Well, now let’s stop with the tomfoolery, the Penguins really did nothing to improve themselves at the NHL draft. The Penguins started with only 6 picks in the draft and ended up only using 4 of them, trading the other 2 picks away and considering how poorly they used those picks, no big deal.
Without a top 10 pick it was hardly likely that the team would find a player that would make an immediate impact for their NHL roster but only 1 of the picks may make an impact on the Baby Penguins, next year or ever.
Please understand that I am not trying to be mean, just objective; the Penguins’ 1st pick, a 2nd round pick (53rd overall) was just one more undersized defensemen, Calen Addison 5’-10”. There are those that say he is a perfect example of the new breed of defenseman in the NHL. I sure hope they are right, for the team’s sake and for us fans. However, looking at the several Norris trophy winners in Table A, I am not filled with much optimism. I am not seeing a single Defenseman over the last 10 years under 6’-0” tall in that list. In fact the last 2 winners were well over 6’-0” tall, indicating the trend to be the opposite. With the NHL Players Safety farce turning a blind eye to 10 time loser, goon Tom Wilson, it would seem that bigger Defenseman should be the trend. Even if Addison were to make the club he would be just one more clay pigeon for Wilson to snipe.
Table A: Norris Trophy Winners
| Season | Player | Hgt |
| 2017-2018 | Victor Hedman | 6′-6″ |
| 2016-2017 | Brent Burns | 6′-5″ |
| 2015-2016 | Drew Doughty | 6′-1″ |
| 2014-2015 | Erik Karlsson | 6′-0″ |
| 2013-2014 | Duncan Keith | 6′-1″ |
| 2012-2013 | P.K. Subban | 6′-0″ |
| 2011-2012 | Erik Karlsson | 6′-0″ |
| 2010-2011 | Nicklas Lindstrom | 6′-1″ |
| 2009-2010 | Duncan Keith | 6′-1″ |
| 2008-2009 | Zdeno Chara | 6′-9″ |
| 2007-2008 | Nicklas Lindstrom | 6′-1″ |
The Penguins’ 2nd pick (58th overall) , also in the 2nd round Filip Hallander ( is interesting. Although he is not rated exceptional in any one area of his game, he is only 17 and said to be solid in all aspects of his game. The scouts say he isn’t afraid to go to the dirty areas and liken him to Patric Hornqvist. He is 6’-2” and projected as a Center and/or Left Wing (C/LW).
The Penguins’ 3rd pick, a 5th round pick (129th overall) was another undersized player, Justin Almeida (5’-9” 158lbs. He did have 43 goals and 98 points in 72 games last year in the WHL, but I can see Tom Wilson licking his chops to bully him too. I sure hope he is stronger on the puck than Conor Sheary.
The Penguins’ 4th and final pick came in the 6th round pick (177th overall), Liam Gorman. He is going the College route, so it may be 4 or 5 years before we see him even in Wilkes-Barre Scranton.
Table B Penguin Draft Picks at a Glance
| Rnd | OA | Player | Po | Sh | Hgt | Wgt | Age | League | GP | G | Pts |
| 2 | 53 | Calen Addison | D | R | 5′-10″ | 178 | 18 | WHL | 68 | 11 | 65 |
| 2 | 58 | Filip Hallander | C/LW | L | 6′-2″ | 188 | 17 | Sweden | 40 | 9 | 20 |
| 5 | 129 | Justin Almeida | C | L | 5′-9″ | 158 | 19 | WHL | 72 | 43 | 98 |
| 6 | 177 | Liam Gorman | C | L | 6’3″ | 194 | 18 | HS | 30 | 17 | 33 |
With the organization so paper thin on Defense, they opted to draft only 1 defenseman and that 1 Defense was undersized. Well maybe the Free Agent market (FA) or trade options will be kinder to the team. Fortunately for this year, the team isn’t that far off, but I am sorry, I am worried about the future. I may not be as pessimistic as our friend and fellow Penguin Poop contributor Jim, from north of the border, but I do share his trepidation to a lesser extent.
‘nuff said, let’s move along.
Go Pens!
A little bit of good news Daniel Sprong and Dominik Simon signed for two years a piece at $750,000.
That is somewhat of good news. At least it is good news for now. Barring stupidity the Penguins are set at RW with Kessel, Hornqvist, Sprong, Rust, and Aston-Reese. Although Aston – Reese or Rust will probably be asked to play LW.
