Pens in the World Championships

According to the Tribune-Review, the following players will compete in the World Championships:

• Jordan Staal - Canada
• Evgeni Malkin - Russia
• Sergei Gonchar - Russia
• Ronald Petrovicky - Slovakia
• Jarkko Ruutu - Finland

Marc-Andre Fleury might play for Canada, but evidently isn't sure yet.

Jordan Staal sure has come a long way, hasn't he? He'll have a chance to play with his brother in this tournament.

Nice to see Geno playing for Mother Russia despite the way he left there. Hopefully those goofs in Magnitogorsk don't try to kidnap him (I think I'm only partially kidding on this one, sad to say).

I'm also completely shocked that Ryan Whitney isn't playing for Team USA. I guess maybe it's due to his injuries - he was pretty nicked up at the end of the playoffs. I'm also mildly surprised that Ryan Malone isn't there either, given that Team USA will be offensively challenged.

Crosby played with a broken foot

Sidney Crosby had a broken foot for the last month of the regular season. See the Post-Gazette article here (though I'm not terribly impressed with it) and the Trib article here (much better article).

This is just more icing on the respect cake. Crosby sets the tone for this team. The fact that he was able to kick it up several notches in the playoffs despite the problems with the foot is amazing. Remember when Kovalev played with a broken foot? Nothing close to this... but to be fair, we can't really compare the injuries.

Sid will miss the World Championships as a result of the injury.