Pittsburgh Penguins: Power Ranking the Defense

9. Sergei Gonchar

Welcome back Sarge, here is a PTO, let’s find out if you can still play.

Now that Gonchar has returned to the Pittsburgh Penguins he can live with Evgeni Malkin, instead of Geno crashing on his couch eating all of his Funyuns. Gonchar could go one of two routes during training camp. He can show that his goose is cooked and he should be taken out to pasture or he can be great in small doses and show his age like a fine wine.

The chances that Gonchar makes the roster and plays more than half of the games in the upcoming season are slim to none. Gonchar is here for two reasons, to mentor Derrick Pouliot and Sergei Plotnikov and according to Rob Rossi, to placate Evgeni Malkin. He may still have some gas in the tank, hopefully the eight game audition of this preseason will be enough for the Penguins to properly evaluate his current skill set.

On Wednesday, Rob Rossi also noted that the Pittsburgh Penguins are likely to keep Gonchar on the roster for the upcoming season if he shows anything in training camp. This could be a calculated risk that could provide a terrific return if Pouliot takes a step in his development and Geno is happy and productive all year. This could also adversely impact the roster by taking a valuable roster spot and exposing a player like Adam Clendening to waivers.

Next: #8 - Rob Scuderi