see why, from a statistical standpoint, it’s pretty obvious that Paul Martin is the Penguins #2 defenseman behind Kris Letang (and for good reason).

Please note that I am not saying he has been perfect, nor am I suggesting that his play during the beginning of this past season was up to par. Martin has also acknowledged shortcomings in his game this past year. What I am, however, attempting to do with these links is once and for all dispel the notion that he’s even close to as bad as a lot of people believe and want you to believe.

Even the folks behind Pensblog, not exactly the most Martin-friendly guys out there, engaged in a statistical analysis that showed that, hey, maybe he isn’t making anywhere near the amount of mistakes that are attributed to him. (Note: I do, however, think that a direct comparison to Sergei Gonchar is flawed in and of itself since they aren’t even the same type of defenseman. “Puck-moving defenseman” isn’t the same as “offensive defenseman,” and I think a Letang/Gonchar comparison is far more useful and relevant, especially in terms of their roles on the roster. I realize that letting Gonchar go and bringing in Martin/Michalek lends itself to a head-to-head comparison, but I think that’s because it’s easy and lazy above all else.)

Oh, and for the people who are playing the he-makes-$5 million-so-he-should-be-X-Y-Z: take his contract up with Ray Shero if you don’t like it. I’d be cool with him making less, but let’s once again keep it real – if Shero didn’t pay it, someone else would gladly have paid that or even more to have him. Dennis Wideman’s in the same money league as Paul Martin, so y’all can just simmer down on that. And considering some of the folks making more than PaulMart, I’m fine with his cap hit.

I really don’t like calling people out individually, and I am not doing this to publicly shame anyone, but I think we need to take a look at some of the examples of the Martin-bashing that are out there to help illustrate my point. This blog post is perhaps one of the best recent examples upon which I can draw.

The author starts by assuming that the reader thinks Paul Martin is a joke, which speaks to the degree to which the Martin-bashing has caught on (or is perceived to have caught on) among Penguins fans. She also notes that she wished she had the time to include more statistics but couldn’t due to lack of time (hey, I understand that) to prove her point that the #smearPaulMartincampaign is justified.

Underneath all of the made-up stats and fabrications (seriously, just read the CBS article I linked to earlier and cross-reference that with her analysis of his play with regards to his concussion…and when it actually occurred) and her repeated mentions of how she “feels” that Martin’s a bad player, her main point and problem with Martin is simple: Paul Martin isn’t physical enough.

Let’s also take a look at some comments left in response to the above-referenced articles, as well as from around the internet. It’s admittedly a little hard to find anything more substantial than, “Paul Martin sucks,” or, “Paul Martin is terrible and the worst,” out there that would indicate why, exactly, they have arrived at such conclusions, but those that do echo the sentiment of the above author:

“Yeah, sorry, I couldn’t find the ‘soft play’ statistic anywhere, darn it.”

“He is certainly a whipping boy within the fan base because of his soft/finesse style.”

“…his most physical play is the poke check.”

“I rather believe that it is Martin’s style of passive, positional defense that seems to offend many.”

“let me tell you the main reason I hate paul martin. He looks like ellen degenerous. (sp?)”

That last one was just too ridiculous to not include. Sorry.

Let’s not forget the mentions of him being quiet and soft-spoken, too. While these characterizations aren’t done to paint him in a negative light – they’re simply ways to describe his personality – they become important when viewed within the larger context of the ways in which he’s criticized and the reasons for said criticism.

Now, these critiques obviously aren’t new in hockey, and they aren’t only leveled at Martin. Rather, these should sound extremely familiar, particularly to anyone who’s ever had a European player on their roster. How many times have we seen the word “soft” used to negatively characterize a player (often from Europe), after all?

With all of this in mind, it is my firm belief that Paul Martin wouldn’t be the subject of nearly as much criticism if he played a more physical game and if he were a bigger hitter. Just as Brooks Orpik gets a free pass for his numerous mistakes (and, uhh, there have really been plenty of those this year, guys) because he doesn’t hesitate to lay someone out in the neutral zone, Martin absorbs even more finger-pointing because he doesn’t engage in those highlight-reel affirmations of masculinity. Martin also doesn’t have goal-scoring and flashiness to fall back on like his most recent defensive partner, Kris Letang, who also regularly throws the body (and who also somehow escaped the wrath of fans after his playoff meltdown).

He’s an anomaly in the Penguins defensive corps with regards to hitting, especially with the departure of Zbynek Michalek (who was often the subject of similar criticism and performed far worse than Martin over the course of the year but never became the target of such concentrated hatred and ire).

Again, I don’t mean to suggest that Martin be immune from legitimate criticism (Paul, might want to mention your concussion symptoms right away and not hold the puck so long sometimes…). But what we’ve seen happen is an irrational fan hatred whose flames were fanned by social media and fueled by our bias, especially in Pittsburgh, toward more Orpik-style hockey. And it’s really, really embarrassing. Here’s a guy who has stated he wants to remain in Pittsburgh and acknowledged that things didn’t always go as planned this past year, and instead of fan support, he gets a slew of disgusting personal attacks in the form of a trendy hashtag. Way to go, guys.

Ray Shero came into the NHL Draft saying he’d like to trade 1 or 2 defensemen, and to the dismay of many, Zbynek Michalek was sent away while Martin remained. Shero has stated he’s not “actively shopping” Martin despite other teams’ inquiries, but we’ll see what the future holds. The numbers, as well as public statements, would seem to indicate that Ray Shero and Dan Bylsma have faith in Paul Martin, and those same numbers tell a story that will disappoint his haters. If he’s back in Pittsburgh in the fall, I’m fully confident he’s going to play steady, solid defense – even if it’s never going to be enough to satisfy a lot of people here in Pittsburgh. And if he’s gone, I sincerely hope he lands someplace where the fan base will know better than to engage in such disproportionate, disappointing scapegoating.

