2024-2025 Season Random Penguins Fodder

[Victor]

https://www.nhl.com/penguins/news/pengu ... m_medium=x

Daniel Laatch 7th round pick from 2021. 6'5 D man

I like Laatsch as a late pick, happy to see he's got some interest.

Someone will know.. but do collegiate and juniors players count towards the contract limit? My thinking was they don't.

I believe guys who are signed from university count towards the contract limits as they can't be sent back to the teams they were playing for. Players that have an NHL contract but are playing in juniors do not count - I think they are technically on loan to their junior teams. Once they return from loan, they count towards the limit.

[Victor]

Wow. Aaron Ekblad suspended 20 games for violating the leagues performance enhancing drug policy.

Florida has 18 games remaning this regular season so he can't play until game 3 of the first round. Ekblad is an UFA this summer, so there might be an effect on his future plans.

[FLPensFan]

Wow. Aaron Ekblad suspended 20 games for violating the leagues performance enhancing drug policy.

Florida has 18 games remaning this regular season so he can't play until game 3 of the first round. Ekblad is an UFA this summer, so there might be an effect on his future plans.

I don't believe Florida planned to re-sign him. They won't say that publicly, but when one of only 2 long-term draft choices (Barkov being the other) is only a few months away from being a UFA and there isn't a deal, things don't look good. Ekblad has been very up and down in his career, and he's been injured a ton. If Florida were to bring him back I'd be shocked if they were to give him a raise. At 4-5M maybe they bring him back, but that may be an insult to Ekblad.

[Pens4Life]

Nieto and Aho called up on emergency basis.. I guess Novak is out next game, but also one of D has injury issues.

[KG]

This is a lineup...I guess it qualifies as one. Can't say Connor Dewar ever dreamed he would line up on Geno's wing. Nor should he. Yikes.

Rickard Rakell-Sidney Crosby-Bryan Rust
Connor Dewar-Evgeni Malkin-Philip Tomasino
Danton Heinen-Kevin Hayes-Emil Bemstrom
Boko Imama-Blake Lizotte-Noel Acciari

Vladislav Kolyachonok-Kris Letang
Matt Grzelcyk-Erik Karlsson
Ryan Graves-Conor Timmons

[Pitts]

This is a lineup...I guess it qualifies as one. Can't say Connor Dewar ever dreamed he would line up on Geno's wing. Nor should he. Yikes.

Rickard Rakell-Sidney Crosby-Bryan Rust
Connor Dewar-Evgeni Malkin-Philip Tomasino
Danton Heinen-Kevin Hayes-Emil Bemstrom
Boko Imama-Blake Lizotte-Noel Acciari

Vladislav Kolyachonok-Kris Letang
Matt Grzelcyk-Erik Karlsson
Ryan Graves-Conor Timmons

Well, it takes creativity to tank!

[surffisher2a]

I know I am a little late on this, but I was in Vegas the past week and got to see the game. This was the first time I saw them live in a couple of years (since covid). A few notables that stood out to me that you cant really see when watching on TV.

#1- EK, its a shame he doesn't fit into this system, his work around traffic and elusiveness is off the charts (in a good way). His first passes are quick and accurate and almost always correct. I think the big problem here is that in Sully's system the first pass out of the zone is almost always someone standing still at the blueline as a point hoping to find someone coming with speed through the neutral zone. This to me is the #1 reason we have SO many turnovers at our blueline and neutral zone that leads to odd man rushes and our D being flat footed playing chase all the time. I also noticed that our D strategy is just to collapse around our goal which leads to wide open shots from people coming late or high cycles.

#2 - Malkin, He may not have his speed anymore but there is no quit in his game. He still has the passion and fire to play. He was giving it his all 100% every shift. He is much more physical away from the puck than just about anyone else on the ice. It was great to see this.

#3- Letang, He is done! he just doesn't have it anymore, he doesn't have that great first step or sharp turn anymore and the other team just flat out skates him. The puck is like a bouncy ball on his stick, he bobbles a LOT more passes than a NHL caliber player should. When in his prime he was able to recover from those bobbles with his speed, but since he lost his step (compared to other NHL skaters) he has not changed his game to account for it. A lot of good offensive pressure dies with him. He was one of my favorite players.

#4, Sid / Rakell / Rust line - while they didn't score, they were effective all night long. They were a danger every time they were on the ice. I am not the biggest Rust fan, but he really does complement Sid and knows his job on that line. Sid still has a lot in the tank.

#5- Shea, He really stood out as well, good skating, good stick and plays a smart simple game. To me he was the best pens D man on the ice that night.

