Random Penguins Fodder

[100565]

And then, the scouts earned their keep and picked Orpik, Malkin, Talbot, Stall, Fluery, Armstrong, Biznasty, Bortuzzo, Letang, Crosby...

Bring back that team of scouts.

Apples and oranges. I see two first overall and two second overall picks. If ya look at everyone drafted in those years, many misses.

[Pitts]

Straka was an interesting story as well. After 3 years with the Pens he get traded to Ottawa. Then plays for Islanders and Florida. Bombs out in Florida after 96/97 and gets cut basically. Pens offer him a PTO in 97 and he became a beast - spends another 7 years with the team.

[Guinness]

I seem to remember that 25 years ago (not certain of the exact time period), the Pens had heavy presence in the Eastern European Block, namely around the Czech league. The well brought nothing of note; a deaf D-man Stefan Bergkvist, Robert Stome, Milan Kraft, Koltsov...

And then, the scouts earned their keep and picked Orpik, Malkin, Talbot, Stall, Fluery, Armstrong, Biznasty, Bortuzzo, Letang, Crosby...

Bring back that team of scouts.

Yep, our lineup in the late 90's/early ought's was heavily Czech - Jagr (of course), Straka, Robert Lang, Jiri Slegr, Jan Hrdina... I'm sure there are more, but that's just off the top of my head.

That said, I *think* only Hrdina was drafted by PGH... maybe Straka? And Jags, but that one was both obvious and also a bit of a hope and a prayer that he'd be able to get out of Eastern Europe at the time.

So your point definitely stands, my man - the team's efforts in Czech were much for not. And that includes the horrible Jan Hlinka experiment!

Side note: the Straka/Lang/Kovalev line was one of my all-time favorite lines in Pittsburgh Penguins history.

How did you both forget Petr Nedved! The Czech's kept the team afloat from 95 - 01!

Also mention: Josef Beranek, Petr Klima, Frantisek Kucera, Pavel Skrbek, Jiri Hrdina (very early '90's)

And, it wasn't Robert Stome - you're thinking Robert Dome. I still remember the huge press story about the team drafting him! and he was Slovak, not Czech

For the record, Czech players drafted by Pens all time:
Jiří Kučera 87
Jaromir Jagr 90
Ladislav Karabin 90
Martin Straka 92
Jan Alinc 92
Jan Hrdina 95
Pavel Skrbek 96
Michal Rozsíval 96
Josef Melichar 97
Petr Havelka 97
Milan Kraft 98
Jan Fadrný 98
David Kočí 00
Roman Šimíček 00
Tomáš Duba 01
Ondřej Němec 02
Lukáš Bolf 03
Dominik Uher 11
Dominik Simon 15

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_P ... raft_picks

For the record, I didn't forget about Petr Nedved, but we picked him up - I think via free agency - from NYR, which was tremendous and he scored the 4OT goal in '96 against the Caps if I remember correctly?

That said, that's a tremendous list of Czech Pens! I had high hopes for Milan Kraft and Robert Dome.

Marty Straka was always the little engine that could... loved that guy!

Nedved was acquired in one of the bigger trades (overshadowed by the Francis and Tocchet trades a few years earlier).

Nedved and Zubov to Pittsburgh for Robitaille and Ulf

After 3 years and another contract dispute (he was traded out of Vancouver to STL after a dispute with the Canucks), we traded him back to the Rangers in another memorable trade:

Nedved, Sean Pronger, and Chris Tamer to Rangers for Alex Kovalev and Harry York.

Damn dude, great memory! That was one heck of a trade! I LOVED having Zuby, especially on the power play... he could walk the line as good as any D man we've had outside of Sarge and obviously Coffey.

I now remember that trade, basically Nedved for Kovalev, and I always loved Kovy... one of my all time favorite players!

[Badger Bob]

Noel Acciari will not be on the upcoming road trip to Minnesota and Winnipeg. He was concussed thanks to trash can Dillon .

[KG]

Guess the Flyers don’t know that they’re hooded to fall off . There up 4-0 on Winnipeg…

[KG]

James Nichols
@JamesNicholsNHL
Scouts scouting #NJDevils #Flames

#VegasBorn x3
#GoBolts
#SeaKraken
#Canucks
#NHLBruins
#LetsGoBuffalo
#MNWild
#LetsGoFlyers
#SJSharks
#GoSensGo
#GoJetsGo
#Preds
#GoHabsGo x2
#TexasHockey
#FlyTogether

Full house.

