An “Other” Look At The Penguins – 6 Things

I have had precious little time recently to really write anything. By the time I have organized something into a cogent piece, there seemed little point to the writing, others had chewed up the subject ad nauseum. Now there are some little things tugging at my mind, so I figured I would do sort of an Odds and Sods look at our Penguins.

Reirden – Associate Head Coach?

What the heck is an Associate Head Coach? I have never heard of such a thing as an Associate Head Coach. Have you?

Well, whatever it is, that is the new title of Todd Reirden. He went from Assistant Coach to Associate Head Coach.

With our favorite flightless fowl foundering in mediocrity these last four seasons, I am left wondering if this is a contingency plan, for the new ownership group, in case the on-ice leadership continues down the same old path that has led them to four first round losses in a row. Or perhaps new ownership is creating competition among the Coaches?

I am not taking any stand yet on this subject, I am just saying this is a very interesting move.

Also, I am not necessarily going to believe any PR spin about this until I see how it begins to play out – this is just too strange in my book.

Who the heck is Jack St. Ivany?

If anyone is paying close attention to the rumor mill, Jack St. Ivany is an Unrestricted Free Agent (UFA) from the College ranks that our GM Ron Hextall is apparently trying to sign. He is a 2018 fourth round draft pick of the Philadelphia Flyers (when Hextall was their GM). St. Ivany is in a similar situation as our Penguins 2017 third round pick, Clayton Phillips. Neither player was offered a contract by their drafting teams, so they are UFA.

I like the kid’s size but I am not seeing anything remarkable here, nothing to set him apart from Phillips. In fact, the Flyers didn’t rate St. Ivany all that high on their defensive prospects, they let him go UFA, and they are a hot mess.

I guess if the rumors are true and Hextall signs him, we will find out.

Is Ron Hextall, Jim Rutherford part Deux?

If anyone is of a mind to, think back to the complaints that were often posted about Jim Rutherford. I am thinking right now about the complaints against Rutherford in relationship to Kasperi Kapanen – Rutherford loves to go out and get HIS boys back on his team. Rutherford traded Kapanen for Phil Kessel (lots of other parts in that complicated trade) but then traded a first-round pick and an exchange of prospects to get him back.

Now fast forward, Hextall was involved in drafting Jeff Carter, traded for him when he was with Los Angeles Kings as an assistant GM, and then traded for him again as GM of our waddling waterfowl, and even gave Carter a contract extension.

Not only has Hextall traded for Carter and given him an extension, but as I noted above, he is looking to sign a former draft pick of his and Flyers reject Jack St. Ivany.

Hmmm…

The Pittsburgh Penguins Farm System – a place where prospects disappear and are never heard from again.

I really had not thought to look too deeply at our black-n-gold farm system until our very own Rick Buker decided to compare young gun Nathan Légaré, a prospect for which that I still have high hopes, to former Pittsburgh Penguin Daniel Sprong. If you missed my reply to our friend after such a disrespectful treatment/comparison of our current prospect to talented but troubled Sprong, Mike Sullivan is an O-fer in his draft picks. In terms of players Sullivan has drafted, 0 of 31 have been given a chance to play in Pittsburgh. Of those 31 players only Calen Addison and Filip Gustavsson have played more than 10 NHL games, but those games were with other teams.

If I were a Penguins Prospect, I would immediately start praying for a trade or looking for what I was going to do after hockey, if I got sent down to Wilkes Barre – Scranton (WBS). No sense waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Penguins’ ratings by TSN

Travis Yost rated all the NHL team’s depth at each position recently. Yost’s rating scale was basically Tiered 1 – 5, where 1 was Elite, 2 was Outperforming, 3 was Solid, 4 was Underperforming, and 5 was In Trouble. So how did our Penguins fare? The good news is our Penguins were not listed as “In Trouble” at any Position.

At Center, despite so many haters here in the ‘burgh over Evgeni Malkin, Yost rated the Penguins as a tier 2 team – Outperforming. Considering the age of our fossils at Center, that is pretty darn good.

In Goal, Yost also gave our Black-and-Gold some props. He rated Tristan Jarry and Casey DeSmith as Tier 2 – Outperforming. In terms of regular season, I must agree. These two guys may not have good track records in the playoffs, but in the regular season they have been a cut above.

On Defense, Yost doesn’t seem to be wearing the rose-colored glasses of most of our fan base and team PR men. He did give the team a Tier 2 – Outperforming rating but qualified that with a statement that suggested they would have been Tier 3 had they not traded for Jeff Petry. Yost added another qualifying statement in that he felt the team traded away a stronger future in, as he noted “speedy” Mike Matheson for a stronger Defense over the next season or two.

At Right Wing (RW), Yost rated our Penguins as a Tier 3. I get it. There are no flashy guys here, unless a kid comes out of nowhere and Sullivan does something he hasn’t done in 5 seasons, takes a risk on a kid to give him a chance to grow.

However, Yost was assuming the Penguins will go with Bryan Rust, Rickard Rakell, Kasperi Kapanen, and Danton Heinen on RW. I will be surprised if Josh Archibald is not in that mix somewhere. I can see Archibald as this seasons Dominik Simon. Last season, Simon was signed as a depth player for WBS, but Sullivan used him as a roadblock for kids to come up and develop, giving him the roster spot that should have been given to Drew O’Connor or Radim Zohorna.

At Left Wing, Yost surprised me, he rated us as a Tier 4 team. That is right my friends, a team with Jake Guentzel on it was rated as Tier 4 – Underperforming. I guess he really is disrespecting Jason Zucker, Brock McGinn, and O’Connor (the other 3 players he assumed will be manning the Penguins port side)

Ty Smith?

I have read several discussions now about the Penguins Cap predicament and how the team can get Cap Compliant. Most of them involve sending Ty Smith down. I am no Ty Smith fan; however, I am now wondering between the magic Reirden performed on Matheson and the fact the team traded for Petry, can the Reirden magic work again on Smith.

Our friend Rick Buker opined in a conversation we had when the team traded for said wunderkind, that all he could see was a Goal in which Brian Boyle scored while manhandling Smith in front of the New Jersey Devils net. Rick, I remember that Goal too, but now I am wondering if Reirden pairs him with Petry, the big Right-Handed Defenseman can handle the physical play, while the speedy little Smith can facilitate the breakout.

Just trying to think positive here (for a change), Rick.

However, if the Penguins send him down to WBS, I fear he will go the way of all Penguins prospects – into oblivion.