Friday's Daily Five: Pens three center model has incomplete grade with core off "entry level deals"

1. Penguins GM Ray Shero and his staff are still a few weeks away from laying out a blueprint for the off-season and free agency. It's a little early to speculate but with not a lot of cap space and a weak forward market, all signs continue to point to the Penguins kind of standing pat and resigning their own.

This past season, Sidney Crosby, Jordan Staal, and Evgeni Malkin only played together for two games. The Penguins believed they had a Cup team in the making after revamping their blueline and establishing a defensive "mindset" that was missing in 2009-2010.

The sense is the team is likely to only make minor "tweaks" to the roster this off-season and bank on having Crosby, Staal and Malkin healthy for a full season behind their improved defensive play.

2. Speaking of Crosby, Malkin, and Staal. The feeling around the team is that 2011-2012 could be a pivotal season for the future of this group. Obviously Crosby isn't going anywhere but here's a few things to ponder:

The Penguins reached the Cup Finals in 2007-2008 with Crosby, Malkin and Staal on their entry level deals. The Penguins won the Cup in 2008-2009 with Malkin and Staal still on their entry level deals.