I like Simon, he is a good play-maker and the team is really short of LWs and he could fit in there, but if the team turns around and trades him for a solid D man, or a D-man with a cannon of a shot, a selfish shooter, or gritty big man that Sullivan will actually use, I won’t complain.
Simon may not be the marquee player in any trade of the above but could be a cofactor to tip the balance.
In order to win the cups, Jim sacrificed the future for the wins, and as our core gets older every year and the farm team is not restocked…. well the Penguins
will fall to the bottom..again.
Drafting is not easy, trying to find gems or studs is hard not matter what round. later round picks obviously have a smaller chance of making it to the show. This year’s selection … not so Good.
Hey Pens4ever,
Agreed, drafting, particularly after the first 5 or so picks, becomes a crap shoot. Roll the dice and see what you get. The thing that bothers me is that it appears that the Penguins’ scouts only scout the Munchkin and Liliputian national teams and ignore the rest of the world. Looking at half of this years draft class and many of the kids down on the farm, I would think they all came from the lollipop guild. Losing will be tough enough to endure, but to watch a team of kids get manhandled by real men will be downright painful. like an abscess.
Hello Ofher Rick,
Good stuff here, tOR. Well said.
I don’t recall the numbers off the top of my head, but of the d-men chosen in the first round, many were under 6 ft. It may indeed be a trend. My point, however, while being in agreement with you, is I can’t forsee a day when any team, except the Pens (ha, ha) will turn up its nose to a hard hitting and skilled 6’ 4” player no matter what the current trend might be. I also don’t forsee a day when no one gets hit playing pro hockey. Not going to happen. At that point it’s no longer hockey, it’s ice dancing with sticks and pucks. Also, at that point they might just as well set their sticks on fire and make breath taking designs in the air with their flaming sticks. Cheering will then be replaced with oooh’s and aaahhhs. But, I digress…
This draft was a bust for our Pens, of their own doing. It’s the price paid for being all in to win year after year. Anyway, they could have phoned it in for all the attention paid them. It almost gave off the odor of the league has had enough of the Pittsburgh Penguins for now. The media covering the draft sure had. I’d think it hard to be “under the radar” with Crosby and Malkin leading your team, but I guess anything’s possible. I watched all eight, or nine hours of the draft and I saw the Pens table once, when they made their first pick. Even that seemed accidental.
There’s no way to know at this point if any of these picks will make some hay. The odds, of course, are against, but it happens. Who ever heard of Jake Guentzel two years ago? Who knows if Liam Gorman might catch fire, or if Hallander might be a diamond in the rough? It’s not a lock, but it’s possible. They each have a few years to work up to it. Good coaching, a belly full of desire, hard work, and a little luck, and voila! You have yourself a hockey player.
It’s no secret that the toll for being all in year after year is coming due, bare cupboard and all else considered. The right moves, if they can be made in the next week or so can avert that scenario for another couple seasons. However, there’s no disputing the team is in a weak bargaining position because of it, loaded with players they’d be willing to trade, who no one covets, and players who they will likely never trade without a gun to their head. Yet, in some way the gun is already against their temple as this team needs serious help on several fronts and has few avenues forward without bold moves. The wild card here is if they see that too. There’s been scant evidence of this, but one would hope that’s simply because they play it close to the vest. That’s a “we’ll see” if ever there was such a thing. And, we’ll see very soon.
They still might move a Kessel for the right deal. They may move a Brassard for the right price. The team would survive either of those deals if they received full measure in return, as in a big, ice chewing d-man and/or a big, scoring winger to co-pilot SId’s line, or even Malkin’s. The Shearys and Hunwicks, et.al., can be thrown in at no extra charge, if possible, just to dump salary. I’d prefer the Brassard deal, but either, or both, would be okay with me. Neither may appear to be a great deal, but they may be the only deals workable. I find it hard to believe no one would be interested in Kessel, or that Brassard wouldn’t be attractive to some number of teams on the build, or knocking on the door. Kessel of course has a no trade clause, but those can be dealt with.
