FanHouse Evgeni Malkin

After losing No. 1 defenseman Sergei Gonchar to a broken a wrist over a week ago, the Pittsburgh Penguins will be without another top player as the reigning NHL scoring champion, Evgeni Malkin, will be out of the lineup for two-to-three weeks with a shoulder strain.

According to head coach Dan Bylsma the injury happened roughly 10 days ago, and sitting him out is a precautionary move at this point.

The Carolina Hurricanes rewarded Cam Ward with a six-year contract extension this past summer, and based on Wednesday's game against Pittsburgh, it was money well spent.

The Hurricanes overcame a 2-0 third period deficit to force overtime, and while Ray Whitney scored both goals in the rally, it was Ward that made it possible with his sprawling glove-save on Bill Guerin after some tic-tac-toe passing from Sidney Crosby and Chris Kunitz midway through the third period.

Video after the jump.

Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Ray Shero was kind enough to spend nearly an hour on the phone with FanHouse's Adam Gretz discussing a variety of topics. This is the third of a three-part series. Wednesday's entry: Ray Shero discusses how the 2009-10 Penguins were built through free agency, trades, the draft, and what he expects from the defending Stanley Cup champions.

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Three years ago, the Pittsburgh Penguins started a promotion where they would have players deliver season-tickets to fans across the Pittsburgh area. And when I say players, I don't mean fringe fourth-liners or the backup goalie. They would send out Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Jordan Staal, and Marc-Andre Fleury. Core players. Two years ago, Crosby delivered tickets to Alice Kilgore, a woman that had been a season-ticket holder for 38 years. After she received her tickets, she offered a prediction to Crosby: the Penguins wouldn't win the Stanley Cup that season (they didn't, losing to the Red Wings in six games) but would ultimately win it the following season (they did, beating the Red Wings in seven games).

Over the weekend, the Penguins were out delivering tickets once again, and Crosby made a return visit to Alice Kilgore's house ... and he brought along the Stanley Cup. Video after the jump, including Crosby being awkwardly -- and jokingly, I hope -- asked if he likes older women.

FanHouse's Adam Gretz takes a look at his top 50 players in the NHL. Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin and Washington's Alexander Ovechkin are his top two. See who he has as his No. 1 player.

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FanHouse's Adam Gretz takes a look at his top 50 players in the NHL. No. 3 is Pittsburgh Penguins forward Sidney Crosby.

We've now reached the top three, which means we've reached the point where things should start to really take off.

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HOMESTEAD, Pa. -- The Pittsburgh Penguins continued the celebration of the franchise's third Stanley Cup (and first in 17 years) on Monday night with the release of their championship DVD at the Loews Waterfront Theatre in Western Pennsylvania.

In attendance were current Penguins Kris Letang and Tyler Kennedy, former Penguin player and current radio analyst Phil Bourque, team President David Morehouse, 400 or so lucky Penguins fans that won tickets to the VIP event, and the NHL's most terrifying mascot, IceBurgh.

Also in attendance? The Stanley Cup.

I don't know how Penguins general manager Ray Shero pulled it off, but he managed to not only retain the services of Ruslan Fedotenko and Bill Guerin, two of the teams top-six forwards from their Stanley Cup winning team, but he did so while getting them to take paycuts.

After signing Guerin to a one-year deal on Monday, the Penguins announced that they agreed to terms with Fedotenko Friday afternoon. Rob Rossi of the Tribune Review reports the deal as being worth $1.8 million, down from the $2.25 million he made a season ago.

It's officially the offseason, meaning the time is right to look into the future. We continue our division-by-division preview of the potential wheeling and dealing with the Atlantic Division.

It will be an interesting summer for the five teams in the Atlantic. Four teams made the playoffs, including the eventual Stanley Cup champion, and the one team that didn't make it -- the New York Islanders -- holds the first pick in Friday's draft, which isn't a bad consolation prize. All around it was a pretty successful season for these five teams.