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.
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.
| Position: | Defense | Shoots: | Right |
| Date of Birth: | July 22, 1999 | Age: | 23 |
| Place of Birth: | Manhattan Beach, CA, USA | Nationality: | USA |
| Height: | 6’-3” (191cm) | Weight: | 201lbs (91kg) |
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.
| Season | Team | League | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | +/- |
| 2018-19 | Yale Univ | NCAA | 30 | 6 | 8 | 20 | 20 | 8 |
| 2018-19 | USA U20 | WJC-20 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -3 |
| 2019-2020 | Yale Univ | NCAA | 32 | 1 | 15 | 16 | 18 | -10 |
| 2020-21 | Boston College | NCAA | 18 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 6 | -1 |
| 2021-2022 | Boston College | NCAA | 35 | 4 | 20 | 24 | 6 | 8 |
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.
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…
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.
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)
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.
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Hey TOR,
Interesting stuff.
I think Associate means will be head coach if Sullivan is suspended or can't coach for some other reason. Might have been named that to keep him from moving or just in case Hextall adds another assistant coach like Tocchet. If it is what you may or may not be eluding to, I would rather see Barry Trotz as head coach if push comes to shove. Maybe a Trotz - Tocchet team up.
I'm not sure Sullivan is responsible for the draft picks, but I think he has only had 1 guy drafted while he was coach that was drafted in the top 50. In the NHL, draft picks 50th and higher have a 12% chance of playing 10 games or more. So the question is, should he give more playing time to crappy draft picks or do worse during the regular season so he can get better draft picks that would result in better players that would in turn up his "Farm System" stats? Pretty sure he's not responsible for the trading of all the #1 picks either. Maybe he is, who knows.
I'm starting to wonder about Hextall, I don't think that building a team bigger can be done in one season without sacrificing the teams quality, so maybe he's doing it right. I don't know the answer there either.
Ty smith and all that, I still expect a trade of a defenseman or two.
What I do know. I can't wait for Buker's book this fall "How to get TOR to write in the offseason" with foreword by Daniel Sprong, and the Canadian language version titled "Playing TOR like a fiddle" lol
Hey Phil,
Interesting thought: Trotz - Tocchet. I am going to ruminate on that one.
While it certainly should have helped, if the Penguins would have had more than 1 top 50 pick during Sullivan's tenure, I can't help but think of players like Sam Lafferty (4th Rnd), Tristan Jarry (2nd Rnd), Jake Guentzel (3rd Rnd), Teddy Blueger (2nd Rnd), Oskar Sundqvist (3rd Rnd), Matt Murray (3th Rnd), Scott Harrington (2nd Rnd), Josh Archibald (6th Rnd), Scott Wilson (7th Rnd) and the aforementioned Sprong (2nd Rnd) and Simon (3rd Rnd). These were all lower level draft picks that were developed in the system in the previous 5 seasons prior to Sullivan's arrival as HC and of whom have played more than 100 games in the NHL.
It would seem to me that first round picks should need little effort to develop, so their development doesn't say much for the farm system. However, the lower ranks, now that is where good coaching in the farms or timely call ups to reward and challenge promising youngsters brings about useful players.
Like you I can't say how much Sullivan had to say about who the team drafted, but with the continued return of Sullivan favorites of Sheary, Simon, and E-Rod at Sullivan's behest, I would suggest he had more than minimal influence over JRs choices in players, so I do feel he should bear some of the blame in player choice. However, I wasn't looking to impugn Sully as much as the whole way we develop our players, from the developmental coaches to the limited opportunities we give them to progress from within.
Only Bjorkqvist remains Penguin Property from Sullivan's first draft class. None remain from the 2017 draft class. Only Hallander remains from Sullivan's 3rd draft class.
I am not sure if you saw this, and I did mention this to Buker in passing, verbally, but apparently Anaheim is projecting Calle Clang as a regular at the NHL level for them in 2022-23. Would he be given this opportunity in Pgh? Will Lindberg, Blomqvist or Gauthier? I really think Blomqvist is going to be stud, maybe not for Pgh, we may P!55 him away, but he will be a top Goalie in the NHL.
As for Hextall, as I just mentioned to Rick, I know I make it sound as a complete rip of him, but in truth I was only referring to his Penchant for surrounding himself with players he drafted or has some connection. I do appreciate that he really hasn't thrown huge contracts in front of FAs.
And like you, I am not expecting a complete turn around in size over night. I think Hextall dropped the puck with Pickering, Lamoureux would have been a much better pick, but with a lot of his FA signings he has brought bigger players into the org. As long as the don't turn into Pettersson types that only wave their sticks at opponents rather than hit them.
Rick just wrote about his Size + Skill team, I understand that doesn't happen over night. We have to give the team time to sort through the bigger players and not simply grab a goon.
I hope you are right about the defensemen trades. I really am wondering if, in Reirden's system a Ty Smith - Jeff Petry tandem could shine and fear that if we don't make trades the team will over-value players that should be risked to the waiver wire for burial in WBS.
BTW I have already reserved my copy of Buker's book for my Christmas Coffee table. He is even going to autograph it!
The Other Rick, Rick & Phil
To clear up the Associate Head Coaching title it's usually put in place to help a Coach get looks when
it comes to job openings around the NHL. It's used a lot in the Basketball world and it sends a message
to other teams that if they were to loose their Head Coach he would be in line for the job. It gives him
a little bit of seniority over the other coaches on the staff.
Thanks Mike,
So what is more likely, another team tries to poach the associate Head Coach or the team loses the Head Coach and the Associate takes over?
Usually another team would look to hire your associate Head Coach.
Hey Other Rick,
Welcome back to the writing side, my friend!
I may not agree with every sentiment, and I feel like my role in the Legare-Sprong comparison is being a tad overplayed (I was merely repeating a comparison that had been made elsewhere). But as Tony the Tiger used to say, this is GRRREAT! Fun, fresh, opinionated and entertaining.
I hope your schedule frees up so we can look forward to some more "Other" features ... :)
Rick
Hey Rick,
I know, I need to stop being so wishy - washy and voice an opinion more often. We'll see.
PS--I forgot to add "insightful."
Rick