Mark Madden Columns category, Page 31
Mark Madden: Penguins need roster refresh, not more excuses
The ending is just a beginning. The closer you get to the meaning, the sooner you’ll know that you’re dreaming. So, it’s on and on and on, it’s refreshing Pittsburgh Penguins notes. (Look for the answer.) • Sidney Crosby was 100% not cleared to play Game 6. Reports that he...
Mark Madden: After Penguins blow series, it’s time for decisive action from Fenway Sports
Immediately after the Pittsburgh Penguins’ season-ending 4-3 overtime loss Sunday at New York, Jake Guentzel paid tribute: “I thought we had something special here.” Guentzel did: He scored eight goals against the Rangers, the first time that’s happened in a playoff series since 2009. The Penguins used to: They were...
Mark Madden’s Hot Take: Tom Brady deal a waste of money
In 22 years of playing football, Tom Brady has made $300 million. Brady just signed a 10-year contract with Fox Sports to be their lead NFL analyst upon his retirement from football. He’ll make $375 million. That’s quite a disparity even when accounting for inflation and gas prices. Fox is...
Mark Madden: Jacob Trouba hit on Sidney Crosby was ugly, intentional and typical for NHL
If Sidney Crosby’s series is over, so is the Pittsburgh Penguins’ season. Sure, the Penguins lead their first-round series with the New York Rangers, 3-2. But for Friday’s Game 6, they may be without their best player/captain/first-line center, their starting and second-string goalies, a top-pair defenseman and a top-six winger....
Mark Madden: Goaltending, Crosby combine to put Penguins on cusp of series win
You can flip Igor Shesterkin over. He’s done on this side. It seemed likely that goaltending would decide the first-round playoff series between the Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Rangers. But not like this. Third-stringer Louis Domingue has played passably for the Penguins. Shesterkin, the likely Vezina Trophy winner as...
Mark Madden: Penguins finally managed score and situation in Game 3
After Danton Heinen scored to give the Pittsburgh Penguins a 5-4 lead with 8 minutes, 58 seconds left in the third period against the New York Rangers in Game 3 of their playoff series Saturday, something odd happened: Playoff hockey broke out. The Penguins played below the Rangers’ goal line...
Mark Madden’s Hot Take: No one to blame for Penguins’ goaltending situation
When failure occurs in sports, it’s required that blame be attached. There’s always something management, a coach or a player could have done to reverse the result. That’s not the case with the Pittsburgh Penguins’ goaltending situation. “They should have had a better veteran No. 3 goalie!” That’s a common...
Mark Madden: Goaltending leaves Penguins at grave disadvantage vs. Rangers
A good story does not equate to a good player. Don’t confuse the two. Louis Domingue is a good story. He’s the first goalie to enter a playoff game during its second overtime. He ate spicy pork and broccoli during a prior intermission Tuesday because he didn’t think he’d play....
Mark Madden: Penguins’ stars shined in Game 1, but team’s minutemen can’t be diminished
If you’re one of those dullards with a low hockey IQ who doubts the value of Kris Letang to the Pittsburgh Penguins, witness Tuesday’s triple-overtime win against the host New York Rangers. Letang played well. More importantly, he just kept playing. Letang logged 46 minutes and 41 seconds on the...
Mark Madden’s Hot Take: College athletes should do what’s best for themselves
Jordan Addison, the reigning Biletnikoff Award winner as college football’s top wide receiver in 2021, will likely transfer from Pitt to Southern Cal. Addison will be a junior. Pitt supporters are apoplectic, which is their preferred disposition. You’d think they’d be grateful for a chance to martyr themselves. Pitt coach...
Mark Madden: Penguins can’t be fixed before playoffs, but here are some ideas anyway
If the Pittsburgh Penguins continue performing as they have for the past month, they’re going to get swept in the first round of the NHL playoffs. Not just eliminated, but swept. The Penguins have lost 11 of 17 and appear to be slowing down with every game. They nearly ground...
Mark Madden: No matter what tea leaves say, Steelers should skip QBs on draft day
The buildup to the Pittsburgh Steelers draft has been analyzed in overwrought and unnecessarily complicated fashion. The Steelers have a board, like every other NFL team. It ranks draft-eligible athletes in descending order of preference after due diligence is done. When somebody is selected, his name gets crossed off. When...
Mark Madden’s Hot Take: In Bishop Canevin-Carlynton dispute, kids are being led astray
The bad side of high school sports got unfortunate exposure when a coach sadly chose to be a manipulator instead of an adult. A number of Bishop Canevin athletes competed as members of Carlynton’s boys track team as part of a WPIAL-sanctioned co-op. Between 10-15 of those Canevin athletes boycotted...
