About a month, there's going to be a training camp.

There's going to be players wearing skates on ice.

Until then, you're stuck with subjects like these.

Good morning to you. Good. Thursday morning. I'm

Dan Kavach, which of D.K. Pittsburgh Sports. This is Daily Shot of Penguins. It comes your way.

Yes, through the entire off season, bright and early every weekday. If you're into football and or baseball,

I also offer daily shots of Steelers and

pirates in the same place that you found this. You might or might not know I'm a proponent

of Yvgeny Malkin being with the Penguins and performing in a prominent role with the penguins

as he currently is.

No apologies sought.

No apologies expected.

Why?

Well, I've got a couple of pretty compelling, I think, reasons for that.

The first is that as number two centers go in the NHL, he's still one of the best.

And let's remember, that's what he is and that's what he's always been, a number two center.

From day one, he's been a number two center, except for those

occasions, of course, when Sidney Crosby was hurt. He doesn't put up the numbers that he once did.

He doesn't offer the wow factor, at least not regularly, as he once did, but strictly within

the context of what position he plays, what role he fills,

and, oh, by the way, the state of the roster around him, and heck, I could even throw in

his contract because he's getting $6 million a year to be a really good number two NHL center.

...