Ex-Penguins Update: December 9, 2021

1. Hey Rick

   First and foremost, as always thanks for the leg work on this. I love keeping up with many former Pens.

   I knew there was a reason why I liked Phil. I always hated the Gogo trade too. For good or ill, I would have rather traded Letang for Neal and Niskanen than Gogo. I know the Letang fan club will get mad at me but that is how I saw it then and well now.

   Perron is my example for Zucker. He couldn’t do anything here but look at him, as Zepplin sang he “just keep on rollin’ along with the grace of the Lord above.” He is close to an 82 point projection. I am pretty sure if Zucker went back out west he would resume his numbers.

   Hornqvist, I wouldn’t write him off yet Rick; Look at his PP time. He is only getting about half as much PP time as he usually gets only 2:28/60min wich is only 6th on the team and is the second lowest avg PP time/60. Only his rookie season did he see less. His 0.97 G/60 is low but his A/60 is about his average per season (1.97) so his numbers may be lower than usual because he may not be getting good PP looks. He may no longer be getting TOI with the quality line mates that he is use to.

   Kessel? I am glad to be rid of that salary but I am not going to bum rap Phil the Thrill. Stuck out in the desert on a team that rumor has it, almost got locked out of their own arena because they can’t even pay their bills (we have been down that road). He still has the best PP Pts/60. 81s 5-on-5 numbers are also still in the top 5 for the team. His with or without you numbers are equivalent. He picks up some team mates and weighs some down.

   McCann, I don’t know what to think. I actually liked him while he was here and during his honeymoon phase here, he put up big numbers only to show a steady decline over time. Rumors I have heard with alleged ties to the Fla locker room said he was a cancer there. I am not sure.

   I would love to still have Tanev. Maybe we should have kept McCann and Seattle may have just selected him and we would still have Tanev.

   As for Oleksiak, I would like to still have him but not at a $4.6 million NTC contract for 5 years.

   Had we kept and really used Reaves and Gudbranson, then maybe at least Geno would have aged less severe and possibly Crosby too (Although apparently Reaves is the one that injured Sid’s wrist – but I doubt he would have accrued any more injuries).

   Again thanks Rick

2. Rick
   On another note and not sure you new but Angello has been out with a Lower Body injury.
   I kept looking at their box scores and he wasn’t dressing – seemed really weird.

   GO PENS

   1. Thanks Mike for keeping me in the loop on Angello.

      I searched high and low and couldn’t find anything on him. By the dearth of news, I was beginning to think it was substance related or psychological…that perhaps he was disappointed over his career arc and had taken a leave of absence…something like that. Thanks for setting the record straight.

      Speaking of injuries, Guentzel’s couldn’t have come at a worse time. We seemed to be poised for a bit of a run and he and Sid were really on a tear.

      Man, do we have crappy luck … 🙁

      Rick

      1. Rick
         Guentzel was playing great – it does seem like we can’t get a break but deep down I have to wonder
         if these injuries aren’t related in some way to our lack of size. Jake has really been getting banged
         around and he is coming off of shoulder surgery. Teams defiantly go out of their way to play a heavy
         game against our forwards. “It makes you think” and it just may be taking its toll over a period of time.

         GO PENS

         1. Hey Mike,

            Jumping in here, but I am 100% behind you on that. Our coach’s aversion to size does take its toll on the players. The season the team had Reaves, 4 players played the full 82 games (Kessel, Crosby, Guentzel, and Maatta). Hagelin played 81, Dumoulin played 80, Letang and Sheary played 79, and Malkin played 78. We would be hard pressed to find a season with that many players playing a full season or nearly a full season. Given the option between 2 or more players of relatively the same skill, he pretty much always goes for the smallest of the set. This leaves the team completely unbalanced. Since the last Cup win, Sullivan has built a team of all midget skilled clones with no size or sand. None of them can go inside in the O-zone or defend the blue paint in the D-Zone. It is hard to tell Forward from Defense from Goalie.

            I have said this before but Crosby and Malkin have aged prematurely and hard because of the lack of size and sand.

      2. Rick
         I forgot to mention Angello scored a short handed goal in his first game back.

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