An “Other” Look at the Penguins: Seven More Things

I had a rare break this weekend and thought I would listen to our friend Rick Buker’s urgings that I put down into a written form some of the thoughts with which I have assaulted his ears. So without further ado

Simon goes home

Several times during this off-season, friends, and other acquaintances around me, knowing my [ahem] opinion of said individual, asked if I was happy that there was no Dominik Simon coming to our Pittsburgh Penguins’ training camp. My response was always the same, “don’t count that possibility out”. To which they would reply, “No way that would happen”.

Well, apparently my worst fears were almost realized. According to the PHN staff, in a Sparta (a Czech league team) press release, Simon was quoted as saying “Pittsburgh offered me a camp, but while I was waiting I realized that I would actually like to be at home in Prague and in an environment that I know well.”

I guess my gut was right, the Mike Sullivan love affair with that ersatz Winger is as fervent as ever. The only thing that saved me from suffering through another season of missed opportunities was Simon himself.

You may find it hard to believe but I wasn’t always a critic of Simon. if you look back several years to when Simon was still an unknown quantity, I did call for him to get a chance to show what he could do. What is the old saying be careful what you wish for? Simon was given his chance and more than his share of opportunities, stealing TOI from other young players that should have been given the same opportunities. I do wish him well over in his homelands, but I am relieved that the probabilities of him playing here, in Pittsburgh, this season finally have been reduced to a point where I can relax a bit.

ZAR to Toronto.

I don’t think any true Penguins fan was upset with Penguins GM Ron Hextall packaging Zach Aston-Reese in a trade for Rickard Rakell. Rakell has shown serious upside and has most of us wondering what he could do with a full season here in the ‘burgh. However, there have been several people I know and a couple Penguin talking heads that have opined that the Mr. Hextall should bring him back, citing Aston-Reese as defensive must and need.

Mike, apparently that opinion of Aston-Reese (a must and need) isn’t shared around the league as liberally as the friends of Aston-Reese would like us to believe. The Penguins former undrafted Free Agent (FA) finally signed with a team, the Toronto Maple Leafs, but only on a PTO. According to Capfriendly Toronto is $1.5 million over the Cap and no doubt is using a PTO loophole of not counting against the Cap until he signs an NHL contract to maneuver through their financial quagmire.

Like Simon, I wish him well and will watch with some interest how his season goes. I do keep track of players that I have wanted and players that I have wanted gone to see if my opinions were justified.

Sign Jarry to an extension?

Earlier this off-season, the question arose as to whether or not Mr. Hextall should rush into signing Penguins’ Goalie Tristan Jarry to an extension. That discussion seemed shelved for a while. However, last week it came up again on another site; Dave Molinari and Dan Kingerski argued opposite sides.

Sorry Kingerski, your arguments were the same as those that saddled the Penguins to the ridiculous Marcus Pettersson and John Marino contracts.

• It may not have been his fault last season, he was injured, but he still hasn’t proven that he could win in the playoffs.
• There are several top prospects that very well could step in next season or the season after that; Joel Blomqvist, Filip Lindberg, and Taylor Gauthier. If the team hadn’t traded for Rakell, we could have added Calle Clang to that list as well. The Anaheim Ducks are suggesting that he will be playing for them next season. Even if Jarry has a strong season, he may not be as good and cheap as one of those players could be. There is no reason to rush into any long-term, high-priced contract.
• Next off-season Jason Zucker’s contract comes off the books and the Cap is finally going to go up, so if Jarry does earn a raise, the team should still be able to afford him. Furthermore, if Jarry shows he can play in the playoffs like he does in the regular season, the price they sign him for may not be all that bad.
• Does anyone remember the arguments I had about not signing Marino to a long-term, relatively big-money contract? Just asking.

Is the Penguins defense better this coming season compared to last season?

I keep hearing pundits, Penguins’ PR men, and fans suggest that the Penguins defense in the upcoming season is definitely better. Hmm. I am not so sure.

I am not going to argue that the trio of Kris Letang, Jeff Petry, and Jan Rutta will be better than Letang, Marino, and Chad Ruhwedel, but that is only half of the defense. It cost the team Mike Matheson to get Petry.

I know I was a very vocal opponent of the Patric Hornqvist – Matheson trade but Matheson was easily the best Left-Handed Defenseman (LHD) on the team last season. However, by saying that, I am not inferring that Matheson was the second coming of Paul Coffey or Sergei Gonchar. I am only saying that he was the only LHD that wasn’t a train wreck. Pettersson and Brian Dumoulin were less than stellar last season.

There are those who argue that Penguins are counting on Dumoulin and Tyler Smith make comebacks. Certainly if Dumoulin makes a return to form and Smith gets back on track the defense could be better but just because the team is counting on it doesn’t make it so.

Any improvement on the starboard side of our favorite flightless fowl’s defense may have just been counter balanced with a drop-off on the port side. I will take a wait and see approach.

Are the Penguins heading for a Rebuild or can the get away with a Retool?

Another bee stuck in my bonnet comes from an article I read where the author broaches the subject of rebuild or retool?  I do agree with the article in so much as nothing is inevitable, neither is a rebuild written in stone. There is always a chance that the team can buoy itself back up to serious contention without tanking first and drafting its way out of the cellar. However, the author’s arguments were less than compelling.

A team cannot replace the number of aging stars like our Penguins have through FA in this Cap era of hockey as was suggested in the article. A team needs to have a stream of good young (inexpensive) talent to pull from to off-set a cadre of higher priced studs.

