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So, that was pretty much a standard season for the Pittsburgh Penguins.Sidney Crosby had five points in October, they fired their coach and won 18 of 23 down the stretch under new head coach Mike Sullivan. Then, with a rookie goalie who had spent most of the season in the American Hockey League, they never looked back, beating the San Jose Sharks in six games to win their first Stanley Cup since 2009. As for Crosby? All he did was finish third in NHL scoring with 85 points and then dominate the playoffs at both ends of the ice en route to a Conn Smythe Trophy win as playoff MVP. He enters this season fresh from an MVP turn at the World Cup of Hockey, where Canada went undefeated and Crosby led all players in points.So, whats the problem? History. And history tells us that it really doesnt matter how good you are after winning it all, the rest of the field always catches the defending champion. No NHL team has won back-to-back championships since the Detroit Red Wings did so in 1997 and 1998. And history tells us its virtually impossible, even if youre as good as the Penguins. Are they any more poised to defy history? Well, thats part of the adventure of the coming season.Best new facesDoes goalie Matt Murray count as a new face? Murray, 22, will start the season on the injured reserve list but will push Marc-Andre Fleury for starts after Murray gets over his broken hand suffered playing for Team North America at the World Cup. Other than the departure of top-six defenseman Ben Lovejoy, who signed with the New Jersey Devils, the lineup will essentially be the same one that celebrated at the Shark Tank in San Jose after Game 6. While many Cup champions do turn over a big portion of their lineup, its worth noting the Penguins relied heavily on rookie forwards Tom Kuhnhackl, Conor Sheary and Bryan Rust throughout the playoffs, even though they had spent considerable time in the AHL last season. So in some ways, they too can be considered new faces. Defenseman Justin Schultz, obtained from the Edmonton Oilers before the deadline, and Trevor Daley, who came over from the Chicago Blackhawks midseason and then missed the latter part of the playoffs with a broken leg, count as new-but-not-new faces.Biggest unknownsHow does Phil Kessel rebound from a hand injury that bothered him in the playoffs? (Though he still finished with 22 points in 24 games). Can the rookies carry on their evolution after answering the call so ably in the playoffs? Can Brian Dumoulin continue his impressive ascendancy as a top-four defender? But no unknown will be more persistent than how GM Jim Rutherford handles his goaltending. The pressure is off to start the season with Murray on the shelf. But at some point, Rutherford is going to have to determine whether he rides out the season with Murray and the much-loved Fleury sharing time in the hopes the tandem can bring home a second straight Cup, even if it means potentially losing Fleury in the expansion draft in June. Or does Rutherford try to maximize the asset by moving Fleury midseason?Sure thingsIs there anything more sure than Crosby? Seems funny to think that people were prepared to write off Crosby after his tepid start to the season. Yet by the end of the playoffs, its fair to say he was playing as well as he ever had, his attention to detail unparalleled. He then followed up with a dominating performance at the World Cup. If there is one leader who might be able to coax a second straight championship out of this group, its Crosby. As for the way this team will play, thats a given too: fast. Dont expect Sullivan or the Pens to take their foot off the gas.PredictionThe Penguins are as close to a lock to go to the playoffs for the 11th straight season as any team, but that still might not be good enough to get them the Metropolitan Division title. Second in the Metropolitan. Site De Vente Yeezy Boost 350 . LUCIE, Fla. Yeezy 350 Pas Cher . Speaking to the Chicago Tribune at baseballs Winter Meetings in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, Boras called the former home of the Expos a "tremendous environment" for baseball. http://www.pascheryeezy350.fr/ . -- Los Angeles Lakers guard Jordan Farmar will be out for roughly four weeks after tearing his left hamstring. Chaussure Yeezy 350 Pas Cher . Schenn scored the game-winning goal and added two assists to lead the Philadelphia Flyers to a 4-1 win over the Calgary Flames at the Scotiabank Saddledome on Tuesday. Vente Yeezy 350 Pas Cher . Ryan Garbutt had a goal and two assists as Dallas