I could have called it. Our Pittsburgh Penguins made their first cuts. If you had paid even the most fleeting attention to our Coach and his staff, you could have easily made book on Mike Sullivan’s moves.
Six prospects were banished to the Wilkes Barre – Scranton (WBS) Penguins, three were sent back to their Juniors’ teams, one was released from his Professional Tryout Contract (PTO) and one was moved to the injured list.
Forwards Matt Filipe, Dillon Hamaliuk, Sam Houde, Jagger Joshua, and Evan Vierling were sent to WBS, along with Goaltender Taylor Gauthier.
Defenseman Andre Anania, Forward Matthew Soto, and Goaltender Michael Simpson were sent down to the Junior teams, the Sudbury Wolves, Kingston Frontenacs, and Peterborough Petes, of the OHL, respectively.
Forward Peter Abbandonato was released from his PTO.
And Defenseman Mark Pysyk was placed on the injured list with no details given as to the nature of the injure.
Some of these cuts were warranted, Anania Filipe, Houde, Soto, Simpson, and Vierling did nothing to distinguish themselves either in the Prospect Challenge or most particularly in their Preseason Games. Our Penguins were taken to a Shoot Out in Game 1 and they lost in Game 2, with most of our favorite flightless fowl underwater, many nearing the Marianna’s Trench, they were so deep, when it came to Corsi, Fenwick, and Shot Differential.
However, many of the players still on the training camp roster were deeper than those banished. As I wrote in my last post, there are no roster spot battles, the coaching staff has pre decided everything. The pabulum being lapped up by all of the sycophant “journalists” and other alleged independent, non-biased media outlets is nothing more than lip-service to obfuscate the reality of S.O.P.
| Player | Po | GP | TOI | CF | CA | CF% | FF | FA | FF% | SF | SA | SF% | GF | GA | GF% | xGF | xGA | xGF% |
| Matt Nieto | L | 1 | 13.18 | 7 | 23 | 23.33 | 4 | 16 | 20 | 4 | 12 | 25 | 0 | 0 | – | 0.27 | 1.46 | 15.48 |
| Matt Filipe | L | 1 | 12.65 | 6 | 18 | 25 | 3 | 12 | 20 | 2 | 7 | 22.22 | 0 | 0 | – | 0.03 | 1.26 | 2.27 |
| Austin Wagner | L | 1 | 9.58 | 6 | 17 | 26.09 | 6 | 11 | 35.29 | 5 | 8 | 38.46 | 1 | 1 | 50 | 0.51 | 0.39 | 56.82 |
| Joona Koppanen | L | 1 | 12.05 | 7 | 19 | 26.92 | 6 | 13 | 31.58 | 5 | 11 | 31.25 | 1 | 1 | 50 | 0.51 | 0.58 | 46.64 |
| Xavier Ouellet | D | 1 | 13.52 | 8 | 20 | 28.57 | 6 | 12 | 33.33 | 6 | 10 | 37.5 | 1 | 1 | 50 | 0.39 | 0.48 | 44.68 |
| Andreas Johnsson | L | 1 | 12.50 | 7 | 17 | 29.17 | 4 | 13 | 23.53 | 4 | 10 | 28.57 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.27 | 0.73 | 26.74 |
| Evan Vierling | C | 1 | 10.85 | 5 | 12 | 29.41 | 2 | 8 | 20 | 1 | 4 | 20 | 0 | 0 | – | 0.01 | 0.41 | 3.49 |
| Samuel Houde | C | 1 | 10.97 | 5 | 11 | 31.25 | 4 | 8 | 33.33 | 3 | 6 | 33.33 | 0 | 0 | – | 0.07 | 0.39 | 14.76 |
