Ex-Penguins Update: November 1, 2019

1. Hi Rick!

   Thanks for the update. Bonino has been playing really well for the last 7 days. The Pens should have kept him but that’s my opinion. And what about James Neal! What’s in the water in Edmonton? He needed a change of scenery for sure. And playing with McDavid and Draisaitl certainly helps! However, Neal has dealt with consistency issue in the past. So, let’s see what he will do in the next few weeks.

   Rick, I have a question for you: what is sprong with Daniel Wrong?? (oups, my tongue slipped here!) I know he had an attitude problem and was not Sully’s favourite. If he had been drafted by another team than the Pens, would he still play in the NHL? Pretty disappointing for a 2nd round, 46th overall.

   1. Hey Jorenz,

      Mind if I jump in here?

      I liked Bonino too. I wrote many times after the 1st Cup that JR should have started negotiating an extension while he had a chance to get a bit of discount. Unfortunatey JR waited and Bonino’s stock went too high for the team to pay.

      I loiked the way Neal played with Malkin, not only did he have a penchant to take bad penalties, but he all but disappeared during the Playoffs.

      Sprong? Funny you ask that question, Rick B and I were just talking about that this afternoon.

      They character isn’t defined in victories or good times, but in losses and struggles. As much as I think he has a great shot, it appears that he lacks character. Even when he was in Pittsburgh, everytime he was sent down to WBS he tanked for a while, so I can’t help but wonder if he was pouting then and now.

      I wanted Sullivan to use Sprong and Simon to see what they could do in 2017-2018. The team was struggling offensively and kept trying the same old players (Sheary) and strategies thinking that something different would happen.

      In the brief month that he skated with Crosby he was a CORSI monster, then he ran afoul of Sullivan and never recovered.

      Perhaps had Sprong come up under a better Coach than Sullivan or at least a coach who knew a bit of psychology things may have turned out better for him. Last season, at the beginning of the year, I got a chance to watch Sprong in a pregame skate. He had trouble stick handling with no one around him, skating in the FO circle. It looked like he had stone hands.

      1. Hi TOR!
         Hi Phil!

         I just remembered something about Sprong. When he was playing for the Charlottetown Islanders of the QMJHL, Sprong had a few arguments with his coach because in his opinion, the coach didn’t understand his style of play. He was not an easy player to coach.

         Stephane Leroux, a well-established journalist who has been covering the QMJHL for the past 32 years, mentioned that Sprong was a talented player with a shitty attitude. Leroux also predicted that this attitude problem would be a major issue for Sprong if he ever played in the NHL. So this attitude problem has been there for quite some time.

         Leroux added another point about Sprong: he is not enough committed to the game. He is not necessarily willing to put efforts and energy when it counts the most. Maybe this is the problem with Sprong: not enough stamina for the game. I think European hockey would suit him best.

         What do you think guys?

   2. Hey Jorenz/tOR,

      I’m jumping in real quick. Reading your guys comments got me thinking. I think Sullivan wants the whole package out of everyone of his players and that’s the type of team he wants to put on the ice. He wants fast skating, the ability to stick handle and skate with the puck and to shoot. It would seem that he doesn’t like one dimensional players. He also accept players that make dumb mistakes at costly times.

      Today everyone is going to be griping that Aston-Reese is playing instead of Kahun. People are going to get down on ZAR because of that. Keep in mind that Edmonton has one of if not the best power-plays in the league and that ZAR kills penalties and Kahun hasn’t spent a second on penalty kill.

      Just thought I would try to stop the outrage before it happens.

      1. Hey Phil,

         I for one am not upset over ZAR playing over Kahun. Kahun is much faster but neither is irreplacable. I was hopeful of Kahun when JR traded for him, and he is starting to heat up but he still hasn’t really stood out.

         However, since the Pens are the 2nd least Penalized team in the league right now, I wouldn’t consider PK utility high on my checklist when picking one player over another, particularly when Rust, Blueger, Bjugstad, McCann, and Tanev are on the roster.

         Also, I don’t really accept that Sullivan likes all-around type players over 1-Dimensional. Sullivan has his favorite players and they can make as many mistakes as they want and he still gives them ice-time. On the flip side he has players he hates and no matter how talented they are, they sit immediately when Sullivan wants to CYA his on A.

         Keep in mund there is a player still on this roster who really hasn’t earned any TOI, yet gets quality TOI even with a full roster.

         I won’t go any farther with those comments for now; not before a tough stretch and the teams morale precarious poised on a razors edge.

   3. Hello Jorenz,

      Sorry it’s taken me so long to respond to your comment. And an overall apology to our faithful PenguinPoop readers and commenters for being so absent from the blog. A couple of other writing projects have been taking up a lot of my time and energy, and I confess to being a touch apathetic about our Pens until recently.

      To answer your question about Sprong. I’m truly baffled that this kid isn’t playing for the Ducks, the worst offensive team in the NHL last season, or somewhere in the NHL. Ignoring all other factors, this kid’s a pure goal scorer who routinely finds the net in highlight-reel fashion.

      Averaging just a shade over 13 minutes of ATOI for the Ducks last season, he scored 14 goals for an offensively challenged team in 47 games. That’s a 24-goal pace over an 82-game schedule in what was essentially his rookie season. Too, a dozen of those goals were scored at even strength. So it’s not as if he was getting rich on the power play.

      With goal scoring at a premium these days, you can’t tell me some team couldn’t use a player like that. So obviously, there’s something about this kid that causes teams to sour on him.

      Other Rick alluded to the fact that his all-round skills may need work, and he’s certainly no defensive wiz. But attitude (and perhaps a willingness to respond to coaching) must play a part in this.

      Bob Murray, the GM who acquired Sprong and wound up coaching Anaheim benched him for a five-game stretch at one point. And that was when the Ducks couldn’t buy a goal. So there’s gotta be something rotten in Denmark. Oops, make that the Netherlands where Sprong was born…

      Rick

2. Honest question: who really cares about the stats of former Penguins?

   1. Mark Platts Lots of fans still follow the players through the remainder of their careers.

3. Hey Rick,

   Thanks for the leg work on this. We get to see Neal and Sheehan tomorrow afternoon. Archibald is on IR with a fractured foot. As a team it looks like Edm has scored 29 EVG and given up 29 EVG, so it is interesting to see that all 3, Neal, Sheehan, and Archibald are all in the negative zone.

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