Gretzky and his fans may still believe that he was the best player to ever don skates and play the game, but one thing is for sure, he wasn’t as great of a team player as either Mario Lemieux or Sidney Crosby. It’s easy to point out why Gretzky is considered so great when you look at the team that surrounded him – something that is nigh impossible these days with salaries escalating faster than revenues warrant. The Penguins are trying however. It is also easy to point out and show how Lemieux was a far superior player when you look at the pathetic teams that surrounded him – yet he still performed at a level unarguably on par with Gretzky. The “better” player considering that? Not even close.

With the new documentary “Kings Ransom,” we once again see why I think it is a no-brainer that when it comes to both on ice talent and off ice class I would pick Mario any day of the week and twice on game day for my team. For that matter I would say the same thing about Sidney Crosby.

“If Sidney Crosby walked in this room, who would know him? In the NBA, every team has a star,” former Kings owner Bruce McNall said gushing over Gretzky. Really? “Who” would know him? Lots of people Mr. McNall. Lots of people.

Hate to break this to you, but outside of the hockey world and even within it, many, many people would not even know Wayne Gretzky if they saw him. He’s old guard and quite frankly the younger fans of hockey these days know little to nothing about him except that there seems to be a lot of “99″s hanging from rafters in arenas around the league thanks to an NHL decision to retire the number league wide. Adoration that, if you ask me, is a little unwarranted and Mr. McNall, you think a little too highly of your former player if you ask me. But it is easy to say when a room is full of people who already know Gretzky or are there specifically to see him.

But I think that before we deify old 99 we have to look with a critical eye at why Gretzky wound up leaving the Oilers, causing a near revolution in Canada, and headed to the LA Kings, a team that has been so perennially bad that they are often forgotten about when naming teams in the league in casual conversation. Gretzky left Edmonton because the Oilers could not afford him any more in a time when free agency was escalating salaries. And Canada’s golden boy did little to help. He refused to renegotiate his contract putting the Oilers in a bind with his current contract up the next year. Gretzky basically punched his own ticket out of Canada and while fans to this day blame the Edmonton organization for the debacle they rarely dare to utter a critical word of 99 or ask why he was so unwilling to do what needed to be done to stay in the Great White North.

Contrast and compare …

Mario Lemieux played on horrendously bad teams from the time he was drafted by the Penguins.  Yet despite putting up comparable numbers to 99 all things considered he took less money than Gretzky in each year of his contracts except one (his last when his back loaded salary kicked in).  Even upon returning to the league after retirement (and despite still putting up super superstar numbers once he did), he still had less dollars per contract year than Gretzky did at the end of his career.  Lemieux took less money to help his team.  Then there is modern day superstar and Penguins center Sidney Crosby.  He too took less than what he could have easily made on the free market to stick with the Penguins when it came time for a deal – something that rubbed off on other players with the team as Malkin, Staal and Fleury took either less than market value to keep the club on a strong footing.  Several role players (including Guerin and Fedotenko this year) also followed Crosby’s lead and like the team and winning so much that they took pay cuts just to play here while they could have easily gone elsewhere.

So to Gretzky’s adoring throngs, I say give me Lemieux and Crosby any day.  And if you don’t know Crosby to see him then that is your problem and no one else’s.  But remember, while Gretzky may have matured later and finally come to understand why Edmonton did what they did, some players understand that while they are still playing and do whatever they can to help the team.  Pittsburgh has been blessed to have two such players and they have elevated themselves above 99 because of that.

When it was announced by the Penguins that season ticket holders would have an oportunity to have their picture taken with Lord Stanley’s Cup the questions began to swirl. How many would take advantage of the oportunity to have a picture with the trophy on Penguins ice? When would be the best time to show up; early or later to beat any potential log jams? Well, yesterday, the first of two days when the cup was available, and when season ticket holders with names in the first half of the alphabet were given tickets for, the answers were unmistakable; nearly every damn one and it did not matter.

Yes, even when we arrived at 11:45 AM (over a full four hours BEFORE our recommended time) the line was out the door of gate one, down the sidewalk to Center Avenue and then around the bend down to Washington Place. Inside the line was wrapped around the concourse from Gate one all the way back to section C5/6 the long way around. Then the line wound down the steps and out to center ice.

The impressive thing? No one seemed to care. Yes, by the time we got out of there at 4:45 (five hours later) there was not bitching or moaning from those around us in line the entire time. People talked, children played and everyone accepted the long march to the single reason why we had all shown up. Even when people who had already had their pictures taken told those standing outside that the wait was five hours the groans were light if existent at all. Everyone seemed to expect this sort of turn out.

Here some pictures from yesterday’s wait in line:

The End of the line when we arrived

Me and Charlotte waiting in line (about 30 minutes after arriving)

Charlotte and mommy taking a stroll

Charlotte gets a ride (about 60 minutes after arriving)

Just inside Gate 1 (We have to walk all the way around)

Waiting once inside

a short break from walking

Soooooo close

Finally! Mommy and Charlotte on the ice

The Grand Prize! Lord Stanley's Cup!

Oh, and just in case you thought that the line might get shorter late in the day?  Well, let’s just say we are damn glad we did not wait until 4:00 pm to show up!

