While rookie GM Garth Snow and the New York Islanders stole headlines with their gutsy acquisition of Ryan Smyth in the 11th hour of last week's NHL trade deadline, the rest of the Atlantic Division's general managers were either purging or fortifying their rosters.

Aside from the seismic moves on Long Island, there was some interesting maneuvering going on in Pittsburgh, where GM Ray Shero might have provided smelling salts for his playoff dark horse.

The first-year GM ignored Gary Roberts' request to be traded to either Toronto or Ottawa, so that he could be closer to his 17-year-old daughter who's attending school in Ontario. He went after the 40-year-old left wing anyway and convinced him that with a little luck, the Penguins could run the table in a wide-open Eastern Conference.

Penguins coach Michel Therrien then dangled a carrot in front of Roberts, allowing him to play on a "Two Men and A Baby" Line with 39-year-old Mark Recchi and 19-year-old Sidney Crosby.

"I can't believe I'm playing with those slugs," Roberts joked after his first practice with Recchi and Crosby.


Roberts recorded his first goal in black and gold Sunday against the Flyers and held his own in a fight with Carolina defenseman Tim Gleason in a 3-2 loss to the Canes.

Ironically, it was supposed to be another player acquired at the trade deadline, Georges Laraque, who provided the Penguins with some punch. At 6-foot-3 and 243 pounds Laraque is arguably the toughest and most feared man in the NHL. Laraque arrived in Pittsburgh with 878 penalty minutes in 546 games for the Oilers and Coyotes. But in his first two games he was extremely well behaved, failing to record a single penalty minute. Fear of retribution, perhaps?

"My job is to look after (my teammates) and play physical," said Laraque, who slammed Carolina captain Rod Brind'Amour into the boards in his second game as a Penguin. "It doesn't matter what team we play. I'm out there to protect the skill guys."

Laraque is sure to pick up some fighting majors before the curtain falls on the regular season, but when the playoffs arrive, he'll need to adapt.

"When you fight, you only hurt one guy," Laraque told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "When you play physical, you (affect) the entire team. When you come down the stretch, there's less fighting, but more physical play. And in the playoffs there's no fighting, so you can make yourself really effective with no fighting."

A fan favorite in Edmonton and Phoenix, Laraque expects the same reception in the Steel City.

"In every city, it's the same," he said. "People love the tough guys."

The arrivals of Laraque and Roberts triggered a change in all four forward lines and it might take some time before the Penguins show some chemistry up front.

Roberts is a north-south winger he drives hard to the net and should compliment the playmaking abilities of Crosby and Recchi.

"I'm a student of the game and I like to watch other guys," Crosby said. "Watching him has helped me. … If (opposing defensemen) go with him, it will probably open it up for me and (Recchi). When someone goes to the net that hard, it makes it tough on other players."

With Roberts on the top line, Therrien has gone with a second line of Evgeni Malkin between Ryan Malone and Michel Ouellet; Maxime Talbot between Jordan Staal and Colby Armstrong and Erik Christensen between Jarkko Ruutu and Laraque.

Pittsburgh Penguins' Sidney Crosby celebrates with teammates after scoring the winning goal against the New York Rangers during the shootout Thursday, March 1, 2007.
With 17 games in the month of March and nine of them on the road, the Penguins are going to need production from all four lines if they hope to hold the fifth seed in the conference and challenge the Devils and Sabres as a true Cup contender.