The Black Aces Up The Penguins’ Sleeve:

A couple of days ago, I wondered aloud as to who the Penguins would call up as part of their Black Aces this year, when Wilkes-Barre Scranton’s (WBS) season would be over.

For those that don’t know what Black Aces means, Black Aces is a term for players called up from a team’s farm club after that farm club’s season is over. They wait in the wings in case there are injuries. The big league club has them on hand and they are still hockey ready, rather than potentially being a little out of shape, from their minor league season being over and they are neither playing or practicing anymore.

Yesterday, with WBS out of the AHL playoff mix, the Penguins ended my suspense. The Penguins recalled forwards Teddy Blueger, Jean-Sebastien Dea, Thomas DiPauli, Adam Johnson, Josh Jooris, Daniel Sprong, and Garret Wilson; Defensemen Lukas Bengtsson, Andrey Pedan, Chris Summers, and Jarred Tinordi; and Goalies Tristan Jarry and Michael Leighton.

Now that we know who the Black Aces are, the next question becomes, which of these players will actually get a chance to play?

I was reading an article on the Tribune Review that suggested the 3 Black Aces most likely to get some playing time would be Josh Jooris, who is listed as the Penguins’ 5th Center, Daniel Sprong, who was named to the AHL All-Rookie Team, and Tristan Jarry who alternated with Casey DeSmith as Matt Murray’s back-up. Their choices do seem to make some sense. However, I do have some thoughts that I would like to put out there for consideration:

I would think that if Mike Sullivan really thought of Jooris as the Penguins 5th Center then Carter Rowney would not be listed as the Penguins 4th line Center on NHL.com, with Evgeni Malkin listed as possibly out for Game 2 against the Capitals. Furthermore, Jooris really had a bad playoff series against Charlotte. He had 1 assist and was a -6 in 3 games. He is not play-off tested like Rowney. Therefore, he is at best 6th on the depth chart right now. He is a right handed Center, something the Penguins need, so he may get a chance to play, but the chances aren’t as good as one might think.

I really like Sprong and think he deserves to be more than a Black Ace, but we won’t go there right now. What I think really doesn’t matter – what matters is what Sullivan thinks. Sullivan apparently thought so little of the kid during the regular season, when he was one of the top 3 or 4 forwards on the team at the time and Sullivan deported him back to the minors. In fact, I ran across a discussion on another blog suggesting that Sprong could be traded in the off-season to Calgary for right handed Defense prospect Rasmus Andersson. The blog I read this on suggested this trade due to what I mentioned above, Sullivan’s lack of desire to play Sprong. With the depth the Penguins have at forward in general, and at Right Wing specifically, the chance of Sprong getting on the ice also seems remote. Although I would love to see that happen, I don’t see it. All I see is another case of Ian Cole.

Looking realistically at the team, I would think that Jarry and at least one of the Defensemen that were called up would be the more likely to get playing time. Since Jarry actually backed up Matt Murray at times during the regular season, he may be 1 injury away from playing.

The same could be said for the Defense. The Penguins were very lucky all season. Their Defense stayed relatively healthy during the regular season. However, the playoffs are a war and it is likely that the Penguins will need more than 6 Defensemen to get through 16 wins. I know that Sullivan will most likely use Matt Hunwick first (to the detriment of the team), the potentiality of more injuries happening here then every will else suggests a Black Ace Defensemen will get some ice time.

3elieve!!!