I still think they have some scoring creds in WBS to fill out the bottom six. The only way to find out if that’s the case is to try it. I don’t think they have much choice, or much to lose. They have to give it a look — a serious look. None of this eight game crap. I think Sprong and Hagelin centered by Sheahan could be a dangerous line, and especially if they kept Kessel and put him back with Malkin. Sheahan is capable of centering the third line. He showed that promise in January, and he played well enough the second half of last year to deserve a shot at it. I like him a lot. He was on fire until the Brassard deal, several months too late, took the stick out of his hands. Then give Bluegar a shot on the fourth line with any number of combinations until you find one that works. I think he’s ready to give it a go. He, too, has proven he deserves a shot. Even if the powers that be don’t think so, they are running, quickly, out of options to remain competitive.
I’d also like to think the organization gets that they need to address defense first, no matter who they trade. I’ll say, for the hundredth time, or more, good offense begins with good defense, and not necessarily just defense that gets the puck up ice quickly. If you can’t shut down an opponent, or stop giving up odd man breaks like you’re passing out candy on Halloween, who cares how many beautiful breakout passes you make? The surest way to outscore your opponent is to stop him from scoring.
And then there’s the coach. I covered that in my other post. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. I like him. He is a good coach, but he’s running low on good humor on my list and I’m hoping someone can get to him and get it settled. He hopefully will get to a point where he understands that all in means all in, as in you try anything and everything short of hari kari to put your team in the best position to be successful. You sit stars who aren’t gettin go it done and you give up and comers a fair shot at making their bones. Also, that you check your ego in the cloak room before you enter the locker room. You live with good players who rub you the wrong way, or you go home early. He made the wrong choices
last month and someone has to intervene to help prevent him doing it again. Daniel Sprong isn’t going to sink your team, coach. If anyone is going to sink it, it will more than likely be you.
They still have the opportunity to fix this and be competitive, and cup worthy. Aside from the obvious help needed on the ice, the people behind the scene also need to get their crap together, and get on the same page, as in, for example, is Sprong on the team or is he not? And to me, that’s every bit as serious a problem as having no one to neutralize the Tom Wilsons of the league.
— 55
Hey 55,
I did look down the first round and saw like 7 or so D-men under 6’0” tall, but that may be more of a testament to this being a weak draft rather than anything else. Three of the 9-defensmen taken in the 1st round last year were under 6’0”. None of them have yet to play an NHL game. Zero of the 8 taken in the 1st round of 2016 were under 6’0” tall of which 3 have played NHL games. Saying it is a trend is like saying we picked the smartest idiots in the class room. Pickens just may be slim (not to be confused with Slim Pickens). 6’3” 230lb Anders Lee gave 6’0” tall Kris Letang fits, what will he do to 5’10”Calen Addison if Addison gets his chance in the NHL? Addison would never be able to get any position on him, he will just get steam rolled, good night – game over! So, I agree, the Pens NEED to get some 6’4” guys that can do more than poke check.
I agree this draft was a complete bust. The Pens may as well not have even showed up for all the good it did them (unless they somehow managed to start a deal that will be forth coming). And you are right, the failure is of their own making, but not necessarily borne out of their success and willingness to be all in. A team can be all in and still be shrewd horse traders. The team didn’t need to give up a first round pick and a scrub Center to get Ryan Reaves last year but they did. I’ll keep beating this drum, 6’4” Nicholas Hague could be looking really good in Black and Gold this fall.
The team didn’t need Letang to win the Cup 2 years ago, his $7+ mil contract is a millstone to the team. When he was named to the All Star team last year, the probably could have dealt him, maybe not easily, but certainly easier, but they themselves are deluding themselves into thinking he still has value to this team.
Giving Conor Sheary $3 million last summer after his disappearing act in the 2016-2017 playoffs was asinine. They should have simply made a qualifying offer and moved on. If signed anywhere else, great, they would have been compensated. They could have even tried to trade him or his rights and might even have gotten a 2nd round pick at that time. They knew there were kids in the minors that were not all that different from him. They didn’t need to waste money.
They didn’t NEED Brassard and he certainly wasn’t worth Cole, Reaves, Gustavsson, and a 1st round pick. It wasn’t our fault that Ottawa over paid for Matt Duchene. Not only shouldn’t we have offered as much, the league had no business sticking its nose in and further tilting that trade.
In the end, like you and Jim, I am worried that the bill is now coming due and the Penguins haven’t really prepared themselves to cough up. I do think the window is still opened, so long as Crosby and Malkin are playing like they are, the window is open, but it is starting to close now. What scares me most is looking at a draft like these last couple, I am not sure how long it will take for them to recover. It is tough enough to watch smurfs alongside marquee players, I hate to even think what it will be like to watch an all smurf team with no marquee player.