Penguins forward Rickard Rakell is expected to be out six-to-eight weeks following surgery to repair an injury to his left hand. Oddly, he hasn’t been officially placed on IR at the time of this post.
A tough break for both the team and Rakell, who’d followed up a career season with an equally strong start to the current campaign (eight points in nine games, including three goals).
The Pens have summoned winger Ville Koivunen from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton as a replacement. The Oulu, Finland native began the season with the big boys, but was assigned to the Baby Pens after two games.
Ville’s found his stride and then some in Wilkes, notching four goals and 11 points in only seven games. Dating back to his cameo last spring, the silky-skilled forward has seven assists in 10 career NHL games.
Following a comparatively healthy start to the season, two black-and-gold regulars have sustained longer-term injuries over the past few days. Defenseman Caleb Jones is expected miss eight weeks with a lower-body injury.
Break Up the Baby Pens
Speaking of our top farm club, they’ve begun the season on a 7-0 tear and have outscored the opposition by a whopping 28-10 margin to boot. Begging the question, are the Baby Pens too good for the AHL?
In addition to Koivunen, veteran Danton Heinen is lighting it up to the tune of four goals and a league-best 12 points in seven games. Wouldn’t be at all surprised to see a team like the Canucks make a play for him soon.
Among the kids, Tristan Broz and Atley Calvert have four goals apiece. Avery Hayes has three. AHL vets Sam Poulin, Valtteri Puustinen and Rafaël Harvey-Pinard are scoring at point-per-game clips, or close to it.
Ryan Graves, Owen Pickering and rugged rookie Chase Pietila anchor a vastly improved defense.
Between the pipes, phenom Sergei Murashov (1.40 goals against average and .949 save percentage) has been lights-out. Filip Larsson (1.46 GAA and .951 SV%) just as good.
It’s a most welcome development for the organization as a whole to see the Baby Pens performing at such a high level and speaks to the superb work Kyle Dubas and his staff have done to restock the prospect coffers in relatively short order.
I Confess…
…I’ve been regularly checking up on the Rangers to see how they’re performing under former Pens coach Mike Sullivan. And getting a perverse sort of pleasure from their struggles (3-4-2, tied for last in the Metro).
Does that make me a bad person?
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Rick,
I like Rakell. Therefore, during the off-season arm-chair GMing that goes on all around us, when I heard some people put forth the idea of trading Rakell, I was not a fan. I understood their argument - trade him while you can get something for him and before he gets injured, but I could not second that motion. I still am not completely behind that thought, even though I am fearing those fans' possible prognosticative abilities.
Like you, I have been following the dear departed Sullivan and am openly gloating over his struggles. If you are a bad person, I must confess I am worse. It is too early to commit to anything yet, though.