Random Penguins Fodder

[FLPensFan]

The only reason it seems to not fire him is someone at Fenway did the math that it would cost more to fire him than it does by missing playoff revenue and ticket sales declining but does anyone think he won’t get hired tomorrow if he’s fired today? Buffalo is a great fit for him based on how the team is composed. And I think a guy like Bruce Boudreau would work well here for a couple years.

This team needs a change in coaching. Rierden being the only scapegoat will not be enough.

FSG is supposed to be all about "spending whatever it takes where there are no cost limits/restrictions." That was one of the big things they touted. They can only spend up to the salary cap that is in place, but there is no cap on coaches, GMs, etc, so they aren't afraid to spend big in those areas.

If they actually practice what they preach, then worrying about future money owed to Sullivan if he was fired should be a non-issue. It's a moot point anyways because we all know Sully would be snapped up by another team quickly.

The fact remains we've been through multiple GMs, POHO, and countless players...with only a few core players remaining and Sullivan. There's a problem somewhere. And, I don't have enough information on what happens between Sullivan and Dubas/Hextall/Rutherford to know what Sully asked for and what he was given in terms of players, but I highly doubt Sully has been pounding his fist on the table for young players all these years and the GMs just aren't listening.

[FLPensFan]

Madden rips into some players and the team, essentially saying they are too content living off past wins and victories to see that none of that is working anymore.

https://triblive.com/sports/mark-madden ... -penguins/

[Pitts]

On our first rounder this year - I think some are still debating it, and perhaps we need to wait until after the lottery, but since it is not a top 10 pick - it will automatically go to SJ, correct? We will not have the choice to keep it unless they win the lottery and move up.

[lemieuxReturns]

Well I do agree with the "weeping" comment. We lost a lot of points mourning over the loss of Jake for no reason at all.

[Badger Bob]

I'm not questioning Sid's leadership. He certainly leads by example, but I wonder how much he commands the room when this team needs kicked in the arse. The Jake situation seems to be a good case-in-point. From my understanding, I think they had that in guys like Horqvist and Guerin in the past. Back in the 90's they has Stevens, Tocchet, and a couple others. This current team seems very plain vanilla from that standpoint. Maybe I'm grasping at straws because I'm certainly not in that locker room and all I have to rely on is my own perceptions. It usually comes from a veteran guy who has the respect of the room. Perhaps I'm too old school, but I just wonder if the lack of that type of guy at least had some impact on how they dealt with adversity the last couple of seasons.

[penny lane]

As with everything Madden, never Sid, never Letang, and always Evgeni.
Weeping would have been done by Jake's center man. Felt throughout the entire team. I get it, but did need that Billy guerin type to say it's time to move beyond.
Bunting/Ned and Sid lit the fire last month.

I hope Sid decides not to play for Canada. Risk not worth it. I know he is thinking not more chances left.

[lemieuxReturns]

As with everything Madden, never Sid, never Letang, and always Evgeni.
Weeping would have been done by Jake's center man. Felt throughout the entire team. I get it, but did need that Billy guerin type to say it's time to move beyond.
Bunting/Ned and Sid lit the fire last month.

I hope Sid decides not to play for Canada. Risk not worth it. I know he is thinking not more chances left.

Yep, I agree.

[FLPensFan]

On our first rounder this year - I think some are still debating it, and perhaps we need to wait until after the lottery, but since it is not a top 10 pick - it will automatically go to SJ, correct? We will not have the choice to keep it unless they win the lottery and move up.

Technically, the pick is top 10 protected. So if it is not 1st-10th overall pick, it automatically goes to SJ. If we win the draft lottery, we could move up 10 spots, going from 14th to 4th.

Rules for the draft lottery, per ESPN (Penguins have a 1.5% chance of moving up)

How does the actual lottery work?
A set of 14 pingpong balls are placed in a lottery machine, which allows for 1,001 combinations. Each team in the lottery is assigned a set of random four-number combinations. The worse a team's record, the more combinations they are assigned; so the team with the worst record this past season, the Anaheim Ducks, gets 185, representing an 18.5% chance of winning the first lottery draw.

An accounting firm runs the process for the league, and it keeps tabs on which teams are lined up with each combination; there is also one combination that is deleted from the proceedings (to make it an even 1,000 instead of 1,001).

