Are you ready for a long playoff run?

It's beginning to look more and more like the Penguins may live up to those lofty predictions that were made about them last September. Remember all the publications that picked them to win the Stanley Cup?

Those predictions didn't look so good three months ago. On Nov. 21, the Penguins were 7-11-2 and playing one of the two hottest teams in the league, the Ottawa Senators, in Ottawa. They won that game 6-5 in a shootout and, since then, coming into this weekend, they were 27-10-3.

The Senators, who have been leading the conference since the season started, came into this weekend with a record of 19-16-5 since that loss to the Penguins. Detroit, the team with the best record in the NHL, was 27-9-4 since Nov. 21, coming into the weekend. The New Jersey Devils were 26-11-3 over the same period. So, nobody in the NHL has played better than the Penguins in the last three months.

Nobody else in the NHL is going to be adding the best player in the league for the stretch run.

Don't pay too much attention to the talk you've been hearing about Gino Malkin being the Penguins' best player or the media poll that picked Alexander Ovechkin as the best player in the NHL. Sports Illustrated polled NHL players and asked them to name the player they would pick to start a franchise. Sidney Crosby won in a landslide. I'll bet if you polled every potential playoff team and asked the players to pick the one player that they would like to add to their roster on March first, Crosby would win in a landslide, too.

You've seen Sidney Crosby play for two-and-a-half seasons and you've probably noticed that he plays with a certain amount of intensity. Based on what you've seen, do you get the idea that this kid likes to play hockey? Do you think he's pretty anxious to get back? Do you think that he's noticed that one of his teammates is leading the league in scoring?

Remember what Mario Lemieux used to be like when he would come back from a long absence with something to prove and something on the line?

Expect the same from his housemate.

The Penguins are playing as well as any team in the NHL. And they're the only team that will be adding the defending scoring champion and the best player in the world for the stretch run and the playoffs.

The way I see it, that makes them the favorite to win the whole thing.

n The Steelers are about to throw a ton of money at Ben Roethlisberger and make him the highest-paid player in franchise history. He's a franchise quarterback and will deserve every penny he gets, but it's beginning to look like the Steelers' offensive line might make it appear that the team overpaid.

When paying Max Starks $6.9 million for one year starts looking like a good idea, chances are you have an offensive line in disarray. Either the coaches made a big mistake last September when they made Starks a backup tackle and started Willie Colon or they know their line is in such bad shape that it makes sense to pay a backup all-pro money.

Maybe things will change by September, but it's looking like Roethlisberger is going to get more pressure from opposing pass rushes than he'll get from signing the biggest contract in Steelers history. He could end up looking a lot more like Tommy Maddox in 2003 than Ben Roethlisberger in 2007.

n Duquesne learned how far it's away from being a top-10 program after losing to Xavier 75-48 Thursday night. It also found out that it's possible to be a small-market, urban, Catholic university and be a top-10 program.

The Pirates are trying to sell their customers on the idea that they should improve on their 68-win season because so many players underachieved last season and they should be expected to play up to their capabilities this year.

Two things: There's always the possibility that one or two of those underachieving players will play worse in 2008 and most of their hitters didn't really underachieve last season. Xavier Nady, Adam LaRoche and Jack Wilson equaled or surpassed their career averages in the key offensive categories. Jason Bay is the only player who produced numbers far below his career average.

It's not unreasonable to expect Bay's numbers to improve but, if they do, it will make it more likely that he'll be sent out of town at the trade deadline as part of the latest rebuilding program. That, of course, would make it tougher for the Pirates to win in the last two months of the season and make it more likely that they'll win fewer than 68 games.

But, hey, buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack.

n Back in September, I had planned to predict that, by the third week of February, Gino Malkin would be leading the NHL in scoring, but I forgot.

John Steigerwald hosts a talk show on KDKA Radio and writes a Sunday column for the Observer-Reporter.

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