Not that full I guess. I don't think I've seen the Pens listed with scouts at any games.

[FLPensFan]

James Nichols
@JamesNicholsNHL
Scouts scouting #NJDevils #Flames

#VegasBorn x3
#GoBolts
#SeaKraken
#Canucks
#NHLBruins
#LetsGoBuffalo
#MNWild
#LetsGoFlyers
#SJSharks
#GoSensGo
#GoJetsGo
#Preds
#GoHabsGo x2
#TexasHockey
#FlyTogether

Full house.

Not that full I guess. I don't think I've seen the Pens listed with scouts at any games.

Yet another heavily scouted game with no Pittsburgh presence.

[KG]

James Nichols
@JamesNicholsNHL
Scouts scouting #NJDevils #Flames

#VegasBorn x3
#GoBolts
#SeaKraken
#Canucks
#NHLBruins
#LetsGoBuffalo
#MNWild
#LetsGoFlyers
#SJSharks
#GoSensGo
#GoJetsGo
#Preds
#GoHabsGo x2
#TexasHockey
#FlyTogether

Full house.

Not that full I guess. I don't think I've seen the Pens listed with scouts at any games.

Yet another heavily scouted game with no Pittsburgh presence.

I saw a Kingerski tweet where he said that Lamoriello used to have his scouts buy tickets when they attended games, this way nobody knew they were there. He speculated that Dubas worked under Lou and is cut from a similar cloth, so maybe we do have scouts there but they are in incognito mode!

[FLPensFan]

James Nichols
@JamesNicholsNHL
Scouts scouting #NJDevils #Flames

#VegasBorn x3
#GoBolts
#SeaKraken
#Canucks
#NHLBruins
#LetsGoBuffalo
#MNWild
#LetsGoFlyers
#SJSharks
#GoSensGo
#GoJetsGo
#Preds
#GoHabsGo x2
#TexasHockey
#FlyTogether

Full house.

Not that full I guess. I don't think I've seen the Pens listed with scouts at any games.

Yet another heavily scouted game with no Pittsburgh presence.

I saw a Kingerski tweet where he said that Lamoriello used to have his scouts buy tickets when they attended games, this way nobody knew they were there. He speculated that Dubas worked under Lou and is cut from a similar cloth, so maybe we do have scouts there but they are in incognito mode!

I was wondering that, too, actually. I forgot about Lou doing it, but I thought I had heard something about doing this in the past. I really hope so, because I know we have little cap space and assets, but if this team is going to hang onto Guentzel, we still need more help for a playoff run.

[BigMcK]

[

Meet the Scouts for the Penguins as they are spotted at the popcorn stand by other teams scouts...

[cake45]

Decided to make a thread for Penguins random stuff that may not fit into the existing, massive offseason thread. Two items to start us off:

1) In Josh Yohe's mailbag today, someone asked about trades that fell through over the years. He mentioned that a few years ago, Rutherford had a deal to acquire Penguin killer Frank Vatrano, but it fell through at the last minute. Going back some years, Josh also said Rob Blake was almost a Penguin back in 2001. Yohe said Patrick was in the process of setting the news conference when Colorado came in and sniped him from the Penguins at the last moments.

2) Not sure who may have seen this yet, but DK Pittsburgh Sports is planning on going "non-paywall" for most of its articles. Dejan says there will still be paid subscriptions that get members access to their commenting platform, maybe some exclusive articles and other stuff. But overall, he says the site was never really built to be paywalled and managing it is very time consuming. By opening up the articles, he feels it will grow the base. I think this is supposed to go in effect end of this month or beginning of September.

(I had an initial membership to the site, and quit when one of the main Penguins people left...can't even remember which it was as so many have left that place. I've had a severely discounted memberships since then, but, I don't think I'm going to pay $60 or whatever it is just for a few measly exclusives or the ability to comment...which I seldom do there.)

Hey, that's some interesting behind-the-scenes info on potential trades falling through. Always wondered about those "what could have been" moments. And going non-paywall for DK Pittsburgh Sports? That's a game-changer. It was about time; maybe it'll bring in more voices to the discussions. I totally get your point on not splurging for exclusive articles or commenting privileges. The internet's full of hockey banter anyway, right? Let's see how this switch pans out for them. Cheers to a thread of random Penguins tales!

[Badger Bob]

Hahaha! I love the Three Stooges!

[Ohio_Pens_fan]

Hahaha! I love the Three Stooges!

Nah, that’s Abbott, Costello, Laurel, and Hardy.

