Mike Prisuta: Pens Getting Feisty

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Mike Prisuta
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, October 5, 2006

The emphasis last season was on the high-profile acquisitions.

The emphasis this season will be on working for a living.

The Penguins will still have an element of star power on display when they make their 2006-07 debut tonight at Mellon Arena against the Philadelphia Flyers, and they'll get another dose of the same when Evgeni Malkin joins his new team on the ice after three or four games. But if we've learned anything about new general manager Ray Shero since he took over for Craig Patrick, it's that Shero has recognized the Penguins have for too long been a team opponents have been too comfortable playing against, and that Shero is determined to do something about it.

He already has, actually.

Shero has brought in the likes of Mark Eaton and Jarkko Ruutu and Nils Ekman and Ronald Petrovicky and Dominic Moore and Karl Stewart.

And Shero's most recent pickup, Chris Thorburn, is another such agitating clone.

Sidney Crosby will still be counted upon to dazzle, as will Malkin when his shoulder allows.

Ryan Whitney might also exude star power someday, as should Jordan Staal.

But most of the rest will have to be pests if Shero is to succeed in his transformation of the Penguins from a finesse collection into the Nashville Predators.

That's a modest goal, to be certain, but enough of a step up from what the Penguins were a season ago that the players have bought into the concept with apparent approval and enthusiasm.

"I think we're going to be one of those teams that's a real pain in the butt to play against," Whitney said. "I think everyone in here wants to be, and we're kind of taking the shape of someone no one wants to play because we're going to be in your face and competing all night."

Added Ryan Malone: "The attitude is different. We want to be known as a hard-working, in-your-face team."

The Penguins have never been known as that, even in the best of times.

But with those days long gone, such a transformation has been long overdue.

"That's just work ethic," said Crosby, who is often the target of such tactics. "If you play a team with a strong work ethic that comes at you shift after shift, it's frustrating."

This season, the Pens endeavor to do the frustrating, for a change.

To be brilliant at times, but persistent at all times.

Until the puck drops tonight, it's just a theory.

"We haven't played a game yet," Crosby said. "We have to build our identity. You can't go out there and say we're going to do that. Talk's not what it's about is right now.

"We have to go out and do it."

We'll find out starting tonight how committed these new-look Penguins are to their newfound cause.