The Youth

Just over 8 minutes it took Sidney Crosby to get a point in the pre-season. I watched the highlights of him against a pre-season Boston team and well, not only am I impressed with Crosby's highlights, I'm impressed with the Penguins long bombers as well. I've gotta say, that I'm looking forward to more and more highlights, not to mention live games of this Penguin team... it almost makes me want to put them higher in my pool projections. Oh... alright, what the hell.

Crosby up 10 points, Gonchar up 10 points, Thibault up 10 points. How's that? No, that's not enough. Recchi and Malone also up 5 points. Yeah, that's better.

I have had a comment earlier that I do a good thing by not posting pictures of players, rather the team logos... I did have to make an exception for ol' Sidney... he's lookin' mighty sharp in that Penguins jersey. Believe me, I'm trying to stay off the Crosby bandwagon... but if he looks this good in the year, it'll be tough.

A team rarely talk about has a serious consideration for a young pick. Thomas Vanek scored two goals for the Sabres last night against Washington and there is a lot of hype surrounding this young forward as well. Somewhat of a gem under the radar of most hockey fans, Vanek has been groomed to the delight of the Sabres brass and soon, the Sabres fans. If you wanted to try and hit a homer in your pool with a young guy, rather the old beaters, pencil Vanek in for what looks like a 20+ goal season.

A name I wasn't expecting to see, nor really heard much about is Guillaume "Guy" Latendresse. The 18-year old had 3 points a couple nights ago and the Habs fans are loving him. They were already chanting his name and singing his praises, which is pretty tough to do in the hockey heartbeat of Montreal. Another surefire youngster who should crack the Canadiens line-up is Alexander Perehzogin. A Russian with exceptional talent and a small criminal record should line-up in the low ranks of the opening night roster, but with his talent should shoot up the ladder quite quickly.

There's lots of young talent coming... keep a look out for it!