Pittsburgh Penguins Prospects Thread

[deakka]

deakka, time to grab a crowbar and do a little tour of Finland.

They have a lot of defensemen playing in NA too. So im gonna need some help over there

 

[Peat]

Is Almari even playing at the moment? His stats on eliteprospects seem to be the same as they were about a month ago. *googles* Well he only played 59 seconds in his last game, so seems a good chance he's injured, assuming that's not a typo.


As for Lauzon... maybe I'm naive, but it still makes sense to me that they'd have taken him in the 1st. Which is a bit concerning really.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

Is Almari even playing at the moment? His stats on eliteprospects seem to be the same as they were about a month ago. *googles* Well he only played 59 seconds in his last game, so seems a good chance he's injured, assuming that's not a typo.


As for Lauzon... maybe I'm naive, but it still makes sense to me that they'd have taken him in the 1st. Which is a bit concerning really.

More than anything, I'd just be curious to know what it is about Lauzon (and I suppose Hall) that the Pens scouts loved so much. What was it about their skillsets that screamed "we need to take these guys much higher than they were rated"?

 

[Peat]

More than anything, I'd just be curious to know what it is about Lauzon (and I suppose Hall) that the Pens scouts loved so much. What was it about their skillsets that screamed "we need to take these guys much higher than they were rated"?

This one smells of direction from above to me - Rutherford saying "find me the toughest meanest defencemen with good skating you can". From what people say about Hall gods knows how he passed muster but I remember Rutherford talking that aspect up. At least by all accounts Lauzon is a genuinely good skater.

 

[Speaking Moistly]

In the rookie stuff Lauzon at least looked like he had some tools the Pens would like. Hall I have no idea what they were thinking.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

This one smells of direction from above to me - Rutherford saying "find me the toughest meanest defencemen with good skating you can". From what people say about Hall gods knows how he passed muster but I remember Rutherford talking that aspect up. At least by all accounts Lauzon is a genuinely good skater.

I don't even mind if they took fliers on "toughness" later in the draft, if they really felt it was needed. But I think it's nuts to focus on that aspect of a player early on. Skill/skating ability, IMO, are the two gold standards in today's NHL. Find that while it's available in rounds 1 to 4, then worry about nabbing a 6'5 enforcer in round 5 or 6.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Lauzon reminded me a lot of Dumoulin when I watched him. He looks like he should be a pretty steady DFD who can skate and move the puck. Then again, I thought the same about Scott Harrington, so who knows?

 

[NMK11]

Lauzon reminded me a lot of Dumoulin when I watched him. He looks like he should be a pretty steady DFD who can skate and move the puck. Then again, I thought the same about Scott Harrington, so who knows?

Harrington is still a 6/7 NHL defenseman on a good team, so not necessarily the end of the world. But the point still stands that those players arent the ones you take in the first or second rounds

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

Harrington's actually the poster child for being cautious about drafting defensive studs with little offensive production in junior and expecting them to become top four defensive studs in the NHL.

My fear for Lauzon is he'll be exactly like Harrington. Rock solid defensively in junior, but simply lacking the puck skills at the NHL level to carry over that success to the pros.

 

[Peat]

I don't even mind if they took fliers on "toughness" later in the draft, if they really felt it was needed. But I think it's nuts to focus on that aspect of a player early on. Skill/skating ability, IMO, are the two gold standards in today's NHL. Find that while it's available in rounds 1 to 4, then worry about nabbing a 6'5 enforcer in round 5 or 6.

No real argument here.

I kinda get a case for guys who have it all being rare and having to act promptly (rumour being that Montreal wanted Lauzon with their next pick when we took him after all) and again there was chat about both having good outlet passes... but even so, it just doesn't make sense. They got a guy with real puck moving skills, skating and abrasive qualities in Masonius in the 6th, they're still out there then.

 

[UnrealMachine]

Let's not lump Lauzon & Hall together. Lauzon is at least formally recognized by the league for being a shutdown defenseman, just turned 19 and is coming off of an injury. Hall on the other hand seems to have zero positive attributes attached to his skillset or development. That's not to say that Lauzon wasn't over-drafted in a cluster f*** of a bad trade, but he's quite far from Hall-level bust index.

 

[WheresRamziAbid]

Let's not lump Lauzon & Hall together. Lauzon is at least formally recognized by the league for being a shutdown defenseman, just turned 19 and is coming off of an injury. Hall on the other hand seems to have zero positive attributes attached to his skillset or development. That's not to say that Lauzon wasn't over-drafted in a cluster **** of a bad trade, but he's quite far from Hall-level bust index.

Well IIRC, they got the pick they use don Hall from trading Beau Bennett. Maybe they said get me the player the least like Beau Bennett.

You know, big defenseman with no NHL skillset.

 

[UnrealMachine]

Well IIRC, they got the pick they use don Hall from trading Beau Bennett. Maybe they said get me the player the least like Beau Bennett.

You know, big defenseman with no NHL skillset.

We'll, not unlike Bennett, Hall appears to be injury-prone regarding his shoulder. And I mean this in the true sense of injury-prone in that he gets injured by seemingly innocuous collisions. Unlike the Matt Murray "proneness", where Murray gets hit at full force while in a compromising position and suffers an unavoidable injury.