| Peter Abbandonato | C | 1 | 11.62 | 6 | 13 | 31.58 | 5 | 10 | 33.33 | 4 | 7 | 36.36 | 1 | 0 | 100 | 0.37 | 0.55 | 39.84 |
| Austin Rueschhoff | R | 1 | 11.12 | 8 | 17 | 32 | 7 | 12 | 36.84 | 6 | 9 | 40 | 1 | 1 | 50 | 0.63 | 0.62 | 50.69 |
| Jonathan Gruden | C | 1 | 7.63 | 5 | 10 | 33.33 | 3 | 6 | 33.33 | 2 | 5 | 28.57 | 1 | 1 | 50 | 0.5 | 0.26 | 65.58 |
| Marc Johnstone | R | 1 | 9.95 | 5 | 10 | 33.33 | 3 | 8 | 27.27 | 2 | 6 | 25 | 0 | 0 | – | 0.05 | 0.39 | 11.97 |
| Jack St. Ivany | D | 1 | 13.85 | 9 | 17 | 34.62 | 8 | 9 | 47.06 | 8 | 8 | 50 | 1 | 0 | 100 | 0.67 | 0.34 | 66.34 |
| Corey Andonovski | R | 1 | 8.90 | 6 | 11 | 35.29 | 4 | 6 | 40 | 3 | 6 | 33.33 | 1 | 1 | 50 | 0.53 | 0.27 | 65.93 |
| Libor Hajek | D | 1 | 15.32 | 11 | 20 | 35.48 | 8 | 14 | 36.36 | 5 | 10 | 33.33 | 0 | 0 | – | 0.32 | 0.98 | 24.62 |
| Jagger Joshua | L | 1 | 7.62 | 5 | 9 | 35.71 | 3 | 6 | 33.33 | 2 | 5 | 28.57 | 1 | 1 | 50 | 0.5 | 0.26 | 65.89 |
| Brayden Yager | C | 1 | 14.17 | 11 | 19 | 36.67 | 6 | 12 | 33.33 | 5 | 9 | 35.71 | 0 | 0 | – | 0.32 | 0.65 | 32.77 |
| Chad Ruhwedel | D | 1 | 18.93 | 11 | 19 | 36.67 | 5 | 16 | 23.81 | 5 | 10 | 33.33 | 1 | 1 | 50 | 0.22 | 1.15 | 16.34 |
| Pierre-Olivier Joseph | D | 1 | 18.95 | 11 | 18 | 37.93 | 7 | 15 | 31.82 | 6 | 10 | 37.5 | 1 | 0 | 100 | 0.29 | 1.28 | 18.24 |
| Dmitri Samorukov | D | 1 | 14.42 | 13 | 20 | 39.39 | 11 | 12 | 47.83 | 7 | 7 | 50 | 1 | 1 | 50 | 0.83 | 0.71 | 53.81 |
| Dillon Hamaliuk | L | 1 | 10.57 | 6 | 9 | 40 | 3 | 6 | 33.33 | 2 | 3 | 40 | 0 | 0 | – | 0.03 | 0.24 | 10.77 |
| Isaac Belliveau | D | 1 | 14.80 | 13 | 17 | 43.33 | 10 | 11 | 47.62 | 7 | 7 | 50 | 1 | 0 | 100 | 0.67 | 0.59 | 53.17 |
| Mark Pysyk | D | 1 | 14.70 | 16 | 19 | 45.71 | 14 | 16 | 46.67 | 10 | 11 | 47.62 | 1 | 1 | 50 | 0.92 | 0.78 | 54.12 |
| Colin White | C | 1 | 11.88 | 6 | 7 | 46.15 | 5 | 6 | 45.45 | 4 | 4 | 50 | 0 | 0 | – | 0.08 | 0.17 | 31.92 |
| Ryan Shea | D | 1 | 17.82 | 14 | 15 | 48.28 | 9 | 9 | 50 | 6 | 8 | 42.86 | 1 | 1 | 50 | 0.6 | 0.53 | 53.07 |
| Ty Smith | D | 1 | 16.78 | 19 | 20 | 48.72 | 17 | 16 | 51.52 | 12 | 13 | 48 | 1 | 1 | 50 | 1.22 | 0.83 | 59.53 |
| Rem Pitlick | C | 1 | 17.72 | 22 | 22 | 50 | 17 | 15 | 53.13 | 13 | 13 | 50 | 1 | 0 | 100 | 1.09 | 0.93 | 54.01 |
| Taylor Fedun | D | 1 | 15.07 | 13 | 13 | 50 | 9 | 8 | 52.94 | 6 | 6 | 50 | 1 | 0 | 100 | 0.6 | 0.41 | 59.55 |
| Sam Poulin | R | 1 | 14.97 | 20 | 18 | 52.63 | 17 | 10 | 62.96 | 12 | 8 | 60 | 1 | 0 | 100 | 1.11 | 0.66 | 62.76 |
| Mark Friedman | D | 1 | 13.70 | 15 | 12 | 55.56 | 10 | 8 | 55.56 | 7 | 6 | 53.85 | 0 | 0 | – | 0.52 | 0.59 | 47.13 |
| Valtteri Puustinen | R | 1 | 11.67 | 8 | 6 | 57.14 | 7 | 5 | 58.33 | 4 | 3 | 57.14 | 0 | 0 | – | 0.12 | 0.16 | 42.97 |
| Avery Hayes | R | 1 | 11.68 | 18 | 13 | 58.06 | 14 | 9 | 60.87 | 11 | 7 | 61.11 | 1 | 0 | 100 | 0.92 | 0.51 | 64.3 |
| Vinnie Hinostroza | C | 1 | 13.28 | 10 | 7 | 58.82 | 8 | 6 | 57.14 | 5 | 5 | 50 | 0 | 0 | – | 0.13 | 0.23 | 35.71 |
