Mark Madden Columns category, Page 35

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...

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...

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...

ESPN did a “30 for 30” called “Deion’s Double Play.” It centers on the events of Oct. 11, 1992, when Deion Sanders played an NFL game for the Atlanta Falcons at Miami, then went to Pittsburgh immediately after to suit up for the Atlanta Braves in Game 5 of the...

Tom Brady reconfigured his contract to ignite the latest barrage of “Tom Brady makes less so his team can win more” propaganda. Like most propaganda, it’s primarily fiction. Brady’s wife is supermodel Gisele Bundchen. She has earned more than a half-billion dollars. Brady has earned $263 million playing football. When...

The Penguins are 16-9-1 and have won four in a row. Can they yet be more than a borderline playoff team? Can they win a playoff series? Can they be a legit Stanley Cup contender? Hey, why not? If Steelers fans can fool themselves, so can Penguins fans. But here’s...

Refreshing hockey notes: Maybe someday they can be the lead story on SportsCenter! (OK, probably not.) • The NHL reportedly signed a seven-year national TV contract with ESPN. The NHL is in the final season of its rights deal with NBC, but the league is pursuing multiple carriers (finally) like...

Since the turn of the century — which I counted down on the Y2J clock — the Steelers have given a significant second contract to just two receivers: Hines Ward and Antonio Brown. The former is a Super Bowl MVP and not-quite Hall-of-Famer, the latter a generational talent. It very...

Since becoming GM, Ron Hextall has paid what is likely mere lip service to the concept of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ window being open: One more Stanley Cup being attainable with the core three. That’s the part hopeful fans latch onto. But Hextall also has spoken about restocking the system and...

Pro Football Hall of Famer Jack Ham is arguably the greatest outside linebacker of all time, right there with Lawrence Taylor. Ham once told me if New Orleans had drafted him instead of Pittsburgh, no one would have ever heard of him. He’s right. For athletes, it’s about where you...

When Sidney Crosby got put on the NHL’s covid list Tuesday with Philadelphia arriving in Pittsburgh for a three-game series, things looked ominous for the Penguins. A shaky season seemed teetering on the brink despite an 11-8-1 record that was more fluky than decent. But the Penguins stepped up and...

When you are dealt a bust hand (hard 12-16 — i.e., not including an ace) in blackjack and the dealer shows a 6, you stand. That’s what the odds dictate. You won’t always win. But if you lose, you still made the right play. If you hit and win, you...

Pro wrestling is nationally televised nine hours per week. It’s also seen via pay-per-view, syndicated TV, Twitch, YouTube, streaming and a few even deeper crevices. It’s made for mass consumption. The televised promotions don’t come to your local arena because of covid, but so-called “house shows” were dying out even...

The Penguins have a Tom Wilson problem. Specifically, they don’t have him. They had a reasonably facsimile, Ryan Reaves, for part of the 2017-18 season. Not as good, not as tough, but good enough and tough enough. It remains one of Mike Sullivan’s biggest mistakes as Penguins coach that he...

During an accomplishment-saturated 15-year career with the Penguins, Evgeni Malkin has earned the benefit of almost every doubt. You can’t scratch him. You can’t bench him. You can’t demote him. You can’t berate him. Malkin has to remain in the lineup, in the top six, playing his usual 18-19 minutes...

Three weeks ago, Steelers owner Art Rooney II said there was “work to be done” regarding the adjustment of quarterback Ben Roethlisberger’s contract to afford a more amenable cap figure than the current charge of $41.25 million for 2021. Roethlisberger responded by saying, “I don’t care about my pay at...

Sidney Crosby will play in NHL game No. 1,000 Saturday night. It’s not the most dynamic milestone: 349 players have hit that mark, many of them to little discernible effect besides showing up. When Crosby plays game No. 1,001, he ties the great Steve Staios. No. 1,003 knots him with...

Besides selling “Wattsburgh” T-shirts and seeing all three Watt brothers pose for really cool photos together in black and gold, there isn’t one good reason for the Steelers to sign free-agent defensive end J.J. Watt. It’s the talk of Twitter and radio shows but makes zero sense. The Steelers have...

The numbers don’t lie. But some of the Penguins’ stats suggest a bit of fibbing by way of dark humor. The Penguins got a two-goal lead for the first time all season in Sunday’s home win over Washington. They scored two empty-net goals to make the final 6-3. That’s just...

Ben Roethlisberger has made $253.2 million in football earnings. So, take the $19 million he’s due if he plays in 2021 out of the equation. Roethlisberger doesn’t need the money. Maurkice Pouncey retired. He and Roethlisberger are tight. Vance McDonald retired. He and Roethlisberger are tight. Alejandro Villanueva will leave...

The Penguins don’t have a goaltending controversy. Well, not unless new GM Ron Hextall thinks he can still play. That might not be a bad idea. Casey DeSmith has to keep playing. That’s beyond debate, at least for now. Tristan Jarry played in last season’s NHL All-Star event. He finished...

Van Halen (David Lee Roth version) had a motto: “W.D.F.A.” We don’t mess around, or words to that effect. Brian Burke, the Penguins’ new president of hockey operations, operates under the same principle. Read his autobiography, “Burke’s Law.” Burke has been involved in hockey management for 34 years. If you...

LAS VEGAS — What a rotten Super Bowl. The (slight) favorite fell apart. It was a rout. The old legend exposed the new legend — though Patrick Mahomes was mostly exposed by his thrift-store offensive line. I lost a lot of bets. But Pat McAfee lost $30K on the coin...

Eyebrows were raised when Chris Drury and Scott Mellanby declined to interview for the Pittsburgh Penguins’ vacant GM job. Drury, 44, is assistant GM for the New York Rangers. Mellanby, 54, has the same job with Montreal. Drury might be the best of up-and-coming NHL executives. If I were Drury...

The Pittsburgh Penguins’ power play stinks and is unlikely to be fixed. It ranks 22nd in the NHL with a conversion rate of 13.9%. It won’t always rank that low. It will generate hot streaks based solely on the unit’s talent, which is plentiful. But right now is not one...