A team may not need to tank to get top 10 draft picks, but it does need to get picks in that sweet spot to ensure a flow of talent. And to get those top picks a team will need to strategically trade off veterans while their stock is still high enough to get a return and not wait for their nadir.

Our Penguins have squandered many opportunities the hockey gods offered them for retools over the last 5 or 6 seasons and the team has squandered them.

Nicolas Hague – I never wanted to trade a first-round pick and a serviceable bottom 6 center for an enforcer [Ryan Reaves] ever but most especially when the Coach had already shown an allergy to playing that type of player. This team could have used that number 1 pick to pick Hague. I beat that drum ad nauseum. Hague may not be a superstar (yet) but the LHD would certainly be a whole lot stronger with him on it.

Ilya Mikheyev – Several seasons back there was a major opportunity for teams to grab European FAs on the cheap. I pushed for the Penguins to sign Mikheyev, they chose Oula Palve. I have pointed this out many times before. Now consider this. Had the team signed him, they would never have needed to trade Alex Galchenyuk for Zucker. They could have simply suffered through to the end of Galchenyuk’s contract and not taken on Zucker’s $5.5 million, nor would the Penguins need to give up another 1^st round draft pick. They say hindsight is 20/20, well I said that in foresight.

(Sorry Mike, I know you like him, and frankly I do think he is a better player than he has shown, but he is not a good fit for this team.)

Another benefit of signing Mikheyev would have been that they would not have had to give up a 1^st round pick to trade for Kasperi Kapanen.

Adam Reideborn – I wanted the Penguins to sign Reideborn, a Goalie plying his trade in Djurgardens IF of the SHL, but the Penguins signed Emil Larmi. Reideborn has had several very strong seasons in the KHL. Maybe he would not have translated into North American hockey, but chances are a goalie with his track record would have at least been as good as Casey DeSmith and the team could have traded either one of those two for a draft pick or a prospect to keep the prospect pool fresh. For several seasons Toronto was looking for a Goalie.

Maverick Lamoureux – There are only so many opportunities afforded to a team before the well runs dry. I do hope that with Jim Rutherford’s departure that the fortunes have changed. However, I am sorry, but I am putting this out there, like I did with Hague, Mikheyev, Reideborn, Oliwer Kaski and many others, the team would have been far better off drafting Lamoureux with this season’s first round pick than drafting Owen Pickering. This past season, I spent more time than I ever have watching game films of prospects before the draft.

Lamoureux should quickly develop into the tough physical defenseman that most of us would love to see don a Penguins sweater. Unfortunately for him, he is stuck in the Arizona Coyotes’ system. And unless he gets traded or they somehow manage a change of culture, he will have little opportunity to showcase his abilities.

Pickering is a long-term project who may or may not ever develop. His hype is based on assessments of a coach that coach him for 3 games and his far too few highlights. There have been Bob Errey types, first round picks that after many seasons in the AHL find their game and reach the big leagues and for all of our sakes, I truly hope Pickering is among them, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he becomes another Stefan Bergqvist.

Prospect Camp is about to open

Hockey season is almost upon us again. Prospect camp and then training camp are set to open very soon. For me there is an excitement that I am hoping won’t be quelled with status quo decisions. There are several kids I want to see.

Jordan Frasca is tops in my books to want to see. Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that he gets an NHL jersey. All I am saying is I want to see how he plays against other prospects and maybe even NHL calibre players. After watching his game films, I was impressed with his style of play, and he did put up very good numbers (42 Goals and 87 Points) while playing on the same team as Shane Wright. His 42 Goals were 10 more than Wright and his +/- was highest on that team.

Although I am not high on Hextall’s first 1^st round pick for our Penguins, I am hoping that he found the gem that may be able to help our boys of winter avoid a full blown, tear them down rebuild, in Frasca. He is already 21 and may not need that much time in Wilkes Barre – Scranton (WBS). I am hoping he can be another Jake Guentzel.

Filip Lindberg should have made the big-league roster last season, or so I felt. He injured himself early on in WBS. I am hoping he actually is ready to play and gives the team maneuver room in Goal.

Lukáš Švejkovský impressed me in game films I doubt he his ready for the NHL but he is a prospect I will be keeping my eyes on.

Raivis Ansons not only caught my attention last season with the Saint John Sea Dogs but when I saw him during the Penguins Prospect photo op at the Pittsburgh Fire Academy. While Pickering underwhelmed with his presence there, Ansons looked like a beast.

Finally, I am foolishly hoping that at least Radim Zohorna, Valterri Puustenin, and Drew O’Connor are given legitimate shots at roster spots and not sacrificed on the altar of Veteran presence.

Is Josh Archibald the next Dominik Simon?

If you recall, last preseason the team said Simon was only being brought in to give them depth in WBS. Even at the outset when every one else was buying that lie, I said watch Simon will be in the opening nights roster blocking a kid from a chance to sharpen his game against NHL level talent. I was right. Sullivan made every excuse to include Simon’s 3 Goals into the lineup. I am positive no one in WBS last season could have equaled those staggering numbers. (Sarcasm intended)

This season, Josh Archibald was signed as “depth for WBS”. So, I fear Archibald is going to be the veteran that Sullivan will use as a roster thief. Archibald is better than Simon but that is not saying much. A prospect would actually have to play a little to beat him out. But will Sullivan acknowledge a prospects play or will it be SOP?