[Badger Bob]

Sorry, the memory isn't what it used to be.

[stonewizard51]

Cue Benny Hill Music

[KG]

Pagnotta was on NHL radio this morning. Said both sides have confirmed that no negotiations have happened with Jake yet. Said it will happen in the off-season. He also said Jake is not available and Dubas is not in a rush to do anything.

He did say he could see the Pens doing a lateral move, moving Smith out for a different forward type of deal.

So it sounds like we will only trade Jake if we are firmly out of the playoff picture (which is unlikely). And we will negotiate with Jake after the season. Pagnotta speculated that Jake would want to know about the teams future plans when Sid/Geno move on. I can answer that one...Pain!

[FLPensFan]

DK's site had a summary of Dubas on the Josh Getzoff show, plus the Friday insider piece:

--Had high praise for the play of Marcus Pettersson

--Dubas talked about how DOC and Harkins had taken some steps forward this season. Says Harkins has been a bit more in a specific role. Sounds like he thinks both have more to offer.

--As part of talking about DOC and Harkins, he talked about others not really cementing that spot. Taylor's summation of that:

Translation: Dubas didn't think Radim Zohorna and Valtteri Puustinen did enough in their time in the NHL, and that's why they're back in Wilkes-Barre, and why Puljujarvi now gets a chance.

FLPensFan summation: Zohorna was very up and down, and that's how he's been at this level. Puustinen... Had 7 points in his first 10 games, averaging about 13:20 TOI per game. His next 11 games, he has 1 assist in his final game as his ice time plummeted to roughly 8:35 TOI. So, a guy is playing well over a half a point per game pace, and you reward him by drastically reducing his ice time, and scratching your head why he's fallen off, and likely blame it on the "call up adrenaline" wearing off. These are the moves that have people scratching their head with this franchise.

--Dubas named Poulin, Jack St. Ivany, and Blomqvist as guys that have been excellent and standing out in WBS (assuming guys we haven't seen yet).

Friday Insider:

--Dubas has apparently watched a lot of WBS games, particularly road games, and had a lot of praise for Blomqvist.

--Crosby has not yet had any discussions about his future after 2025 season. Expect those to start this summer.

--Mentioned Ryan Poehling signing with the Flyers, and why the Penguins were hesitant on him. Apparently, it wasn't his back. He has some type of chroinc respiratory issue that went undiagnosed until late in the season. He also had a concussion that was a bit impacted by his brain not having all the oxygen it should due to the respiratory issue. Poehling has seems to now have this chronic issue under control.

--Mentioned that some fans question when team uses upper-body to describe a concussion. Shortening the explanation...it seems if it is very apparent a player suffered a blow to the head (ie, Ludvig was knocked out, Acciari hit) the team will come out and state it is a concussion. If there isn't a big play like that where it is clear they took a hit to the head, they'll typically use upper-body.

[Maestro]

Had 7 points in his first 10 games, averaging about 13:20 TOI per game. His next 11 games, he has 1 assist in his final game as his ice time plummeted to roughly 8:35 TOI. So, a guy is playing well over a half a point per game pace, and you reward him by drastically reducing his ice time, and scratching your head why he's fallen off

This exactly

How many points does Harkins have in how much extra ice time?
Seriously, how much better does DOC look than Puustinen even with much better lineup spots?

Constant accountability for some, free ride for others. SullyBall!

[pens_CT]

Pagnotta was on NHL radio this morning. Said both sides have confirmed that no negotiations have happened with Jake yet. Said it will happen in the off-season. He also said Jake is not available and Dubas is not in a rush to do anything.

He did say he could see the Pens doing a lateral move, moving Smith out for a different forward type of deal.

So it sounds like we will only trade Jake if we are firmly out of the playoff picture (which is unlikely). And we will negotiate with Jake after the season. Pagnotta speculated that Jake would want to know about the teams future plans when Sid/Geno move on. I can answer that one...Pain!

I think holding off until after the season with the hope of re-signing Guentzel is a bad move. Time will tell I guess.

[Pens4Life]

FLPensFan summation: Zohorna was very up and down, and that's how he's been at this level. Puustinen... Had 7 points in his first 10 games, averaging about 13:20 TOI per game. His next 11 games, he has 1 assist in his final game as his ice time plummeted to roughly 8:35 TOI. So, a guy is playing well over a half a point per game pace, and you reward him by drastically reducing his ice time, and scratching your head why he's fallen off, and likely blame it on the "call up adrenaline" wearing off. These are the moves that have people scratching their head with this franchise.

yeah,that pissed off pretty much all of us here.. I was writing about that stuff as well! Puusty was very efficient then his minutes got cut on half, many times didnt even see the ice in 3rd period and all of sudden he aint good enough for Sully's crappy system.

