Now what in Penguin's land?

Actually for 2013-14 they are in pretty good shape. The only key members of their team not under contract for next year are Matt Cooke and Tyler Kennedy. The team has 18 players under contract and about $7.5MM available on the cap. None of the trade deadline picks were going to stay anyway so there is no need to resign any of them. They have Maatta and Pouliot ready to move up to the AHL team for next year with a jump to the NHL if necessary. Planned obsolescence works with this team.

I've always thought that same thing about Crosby. Yes, he's one of the best goal scorers in the league, but the Pens seem to do just as well without him, and 9 mil is a damn big cap hit for someone who's team does fine without him. But with 11 of their forwards becoming UFAs in the next 2 years, and the cap space going down, they've got a lot of thinking to do. They've also got 6 defensemen becoming UFA in the next 2 years. The Pens have consistently made playoffs, but have only won 2 playoff series since they won the cup in '09, so I wouldn't be super surprised to see change coming, whether it's with the players, management/coaching, or both, we'll have to see.

If Toronto didn't choke, we wouldn't even be talking about this because the Penguins would be in the finals. And if you've noticed, Crosby's turned two career 3rd line forwards into elite players. Any team with Crosby is infinitely better than a team without Crosby, and nobody in a sane mind would argue against that.

It all down hill from hear. This was the year they were planing on winning. They are already at or over the salary cap and and now they have some big contracts to renew or lose key players.