#6- Lizotte, He was everywhere and probably the fastest player on either team. If used the correct way, he can be a HUGE asset to this team going forward. I am glad we didn't trade him at the deadline. I know this might be far fetched to some, but him and Malkin would be the start of a great 3rd line next season.

#7- Kolyachonok, I don't know if he just had a bad game, nursing an injury, but he was pretty bad. He just seems to be a 1/2 second behind the play all night long. He looked super slow and had basically zero recovery skills. He didn't win many puck battles out of the corner.

#8- long list of people who were unnoticable and didn't really influence the game, Bemtrom, Hayes (he may have had 1 good chance), Heinen, Novak, Tomasino, Acciari and pretty much every one else on the roster.

#9- Imama, He hit everything he could whenever sully allowed him off the bench. The team really seemed to respond to that and also disrupted the Knights when he was on the ice. They were looking for him and getting rid of pucks early. He seemed pretty good defensively and didn't really get himself out of position looking for hits. While he may not contribute much offensively, if he can learn to PK he might be a good permanent option on the 4th line.

#10- Graves and Grzelcyk, Neither of them played bad from what I can tell, they didn't really stand out (which is good I guess in a way). I thought Grzelcyk moved the puck well and wasn't just a road cone all game. I think they just don't fit playing the system, they are not the pack it in and win the physical battles in front of the net.

[Pens4Life]

Dewar 2nd liner LMAO

[KG]

Dewar 2nd liner LMAO

Poor Geno!

[Puck-Lurker]

Dewar 2LW I can understand.

Give the guy a look with injuries, get a sense of what he might bring with an eye on him becoming RFA. Best to know what you have in him. Other folks have had looks up with Geno and Sid to test them out.

Nieto is an empty sweater though, only reason to call him up is to have a 13th forward and not disturb the WBS team. Making an attempt at a Calder Cup run is fair. Kinda the same with Aho.

Kolyachonok 1LD?!

[FLPensFan]

Dewar 2LW I can understand.

Give the guy a look with injuries, get a sense of what he might bring with an eye on him becoming RFA. Best to know what you have in him. Other folks have had looks up with Geno and Sid to test them out.

Nieto is an empty sweater though, only reason to call him up is to have a 13th forward and not disturb the WBS team. Making an attempt at a Calder Cup run is fair. Kinda the same with Aho.

Kolyachonok 1LD?!

Nieto and Aho were emergency callups for Novak and Shea. As long as nobody else gets hurt before faceoff, Nieto and Aho will be sent back down after the game (unless Novak or Shea issues are multiple days).

I also read that WBS traded d-man Nikolai Knyzhov to Grand Rapis for future considerations. Jason Iacona who has covered WBS for quite a few years, wasn't happy about this move. Knyzhov originally came to the NHL camp on a PTO, but got very little action. Penguins released him from his PTO, then brought him back on an AHL PTO, which eventually lead to him getting an AHL contract. By multiple accounts, Knyzhov was very solid in the games he played 14 games with 2 goals, 5 assists and a +6 rating. He played with SJ last year, and has 81 NHL games under his belt.

[Puck-Lurker]

Dewar 2LW I can understand.

Give the guy a look with injuries, get a sense of what he might bring with an eye on him becoming RFA. Best to know what you have in him. Other folks have had looks up with Geno and Sid to test them out.

Nieto is an empty sweater though, only reason to call him up is to have a 13th forward and not disturb the WBS team. Making an attempt at a Calder Cup run is fair. Kinda the same with Aho.

Kolyachonok 1LD?!

Nieto and Aho were emergency callups for Novak and Shea. As long as nobody else gets hurt before faceoff, Nieto and Aho will be sent back down after the game (unless Novak or Shea issues are multiple days).

I also read that WBS traded d-man Nikolai Knyzhov to Grand Rapis for future considerations. Jason Iacona who has covered WBS for quite a few years, wasn't happy about this move. Knyzhov originally came to the NHL camp on a PTO, but got very little action. Penguins released him from his PTO, then brought him back on an AHL PTO, which eventually lead to him getting an AHL contract. By multiple accounts, Knyzhov was very solid in the games he played 14 games with 2 goals, 5 assists and a +6 rating. He played with SJ last year, and has 81 NHL games under his belt.

Knyzhov yeah. Weird move in the org, no clue what's up with the AHL most the time though.

[FLPensFan]

Post-deadline stuff from Josh Yohe:

--Says Dubas never came close to trading Rakell. Yohe believes the price to trade him was a 1st, a very good prospect, and a very good young NHL player.