The first draw of pingpong balls determines the No. 1 pick, based on the assigned combinations. However, since a set of rule changes in 2021, a team can move up a maximum of 10 spots in the order; therefore, if a team in spot Nos. 12-16 wins the first draw, they move up accordingly, and the team lowest in the standings (in this year's case, the Ducks) slots in at No. 1.

There is then a second draw, to determine the next possible spot, using similar rules as the first. Similarly, a team in spot Nos. 13-16 can still move up only 10 slots, so they would move up accordingly and the next lowest available team in the standings would get pick No. 2.

Regardless of which teams win the draft lottery draws, picks in Rounds 2-7 are in reverse order of the final standings following the playoffs.

[Southern Fan]

Madden rips into some players and the team, essentially saying they are too content living off past wins and victories to see that none of that is working anymore.

https://triblive.com/sports/mark-madden ... -penguins/

He is a garbage reporter. A big top 6 forward in front of the blue paint and goalie would have made a ton of difference.

Just looking at some of the individual career stats.

Karlsson. Throw out last year, and this was actually one of his better years since the middle of the last decade. Only thing down is his shooting percentage. Probably a result of no one ever screening the goalie. And I’m sure he was facing everyone’s backup goalie last year.

Malkin. Most goals in several years. Only thing down were assists and I imagine the two reasons were an abysmal power play and being anchored with Smith instead of Zucker.

Rakell. Pretty much a normal year for him. But the power play stunk so his numbers were affected.

Jarry. Not sure what to make of him. His GAA and save percentage were better than Ned’s . Big thing is not making the big save but he’s not horrible.

Letang. Surprisingly a normal year for him.


I’ll give Madden an okay on Smith and partially on Graves.
Smith. We’re paying $5 million for someone who had 2 more goals than Jeff Carter. The man played like he lost his puppy on the Vegas strip, especially after he came back from the White House visiting his former teammates. There has to be another team that feels they can look past horrible year, which was almost the worst in his pro career.


Graves. No clue. Wouldn’t think Dubas is going to admit a mistake. He’s no Jim Rutherford. They got to figure it out.

[FLPensFan]

Anyone else looking forward to seeing Brad Lambert make his NHL debut tonight, while watching Owen Pickering still waiting to play some meaningful games? Nobody, cool.

A late first round 2022 draft pick making his NHL debut for a playoff team. When's the last time we hit on one of those? Maatta maybe?

[pens_CT]

Anyone else looking forward to seeing Brad Lambert make his NHL debut tonight, while watching Owen Pickering still waiting to play some meaningful games? Nobody, cool.

A late first round 2022 draft pick making his NHL debut for a playoff team. When's the last time we hit on one of those? Maatta maybe?

Wasn't he the guy who was near the top of the draft board when his draft year started, and then his stock fell like a rock throughout the season?

[FLPensFan]

Anyone else looking forward to seeing Brad Lambert make his NHL debut tonight, while watching Owen Pickering still waiting to play some meaningful games? Nobody, cool.

A late first round 2022 draft pick making his NHL debut for a playoff team. When's the last time we hit on one of those? Maatta maybe?

Wasn't he the guy who was near the top of the draft board when his draft year started, and then his stock fell like a rock throughout the season?

Yep. He was thought to challenge Shane Wright for the top spot. But, he got traded mid-season of his draft year and didn't have great talent around him. So his numbers weren't strong.

But he was an exceptionally strong skater with really good hands, and had 20 goals and 54 points in his first full season in the AHL.

[pens_CT]

Anyone else looking forward to seeing Brad Lambert make his NHL debut tonight, while watching Owen Pickering still waiting to play some meaningful games? Nobody, cool.

A late first round 2022 draft pick making his NHL debut for a playoff team. When's the last time we hit on one of those? Maatta maybe?

Wasn't he the guy who was near the top of the draft board when his draft year started, and then his stock fell like a rock throughout the season?

Yep. He was thought to challenge Shane Wright for the top spot. But, he got traded mid-season of his draft year and didn't have great talent around him. So his numbers weren't strong.

But he was an exceptionally strong skater with really good hands, and had 20 goals and 54 points in his first full season in the AHL.

The way his stock fell reminded me of the prospect that the Pens sent to Atlanta in the Hossa trade Angelo Esposito. I think Esposito was considered at one point to be the top guy in his draft year.

