How do the Penguins do it?

   

Kris
By Garth McLennan, Sports Editor

teams in the NHL are supposed to

be competitive with one another.
Each club is supposed to have one or
two highly marketable stars and an
assortment of other lesser lights who all
fit in nicely under the (preferably low)
salary cap. In Bettman’s world, parity
is the name of the game, the league is
idiot proof, protected from itself and
most of all, smart teams who spend
money wisely shouldn’t be able to form
dynasties.

Well, after Bettman wiped out
the entire 2004-05 season in order to
realize that vision, things haven’t exactly
worked out that way. Teams like the
Toronto Maple Leafs place morons at the
helm of multi-million dollar operations
and at the other end of the spectrum,
Bettman certainly didn’t account for
organizations like the Detroit Red Wings
and the Pittsburgh Penguins.

It’s the Pittsburgh in particular
who this season have continued to set
the standard for the way a professional
sports team should be run. After back-
to-back Stanley Cup final appearances
(both against Detroit) in the last two
years, including winning it all last year,
the Penguins have managed to avoid the
perennial problem experienced by most
winning clubs: they’ve kept the players
who brought them to the dance.

Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin,
Jordan Staal, Mare-Andre Fleury and
Brooks Orpik (it should be noted that
all of those players, with the exception
of Staal, were Olympians this year,
and Staal surely will be in the future)
were all retained at very fair pay scales,
and now Pittsburgh has locked up
another franchise cornerstone, rushing

I: Gary Bettman’s world, all 30

Letang signing the latest in a series of great moves

le
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Letang

defenseman Kris Letang.

The 22-year-old Montreal native,
who was slated to become a restricted
free agent this summer, was inked to a
four-year contract extension that will
pay him just $3.5 million each year over
the course of the deal. Letang, who has
yet to play a season in the NHL that
hasn’t ended with at least a trip to the
Stanley Cup finals, has already suited up
for 39 playoff contests. He’s a proven
winner with not only a Cup ring but
also a pair of back-to-back World Junior
Championship gold medals in 2006 and
2007 where he was Canada’s leading
defenseman and power play quarterback.

Letang is a budding offensive star
who should contend for the Norris
Trophy in the next few seasons. He’s
chalked up 27 points so far this season,
which is good but should improve in
years to come, and despite his young
age is already in his third full NHL
campaign. He’s a great passer, a wizard
with the puck and one of the best pure
skating defensemen in hockey. On top of
all that, he’s also oddly enough become
a highly reliable shootout specialist, with
four goals this year in the breakaway
competition.

So that’s another bright young
player who will be wearing the Penguin
on his jersey for the foreseeable future.

I don’t imagine Gary Bettman is all
that pleased with the deal, and with
the collective bargaining clouds darkly
swirling in the distance it’s a safe bet
that he’ll try and “fix” the NHL even
further then he proclaimed he’d done
back in 2004.

Unfortunately for Bettman and
company, the Pittsburgh Penguins have
proven that you don’t need an idiot-
proof system to succeed.

You just need to get rid of the idiots.

By Garth McLennan, Sports
Editor

hen one thinks of

Langley’s Brett Lawrie,

the first round pick, 16"
overall, of the Milwaukee Brewers
back in the 2008 MLB entry draft,
one word springs to mind right
away: power.

The Brookswood secondary
school graduate, who despite
being just 20 years old has already
represented Canada at numerous
international competitions
including the 2008 Summer
Olympics in Beijing as an 18
year old, is set to pick up where
he left off last season in AA ball
with the Huntsville Stars of the
Southern League. Lawrie has had a
tremendous spring training that has
even seen him spend several games
at second base with the major
league Brewers where he made
an immediate impact by throwing
out several double plays from
second and hitting a triple against
Colorado in his first game during
Cactus League play.

Lawrie, whose sister Danielle
was the starring pitcher for the
University of Washington’s
national softball championship
last year, is already progressing
at a tremendous rate, and that’s
even more so when you take into
account that he made the switch
to second base from catcher last
summer. He was recently named
the Brewer’s top prospect, and
the 26" best in all of baseball, by
MLB.com in a poll by the website.

Lawrie earned a promotion to
Huntsville last season, his first as
a professional, after 105 games in
low-A with the Wisconsin Timber
Rattlers of the Midwest League
in which he hit 13-home runs and

 

Brett Lawrie ready to break out
B.C.-born Brewers prospect has developed fast

 

displayed an amazing ability to hit
the ball to all areas of the field. He
also proved that he can be counted
to deliver in big situations. Lawrie
hit .274 for the season, but his
on-base percentage jumped to a
superb 348. The promotion came
at the tail of the season, so Lawrie
didn’t have much time to find his
niche in Huntsville but still, in 13
games with the team he hit a very
respectable .269 in 52 at bats.

For a then-19-year-old player,
it would have been tough to ask
for a better start to a professional
career then the one Lawrie
produced. He finished in the top
20 league wide in almost every
significant statistic while suiting up
for the Rattlers and since moving
up to Huntsville and once again
exceeding expectations with his
phenomenal spring training play.

Since drafting him, the
Brewers have raved about Lawrie’s
off-the-charts athleticism, and
that has been on full display since
he turned pro. He’s an extremely
versatile player who can play
multiple positions when called
upon, has remarkable bat speed
through the ball and is a terrific
runner (he stole 19 bases with
Wisconsin last year).

The regular developmental
progression rate for even the most
highly rated prospects in baseball
is usually three, four or even five
years before they reach the major
leagues. It took Derek Jeter four
full seasons with New York’s
various minor league affiliates
before he cracked the Yankees line-
up, so for Lawrie to have already
played games with the Brewers,
even in spring training, suggests he
has the makings of a truly special
athlete.

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