Mark Madden Columns category, Page 39
Mark Madden: Thought to be a borderline playoff team, Penguins suddenly see sky as the limit
Thursday was a great day for hockey. (Sky point to Badger Bob Johnson.) The Philadelphia Flyers got eliminated from playoff contention and will not win the Stanley Cup for a 46th straight season. Please, God, let them (and me) make it to 50 years in 2025. Have you ever seen...
Mark Madden: In transition to ESPN and Turner, NHL needs to find the next Charles Barkley
The NHL’s national TV situation has been overhauled. NBC is out. ESPN and Turner Broadcasting are in. Hockey is finally on multiple networks. Pinocchio, you’re a real boy now. NBC failed at hockey. Their in-studio presentation is dull and lifeless, devoid of personality and edge. Praise is thick, criticism nonexistent....
Mark Madden: Penguins will put Evgeni Malkin on top power play, but they shouldn’t
Before Evgeni Malkin got hurt, the Pittsburgh Penguins’ power play scored 15 times on 84 opportunities. That’s a conversion percentage of 17.8. With Malkin out, the power play is 16 for 50. That’s a percentage of 32.0. When Malkin rejoins the lineup, should he go back on the No. 1...
Mark Madden’s Hot Take: Steelers’ need to improve transcends NFL Draft
The NFL Draft begins Thursday. Good. It’s so tiresome to discuss. Get it over with. “Experts” pretend the draft is an exact science. But it’s a crapshoot. The Steelers have the 24th pick in the first round. If the Steelers want to help their team now, take a running back....
Mark Madden: When healthy, the Penguins could actually roll 4 good lines
Here’s a popular talk-show question: When the Pittsburgh Penguins are 100% healthy, what would their lines be? Here’s a popular Penguins fan fantasy: that the team will ever be 100% healthy. That’s not the nature of hockey and certainly not the nature of the Penguins. Their defense was ravaged by...
Mark Madden: Steelers were always going to extend Mike Tomlin’s contract, but why now?
Mike Tomlin was always going to get his contract extended. He can coach the Steelers for as long he wants. That’s how Dad ran things. Granddad, too. (Actually, Granddad had 13 coaches in the Steelers’ first 35 years, and they only made the playoffs once. But don’t spoil the narrative.)...
Mark Madden: Connor McDavid’s scoring is impressive, but Mario Lemieux defined his era
Edmonton’s Connor McDavid reached 70 points in 43 games. That’s fast but unsurprising in the limp competition of the North division, the NHL’s worst. It’s so weak that McDavid’s Oilers and the Toronto Maple Leafs will be hard-pressed to both underachieve in the playoffs. It’s not likely, but hardly impossible....
Mark Madden’s Hot Take: Steelers have more immediate draft needs than quarterback
A whole slew of “experts” think the Pittsburgh Steelers should draft a quarterback. Turn on ESPN. Adam Schefter, Dan Graziano and Booger McFarland are hot for the Steelers to select a QB. Not necessarily in the first round, where the Steelers pick 24th. Maybe in the third or fourth round....
Mark Madden: Pine-Richland’s shameful firing of Eric Kasperowicz deserves better than ‘no comment’
Pine-Richland High School fired Eric Kasperowicz after eight seasons as football coach. He won two state championships and four WPIAL titles, including one of each this past season. Kasperowicz was 85-18. He’s beloved by his players and known for his professionalism. Plenty of Kasperowicz’s players got football scholarships. Kasperowicz wasn’t...
Mark Madden: Ex-Steelers WRs have better Hall of Fame credentials than Julian Edelman
Since New England receiver Julian Edelman quit and those in the sports media presumably whacked out of their minds on hallucinogens started making his case for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the argument posed by Yinzer Nation compares him to the Steelers’ Hines Ward. Ward’s stats badly trump Edelman’s...
Mark Madden: A big question still looms over Penguins after Jeff Carter deal
At 36, Jeff Carter is still a good hockey player. Carter skates swiftly, which is indigenous to playing for Pittsburgh. He is not the finisher he was in his prime (four seasons of 30-plus goals) but is a proven scorer. He has a shoot-first mentality that will be useful. He...
Mark Madden’s Hot Take: ‘Cheaters never win’ doesn’t apply for MLB
You can cheat in baseball and get away with it. Not just stretch the rules or exploit gray areas. But blatantly cheat, win, and not get punished. The biggest example is the Houston Astros. They won a World Series in 2017 via sign-stealing. They got caught and confessed. Not one...
