2023 Training Camp thread

[Three Stars]

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Taylor Haase has some nice running commentary on the happenings at today’s skate. Geno was yelling from the bench during a drill and gave Ricky Rak a glove shot to the head after losing a faceoff to him. Basically Geno Things ©️

[Daniel]

Jeff Carter is in midseason form

"I've seen Jeff Carter attempt three shots so far and he whiffed on two."

"Marcus Pettersson just won a faceoff against Jeff Carter"

[Puck-Lurker]

Jeff Carter is in midseason form

"I've seen Jeff Carter attempt three shots so far and he whiffed on two."

"Marcus Pettersson just won a faceoff against Jeff Carter"

It's fine...

Really..

[dark_forces]

Jeff Carter is in midseason form

"I've seen Jeff Carter attempt three shots so far and he whiffed on two."

"Marcus Pettersson just won a faceoff against Jeff Carter"

This reminds me that the Carter extension may have been Hextall's biggest mistake, followed closely by the overall Seattle expansion draft screw up.

[Dynasty1970]

Jeff Carter is in midseason form

"I've seen Jeff Carter attempt three shots so far and he whiffed on two."

"Marcus Pettersson just won a faceoff against Jeff Carter"

This reminds me that the Carter extension may have been Hextall's biggest mistake, followed closely by the overall Seattle expansion draft screw up.

Wow.....That would be a tough call, What GMRH's worst move was. Grundlund, Carter, Seattle Expansion Draft, just too many to choose from.....

[penny lane]

Sid is on the ice today!

[Pitts]

Jeff Carter is in midseason form

"I've seen Jeff Carter attempt three shots so far and he whiffed on two."

"Marcus Pettersson just won a faceoff against Jeff Carter"

This reminds me that the Carter extension may have been Hextall's biggest mistake, followed closely by the overall Seattle expansion draft screw up.

Wow.....That would be a tough call, What GMRH's worst move was. Grundlund, Carter, Seattle Expansion Draft, just too many to choose from.....

Literally, everything that man did made me feel like he was a plant by Philly. He did nothing good for this team.

[Coffey Break]

This reminds me that the Carter extension may have been Hextall's biggest mistake, followed closely by the overall Seattle expansion draft screw up.

Wow.....That would be a tough call, What GMRH's worst move was. Grundlund, Carter, Seattle Expansion Draft, just too many to choose from.....

Literally, everything that man did made me feel like he was a plant by Philly. He did nothing good for this team.

By no means giving Hextall any breaks (cause he truly was one of, if not, the worst GM in team history). But I will say that the Rickard Rakell trade was really really good. And also the initial JC trade looked really solid when he was lighting the world on fire. But besides that, he should be locked up in a federal penitentiary for his mishandling of assets.

[Daniel]

Jeff Carter is in midseason form

"I've seen Jeff Carter attempt three shots so far and he whiffed on two."

"Marcus Pettersson just won a faceoff against Jeff Carter"

This reminds me that the Carter extension may have been Hextall's biggest mistake, followed closely by the overall Seattle expansion draft screw up.

Wow.....That would be a tough call, What GMRH's worst move was. Grundlund, Carter, Seattle Expansion Draft, just too many to choose from.....

I'd probably call the Granlund trade the worse deal.

Carter extension is bad because the Pens are close to the cap, but it's only about $3M. The Seattle expansion draft lost one overpaid bottom six guy and one underachieving player that happened to get good in Seattle. Screw up sure, but probably not top 10 screw up.

The Granlund trade brought an unnecessary cap hit while at the same time removing a 2nd round pick. For a team with maybe 3-4 NHL caliber prospects and lost a potential NHL prospect.

[Three Stars]

Sid is on the ice today!

He was taking down the nets after practice. Sid the Team Dad.

[Pitts]

The Rakell trade is about his only good thing.

Signing Carter to that deal as fast as he did wreaked of nepotism. I believe he gave Carter that deal because they were buddies from LA. They also both have original ties to Philly.

The Granlund trade to me feels like he made that out of spite knowing his days were numbered. It was a completely unnecessary move that really set the team back. Thank God Dubas was able to fix it quick.

Sorry, I'll be quiet now -- stop steering this thread off of it's original intent.

[FLPensFan]

Jeff Carter is in midseason form

"I've seen Jeff Carter attempt three shots so far and he whiffed on two."

"Marcus Pettersson just won a faceoff against Jeff Carter"

This reminds me that the Carter extension may have been Hextall's biggest mistake, followed closely by the overall Seattle expansion draft screw up.