--Gets the sense the Penguins want to move on from EK65 this summer. Word is Dubas would be willing to retain up to 3M AAV on him, and one league executive said “Heck yeah, teams would be interested in him" at that 7M AAV price.

--Would be a surprise to see EK65 AND Letang moved this summer. That likely won't happen, but Yohe expects Dubas to have a conversation with Letang to see if he wants to finish his career here.

--Expect teams to come calling for Bryan Rust July 1st. Detroit and Columbus are both said to have significant interest. Dubas doesn't plan to move him.

--Yohe says next season may be tough. He could see them taking a similar route as they did this past summer, signing guys to 1 year deals while waiting for prospects to improve. Yohe thinks the plan is to be super aggressive in the summer of 2026.

--Yohe re-iterated that the initial plan was to keep Luke Schenn. They thought he would be a good mentor for some of their younger defensemen. Shortly after the trade occurred, Schenn's representation called and said he preferred to play for a contender. Dubas decided to expand his asset pool and get the pick from Winnipeg. Yohe added Trotz must have really wanted Bunting, otherwise he could have flipped Schenn directly to get the 2nd rounder.

--Novak is known as a very good skater with skill. His biggest issue in Nashville, which was same issue as Cody Glass, is that he was too much of a perimeter player and didn't drive to the net enough. Also a mention on how they really like Conor Timmins and see him as good 3rd pairing depth moving forward.

--Finally, mentioned earlier in his article when talking about Rust and rebuilding. After saying Penguins might not be a great team next year, said Dubas would love to have a shot at Gavin McKenna in 2026, but he's not going to purposely tank for him. If they were down low and the ping-pong balls went that way, great. He also mentioned that the Dubas Plan seems to be to rebuild in 2 years, not 5. Judging by everything said in the article, sounds like next year would be another mediocre year, let some prospects play and improve, and then make big moves in 2026 to be competitive. That's my take on it.

[KG]

Post-deadline stuff from Josh Yohe:

--Says Dubas never came close to trading Rakell. Yohe believes the price to trade him was a 1st, a very good prospect, and a very good young NHL player.

--Gets the sense the Penguins want to move on from EK65 this summer. Word is Dubas would be willing to retain up to 3M AAV on him, and one league executive said “Heck yeah, teams would be interested in him" at that 7M AAV price.

--Would be a surprise to see EK65 AND Letang moved this summer. That likely won't happen, but Yohe expects Dubas to have a conversation with Letang to see if he wants to finish his career here.

--Expect teams to come calling for Bryan Rust July 1st. Detroit and Columbus are both said to have significant interest. Dubas doesn't plan to move him.

--Yohe says next season may be tough. He could see them taking a similar route as they did this past summer, signing guys to 1 year deals while waiting for prospects to improve. Yohe thinks the plan is to be super aggressive in the summer of 2026.

--Yohe re-iterated that the initial plan was to keep Luke Schenn. They thought he would be a good mentor for some of their younger defensemen. Shortly after the trade occurred, Schenn's representation called and said he preferred to play for a contender. Dubas decided to expand his asset pool and get the pick from Winnipeg. Yohe added Trotz must have really wanted Bunting, otherwise he could have flipped Schenn directly to get the 2nd rounder.

--Novak is known as a very good skater with skill. His biggest issue in Nashville, which was same issue as Cody Glass, is that he was too much of a perimeter player and didn't drive to the net enough. Also a mention on how they really like Conor Timmins and see him as good 3rd pairing depth moving forward.

--Finally, mentioned earlier in his article when talking about Rust and rebuilding. After saying Penguins might not be a great team next year, said Dubas would love to have a shot at Gavin McKenna in 2026, but he's not going to purposely tank for him. If they were down low and the ping-pong balls went that way, great. He also mentioned that the Dubas Plan seems to be to rebuild in 2 years, not 5. Judging by everything said in the article, sounds like next year would be another mediocre year, let some prospects play and improve, and then make big moves in 2026 to be competitive. That's my take on it.

Yeah, there is still a lot of fat to trim from the bottom 6 to open up some spots for the WBS kids who are coming. Guess we will see which direction the team goes if we move out Acciari/Hayes/Heinen types so we can make room for Koivunen/McG/Pono etc. Or maybe they want them to stay down for another year. Seems a little excessive. If the kids are ready to contribute they need to have a roster spot. That would also involve KD mandating to Sully, or Sully hopefully moving on.