Mark Madden: With Evgeni Malkin injured, Penguins taking test drive for future
McDonald’s is doing a promotion with Evgeni Malkin: The “Geno Meal” consists of a Big Mac, french fries, milkshake and an orange soda. (Do elite athletes ever eat like that?) The “Geno Meal” is available for a limited time. Perhaps that’s an omen. When GM Ron Hextall and president of...
Mark Madden: It’s a bad time for Penguins goalies to implode
The Pittsburgh Penguins allowed eight goals Tuesday. Liverpool FC conceded three. Can’t anybody here play defense? Only one thing can restore my calm: refreshing sports notes! • The Penguins’ defense was terrible Saturday at Boston and Tuesday at the New York Rangers. But goalies Casey DeSmith and Tristan Jarry were...
Mark Madden: Pitch counts, analytics are taking away baseball’s trademark moments
Pitcher Jose Berrios of the Minnesota Twins had a no-hitter going Saturday: 6 innings, zero hits, zero walks, 12 strikeouts. (It wasn’t a perfect game. Berrios hit a batter.) Berrios was pulled by manager Rocco Baldelli. He had thrown 84 pitches. Every manager in MLB would do the same. That...
Mark Madden’s Hot Take: Most of baseball’s flaws involve wasted time
The Pirates season started well Thursday. Prize rookie Ke’Bryan Hayes hit a home run in the first inning. As Hayes rounded the bases, he was doubtless dreaming of escaping from Pittsburgh at the earliest possible opportunity. If he could have, Hayes would have crossed home plate, sprinted to the dugout,...
Mark Madden: Jason Zucker is valuable asset, but the Penguins could get solid return in trade
The NHL trade deadline is a little over a week away (it’s April 12), and it looks like it will be difficult for Penguins GM Ron Hextall to make an impactful deal. Hextall just doesn’t have much trade capital that might bring meaningful return. That’s unless Hextall shops left winger...
Mark Madden: Sam Darnold, Dwayne Haskins are reasonable QB successors for Steelers
Ben Roethlisberger will be the Pittsburgh Steelers’ quarterback in 2021, although it took longer than expected to iron that out. The offense will be exactly the same. Roethlisberger didn’t come back for one last season to implement new bells and whistles, line up under center, use jet sweep motion or...
Mark Madden: Amid adversity, resilient Penguins have taken on Sidney Crosby’s identity
The Pittsburgh Penguins have been missing their entire second line and two-thirds of their third line. Those filling in are of marginal quality, and that’s a kind description. Yet the Penguins had won four of five going into Monday’s home game with the New York Islanders, sported an 11-3-1 record...
Mark Madden’s Hot Take: Goalie Carter Hart at heart of Flyers’ struggles
Remember when a member of the Philadelphia hockey media said Sidney Crosby had passed the torch as hockey’s best player to the Flyers’ Claude Giroux? That was in 2012. In the interim, Crosby has 691 points to Giroux’s 596. Crosby has also won two Stanley Cups since — and two...
Mark Madden: Penguins will be getting bigger, forcing Mike Sullivan to change style of play
The Penguins are going to get bigger. GM Ron Hextall likes big. President of hockey operations Brian Burke likes big. The NHL has been trending big for several years. Where will that leave coach Mike Sullivan? Sullivan likes speed, as did former GM Jim Rutherford. Sullivan made his preference clear...
Mark Madden: Steelers’ me-first culture a major turn-off
The Pittsburgh Steelers’ egocentric, me-first culture dates to Antonio Brown’s de facto takeover of the team and is carried on by the cast and crew of the “Corvette, Corvette” show. The cameraman on that project reportedly branched out into bar fighting. Does it affect results? I don’t know that it...
Mark Madden’s Hot Take: Signing JuJu Smith-Schuster is more roster mismanagement by Steelers
JuJu Smith-Schuster’s free agency failed miserably. He was expected to get $12-$16 million per season on a multi-year deal. Instead, he returned to Pittsburgh on a one-year deal worth $8 million. Reports say Smith-Schuster was offered more money by Baltimore and Kansas City, and more years and more money by...
Mark Madden: Alex Ovechkin’s milestone goal recalls memories of Phil Esposito’s greatness
Alex Ovechkin scored career goal No. 718 on Tuesday, passing Phil Esposito for sixth on the NHL’s all-time list. I’m glad, because it got Esposito’s name out there again. Esposito took no prisoners. He didn’t seek fights but wasn’t afraid to. He absorbed more punishment than he inflicted. He didn’t...
Mark Madden: Penguins shouldn’t make big trade chasing faint Stanley Cup hopes
Sports teams are generally contending or rebuilding, or at least leaning toward one or the other. Very rarely does a team truly middle the difference. As the NHL season opened, the Penguins seemed to lean toward rebuilding. But their recent uptick in results has fueled optimism. So has the mediocrity...