| Drew O’Connor | L | 1 | 12.83 | 17 | 11 | 60.71 | 14 | 9 | 60.87 | 9 | 5 | 64.29 | 1 | 1 | 50 | 0.8 | 0.96 | 45.39 |
| Radim Zohorna | L | 1 | 12.18 | 16 | 8 | 66.67 | 14 | 7 | 66.67 | 10 | 4 | 71.43 | 2 | 1 | 66.67 | 1.06 | 0.63 | 62.68 |
| Alex Nylander | L | 1 | 14.43 | 20 | 8 | 71.43 | 17 | 5 | 77.27 | 12 | 2 | 85.71 | 2 | 0 | 100 | 1.18 | 0.27 | 81.38 |
Just look how far below Joshua and Hamaliuk players like Matt Nieto, Austin Wagner, Joona Koppanen, and Andreas Johnsson. And make no mistake, the numbers these players put up reflect the eye-test, Nieto was absolutely invisible on the ice. Wagner may have scored a Goal (G), but that G was a complete fluke. He worked hard and threw the puck at the net on a backhand attempt, but it was more of question of puck-luck and weak Goaltending that the biscuit found its way up and over the Goalie and across the goal line. Yet Nieto and Wagner are still on the roster and Joshua and Hamaliuk aren’t.
Look also at the Time On the Ice (TOI), Nieto, despite doing nothing with his TOI was given almost twice as much TOI than Joshua and about 2 1/2 minutes more than Hamaliuk. Ice time isn’t earned, it is simply given to the Coaches’ pets.
The evidence is even more pronounced when looking at the Goalies. I would not begrudge Joel Blomqvist a longer look, his Save Percentage Sv% was rather low but the eye test wasn’t horrible, however, of the four Goalies, even though Alex Nedeljkovic’s numbers look better, Taylor Gauthier’s numbers would have equaled Nedeljkovic’s numbers if he was given some kind of support. Gauthier also pretty much faced the Columbus Blue Jackets’ “A” team in the 2nd Game while Nedeljkovic faced the Jackets’ also rans. Yet Gauthier was banished to WBS while Magnus Hellberg is still on the Training Camp roster.
| Player | GP | TOI | SA | Sv | GA | SV% | GAA | xG A | HDSA | HDSv | HDGA | HDSV% |
| Magnus Hellberg | 1 | 39.97 | 19 | 16 | 3 | 0.842 | 4.5 | 1.69 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0.5 |
| Joel Blomqvist | 1 | 35.03 | 17 | 15 | 2 | 0.882 | 3.43 | 1.73 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0.75 |
| Taylor Gauthier | 1 | 22.78 | 17 | 16 | 1 | 0.941 | 2.63 | 0.68 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| Alex Nedeljkovic | 1 | 29.97 | 18 | 18 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1.76 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 1 |
Other players who got prime TOI, yet whose play was less than stellar were Pierre-Olivier Joseph and Ty Smith. Smith got burned so often that he look like he had been to the beach without sunscreen, not on the ice in a hockey game. Joseph, did play a little better than last season, in front of his own net, but when chasing down loose pucks with forecheckers bearing down on him, he reverted to his panicking and throwing the pucks away blindly rather than take hits.