Wow.....That would be a tough call, What GMRH's worst move was. Grundlund, Carter, Seattle Expansion Draft, just too many to choose from.....

I'd probably call the Granlund trade the worse deal.

Carter extension is bad because the Pens are close to the cap, but it's only about $3M. The Seattle expansion draft lost one overpaid bottom six guy and one underachieving player that happened to get good in Seattle. Screw up sure, but probably not top 10 screw up.

The Granlund trade brought an unnecessary cap hit while at the same time removing a 2nd round pick. For a team with maybe 3-4 NHL caliber prospects and lost a potential NHL prospect.

I'd have to go with Carter. Granlund was bad. Granlund was unneccessary...but Dubas was still able to move him.

Extending Jeff Carter was not the issue (although, he already showed signs of decline before the extension).
The parameters given to Carter, were the issue.
I don't care if Carter didn't want to play anywhere else...a full NMC for a 38 year old bottom 6 player is unforgiveable. Give him a 12 team no trade list or something, but the full NMC pretty much tied the teams hands, with a cinder block attached, and tossed his cap hit to the bottom of the lake, never to be moved. Eric Staal put up the same production last year (although not as good at faceoffs) and was paid 850K.

The 250K decrease year over year that prevented the buyout from cap relief was like adding another cinder block.

[FLPensFan]

A few Penguins notes from DK's Friday Insider:

--No chance of Phil coming here. Says he was too much of a headache for Sullivan when he was still at his peak; there's no way Sullivan would put up with Phil at his current level of play.

--The roster we have is what we'll have for training camp. Says there's been no more talk of Tatar, and says oddly, there isn't any chatter of Tatar going to any NHL team right now.

--DK says a few weeks ago he wrote Nedeljkovic likely has the upper hand for the backup role. Sounds like he's saying you can write that in pen today, saying the team really likes him.

--Says that Radim Zohorna seems to be a strong contender as a depth piece, more than DK expected. (Sounds like they really like him or where his game is at now).

--Finally, DK says he's talked to both of the departed broadcast team. Errey is 100% gone, but says Mears may be retained/return for the radio side.

[Puck-Lurker]

A few Penguins notes from DK's Friday Insider:

--No chance of Phil coming here. Says he was too much of a headache for Sullivan when he was still at his peak; there's no way Sullivan would put up with Phil at his current level of play.

--The roster we have is what we'll have for training camp. Says there's been no more talk of Tatar, and says oddly, there isn't any chatter of Tatar going to any NHL team right now.

--DK says a few weeks ago he wrote Nedeljkovic likely has the upper hand for the backup role. Sounds like he's saying you can write that in pen today, saying the team really likes him.

--Says that Radim Zohorna seems to be a strong contender as a depth piece, more than DK expected. (Sounds like they really like him or where his game is at now).

--Finally, DK says he's talked to both of the departed broadcast team. Errey is 100% gone, but says Mears may be retained/return for the radio side.

A shame that. Pens blood departing.

[Three Stars]

Erik Karlsson has joined the informal skate.

[Pitts]

Erik Karlsson has joined the informal skate.

Whoo Hooo!

Was there really any serious talk about Kessel? Like, why?

[dark_forces]

For the purposes of breaking down precisely where the competition will be, I'm envisioning:

Guentzel-Crosby-Rust
Smith-Malkin-Rakell
xxx-Eller-xxx (candidates vying: DOC, Nylander, Johnsson, Pitlick, Hinostroza)
Nieto-Acciari-xxx (candidates vying: Carter, Poulin, Puustinen, Zohorna, Wagner)

Graves-Letang
Pettersson-Karlsson
xxx-xxx (candidates vying: Ruhwedel, Friedman, Butcher, POJ, Smith, Pysyk, Hajek)

Jarry
Nedeljkovic
----------
Just looking at this breakdown, Dubas did worlds better than Hextall at creating genuine competition.

[Three Stars]

For the purposes of breaking down precisely where the competition will be, I'm envisioning:

Guentzel-Crosby-Rust
Smith-Malkin-Rakell
xxx-Eller-xxx (candidates vying: DOC, Nylander, Johnsson, Pitlick, Hinostroza)
Nieto-Acciari-xxx (candidates vying: Carter, Poulin, Puustinen, Zohorna, Wagner)

Graves-Letang
Pettersson-Karlsson
xxx-xxx (candidates vying: Ruhwedel, Friedman, Butcher, POJ, Smith, Pysyk, Hajek)

Jarry
Nedeljkovic
----------
Just looking at this breakdown, Dubas did worlds better than Hextall at creating genuine competition.