I’m sure you’re probably laughing, but I really don’t care. Joke’s on you. #knowledgeispowerbabygirl

At home with Adam and Mike

“Back-to-back games are, in and of themselves,  always a little bit tricky.  Back-to-back games when you’ve already played more games than any other team, a little trickier.  Back-to-back games when your IR is composed of two of the world’s best players, one of your top defensemen, and a guy who shoots a lot (sorry, Tyler Kennedy, I’m still kind of cool on you)?  Oh, that’s just typical Penguins hockey these days.  And if I sound a little flippant, sarcastic, acerbic, or annoyed in this inaugural post, know that it, too, shall pass.  I think.

After a solid effort during a loss to Buffalo on Saturday, then Penguins made their first trip to the windblown prairies of Manitoba to take on the Winnipeg Jets. It was admittedly strange to see WPG on the scoreboard, and the Root Sports commentators definitely let the T-word slip when referring to the Pens’ opponents more than once over the course of the game, but it was a little heartwarming to see a type of enthusiasm these players clearly never saw in Philips Arena.

Zbynek Michalek

But my heart turned to ice around 2 seconds into the game when my shining star, Zbynek Michalek, straight-up bit it and fell to the ice, paving the way for the Jets to score the fastest goal the Penguins have ever allowed.  In their history.  Eight seconds into the game and you’re already thinking to yourself, “Oh, so that’s how it’s going to be.”  And, frankly, things were just as awful for the better part of the first period and into the second. 

For a large portion of the game, I suffered Yuengling-fueled flashbacks to last spring, cursing our sort for the injuries that decimated our lineup and forced us to think of Mark Letestu, the hockey equivalent of lukewarm water, coming back into the lineup as some twisted version of a blessing.  Monday night, for the most part, really was no different.

The Pens did, however, start to get the ball finally rolling.  They started actually hitting the net and sustaining pressure and momentum, and you got the sense that, you know, they might actually scrape something together.  And then Kris Letang took a boarding penalty against Alex Burmistrov, and the entire city of Winnipeg threw up their arms in protest. 

Kris Letang

As Letang made his way to the penalty box, Penguins fans everywhere braced themselves for yet another star player sitting out of the lineup for a yet-undetermined period of time.  In the end , Ondrej Pavelec and his goalposts carried the Jets to victory, and the Penguins peaced out in preparation for a game at Minnesota the next night.
Playing against the Minnesota Wild has, in the past, been about as exciting or thrilling as a box of cornstarch.  The Penguins never seemed to do well against them, and after the previous night’s performance, you sort of just threw up a prayer that the Penguins would finally string together a decent effort against the Wild. 

Brian Strait

Luckily they did and they came out pretty strong, although the more time that went on without a goal, the bigger the pit in your stomach grew that the stars weren’t ready to align.  That pit reached epic proportions when Brian Strait, the guy they called up to replace the now-suspended Kris Letang (more on that in a hot second), went down with an injury and didn’t return. 

Oh, and Joe Vitale took a high stick and was also MIA for a decent chunk of time. But the Pens held it together and came out of St. Paul with a W. 

James Neal has continued on his goal-scoring tear (which happens when a shot like that stops flying high and/or wide of the cage), Paul Martin has steadily held his own in our zone, and Brent Johnson basically dropped acid to keep the puck out of the net. 

I think more than a few of us Pens fans breathed a sigh of relief when that one was all over.  And I barely even noticed that Dany Heatley was on the ice for the Wild, so, I mean, it’s good to know some things have, along with Matt Niskanen taking at least 1 or 2 penalties, haven’t really changed all that much. 

Some quick observations:

• Steve Sullivan is doing a really, really nice job with the puck and along the boards.  What would be nicer?  Shooting said puck more often. 

• Kris Letang’s suspension was a little bit of a hoax in my book, but that’s alright.  He was committed to the hit before Burmistrov turned and put himself into that position, but there’s not much you can do about it now.  Besides, what’s yet another star player out of the lineup?  Just join the club.

• Get off of Zbynek Michalek’s back.  The reason his mistakes are so glaring is because there are so few.  Cool it, yinz.  You’ll thank me the next time he sacrifices his body yet again to block a shot or break up a pass to thwart a prime scoring opportunity.

• James Neal.  Who knew he could produce even with Richard Park at center?  This isn’t a knock on Richard Park, but…come on, now.  He ain’t no Malkin.

• Speaking of Geno, as well as Sid, it’s almost hard to get fully excited about this season.  I think there was so much buildup during the offseason telling ourselves that all of the terrible pain we endured because of injuries would finally be behind us and we could go back to good ‘ol Penguins hockey.  And then this season started off the way last one ended with folks dropping like flies.  It’s just sort of deflating at this point seeing the team and knowing just how much better we could be. 

Knock the top two forwards and top defenseman off of any other roster in the league, though, and I’m not sure they’d be able to hold up as well as this team.  Mad props, if you will, to Dan Bylsma and the players.

Back in action Thursday contre les Canadiens.   I already know that Mike Cammalleri is going to make me want to punch something.”

Penguin fan or not, you must follow Adam on Twitter:  @adamkno, as well as his and Mike’s team: @Pghgayhockey