Seems like a trick question, doesn’t it? Before you can develop young talent, you need to have young talent to develop.
Kind of like the chicken or egg paradox that has baffled scholars for ages.
The reason I bring it up? Despite coach Mike Sullivan’s tendency to mete out ice time to kids with an eye-dropper, three relatively young players have gained a foothold this season. Indeed, defenseman Pierre-Olivier Joseph and forwards Drew O’Connor and Ryan Poehling are emerging as legit NHL talents, although it appears POJ will cede his spot to recently acquired veteran Dmitry Kulikov.
Such is the way of things for our prospects these days.
Once upon a time (back when Sidney Crosby went by “the Kid”) the Penguins were built on a youthful foundation, the result of several down years, some astute drafting and plain ol’ good fortune. The 2006-07 team that started our present 16-year postseason run boasted 19 players age 28 or under. Thirteen aged 25 or under, including teenagers Jordan Staal (18), Crosby and Kris Letang (19), and early 20-somethings Evgeni Malkin (20), and Marc-Andre Fleury and Max Talbot (22).
Lord, how promising we were back then. Promise largely fulfilled with four trips to the Final and three Stanley Cups. Not to mention our present postseason streak.
Contrast that with the current batch of black-and-golders. No fewer than 15 of the 32 players who’ve dressed this season are on the north side of 30. Five are age 35 and older, including our core of Sid, Geno and Tanger and fellow AARPers Jeff Carter and Jeff Petry.
The oldest bunch in the league, and not just by a little. The years of shedding draft picks in search of finding that last piece or two of the Stanley Cup puzzle have caught up to us.
The last time the Pens were truly kid friendly? The dawn of the Sullivan era. Shortly after Sully was hired to replace Mike Johnston he promoted a passel of hopefuls from the Baby Pens. Remember?
Call-ups Bryan Rust, Conor Sheary and Tom Kuhnhackl provided speed, grit and enthusiasm while filling key supporting roles. Rookie Brian Dumoulin and 21-year-old Olli Maatta were regulars on defense. Sullivan boldly rode rookie netminder Matt Murray all the way to a Cup. Two in fact.
Scott Wilson, Derrick Pouliot, Oskar Sundqvist and a young Josh Archibald also saw considerable ice time, followed in short order by the crème of the Sully crop, Jake Guentzel.
Then…pfft. The pipeline from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton slowed to a trickle. Zach Aston-Reese, Sam Lafferty, Dominik Simon and the recently departed Teddy Blueger all carved out spots for a time. But none had a lasting impact.
What changed?
Why did Sully morph from kid-friendly to kid averse, seemingly overnight?
Following the back-to-back Cups, we went through an organizational shift in philosophy. Trying to maximize our window to win another Cup became paramount, with all other considerations secondary. Including, drafting and player development.
Understandable in a way. When you have a chance to grab for the brass ring, you go for it.
Former GM Jim Rutherford certainly wasn’t shy in that regard. Indeed, during his six-plus seasons at the helm, JR dealt six first-round picks. In two drafts (2015 & ’18) we only had four selections. Small wonder our prospect pool has dried up.
When Ron Hextall assumed the managerial reins, he was given a two-pronged mandate. Maximize our Cup opportunities with our venerable core, while at the same time restocking a prospect cupboard that was practically bare. Tricky business, to say the least.
I pointed out in a previous article that trying to serve two masters generally doesn’t work. At least it hasn’t in this case. We’ve continued to peddle high draft picks under Hextall, although he has refrained from dealing our first-round picks.
As for keeping us on a short list of Cup contenders? It seems we’ll be fortunate just to make the playoffs as a wild card, let alone win a series against the likes of Eastern powers Boston, Carolina or New Jersey.
The days of wine and roses are certainly nearing an end.
As for the kids? Are there any promotable prospects down on the farm?
Truth be told, the pickins are pretty slim.
Left wing Alex Nylander has 25 goals and 50 points in 54 games, but has issues away from the puck. Pictured above, right wing Valtteri Puustinen’s tallied 20 goals for the second straight season (21 and counting). However, we seem reluctant to call him up.
Filip Hallander and Jonathan Gruden may have bottom-six potential. Defenseman Ty Smith showed well in a nine-game cameo. Goalie Taylor Gauthier (7-2-3, .914 save percentage) has displayed some promise.
Even if any or all of these kids were ready, their paths are blocked by a veteran-laden lineup and a coach who seems reluctant to play them. Which doubles back to my point about serving two masters.
Instead of striving to make the playoffs each year, perhaps it would’ve been wiser at some point to pull back and do a Rangers-style retool on the fly in order to replenish our prospect coffers. But at this stage, it’s water well under the bridge and downstream.
The die has long been cast.
Granlund Grumble
Six days down the road, I’m still not on board with the Mikael Granlund acquisition. The Pens needed size, speed, jam and finishing ability, in no particular order. They got none of the above.
