Now that the 2008 NHL Entry Draft is behind us and the initial Free Agency activity has occurred, it is time to step back and take a closer look at the Pittsburgh Penguins 2008 draft picks. While much of the reporting focused in on Patrick Killeen and Nathan Moon, the Penguins actually acquired a total of four players through the late June draft. This included two goaltenders, a defenseman and a center, all of whom the Penguins will likely allow to develop over the next two seasons in Juniors/College. As a result of previous trades involving Marian Hossa, Hal Gil and Georges Laraque, the Penguins didn't have a first, second, or third round pick to exercise. Despite an attempt to get an earlier draft pick through a pre-draft trade of Ryan Malone, the Penguins came up empty.

It has been a week of good news and bad news for the Pittsburgh Penguins as they have seen several roster gains, losses and signings as the free agency market swings into full motion. Ray Shero is quick to emphasize that he managed to keep the core in place, yet he lost his #1 post-season priority as Marian Hossa opted to take a 1-year deal with the Detroit Red Wings. While managing to keep their defensive core, centers, and starting goaltender in place, the Penguins have lost the majority of their active wingers to the free agent market.

With just a few days to go before the July 1st opening of the free agency market, the Penguins have so far failed to complete any of their post-season priorities. It was no secret that the Penguins wanted to lock up a long-term deal with Marian Hossa, re-sign Brooks Orpik, and tender a trade prior to the draft to acquire a first round pick. To help with the challenges, the Penguins filed for salary arbitration with Marc-Andre Fleury to buy some time on his contract talks to focus on getting the other deals done. So far, the Penguins have nothing to show for their efforts aside from some public rejections from the players involved.

What a fabulous season for the Pittsburgh Penguins, despite the disappointment of falling two-games short of hoisting Lord Stanley's Cup. In a season marred by lengthy injuries to key players, the Penguins found ways to overcome and finish the season just 2-points behind the Montreal Canadiens in the Eastern Conference race. Key players stepped up at key times to cover roster injuries to Sidney Crosby, Marc-Andre Fleury, Marc Eaton, Max Talbot, and Gary Roberts to name a few. Ray Shero made key trades at the deadline to bolster the lineup with Marian Hossa, Pascal Dupuis and Hal Gill. The resilient Penguins ultimately went on to win the Eastern Conference Title and force Game 6 in the Stanley Cup Finals against the formidable Detroit Red Wings after going down 2-0. Through it all, a very young, talented team gained invaluable experience and maturity that will serve them well into the future, both individually and as a team. It was truly a great year for Penguins' hockey. So as the off-season sets in, what roster challenges lie ahead?

Congratulations to the Detroit Red Wings who beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-2 in Game 6 on Wednesday night to clinch the Stanley Cup. The Red Wings had a phenomenal season and earned the right to lift the holy grail of hockey. Congratulations are also in order for Henrik Zetterberg for winning the Conn-Smythe Trophy for the most valuable player of the playoffs. He proved that he can dominate both offensively and defensively, and was a tremendous force behind the Red Wings success.

With less than a minute to go in regulation, it looked like the Stanley Cup would be skated around the rink inside of Joe Louis Arena. The Detroit Red Wings had posted a come from behind rally and scored 2-goals in the 3rd period to put them 1-goal ahead of the Pittsburgh Penguins (3-2). But with their goaltender pulled, the Penguins' last gasp attempt at survival paid off as Max Talbot scored the game-tying goal with just 35-seconds left on the clock to force overtime. Then Marc-Andre Fleury took over, stopping 24-shots through almost 50-minutes of overtime play to give his team the opportunity to win. And win they did, after Petr Sykora clinched the game-winner, a powerplay goal at 9:57 of the third overtime! In a game that had almost everything, including injuries to Sergei Gonchar (upper body) and Ryan Malone (slapshot to the face), the Penguins found a way to win.

In our series preview, we noted that this year's Stanley Cup Finals would be a battle of experience versus youth. Right now, experience has the strong upper hand as the Pittsburgh Penguins lost Game 4 to the Detroit Red Wings by a score of 2-1, and now trail 3-1 in the series. The Red Wings are well positioned to win the Stanley Cup, and will try to do so on Monday night at Joe Louis Arena. For the Penguins to take home the Cup, they would need to be perfect and win the remaining 3-games of the series, including 2 in Detroit. While still a possibility, the odds are stacked heavily against the Penguins at this point.

At last, we witnessed the level of competition that we had originally anticipated between these two great teams! After a 2-game slumber party, the Pittsburgh Penguins awoke at Mellon Arena and became the team that went 12-2 to make it to the Stanley Cup Finals. After going scoreless in the first 2-games, the Penguins scored the first 2-goals of this game thanks to the tenacity of Captain Sidney Crosby, and ultimately went on to beat the Detroit Red Wings 3-2 on Wednesday night. It wasn't easy. It wasn't supposed to be easy. But, from this fan's perspective, the game contained all of the intensity and excitement that you would expect from a Stanley Cup game.