I feel like DOC can be one of those third line xxxs written in ink.

I also feel like there’s at least a chance that Carter gets bypassed in the lineup and is told to have his agent go wrangle up a trade for himself. His buddy no longer runs the show, so perhaps he can light a fire under himself and be a vaguely useful 4th line/2nd power play person…but I’m not counting on it.

[Ericf]

For the purposes of breaking down precisely where the competition will be, I'm envisioning:

Guentzel-Crosby-Rust
Smith-Malkin-Rakell
xxx-Eller-xxx (candidates vying: DOC, Nylander, Johnsson, Pitlick, Hinostroza)
Nieto-Acciari-xxx (candidates vying: Carter, Poulin, Puustinen, Zohorna, Wagner)

Graves-Letang
Pettersson-Karlsson
xxx-xxx (candidates vying: Ruhwedel, Friedman, Butcher, POJ, Smith, Pysyk, Hajek)

Jarry
Nedeljkovic
----------
Just looking at this breakdown, Dubas did worlds better than Hextall at creating genuine competition.

Idk, I’d more inclined to think that Sullivan has an idea already who to start on line three and my guess is it will be DOC-Eller-Acciari to start and changes will only be made if that doesn’t gel or because of injuries. obviously someone who blows the staff away at camp and in the games could change things but I think that’s likely their planned L3. I would also assume, unless Carter shows his skills have even further eroded and he’s not a NHL player, that Carter will center line four unless Zohorna or Poulin blows everyone away. Nieto likewise will be gifted a spot to start, and he’s a vet so you know Sullivan will start him. So imo the only real roster competition is for one spot on L4. As for D, it’s probably just POJ and Smith for third pair LD and Ruh and Pysyk for RD

[Maestro]

As the most visible remnant of the Hextall era I feel Carter should be eradicated from the organization by any and all means necessary.

[FLPensFan]

Some quick notes from Taylor today:

--Seems many players were happy to have Zohorna back. He was one of the first guys on the ice today. Puustinen gave him a hug on the ice, Jarry and a trainer were yelling at him and hyping him up, POJ was doing some crazy excited waving to him from another bench during ice cleaning, and finally, as soon as the final practice session was over, Crosby skated directly to Zohorna to give him a fist bump and welcome back stick whack on the shins. DK mentioned something in his Friday Insider about Zohorna possibly being more than just "one of the many" guys brought in this summer. Seems like he is very well liked by teammates.

--Taylor reported that Poulin "doesn't look liked he's missed a step" after missing most of last year. Good news to hear early.

--Odd line of the day...Puustinen (5'9") with Zohorna (6'6") and Austin Rueschhoff (6'7")

--Taylor estimated roughly 46 different players are now here in camp practicing.

--While Crosby centered Pitlick and Rakell, Jeff Carter centered Nieto and Acciari. That latter lineup could very well be the 4th line configuration for opening night.

[Three Stars]

That’s the new roster philosophy for line making. “One of these is not like the others”

That Puustinen line can be called The Running Game. Zohorna and Rueschoff just skate ahead clearing out a path like offensive linemen, and Puusty carries the puck behind them.

Carter-Nieto-Acciari is the Hey Wait For Me line. The other two can practice the two man cycle for, say, several minutes until Carts arrives in the offensive zone.

[KG]

That’s the new roster philosophy for line making. “One of these is not like the others”

That Puustinen line can be called The Running Game. Zohorna and Rueschoff just skate ahead clearing out a path like offensive linemen, and Puusty carries the puck behind them.

Carter-Nieto-Acciari is the Hey Wait For Me line. The other two can practice the two man cycle for, say, several minutes until Carts arrives in the offensive zone.

PTO Colin White would look better on that 4th line than JMFC. Nieto, Acciari, White is a solid 4th line.

[FLPensFan]

Taylor also noted that Pickering is injured, and it appears to be an ankle. He is not well enough to be doing non-contact skating like other injured players Raivis Ansons (upper body) and Will Butcher (unknown). Means Pickering isn't going to get into the prospects games, and likely won't make it into preseason game before heading back to Juniors. Taylor also notes that this was a similar situation last year with Pickering.

[Antonio]

I mean we may have to pay jmfc but if the coach had any brains they just wouldn't dress him. Seems like we should just treat him as dead cat space from a buyout or retention.