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2017-2018 Pittsburgh Penguins

Calen Addison- Offensive Defenseman, read that, was a -18 last year. Plays with Jordy Bellerieve at Lethbridge. He will be a Gonchar project. He can skate, handle the puck. Makes some bad decisions...... sound familiar ?

Filip Hallander- Gritty 2 way Swedish winger that has a net front presence. Sound familiar ?

Justin Almedia- Small guy with a scoring touch. Like most of our wingers. He's an overager so we may see him sooner.

Liam Gorman- Headed to Boston U next year. 6 ft 3 and needs to fill out. OK skater and a decent shot. He's a Center now but projected as a winger.

None of these guys were a reach. Some were actually rated much higher (depending on which scouting report you believe). Not much immediate help coming to WBS. Without a first round pick (again) you have to trust the scouting and development parts of the organization. I'm glad the Pens moved up to snag Hallander after that the draft was pretty thin. So thin that we traded the 7th rounder to our buddies in Vegas for their 7th next year. Only four picks made. I hope they did the best they could do with what they had. I guess we'll see in 3-4 years.

Calen Addison is Letang 2.0
Hallander is Hornqvist 2.0


I think Calen and Justin out of all the prospects will see some ahl time(likely)
The rest of the picks will be playing in their junior leagues for a couple more seasons.
 
Calen Addison is Letang 2.0
Hallander is Hornqvist 2.0


I think Calen and Justin out of all the prospects will see some ahl time(likely)
The rest of the picks will be playing in their junior leagues for a couple more seasons.

Good futures if we hold onto them. I like this class considering where we were picking. Let's see what comes as UDFA
 
Looks like the Pens have resigned a few. Sprong, Simon and Rust. Rust at 3.5M. Olesiak was tendered and Shehan was not. After the signings there is about $4M in cap space. Still have some spots to fill. Much of anything else is going to require JR to make some fancy deals. Kunitz is looking better to me if he comes on the cheap.
 
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Looks like the Pens have resigned a few. Sprong, Simon and Rust. Rust at 3.5M. Olesiak was tendered and Shehan was not. After the signings there is about $4M in cap space. Still have some spots to fill. Much of anything else is going to require JR to make some fancy deals. Kunitz is looking better to me if he comes on the cheap.

Talks of Kunitz coming back.
Hopefully Sheahan gets a deal done.



I read Paul Martin possibly? Would Rutherford sign an older
D man in Martin?
 
Talks of Kunitz coming back.
Hopefully Sheahan gets a deal done.



I read Paul Martin possibly? Would Rutherford sign an older
D man in Martin?


I'm not sure why Sheahan wasn't tendered. I thought he was productive. Maybe he wants more than the Pens are willing to pay.
I think Martin is about done. He looked slow in the playoffs. If I remember correctly. He was sent down to the AHL just to get some ice time.
 
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Good off-season moves so far. I hope the guys can recharge,regroup and get it done again.
 
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Pens over paid for Brian Rust. But when you give Connor Sheary $3 million per, you kinda leave yourself nowhere to go. And I say no to bringing back dinosaurs like Kunitz and Martin. No sense getting older and slower than you already are.
 
What I'm waiting for is to see what happens with Oleksiak. He's become an important guy on the 3rd, sometimes 2nd pairing. Last year his cap hit was under $1M. JR is going to have to make moves for cap space to have any emergency funds. Let alone sign any upgrades.

Without Sheahan, we need a 4th line center. I guess we're looking at Bellerieve or Blueger.

Can't wait to see what they throw together for WBS. Our development pool is more like a puddle right now.
 
I would kick the tires on Anthony Duclair. He scored 20 goals with Arizona a couple years ago, is still young at 22 or 23, and the Blackhawks did not extend him a QO. I would offer him a 2 way deal and see if he can find his scoring touch again.

Agree with jitter. Definitely need to fix the defense. Going into the season with the same group they had last year doesn't seem like a solid strategy, especially when the only buzz with the Pens and defensemen is Paul Martin. There is nothing prospect wise to trade, and with roughly $4 million in cap space, you will need to make a roster player available to get any kind of quality defensive help. Moving Hunwick and Letang would be addition by subtraction, though I doubt they fetch much in return. I think the Pens are stuck on defense, barring moving a guy like Kessel or something similar.
 
I have this fantasy that they somehow managed to pry Rasmus Risotlainen from Buffalo. and it just hasn't been announced as part of the deal. LOL. I crack myself up.
 
Mark Madden has reported the Pens agreed to a 5-yr contract with Jack Johnson.

Jack Johnson? Ugh. Big physical guy, but not really a fit for the Pens I don't think. Guess we'll see.
 
Not thrilled with Johnson but you're right. Better than Hunwick. Sheary was $3M and Hunwick $2.1M. Can't wait to see the contract for Johnson.

Any Dman is better than Hunwick, even ole Letang.


A little bummed about Sheary, I thought his puck protection/stick handling was valuable at times.
But he was also one to constantly lose footing and get nullified by more physically aggressive teams.


I think Jack Johnson is supposed to provide a big body like what Ian Cole was.
Now we need to get to terms with Riley Sheahan
 
If the best you can say about Jack Johnson it that he’s not Matt Hunwick, that’s bad. Lol.
 
"Since entering the NHL in 2006-07 Johnson’s minus-109 mark is the worst among all NHL players.

Flawed as plus/minus is, when you are talking about more than a decades worth of data, and also taking into account that Johnson has played on some pretty good teams during his career, there should be cause for concern that he has finished as a plus-player just once in his career. He has been minus-5 or worse in every other season. Six times he has finished as a minus-12 or worse.

From a shots perspective things are just as bad." Quote from Adam Gretz


I knew he was bad but not this bad. Madden says contract is $3-3.5 M. Keep in mind he was picked only 2 picks after Sid. There must have been some talent there. No matter how buried it is.

Since the start of the 2006-07 season (Johnson’s debut year) there have been more than 356 defensemen that have played at least 100 games in the NHL. Johnson’s 48 percent Corsi rating is 275th out of that group.
 
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