[Puck-Lurker]

Post-deadline stuff from Josh Yohe:

--Says Dubas never came close to trading Rakell. Yohe believes the price to trade him was a 1st, a very good prospect, and a very good young NHL player.

--Gets the sense the Penguins want to move on from EK65 this summer. Word is Dubas would be willing to retain up to 3M AAV on him, and one league executive said “Heck yeah, teams would be interested in him" at that 7M AAV price.

--Would be a surprise to see EK65 AND Letang moved this summer. That likely won't happen, but Yohe expects Dubas to have a conversation with Letang to see if he wants to finish his career here.

--Expect teams to come calling for Bryan Rust July 1st. Detroit and Columbus are both said to have significant interest. Dubas doesn't plan to move him.

--Yohe says next season may be tough. He could see them taking a similar route as they did this past summer, signing guys to 1 year deals while waiting for prospects to improve. Yohe thinks the plan is to be super aggressive in the summer of 2026.

--Yohe re-iterated that the initial plan was to keep Luke Schenn. They thought he would be a good mentor for some of their younger defensemen. Shortly after the trade occurred, Schenn's representation called and said he preferred to play for a contender. Dubas decided to expand his asset pool and get the pick from Winnipeg. Yohe added Trotz must have really wanted Bunting, otherwise he could have flipped Schenn directly to get the 2nd rounder.

--Novak is known as a very good skater with skill. His biggest issue in Nashville, which was same issue as Cody Glass, is that he was too much of a perimeter player and didn't drive to the net enough. Also a mention on how they really like Conor Timmins and see him as good 3rd pairing depth moving forward.

--Finally, mentioned earlier in his article when talking about Rust and rebuilding. After saying Penguins might not be a great team next year, said Dubas would love to have a shot at Gavin McKenna in 2026, but he's not going to purposely tank for him. If they were down low and the ping-pong balls went that way, great. He also mentioned that the Dubas Plan seems to be to rebuild in 2 years, not 5. Judging by everything said in the article, sounds like next year would be another mediocre year, let some prospects play and improve, and then make big moves in 2026 to be competitive. That's my take on it.

Seems a hefty price for Rakell. There will be teams that should have forked it over too.

[Pruezy11881]

All I'm saying since we are trying to accrue/get best picks, let's upgrade the '26 6th rounder to a 3rd. Get Bemstrom scoring goals to meet the condition!

[Michael74]

Post-deadline stuff from Josh Yohe:

--Says Dubas never came close to trading Rakell. Yohe believes the price to trade him was a 1st, a very good prospect, and a very good young NHL player.

--Gets the sense the Penguins want to move on from EK65 this summer. Word is Dubas would be willing to retain up to 3M AAV on him, and one league executive said “Heck yeah, teams would be interested in him" at that 7M AAV price.

--Would be a surprise to see EK65 AND Letang moved this summer. That likely won't happen, but Yohe expects Dubas to have a conversation with Letang to see if he wants to finish his career here.

--Expect teams to come calling for Bryan Rust July 1st. Detroit and Columbus are both said to have significant interest. Dubas doesn't plan to move him.

--Yohe says next season may be tough. He could see them taking a similar route as they did this past summer, signing guys to 1 year deals while waiting for prospects to improve. Yohe thinks the plan is to be super aggressive in the summer of 2026.

--Yohe re-iterated that the initial plan was to keep Luke Schenn. They thought he would be a good mentor for some of their younger defensemen. Shortly after the trade occurred, Schenn's representation called and said he preferred to play for a contender. Dubas decided to expand his asset pool and get the pick from Winnipeg. Yohe added Trotz must have really wanted Bunting, otherwise he could have flipped Schenn directly to get the 2nd rounder.

--Novak is known as a very good skater with skill. His biggest issue in Nashville, which was same issue as Cody Glass, is that he was too much of a perimeter player and didn't drive to the net enough. Also a mention on how they really like Conor Timmins and see him as good 3rd pairing depth moving forward.

--Finally, mentioned earlier in his article when talking about Rust and rebuilding. After saying Penguins might not be a great team next year, said Dubas would love to have a shot at Gavin McKenna in 2026, but he's not going to purposely tank for him. If they were down low and the ping-pong balls went that way, great. He also mentioned that the Dubas Plan seems to be to rebuild in 2 years, not 5. Judging by everything said in the article, sounds like next year would be another mediocre year, let some prospects play and improve, and then make big moves in 2026 to be competitive. That's my take on it.

Seems a hefty price for Rakell. There will be teams that should have forked it over too.

