Ex-Penguins Update: One-Sixth Pole

I’ll begin my first Ex-Penguins Update of the season with a quiz. To borrow a catch phrase from the old Lone Ranger serial, who is that masked man pictured above?

To find the answer, keep reading.

Unlike seasons past, there isn’t much cookin’ among former Pens these days as we pass the 1/6th pole. Oh, Jake Guentzel is scoring at close to his customary point-per-game clip for the Lightning, as is Mikael Granlund for the upstart Ducks.

Peppery types Michael Bunting (Preds), Evan Rodrigues (Panthers) and Jason Zucker (Sabres) are roughly on pace for 50-point seasons. But no one’s really burning up the track, due to the fact that most of the ex-Pens are support players rather than standouts. Indicative of where the team’s been the past few seasons.

Shifting the focus to defense, Mike Matheson of the Habs is still providing offense from the backline. John Marino’s off to a typically solid start for the Mammoth. I don’t know if there’s been a worse trade in recent years than Ron Hextall’s ill-conceived Marino-for-Ty Smith swap. Unless it was Matheson for a fading Jeff Petry, still plying his trade at age 37 for the defending champion Panthers.

Getting back to the Mammoth, half of their defensive corps is comprised of former Pens, including Marino and perpetual steady Eddie’s, Ian Cole and Olli Määttä. Matt Grzelcyk isn’t putting up points for the Blackhawks the way he did for us, but he leads all expatriates with a plus-10. Matt was a plus-46 as recently as 2022-23.

In the oddities and tidbits department, Vinnie Hinostroza (Wild) and Conor Sheary (Rangers) have earned regular roles in the bigs after spending most of last season in the AHL. No surprise for the latter given that Mike Sullivan now coaches the Blueshirts. Andrew Agozzino (Mammoth) and Jansen Harkins (Ducks) continue to see spot duty.

As for the most popular landing spots, the Canucks, Kraken and Mammoth each employ four former Pens. No surprise given that former black-and-gold execs are running the show in Vancouver and Seattle.

Back to the quiz. Still stumped?

I’ll give a hint. He’s the only goalie in NHL history to win two Stanley Cups as a rookie.

Yep. Matt Murray has resurfaced in the Pacific Northwest.

Wish him well.

Speaking of goalies, Alex Nedeljkovic is doing a decent job for the Sharks following a bumpy start. Love Ned’s spunk and spirit.

SCORING
Player	Team	Pos	GP	G	A	PTS	PIM	=/-
Guentzel	TBL	LW	14	5	8	13	4	1
Bunting	NSH	LW	16	4	5	9	6	-2
Matheson	MTL	D	14	3	5	8	10	9
Rodrigues	FLA	C	14	3	5	8	8	3
Granlund	ANA	C	8	2	6	8	4	2
Zucker	BUF	LW	12	4	3	7	4	-7
Perron	OTT	LW	14	2	5	7	8	-6
Marino	UTA	D	14	1	6	7	4	3
Eller	OTT	C	14	2	4	6	0	0
Cole	UTA	D	14	1	5	6	8	7
Poehling	ANA	C	13	1	5	6	2	-1
Bjugstad	STL	C	14	4	1	5	8	0
Hinostroza	MIN	C	16	2	3	5	4	-5
O’Connor	VAN	LW	15	2	3	5	6	-3
Sheary	NYR	LW	15	0	5	5	2	0
Sundqvist	STL	C	8	0	5	5	6	-2
Beauvillier	WSH	LW	14	3	1	4	2	6
McCann	SEA	C	5	3	1	4	0	0
Staal	CAR	C	13	3	1	4	21	6
Petry	FLA	D	14	0	4	4	4	-3
Timmins	BUF	D	14	0	4	4	8	-3
Glass	NJD	C	7	3	0	3	6	1
Pearson	WPG	LW	14	2	1	3	10	-1
Ceci	LAK	D	15	1	2	3	0	-6
Aston-Reese	CBJ	C	10	0	3	3	2	0
Grzelcyk	CHI	D	15	0	3	3	2	10
Pettersson	VAN	D	15	0	3	3	19	1
Oleksiak	SEA	D	13	2	0	2	4	1
Reaves	SJS	RW	11	2	0	2	10	-4
Smith	VEG	RW	13	1	1	2	0	-4
Jankowski	CAR	C	8	0	2	2	6	1
Kapanen	EDM	RW	6	0	2	2	0	-2
Blueger	VAN	C	2	1	0	1	0	0
Harkins	ANA	C	4	1	0	1	0	0
Noesen	NJD	RW	8	1	0	1	2	-5
Desharnais	SJS	D	11	0	1	1	16	0
Dumoulin	LAK	D	15	0	1	1	2	-5
Gaudreau	SEA	C	4	0	1	1	0	0
Joseph	VAN	D	8	0	1	1	2	-2
Määttä	UTA	D	14	0	1	1	0	1
Nedeljkovic	SJS	G	7	0	1	1	2
Tanev	UTA	LW	14	0	1	1	6	-5
Agozzino	UTA	LW	2	0	0	0	0	0
DeSmith	DAL	G	4	0	0	0	0	0
Gudbranson	CBJ	D	4	0	0	0	6	-2
Gustavsson	MIN	G	12	0	0	0	0
Kulikov	FLA	D	2	0	0	0	0	-1
Lafferty	CHI	C	3	0	0	0	4	0
Murray	SEA	G	2	0	0	0	0
GOALTENDING
Player	Team	Pos	GP	GA	SH	GAA	SV%	W-L-OT
Nedeljkovic	SJS	G	7	21	0	2.96	.906	3-2-2
DeSmith	DAL	G	4	13	0	3.15	.876	2-1-1
Gustavsson	MIN	G	12	38	1	3.19	.896	4-7-1
Murray	SEA	G	2	4	0	3.24	.889	0-1-0
Italics indicates a Penguins draft pick or a free agent who began his career with the Penguins.