Joseph may have scored a G on a deflection off a defenders skates, but his Corsi was so far underwater, for a vaunted mobile defenseman that he needed scuba gear.
Make no mistake, the Coaches and/or their apologists will still try some verbal legerdemain to veil their lack of objectivity. However, for me, I have seen these reruns to often to listen to their blather.
Hey Other Rick,
I have to laugh. No sooner did I write my article about the “Obscure Eight” then six of them got whacked…lol.
Regarding your comments, I didn’t see the games, but I’ll trust your observations. The downside to bringing in so many veterans (like Nieto, Johnsson, etc.) to compete for bottom-six spots is that it blocks kids who legitimately might be ready, like Poulin. Zahorna, too, who by all accounts has played really well. However, as you pointed out, we know how this works. They’ll give lip service to so-and-so doing well. But in the end, it’ll be the same old same old, or a reasonable facsimile.
Heck, Sullivan already came out and basically endorsed Carter.
I confess, I’m not shocked at all that Joshua was among the early cuts. I swear Sullivan breaks out in hives at the mere thought of utilizing an aggressive player. (Might take a penalty…gasp.) And if the kid plays a physical game AND has a big personality?
Fuhgeddaboudit.
In a similar vein, I think Mark Friedman would be fine as a third-pairing defenseman. He can skate, moves the puck reasonably well and has a good sense of when to jump into the play. He draws far more penalties than he takes. But, again, his level of aggression is more than Sullivan can tolerate.
Part of the reason we always seem to wind up with bland, Milquetoast-ish teams. With few exceptions, everyone’s cut from the same vanilla (Sully) mold.
Rick
Hey Rick,
You are better than Paulsen and Krenn when it comes to hexing the Penguins. Back in the day, any Penguin that joined that duo on their show found themselves out of Pittsburgh the next season. You work far faster, let Rick Buker talk about a Penguin and they will either have a horrible next game or get shipped out of town the next day- LOL.
So far Poulin, Poulin, Zohorna, and Gauthier impressed me in their Preseason games; DOC and Friedman have looked maybe half a tier lower.
Joshua also sort of impressed in his limited opportunity. He displayed everything I would want from a bottom 6 guy. However, like you, I was not surprised at all by Sullivan’s allergies showing again. Mr Ego isn’t going to learn from his mistakes until someone in Management holds him accountable for awful personnel decisions and asset management. The man has certainly milked his goof fortune of being a passenger on the Crosby, Malkin, Kessel, Letang, Hornqvist, Fleury, Murray bus for far more than it should have ever been worth.
Nylander and Puustinen (who I still have high hopes for) were neither impressive or horrible.
On Defense Friedman has been the only one playing like he deserves to start in Pgh, but like Joshua
Belliveau, who impressed me int he Prospect Challenge, looked a little intimidated. He had several opportunities to take command of the puck and skate with it, but opted to pass it. His passes were crisp and his stats were certainly better than POJ and Ty Smith.
I don’t want to really comment on Blomqvist or Nedeljkovic yet, Blomqvist wasn’t given much TOI and although I didn’t see the first G that beat him, he certainly wasn’t accountable on the 2nd, a shot from between the circles with opponents near the net, keeping him from challenging. And Nedeljkovic wasn’t really challenged. Both looked good in their movements but the competition wasn’t there to know how they would react in a real game situation.
I heard and interesting saying years ago, “only an idiot learns from his own mistakes, a wise man learns from the mistakes of others”. so what does that say about our Penguins? They don’t even learn from their own mistakes. In fact they keep doubling and tripling down on failed strategies.