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Q: Do you think that due to year after year of shipping prospects and draft picks out near the trade deadline, eventually the Pens will hurt themselves with a lack of young talent? Don't get me wrong, I like the moves they have made in recent years. I just worry about a lack of future homegrown talent.

Chris Craig, Raleigh, N.C.

MOLINARI: That's a reasonable concern, and one that's been raised by more than a few people since the Penguins surrendered their second-round draft choice and highly regarded prospect Luca Caputi in the trades that brought them Jordan Leopold and Alexei Ponikarovsky, respectively, earlier this week.

Truth be told, though, the Penguins haven't parted with as many high picks in recent years as it might seem. They had all of their picks in the 2007 draft, the first in which Ray Shero could have traded some of them away. In 2008, he dealt their top three choices in a series of deadline moves that brought in Marian Hossa, Pascal Dupuis, Hal Gill and Georges Laraque, and the Penguins had at least one choice in every round except the seventh in 2009.

Obviously, losing high picks and quality prospects hurts their organizational depth. So far, however, the Penguins have been able to minimize the impact of losing such assets by using the picks they do have pretty well.

Caputi, remember, was a fourth-round choice in 2007, taken after 110 other players had been selected. Dustin Jeffrey, meanwhile, was claimed in the sixth round (171st overall) that same year. As long as the scouts hit on top choices -- Jordan Staal, Angelo Esposito (since traded to Atlanta) and Simon Depres are the three they've taken since Shero became GM -- and consistently find good value in the middle and later rounds, Shero should be able to sacrifice an occasional high pick or promising young talent if he believes a move will enhance his team's chances of competing for a championship.

Q: With addition of Ponikarovsky, who will be the odd-winger out (besides Eric Godard)? Max Talbot, Ruslan Fedotenko, Pascal Dupuis or Craig Adams? All contributed greatly in the Cup run last year and are pretty good role players.

John, Pittsburgh

MOLINARI: We won't know for sure until at least today, now that Ponikarovsky's visa issues have been resolved, and odds are that injuries will render the entire issue moot at some point. After all, with Godard removed from the mix indefinitely by a groin injury, the Penguins have 13 forwards, just one more than the number that dresses for most games.

Whatever decision the coaching staff makes isn't going to be anything close to permanent -- if a fourth-liner struggles or hits a significant slump, he can expect to lose his spot in the lineup -- the thinking here is that Adams is the guy most likely to get bumped into street clothes.

He handles his blue-collar role well and is an effective penalty-killer, but Dupuis is having an outstanding offensive year (by his modest standards) and Talbot proved last spring that he can be a difference-maker, and has to be given an opportunity to get his game in shape after spending most of the season to date rehabbing from shoulder surgery and getting over a groin injury.

A fourth-liner you didn't mention, Mike Rupp, seems to have lost the surprising scoring touch he showed earlier in the season, but especially with Godard out of the lineup, gives the Penguins a guy who can handle just about any fighter who might try to cause problems for their skilled players.

Fedotenko, meanwhile, seems like a logical candidate to get some time on a line with Ponikarovsky and Evgeni Malkin, because he does have top-six talent when his game is in synch. (As it was Tuesday, for one of the rare times this season.)

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