Mark Madden Columns category, Page 46

The acquisition of Alex Galchenyuk in exchange for Phil Kessel puts the Penguins’ No. 1 power play in line for a major realignment. More deals might be made, but all the components for the man-advantage unit are currently in place. Kessel had 36 points on the PP last season. As...

Five years ago, Jim Rutherford traded a point-per-game player for a guy who wasn’t. On June 27, 2014, the Penguins sent winger James Neal to Nashville for winger Patric Hornqvist. Neal had 61 points in 59 games the season prior. Hornqvist had 53 points in 76 games. Neal’s production can’t...

Checkmate, honey, you’re the only one who’s got to choose … whether to read refreshing sports notes. Grab yourself a slice. We’re live from fabulous Las Vegas. • Keeping Phil Kessel would be arduous for the Penguins on many levels. But doing so while not extending coach Mike Sullivan’s contract...

The Tampa Bay Rays want to split their season between Tampa and Montreal. That plan is ludicrous on so many levels. It’s hard to imagine fans in either city buying in, or buying tickets. Decreased inventory doesn’t figure to increase demand when it’s not really your team. How’s this for...

Toronto is NBA champion. Kawhi Leonard was playoff MVP. Load management is a thing. Load management is the concept of resting players when they’re not hurt in order to keep them healthy and refreshed for the playoffs. It’s been done before, in small doses. But Toronto took it to the...

When the U.S. women’s national soccer team beat Thailand, 13-0, on Tuesday and celebrated each goal like scoring had cured a horrible disease, critical things were said. Among them: “Act like you’ve been there before.” The U.S. women have been. They acted like that then, too. They have the best...

Sunday was the 35th anniversary of the Penguins drafting Mario Lemieux. That might sound like an easy decision to make. Ultimately, it was. But there were a few complications. General manager Eddie Johnston had to quietly maneuver the Penguins into finishing last overall in 1983-84. OK, so maybe he didn’t...

Can one poor officiating decision decide a game? Sure, if the losing team lets it. The New Orleans Saints couldn’t overcome a pass interference no-call in the NFC championship game. But the St. Louis Blues lost Game 3 of the NHL’s Western Conference Final to San Jose when the Sharks...

Rory McIlroy drilled a spectator in the head with a tee shot in the PGA’s Memorial Tournament on Friday. Perhaps golf should border the fairways with protective netting. The subject of more protective netting became sadly relevant last Wednesday when a foul ball hit by the Chicago Cubs’ Albert Almora...

Baseball is a noncontact sport. There nonetheless seems to be lots of testosterone flying. The occasional baseball gets pegged at somebody. Nobody gets tackled or body-checked. But manhood is constantly defended, often in ways that are less than manly. I was watching a baseball game Wednesday, and fourth-grade recess broke...

Trade speculation regarding Phil Kessel once again runs rampant. Never mind that the Penguins have been willing to trade him for the best part of a couple years now. The latest talk has Kessel going to Minnesota along with defenseman Jack Johnson for forwards Jason Zucker and Victor Rask. Kessel...

Prior to WWE expanding nationally in 1983, there were 30-some pro wrestling promotions scattered across North America. Each had its own TV show, troupe of performers and schedule of events. It was quaint and decidedly local. But it worked. After 1983, wrestling hit a peak in the mid- and late-’90s...

Refreshing sports notes? You want some, come get some! But they’re not all elite, and I’m certainly no young buck. • John Daly riding a cart in the PGA Championship isn’t debatable. It’s the law. Daly has osteoarthritis in his right knee, which makes him eligible to use a cart...

Sports are stale. Badly over-expanded and diluted. Yet the old suffocates the new. The New York Yankees have a storied history, but maybe pinstripes make non-fans cringe by now. (The same could doubtless be said about hypocycloids.) The solution: a rival league. It wouldn’t matter what sport. Not as long...

It’s a place unlike any other. It has personality. It has a vibe. It’s inanimate, yet somehow lives and breathes. It’s populated by ghosts, but they’re friendly spirits. They’ve seen it all, and they want you to see it, too. From the Kop, preferably. Anything can happen at Anfield. This...

It seems like the Penguins still should be playing. But they’re not. Can they fix what went wrong? Judge for yourself after perusing this edition of refreshing Penguins notes. (Hint: Probably not.) • The echo chamber says Jim Rutherford does a bad job as Penguins general manager. But Rutherford has...

The Carolina Hurricanes are playing to 101.7 percent capacity during home playoff games. But they attracted a meager 76.7 percent capacity during the regular season, third-worst in the NHL. Even with the “Storm Surge” sideshow act. That’s not remotely meant to ridicule. Winning draws money, and sports teams badly need...

Last week, GM Jim Rutherford would not commit to keeping Evgeni Malkin in a Penguins uniform for the rest of his NHL career. It’s not a bluff. It’s not fake news. The Penguins are willing to trade Malkin. That’s for two reasons: • The Penguins are very unhappy with Malkin’s...

It’s a good time to be a Steelers fan. Finally. The disenfranchised can return to the fold. The lapsed can be born again. The Toxic Twins are gone. As your favorite super genius said when Le’Veon Bell and Antonio Brown first reached prominence, you don’t win with guys like that....

Pirates fans are going ga-ga over rookie shortstop Cole Tucker, and they should. Tucker marked his big league debut Saturday with a home run and a curtain call. Fellow call-up Bryan Reynolds got lost in the shuffle, and understandably so: Reynolds’ hair isn’t as cool as Tucker’s. But Reynolds went...

The Chicago Blackhawks won Stanley Cups in 2010, ’13 and ’15. They lost in the first round of the playoffs in ’16 and ’17, and then missed the postseason in ’18 and this year. The Los Angeles Kings won Stanley Cups in 2012 and ’14. They did not qualify for...

The New York Islanders are better than I figured. (Perhaps I should have taken a closer look at the standings.) The Islanders won two close games on Long Island because they were able to impose their style. The Pittsburgh Penguins didn’t stink. They just couldn’t get going. The Penguins pay...

When Jake Guentzel scored late against the New York Rangers in the Penguins’ regular-season finale Saturday, it scrounged a loser point and matched the Penguins against the New York Islanders instead of Washington in the playoffs’ first round. That seemed like a good thing. Washington is the defending Stanley Cup...

WWE’s WrestleMania 35 takes place Sunday at MetLife Stadium just outside New York City. Sixteen matches are scheduled. It will last over seven hours. That’s too much, especially when most of the matches are haphazardly built and mean little. Seven hours is even longer than the Pirates’ home opener. The...

Julius Caesar was told to “beware the ides of March.” But the Penguins faced problems the whole darn month. Injuries mounted: Kris Letang played three games; Evgeni Malkin missed the last seven; Olli Maatta the first 14; Bryan Rust the first nine. Slumps pervaded: Patric Hornqvist and Phil Kessel had...