"Is Penguins defenseman Paul Martin a $5 million problem or a $5 million player?

The statistics indicate that Martin has been a weak link on one of the NHL's best defensive groups. Coach Dan Bylsma and assistant coach Todd Reirden, however, vehemently came to Martin's defense during the Penguins' Florida swing. Both believe his current funk will pass and that Martin remains an essential ingredient to the Penguins' success on the blue line despite being a minus-10 through 19 games.

"That's not a great number for him right now," Bylsma said. "But I'm not going to be surprised if, at Game 40, he's even."

Martin, one of the NHL's smoothest skating defensemen, has lost an uncharacteristic number of 1-on-1 battles in recent games. The low point likely came Tuesday night, when Colorado's David Jones abused Martin while scoring a goal.

The defenseman, who signed a five-year, $25 million deal with the Penguins 16 months ago, acknowledged that his play has been subpar.

"Obviously when the team is winning, you want to be a reason why," Martin said. "Plus-minus is a deceiving statistic, but the higher it gets, the more you pay attention to it. I've been around long enough to know when it matters and when it doesn't. It's early, but I'm obviously not playing as well as I'd like."

Martin avoided a couple of reasonable excuses. He did start last season slowly before playing solid defense down the stretch, and he's been forced to play the past four weeks without defensive partner Zbynek Michalek, who remains out with a broken finger."