Penguins think the kids are alright

The Pittsburgh Penguins offseason strategy mostly relied on acquiring defenseman and getting younger. Now that Sidney Crosby looks a bit more like a veteran and wears a ring he represents the main leadership group as the team allowed Sergei Gonchar, Alexei Ponikarovsky, Ruslan Fedotenko and Bill Guerin to leave via free agency.

Top prospect Eric Tangradi should get every opportunity to play up front.  Considering Jordan Staal may miss some time with a foot injury, the likelihood of Tangradi playing on the top two lines looks even better.  In addition, several players have a chance to stick including Mark Letestu, Nick Johnson, Chris Connor, Dustin Jeffrey and Maxime Talbot.

As of right now Chris Kunitz and Staal look like the only guaranteed top six wingers making the possibilities somewhat intriguing.