The line at 5PM was still looooooooong!

I just want to thank the entire Penguins organization for this wonderful experience and if you have tickets for today to get your picture with the cup well my suggestion is get there as early as you can!

Say what you want, and having myself read the commentary out of the Detroit papers and Red Wings blogs do vehemently disagree, the Red Wings appear to be out of gas. That does not mean that at some point they will not make a pit stop and refuel. But for now the defending Stanley Cup Champions look tired and defeated.

I sit in D7, four sections up and to the left side of the Pens bench if you are looking at it from the ice. Even from my perch I could see Detroit’s players gasping for air and slumped on the visitor’s bench as the game wore on. When his Sidness teamed up with MVP (Geno Malkin) to put the Penguins ahead 3-2 you could see it from the International Space Station if that damnable roof on the Mellon Arena still opened. Any time you can see the full numbers on the back of a player’s sweater you know they are leaning forward looking for something that they might not have.

Here is the scary thing though. Datsyuk is still not playing. Is he ready? If he is, he is well rested. My sources say he was ready, but only about 80%, for Game 4. This is why the Detroit coaching staff was not quite ready to play him. So he sat. The Wings lost. Now, with Game 5 looming what happens? Does a ready and well rested Datsyuk play and add fresh legs to spark the team out of the Motor City? Does a hobbled Datsyuk get thrown in to the fray by a Detroit team looking for anything at all? And if so does will he be a non-factor or a hindrance? Or will he sit again, still not ready for the ice?

Here’s another scary thing. Detroit played well in the first period at times dominating the play. They also scored quickly in the second to take a lead. But this is the second game in a row where around the halfway point of the second period the Red Wings looked obviously tired. Still, if they can keep getting the lead on the Penguins, is Osgood able to steal a game the Pens should by all rights win?

And yet another scary thing. Sure, the series is now a best of three but it is a best of three with two in Detroit and those darn boards that can score on visiting goalies by themselves without much help. Ask Marc-Andre Fleury about that.

And how about this for just one more scary thing? If the Penguins cannot pull out a win on Saturday night at the Joe, they will be down 3-2 and facing elimination, again, in Game 6 on home ice giving Detroit another chance to hoist the cup in front of really depressed Penguins fans.

Come Saturday night, the Penguins need to dig down deep, find that extra gear, put some extra gas in their own tanks and crash, bang and boom the Red Wings all over the ice; all while staying out of the box. Fleury will need to play a near flawless game to beat Detroit on their home ice and in their own barn.

Do that, and they will have a chance to do something Pittsburgh fans have never seen done – have the home team hoist the Stanley Cup on Igloo ice.

Here is the video compilation of Geno’s hat trick from last nights victory over Carolina in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals. If nothing else it is worth watching just to see the replays of his third goal and one man show to score it.

Ok, now that the free agent flurry is basically over let’s talk. Hossa, Ruutu, Malone, Roberts, Hall and Conklin are gone. I hate to see Ruutu go, but he is replaceable. Malone? Well, never discount how much people will overpay for a guy who had one pretty good season playing on a line with the second best talent in the league (think Michelle Ouellet). Roberts? He was not going to be around or useful next year anyway. Hall? He’s a role-player in the mold of many other guys around the league and hardly a big loss. Ty Conkin? Well, again, another guy who had a pretty good season deciding the grass was greener elsewhere.

But what about Hossa? What about that superstar talent to play on the wing with Sydney Crosby? What about his loss?

The simple fact is that by not signing Hossa the Penguins are a better team. Let’s face it, they could ill afford another player making $7 million plus on their roster.

Do I think him ditching the Penguins for the Red Wings is silly considering the difference in salary being offered was only $300,000? Yes. He claims being with the Wings gives him the best chance at winning the Stanley Cup. Well, maybe – but repeating is the hardest thing to do and with a mere one year deal in Detroit the pressure will be huge. He obviously had chemistry playing along an elite talent in Crosby which he was more than willing to ditch for a new team and an unknown situation. We have seen that scenario play out many times in the past and not necessarily in favor of the guy who left his current situation.

I say let him go and the Penguins were probably silly to have put as much effort into retaining his services as they did. Instead of paying $7.1 million for him the Penguins acquired two players that will fit right in – Miroslav Satan and Ruslan Fedotenko.

Satan at 33 is at the peak of his career and still a dangerous man on the ice. Fedotenko at 29 is still in the prime of his with upside if he plays along side either Crosby or Malkin. Satan is a sniper who can fill the net and has more than enough 20 goal and 30 goal seasons on his resume to warrant the $3.5 million one year deal and frightened looks among other Eastern Conference teams. Fedotenko got a one year deal at $2.5 million and can also easily score 20 goals and have a career year with the Penguins which is a discount because of the horrid couple of years he had with the Islanders and Lightning.

So for $6 million the Penguins replace both Hossa and Malone – who combined would have cost the Penguins over $11 million to keep. No, Satan is not quite as good as Hossa but is close, and Fedetenko is certainly in the same league as Malone. And the Penguins are better off for the up coming season and making another run and dominating the Eastern Conference.