The Pittsburgh Penguins and their fans had another frustrating game against the Detroit Red Wings as they lost 3-0, marking a second consecutive game in which their highly potent offense was snuffed out by the exceptional defensive play of the Red Wings. The Penguins seemingly played a better game than they did in the first game, but took too many ill-timed penalties and failed to convert on the few good chances that they were afforded. To their credit, the Penguins never gave up in the game, but just could not break through the stifling defense of the Red Wings. The Red Wings will take a 2-0 series lead to Pittsburgh on Wednesday, where the Penguins hope to extend their home playoff unbeaten streak.

After posting just 7-shots in the final 42-minutes of Game 1, the Penguins are wasting no time in making adjustments. At practice on Sunday, Coach Therrien juggled the lines in an apparent effort to shake things up a bit and to give the Penguins a different look. The practice session on Sunday is a likely a preview to what we will see in Game 2 on Monday night. The Coach's theme for Sunday's practice was effort and desire, two things that seemed to wane after the first period of Game 1. In the first period the Penguins looked competitive and hungry, but as the game progressed they stopped skating and started watching too much.

The Pittsburgh Penguins were unable to solve the Detroit Red Wings defense and goaltender Chris Osgood as they lost Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Championship Series 4-0 on Saturday. The Penguins came out strong in the 1st period, but faded as they game went on and Detroit's defensive game kicked in. A poorly executed line change by the Penguins midway through the 2nd period served as the turning point and was all that the Red Wings needed to break the lock on a scoreless game. Another Detroit goal early in the 3rd period enabled the Red Wings to close the defensive noose around the neck of the Penguins. They finished it up with 2-late goals, one short-handed and one on the power play, to give them a 1-0 lead in the series.

This is it! The 2008 Stanley Cup Finals will commence Saturday night at Joe Louis Arena as the Eastern Conference Champion Pittsburgh Penguins take on the Western Conference Champion Detroit Red Wings. Finishing #1 in the league during the regular season with 115 points, Detroit has the home ice advantage over the #4 Penguins, who finished with 102-points. The Penguins advanced to the Cup Finals by sweeping the #13 Ottawa Senators, beating the #9 New York Rangers in 5-games, and dispatching the #11 Philadelphia Flyers in 5-games. The Red Wings advanced by beating the #17 Nashville Predators in 6-games, sweeping the #10 Colorado Avalanche, and finishing off the #8 Dallas Stars in 6-games. The Cup Finals promise to be a highly-skilled battle of youth versus experience between two-teams that haven't met since the pre-season, and have never met in the post-season. So how do these two teams match up? Let's take a look.

The Pittsburgh Penguins are the 2008 Eastern Conference Champions after decisively beating the Philadelphia Flyers 6-0 in game 5 on Sunday. The Penguins maintained their perfect post-season home record. In fact, the Penguins have won their last 16 home games, a streak that has been intact since February 24th. Marc-Andre Fluery posted his league-leading 3rd post-season shutout and Sidney Crosby added 2-assists to his point total to regain the league lead in playoff points (21). The Penguins are advancing to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since 1992, and will play the winner of the Detroit Red Wings and Dallas Stars Western Conference Championship Series. If the Stars manage to beat the Red Wings, the Penguins will get home ice. Otherwise, the first 2-games will be played in Detroit.

The Pittsburgh Penguins faltered early in Game 4 on Thursday and lost 4-2 to the Philadelphia Flyers, despite a late rally fueled by Jordan Staal. The Flyers, facing elimination in front of the home crowd, came out strong in the first period and capitalized on 2 powerplays in the 1st period to gain the early advantage. The Penguins turned up the heat in the 2nd and 3rd periods, drawing to within 1-goal in the final minutes of the game, but were unable to get the equalizer. The intensity and snarl of this game finally lived up to what I had expected, but not yet seen, in this series between the Flyers and Penguins. The loss is just the 2nd of the post-season for the Penguins, who will have another opportunity to put the Flyers away in Pittsburgh on Sunday.

The Pittsburgh Penguins moved one game closer to a sweep of the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night as they won Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals by a score of 4-1. Marian Hossa continued to prove his playoff worth by scoring his 7th and 8th post-season goals, including the game winner. Sidney Crosby picked up 2-assists to move into first place in the post-season points race. Marc-Andre Fleury extended his record to 11-1 as he stopped 17-of-18 shots for a 0.944 save percentage on the night. With the win, the Penguins become the 4th team in NHL history to win 11 of their first 12 playoff games. The last team to do so was the 1983 Edmonton Oilers.