[Pitts]

Had 7 points in his first 10 games, averaging about 13:20 TOI per game. His next 11 games, he has 1 assist in his final game as his ice time plummeted to roughly 8:35 TOI. So, a guy is playing well over a half a point per game pace, and you reward him by drastically reducing his ice time, and scratching your head why he's fallen off

This exactly

How many points does Harkins have in how much extra ice time?
Seriously, how much better does DOC look than Puustinen even with much better lineup spots?

Constant accountability for some, free ride for others. SullyBall!

So my beef with us fans constantly crying about a player's usage and/or ice time is we are not the one working with these players every single day on the ice. We do not see what the coaches and GM see. The original comment here is only about points per ice time. What about his play away from the puck? His defensive zone coverage? Other aspects of his game? I just always find it hard to support fans claiming players should be granted ice time since we are not the ones working with them. IDK, maybe Puustinen should play over Harkins, but is he a 4th line player? I don't think so. In Puustinen's first 10 games wasn't he playing with Malkin and getting some PP time while Rakell and Rust were out? He's not gonna play over either of those 2.

[pens_CT]

Had 7 points in his first 10 games, averaging about 13:20 TOI per game. His next 11 games, he has 1 assist in his final game as his ice time plummeted to roughly 8:35 TOI. So, a guy is playing well over a half a point per game pace, and you reward him by drastically reducing his ice time, and scratching your head why he's fallen off

This exactly

How many points does Harkins have in how much extra ice time?
Seriously, how much better does DOC look than Puustinen even with much better lineup spots?

Constant accountability for some, free ride for others. SullyBall!

So my beef with us fans constantly crying about a player's usage and/or ice time is we are not the one working with these players every single day on the ice. We do not see what the coaches and GM see. The original comment here is only about points per ice time. What about his play away from the puck? His defensive zone coverage? Other aspects of his game? I just always find it hard to support fans claiming players should be granted ice time since we are not the ones working with them. IDK, maybe Puustinen should play over Harkins, but is he a 4th line player? I don't think so. In Puustinen's first 10 games wasn't he playing with Malkin and getting some PP time while Rakell and Rust were out? He's not gonna play over either of those 2.

Harkins and DOC get PK time so that's one of the reasons they both are still here. You know Sullivan isn't going to play Puustinen on the PK. I would rather see Poulin here than White though. Obviously they need more production from the 2nd and 3rd lines in order to be taken seriously as a potential playoff team.

[Pitts]

Had 7 points in his first 10 games, averaging about 13:20 TOI per game. His next 11 games, he has 1 assist in his final game as his ice time plummeted to roughly 8:35 TOI. So, a guy is playing well over a half a point per game pace, and you reward him by drastically reducing his ice time, and scratching your head why he's fallen off

This exactly

How many points does Harkins have in how much extra ice time?
Seriously, how much better does DOC look than Puustinen even with much better lineup spots?

Constant accountability for some, free ride for others. SullyBall!

So my beef with us fans constantly crying about a player's usage and/or ice time is we are not the one working with these players every single day on the ice. We do not see what the coaches and GM see. The original comment here is only about points per ice time. What about his play away from the puck? His defensive zone coverage? Other aspects of his game? I just always find it hard to support fans claiming players should be granted ice time since we are not the ones working with them. IDK, maybe Puustinen should play over Harkins, but is he a 4th line player? I don't think so. In Puustinen's first 10 games wasn't he playing with Malkin and getting some PP time while Rakell and Rust were out? He's not gonna play over either of those 2.

Harkins and DOC get PK time so that's one of the reasons they both are still here. You know Sullivan isn't going to play Puustinen on the PK. I would rather see Poulin here than White though. Obviously they need more production from the 2nd and 3rd lines in order to be taken seriously as a potential playoff team.

100% agree there. If they moved Smith for a few picks, maybe Puustinen gets back up here to play with Geno again. Not sure how Puljujarvi is gonna work out on the 3rd. I don't think he'll add much scoring, Rakell -- IDK, maybe they need to trade him. He seems to have fallen off a cliff!