Maybe (hopefully) Granlund will produce and make me eat my words. But to my eye, tying up $5 million a year for the next two seasons on a smallish, playmaking forward whose speed is on the wane and whose defensive deficiencies are well documented seems like a colossal mistake.
Hey all,
Guess the timing of my article was sorta kinda prophetic. The Pens have placed Ryan Poehling on LTIR (retroactive to Feb. 14) and recalled Alex Nylander from the Baby Pens.
It’s good that he’s at least getting a look. I think he’s earned it.
Oh…it’s been reported that Ron Hextall attempted to acquire physical defenseman Radko Gudas from Florida at the deadline. Hextall had traded for Gudas when he was in Philly.
Rick
Hey Rick,
The Pens poor draft positioning and penchant for throwing away first round picks on aging and failing veterans is a legitimate excuse for very limited top 6 talent in the system but it isn’t the only factor to consider. After wasting a 1st round pick on Pickering and signing Oula Palve and Emil Larmi a couple seasons back rather than Ilya Mikeyhev, Adam Riedeborn, and Oliwer Kaski, poor scouting has been a big factor as well.
Furthermore, lack of first round pick and poor positioning when we do have them is a poor excuse for the black hole that is their bottom 6. There are tons of hockey players who can learn to play bottom 6 hockey. Bottom 6 is a teachable skill to those players with grit and determination. The current abyss that is this incarnation of the Penguins’ bottom 6 stems from, poor scouting (again), Inability to teach bottom 6 skill set, not valuing the skill set required for bottom 6 (you don’t put top 6 players that can’t crack the top 6 in the bottom 6), and leaving forwards in the minors too long,
DOC, Zohorna, and Angello were all much better suited to play bottom 6 for this team these last several seasons than the parade of Dominik Simon’s that Sullivan et al trotted out but they spent most of their time in WBS or on the bench watching Simons miss open nets and get decked by larger opponents. All of this lack of TOI for bottom 6 players because they weren’t veterans and/or didn’t have top 6 skill set.
I am not that big of a fan of Nylander nor do I necessarily like Puustenin’s size but he should hav ebeen given an opportunity when Rust went ice cold. Even now Carter and the 3rd line is pathetic but DOC will not get the opportunity to play regardless of how well DOC plays. Jan Ruuta is our youngest starting RHD at 32. Looks like to get TOI on this team you need an AARP card!
What is scary is that Bonino now is our youngest center at 34 years of age.
Funny man Coach…..
You forgot to add the other prerequisite.. A membership to America Men’s Hair Club.(I think that is the proper name ).. Bonino fits right in. On a more serious note you raise an excellent point in the lack of proper scouting on a GLOBAL SCALE. To me that should be an easy fix in you put the money and resources behind your scouting department and get busy….and stay busy all year round. Scouting if done properly is not an easy job and you must stay on top of everything that is going on outside of North America to really uncover the hidden Gems.
My second point is one that Rick first asked about..” Is Developing Young Talent a Priority for the Penguins?” The simple answer is no. Their objective for the past 6 years has been to sell the team for a lot of money. The owners needed to keep the illusion alive that this group was a Cup winning Team so that is why they were always trading away their draft picks to make us all believe this year will be the year we WIN AGAIN….They are still doing it when GM Hextal said last week we could be one of the teams to win the Cup. That is simply not true.
Hey Coach are you worried that in order for us to keep the last Wild card spot that we will have to play with 110% effort and then we will be burnt out come the play offs ????
Cheers
JIM
Hey Jim,
Coaching has accelerated my membership in America’s Hair Club for Men. In my youth, I experienced 2 of the only 3 hair styles for men, parted and un parted. Now, in today’s day and age, I have moved on to style 3 – departed.
Agreed, fixing our scouting Department could be easy. The only road block is that we would have to identify the best scouts and then have them get enough of them to cover more than our own back yard. More importantly, we can’t just take the word of a coach that watched a player over a 3 consecutive game span like we did last year. We will need to evaluate players at different times of their season under different stressors. Pickering was rated as a mid round pick until a 3 game tournament in which his coached raved about him. Then all of a sudden Pickering’s stock jumped – on just a 3 game biased account.
Also agreed, this team really did shoot itself in the foot several times just to put lipstick on a sow and they are still doing it.
As for the last Wild Card Playoff spot, I could see a couple of scenarios;
1) As old as the team is it may not last the rest of this month. They have to play 13 more games in just 24 days. A lot of bad things could happen if they start getting tired. and they do not even make the playoffs.
2) They back into the playoffs on the strength of the bad starts Buffalo and Detroit had and then get wasted in the 1st round 1 more year – in a sweep
3) The least likely, injuries to the geriatric ward and the Archaeologist Sullivan is forced to use kids instead of fossils and the kids manage to actually put up a fight, rather than whimper – getting the walking wounded old men the boost they need. Unfortunately it is too late and they bow out in a 7 game dog fight.