snapped a six-game losing streak with a 5-2 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday night. Bud Selig spent 22 years as the commissioner of baseball. John Schuerholz built World Series champions in Atlanta and Kansas City. On Sunday night, they were elected together to the Baseball Hall of Fame.Schuerholz was elected unanimously by the 16 members of the Halls newly formed Todays Game Era Committee. Selig received 15 of 16 possible votes. No one else on the 10-person ballot came close to the 12 votes (or 75 percent) needed for election. Longtime manager Lou Piniella, who got seven votes, was the only other candidate to get within five votes of election.Selig became the first living commissioner to be elected to the Hall since Happy Chandler in 1982. Selig has been serving as baseballs commissioner emeritus since retiring as commissioner after the 2014 season.His time as commissioner weathered its share of storms, from the strike that canceled the 1994 World Series to the PED era. But Selig wound up spending more years on the job -- 22, if you include his six years as interim commissioner -- than any commissioner in history, with the exception of Kenesaw Mountain Landis. And Selig presided over an era of dramatic change which, as Hall of Fame president Jeff Idelson put it Sunday, had a profound impact on how the game has matured over the last quarter-century.It reminded me of many a ninth inning when I used to pace around, Selig, the one-time owner of the?Milwaukee Brewers, said on a conference call of not seeing his election as a sure thing.Schuerholz was picked by all 16 voters on a veterans committee at the winter meetings in suburban Washington. Selig was listed 15 times.The ultimate of honors, Schuerholz said.Interleague play came to baseball on Seligs watch. So did wild cards, replay, 22 new ballparks, huge attendance growth, realignment, two expansions, globalization and an explosion in revenues. Baseball was a $1.2 billion industry when he took the job. It was a $9 billion industry when he retired.Before becoming commissioner, Selig spent 28 years as the owner of the Brewers after leading the effort that brought them to Milwaukee from Seattle. And before that, in the 1960s, he was a minority owner of the Milwaukee Braves.Selig and Schuerholz are linked by their association with the Braves, but they also worked together extensively during Seligs time as ccommissioner.dddddddddddd. Selig appointed Schuerholz to lead a number of different committees, most recently the committee that formulated baseballs foray into expanded use of replay in Seligs final season.Schuerholz has spent the past 25 seasons with the Braves and currently serves as their vice chairman. But he is best-known as the general manager who built a modern quasi-dynasty in Atlanta.I loved to build teams, he said.He arrived in Atlanta in 1990. In 1991, the Braves went from last place to first, lost a seven-game World Series to the Minnesota Twins and began an unprecedented run of 14 straight division titles. Although those teams won the World Series only once, in 1995, they reached the Series five times in the 1990s. And from 1991-2005, they won more games (1,431) than any team in baseball and won nearly 200 more games than any other team in the National League, averaging 95 wins a season.I always had aspirations to be a successful general manager, Schuerholz said.Before arriving in Atlanta, Schuerholz spent nine years as the general manager of the Royals. He was the youngest general manager in baseball history, at 40 years old, when he was first promoted to that job in 1981. His Kansas City teams then made it to the postseason in three of the next five years and won the World Series in 1985.When he won the Series in Atlanta a decade later, it made him the first general manager in history to win a championship in both leagues.The Todays Game Era Committee was formed to review candidates from 1988 to the present. In addition to Selig and Schuerholz, the committee also considered former?New York Yankees?owner George Steinbrenner, along with two managers (Piniella and Davey Johnson) and five players (Harold Baines, Albert Belle, Will Clark, Orel Hershiser and?Mark McGwire). Only Selig, Schuerholz and Piniella got more than four votes. Complete voting totals were not released to the public.ESPNs Tim Kurkjian was a member of the committee, as was Schuerholzs longtime manager, Bobby Cox. The committee is a mix of executives, writer/historians and former Hall of Fame players.Information from The Associated Press was used in this report. ' ' '