[BigMcK]

Just discovered a channel on youtube called National Hockey Now. Some interesting postgame / season interviews. Crosby, Letang, Rust, Carter, Karlsson, Jarry, ...

"New players trying to learn the system", "We didn't do enough to protect the lead", "Some players who want to return next year will have a chip on their shoulders", "We are a better team than the standings show", ...

Sullivan was also interviewed, but I don't need to listen to his thoughts. Maybe later, maybe never.

[Antonio]

I'm not sure I get the hostility towards Madden. I think almost every single word of that article is true and accurate. What part was just factually wrong?

[FLPensFan]

Some odds and ends from DK's Insider piece:

--He's heard nothing about any assistants being in jeopardy of losing their jobs. No chance Sullivan is. The assistants tend to happen quickly to let them catch on with another team.

--Jake Guentzel just sold his house to Bryan Rust. (I think that's enough info there to anyone who thinks Jake is coming back)

--Said for as upset as Sid was about Jake being traded, multiply that many times over for Jake's family.

--Ned has not been approached about a contract extension. He'd love to stay as his family lives in the Cleveland suburbs.

--Pettersson has not been approached about a contract extension.

--Doesn't think Jarry will be traded because he doesn't think a team will take on that $/term combo, plus he has 12 team NTC

--Pretty much same thing for Graves.

[ahawk9]

Maybe KD rolls the dice and trades Petterson while his value is at its apex and hopes that Graves rebounds. That could be a way to bring in someone who could help immediately. Sounds like he's kind of handuffed by Jarry & Graves contract/movement clause wise.

[DelPen]

Great news, since Puustinen didn’t reach 80 NHL games he’s a group 6 UFA this summer. He was well short so I can’t blame this all on Sullivan unless he was a healthy scratch 27 times this season.

I’m expecting him to explore his options based on how poorly he was used by Sullivan.

[KG]

Some odds and ends from DK's Insider piece:

--He's heard nothing about any assistants being in jeopardy of losing their jobs. No chance Sullivan is. The assistants tend to happen quickly to let them catch on with another team.

--Jake Guentzel just sold his house to Bryan Rust. (I think that's enough info there to anyone who thinks Jake is coming back)

--Said for as upset as Sid was about Jake being traded, multiply that many times over for Jake's family.

--Ned has not been approached about a contract extension. He'd love to stay as his family lives in the Cleveland suburbs.

--Pettersson has not been approached about a contract extension.

--Doesn't think Jarry will be traded because he doesn't think a team will take on that $/term combo, plus he has 12 team NTC

--Pretty much same thing for Graves.

No chance Sullivan gets fired. We all wish we had the job security of Sullivan. Our slogan next season should be "strive for mediocrity"

And enough with the sobbing about Jake getting traded. You're on an expiring contract, on a team struggling to even make the playoffs, why would you not think you could/would get traded. His family is upset about it....Go on your cup run and you'll be smiling come July 1st I promise.

[BigMcK]

If Arizona Coyotes were on a players 'no trade to list', I guess you are fair game to be traded to Utah *name to be determined* with no right to say no???

Vegas to SLC is a nice drive on I-15. SLC to Vegas is more scenic.

[Pens Fans Sweden]

The Penguins need to sign Stamkos this summer! He would unlock the power play! We need a threat at the left wing circle and he's one of the best at it! I'm sure he would love to sign here, at a discount as well...

A hockey junkie can dream, right?

[100565]

Anyone else looking forward to seeing Brad Lambert make his NHL debut tonight, while watching Owen Pickering still waiting to play some meaningful games? Nobody, cool.

A late first round 2022 draft pick making his NHL debut for a playoff team. When's the last time we hit on one of those? Maatta maybe?

I wish they would play younger guys more, too. However, in the last decade of drafts the Pens have had 4 first round picks.
2023 Yager 14
2022 Pickering. 21
2019 Poulin. 21
2014 Kapanan 22

That is par when it comes to drafting.

[KG]

Pens sign Broz. He'll go to WBS for the rest of the season. Solid.

[FLPensFan]

Pens sign Broz. He'll go to WBS for the rest of the season. Solid.

Pickering should be headed to WBS soon too, after Yager's team eliminated Pickerings in juniors.

[KG]

Sounds like Koivunen will be joining WBS very soon too.