[Daniel]

Had 7 points in his first 10 games, averaging about 13:20 TOI per game. His next 11 games, he has 1 assist in his final game as his ice time plummeted to roughly 8:35 TOI. So, a guy is playing well over a half a point per game pace, and you reward him by drastically reducing his ice time, and scratching your head why he's fallen off

This exactly

How many points does Harkins have in how much extra ice time?
Seriously, how much better does DOC look than Puustinen even with much better lineup spots?

Constant accountability for some, free ride for others. SullyBall!

So my beef with us fans constantly crying about a player's usage and/or ice time is we are not the one working with these players every single day on the ice. We do not see what the coaches and GM see. The original comment here is only about points per ice time. What about his play away from the puck? His defensive zone coverage? Other aspects of his game? I just always find it hard to support fans claiming players should be granted ice time since we are not the ones working with them. IDK, maybe Puustinen should play over Harkins, but is he a 4th line player? I don't think so. In Puustinen's first 10 games wasn't he playing with Malkin and getting some PP time while Rakell and Rust were out? He's not gonna play over either of those 2.

Why wouldn’t he play over those 2? If they want a legit 3rd line for scoring, why not put Rakell or Rust on that line and move Puustinen up with Malkin? I think that would give them 3 good scoring lines. If Sullivan will put Kessel on the 3rd line he can certainly put Rust or Rakell there.

[FLPensFan]

Had 7 points in his first 10 games, averaging about 13:20 TOI per game. His next 11 games, he has 1 assist in his final game as his ice time plummeted to roughly 8:35 TOI. So, a guy is playing well over a half a point per game pace, and you reward him by drastically reducing his ice time, and scratching your head why he's fallen off

This exactly

How many points does Harkins have in how much extra ice time?
Seriously, how much better does DOC look than Puustinen even with much better lineup spots?

Constant accountability for some, free ride for others. SullyBall!

So my beef with us fans constantly crying about a player's usage and/or ice time is we are not the one working with these players every single day on the ice. We do not see what the coaches and GM see. The original comment here is only about points per ice time. What about his play away from the puck? His defensive zone coverage? Other aspects of his game? I just always find it hard to support fans claiming players should be granted ice time since we are not the ones working with them. IDK, maybe Puustinen should play over Harkins, but is he a 4th line player? I don't think so. In Puustinen's first 10 games wasn't he playing with Malkin and getting some PP time while Rakell and Rust were out? He's not gonna play over either of those 2.

I think you have a point, but for my discussion, I used points as a measuring stick because A) it's the easiest stat to find B) for Puustinen's game to translate here, he needs to put up points. It's a lot harder to find meaningful stats to measure how someone is doing defensively or on the forecheck.

If Puustinen is going to make in the NHL, while he'll need a well rounded game, point production is going to be his game. He did it well over those first 10 games, not going more than 2 games without a point. He's not going to fit well as a 4th liner, especially in Sullivan's system and what he expects from his 4th liner. Puustinen should be able to carve out a 3rd line role, with occasional stints in the top 6.

Puustinen actually fit better on the 3rd line than he did with Geno. 70 minutes with Geno, 3 GF, 2 GA as a line. 112 minutes away from Geno, 7 GF, 4 GA as a line.

Puustinen also never got used correctly on the PP. Any fan that has seen Puustinen play a meaningful # of games in WBS knows that on the PP, he feasts in the "OVI" spot. Sullivan used him for like 2 PP attempts there, and then either moved him elsewhere or removed him altogether.

Puustinen isn't my favorite player. I'm not making these statements because he's my bestie and it's not fair that I like him and he's not playing. He's shown good promise in the AHL the last 2 years. I don't recall any glaring mistakes that Puustinen made to deserve seeing his ice time evaporate.

I'd be more upset about Puustinen if Puljujarvi weren't getting a chance, because I think from what I have seen from him at WBS, plus seeing some of his games with Edmonton, I know what he can bring and he earned the right to play here. I also would really like to see Poulin get in 5-10 games before the trade deadline to see how his game translate to the NHL level.

In one way, it's a good problem to have, but on the other hand, some of this is just having a bunch of average guys fighting over spots, versus us overflowing with capable bodies playing exceptional.

I'd like to get to a point where DOC-Eller-Acciari was our 4th line, and Poulin-X-Puljujarvi/Puustinen was our 3rd line, but Eller is playing too well for Sully to bump him down. The other alternative would be put Eller between Poulin/Puljujarvi, and pickup a solid 4th line center, because I don't think Acciari, Carter, Johnstone, White, or Gruden is the answer there. Acciari needs to get some games on RW, where he tends to be much more effective.