Mark Madden: Can the Penguins win a playoff series with Casey DeSmith in goal?
After Pittsburgh Penguins goalie Casey DeSmith made 52 saves to shut out Boston, 4-0, at PPG Paints Arena on Thursday, coach Mike Sullivan wouldn’t directly address the possibility of DeSmith starting in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Nor would winger Jake Guentzel. Nor would winger Jason Zucker. Nor would DeSmith himself....
Mark Madden: Steelers must choose between sizzle, steak at NFL Draft
The NFL Draft is a week away. The Pittsburgh Steelers have two options: Do a showbiz draft. Do a draft that 100% benefits the team. The showbiz draft consists of taking a quarterback with the 20th pick overall, then a wide receiver in the second round. Perhaps some tenuous connection...
Mark Madden: Penguins’ goaltending situation is nobody’s fault
With Tristan Jarry potentially out for the start of the playoffs with a reported broken foot, the Penguins have a goaltending dilemma. But it’s nobody’s fault. Sure, GM Ron Hextall could have traded for a backup superior to Casey DeSmith. Perhaps Hextall should have. But would that acquisition win a...
Mark Madden’s Hot Take: Remembering Mike Bossy as the 2nd-purest goal scorer ever
Mike Bossy was like a metronome. Nonstop. Inexorable. He scored, then scored again. The New York Islanders right wing netted 573 times in 752 regular-season games, 85 times in 129 playoff games, 13 times in 15 international games. That’s 671 goals of some gravitas, and a ton looked the same:...
Mark Madden: Many Penguins’ catalysts are done getting better, but Jake Guentzel offers hope moving forward
Jake Guentzel is a coach’s kid and Sidney Crosby’s linemate. That’s a combination that dictates excellence. “Guentzel is as perfect as can be without being Sid.” That’s what ex-Pittsburgh Penguin and current TV analyst Mike Rupp said after Guentzel dropped two goals and two assists in the Penguins’ 6-3 home...
Mark Madden: Scottie Scheffler should be the story of the Masters, not Tiger Woods
Scottie Scheffler won the Masters. He finished 23 strokes ahead of Tiger Woods, who finished 47th but was somehow the story. Skip Bayless of Fox said that as far as he’s concerned, Woods won the Masters. Bayless referred to Scheffler as “the bland leading the bland.” That’s wrong and unfair....
Mark Madden: Evgeni Malkin heads list of disappointing Penguins with playoffs looming
If you’re talking about the Pittsburgh Penguins, you can currently count on one man and one man only. That’s the captain. Sidney Crosby willed his team to victory over visiting Nashville on Sunday with two goals and an assist, netting the winner in overtime. Evgeni Malkin, meanwhile, is mostly a...
Mark Madden’s Hot Take: Re-signing Terrell Edmunds makes more sense for Steelers than Honey Badger
“SIGN THE HONEY BADGER!” It’s the war cry of local fanboys who want to collect football cards, not build a team. Tyrann Mathieu is a good safety. A bit beat up at 29, perhaps, thanks to being extremely physical, 5-foot-9, and having played nine NFL seasons. But he’s a three-time...
Mark Madden: The Penguins refuse to see themselves as they are
The Pittsburgh Penguins are standing at the crossroads. I believe they’re sinking down. The Penguins aren’t among the cream of the NHL crop. If they think that, they’re lying to themselves. If they believe they’re faster than the New York Rangers, that’s another whopper. If the Penguins feel they can...
Mark Madden: With playoff series looming, Penguins-Rangers matchup has extra importance
Thursday’s matchup between the Pittsburgh Penguins and host New York Rangers isn’t a playoff game. But it’s got implications beyond a mere regular-season contest. The Penguins and Rangers are a good bet to play in the first round of the playoffs. The Rangers have beaten the Penguins two straight times,...
Mark Madden: Penguins allowing too many soul-crushing goals at inopportune times
The Penguins are difficult to figure. They are on pace for 108 points, have the seventh-best record in the NHL and have allowed the sixth-fewest goals in the league. (That last factoid is so un-Penguins. It looks like a typo.) But Saturday’s 3-2 loss at Colorado was a microcosm of...
Mark Madden’s Hot Take: Mario Lemieux’s fantasy camp the best of its genre
Mario Lemieux made a pass, then broke free to take an easy return feed. But the puck never got there. The rec-league player who took Lemieux’s dish tried to instead beat a defender one-on-one. That’s the beauty of the Mario Lemieux Fantasy Hockey Camp: Everybody is equal. (The puck hog...