It was a sellers market, but that's a ridiculous ask, one he had to figure wouldn't be met. In other words, we wanna feed Sid through the end of the season.

A decision by the way I was 100% AGAINST!

[Michael74]

All I'm saying since we are trying to accrue/get best picks, let's upgrade the '26 6th rounder to a 3rd. Get Bemstrom scoring goals to meet the condition!

I think you got it backwards. If he gets six goals by the end of the season it goes from a sixth rounder to a 3rd.

[FLPensFan]

All I'm saying since we are trying to accrue/get best picks, let's upgrade the '26 6th rounder to a 3rd. Get Bemstrom scoring goals to meet the condition!

I think you got it backwards. If he gets six goals by the end of the season it goes from a sixth rounder to a 3rd.

I believe that condition is already over anyways. Trade was made last February. By what I see, Bemstrom had to score 6 goals by the end of the 23-24 season. He only had 3. I don't think we are still counting goals towards that upgrade.

[Puck-Lurker]

All I'm saying since we are trying to accrue/get best picks, let's upgrade the '26 6th rounder to a 3rd. Get Bemstrom scoring goals to meet the condition!

I think you got it backwards. If he gets six goals by the end of the season it goes from a sixth rounder to a 3rd.

I believe that condition is already over anyways. Trade was made last February. By what I see, Bemstrom had to score 6 goals by the end of the 23-24 season. He only had 3. I don't think we are still counting goals towards that upgrade.

This is where I find CapWages a limited and flawed resource. Per Puckpedia on the Bemström trade:

To PIT: Bemström
To CBJ: A. Nylander + conditional 6th rounder*
*Conditions: If Bemström scores 6 goals in 2023-24 with Pittsburgh, upgrades to a 3rd round pick - condition not met

Hope that clears it up

https://puckpedia.com/trade/752

[Pruezy11881]

All I'm saying since we are trying to accrue/get best picks, let's upgrade the '26 6th rounder to a 3rd. Get Bemstrom scoring goals to meet the condition!

I think you got it backwards. If he gets six goals by the end of the season it goes from a sixth rounder to a 3rd.

I believe that condition is already over anyways. Trade was made last February. By what I see, Bemstrom had to score 6 goals by the end of the 23-24 season. He only had 3. I don't think we are still counting goals towards that upgrade.

This is where I find CapWages a limited and flawed resource. Per Puckpedia on the Bemström trade:

To PIT: Bemström
To CBJ: A. Nylander + conditional 6th rounder*
*Conditions: If Bemström scores 6 goals in 2023-24 with Pittsburgh, upgrades to a 3rd round pick - condition not met

Hope that clears it up

https://puckpedia.com/trade/752

Well sh@t...darn cap wages!

[BigMcK]

Are there players in WBS that are terming out on their contracts to be concerned about? Two new contracts awarded to the two defensemen; maybe to replace two headed to the big club.

[Michael74]

All I'm saying since we are trying to accrue/get best picks, let's upgrade the '26 6th rounder to a 3rd. Get Bemstrom scoring goals to meet the condition!

I think you got it backwards. If he gets six goals by the end of the season it goes from a sixth rounder to a 3rd.

I believe that condition is already over anyways. Trade was made last February. By what I see, Bemstrom had to score 6 goals by the end of the 23-24 season. He only had 3. I don't think we are still counting goals towards that upgrade.

I believe you're correct, but just in case I don't want to see him score six goals just to be on the safe side.

[Puck-Lurker]

Are there players in WBS that are terming out on their contracts to be concerned about? Two new contracts awarded to the two defensemen; maybe to replace two headed to the big club.

RFA: Ansons, Ponomarev, Gauthier
UFA: Koppanen, Laferriere, Huntington, Johnstone, Clurman, Hollowell, Král, Poolman

And in Pittsburgh:
RFA: Dewar, Tomasino, Bemström, Timmins, POJ
UFA: Bokondji


So basically, there' just Ponomarev and Gauthier in the minors.

[BigMcK]

Are there players in WBS that are terming out on their contracts to be concerned about? Two new contracts awarded to the two defensemen; maybe to replace two headed to the big club.

RFA: Ansons, Ponomarev, Gauthier
UFA: Koppanen, Laferriere, Huntington, Johnstone, Clurman, Hollowell, Král, Poolman

And in Pittsburgh:
RFA: Dewar, Tomasino, Bemström, Timmins, POJ
UFA: Bokondji


So basically, there' just Ponomarev and Gauthier in the minors.

Thanks for the info. I wonder how KD proceeds with any of the UFA's in the minors.