 

[WheresRamziAbid]

We'll, not unlike Bennett, Hall appears to be injury-prone regarding his shoulder. And I mean this in the true sense of injury-prone in that he gets injured by seemingly innocuous collisions. Unlike the Matt Murray "proneness", where Murray gets hit at full force while in a compromising position and suffers an unavoidable injury.

Well that blows my theory

 

[Jacob]

I think they simply liked Hall's size and mean streak, and thought he had untapped offensive potential. I think he did show an offensive touch at the U18s or U17s or something like that.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Any complaints I have with any specific draft pick get watered down because the Penguins have signed like 7 free prospects in the last 3 years. The Hall pick sucked, but at the same point, the Penguins got a guy that probably would have been a 2nd or 3rd round pick in 2018 in Bellerive for free. The Bjorkqvist pick is questionable (only 6 goals and 8 points in 16 games this year, I think he had a hat trick in his first game of the year too), but the Penguins got a near NHL ready Aston-Reese for free and ZAR is a very similar player in terms of play style to Bjorkqvist. It might suck that the Penguins took Lauzon in the 2nd round in 2017 (I personally don't mind the pick), but they also got Bengtsson for free, who looks like he will become a very steady 2-way NHLer who can skate and move the puck.

Does that excuse the bad picks JR has made (he has made a couple)? Of course not, but I have a really tough time complaining when he's consistently adding good prospects to the system in ways outside of the draft.

 

[Peat]

Let's not lump Lauzon & Hall together. Lauzon is at least formally recognized by the league for being a shutdown defenseman, just turned 19 and is coming off of an injury. Hall on the other hand seems to have zero positive attributes attached to his skillset or development. That's not to say that Lauzon wasn't over-drafted in a cluster **** of a bad trade, but he's quite far from Hall-level bust index.

Their points totals, iirc, say different. And Hall has the same excuse about injury.

Admittedly, I was talking about them as fitting a profile more than them being on the same path, but since the boot fits then yeah, there's a lot of similarities to date.

 

[Jacob]

Lauzon had more points last season than Hall has had in his entire junior career.

 

[Pancakes]

Lauzon reminded me a lot of Dumoulin when I watched him. He looks like he should be a pretty steady DFD who can skate and move the puck. Then again, I thought the same about Scott Harrington, so who knows?

He at least put up some points last year.

I don't like drafting guys with no puck skills. You have to be able to move the puck to be an NHL dman. I hope Lauzon turns into something but I doubt he will. For every Methot there are twenty Harringtons.

 

[66-30-33]

Any complaints I have with any specific draft pick get watered down because the Penguins have signed like 7 free prospects in the last 3 years. The Hall pick sucked, but at the same point, the Penguins got a guy that probably would have been a 2nd or 3rd round pick in 2018 in Bellerive for free. The Bjorkqvist pick is questionable (only 6 goals and 8 points in 16 games this year, I think he had a hat trick in his first game of the year too), but the Penguins got a near NHL ready Aston-Reese for free and ZAR is a very similar player in terms of play style to Bjorkqvist. It might suck that the Penguins took Lauzon in the 2nd round in 2017 (I personally don't mind the pick), but they also got Bengtsson for free, who looks like he will become a very steady 2-way NHLer who can skate and move the puck.

Does that excuse the bad picks JR has made (he has made a couple)? Of course not, but I have a really tough time complaining when he's consistently adding good prospects to the system in ways outside of the draft.

Yeah i'm fine with some busts if we can keep signing college , etc UFAs. It's like we get more draft picks in a way. We also signed UFA Di Pauli who's looking like a Rust clone.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

No real argument here.

I kinda get a case for guys who have it all being rare and having to act promptly (rumour being that Montreal wanted Lauzon with their next pick when we took him after all) and again there was chat about both having good outlet passes... but even so, it just doesn't make sense. They got a guy with real puck moving skills, skating and abrasive qualities in Masonius in the 6th, they're still out there then.

Considering how bad Montreal's drafted the past half dozen years, that should have been a red flag to the Pens about Lauzon if Montreal was that set on drafting him.

"A crappy drafting team sees something in this kid and wants to draft him higher than he should be taken?!? Can't have that!"

 

[Jag68Sid87]

Any complaints I have with any specific draft pick get watered down because the Penguins have signed like 7 free prospects in the last 3 years. The Hall pick sucked, but at the same point, the Penguins got a guy that probably would have been a 2nd or 3rd round pick in 2018 in Bellerive for free. The Bjorkqvist pick is questionable (only 6 goals and 8 points in 16 games this year, I think he had a hat trick in his first game of the year too), but the Penguins got a near NHL ready Aston-Reese for free and ZAR is a very similar player in terms of play style to Bjorkqvist. It might suck that the Penguins took Lauzon in the 2nd round in 2017 (I personally don't mind the pick), but they also got Bengtsson for free, who looks like he will become a very steady 2-way NHLer who can skate and move the puck.

Does that excuse the bad picks JR has made (he has made a couple)? Of course not, but I have a really tough time complaining when he's consistently adding good prospects to the system in ways outside of the draft.

In other words, there is a plan. It might not be the best plan, but they do have one.

I feel there is way too much emphasis on this. And it all stems back to Ryan Reaves, sadly. I wonder what the Penguins would have to do this season for people to actually forgive JR for the Reaves trade.

 

[Jag68Sid87]

Considering how bad Montreal's drafted the past half dozen years, that should have been a red flag to the Pens about Lauzon if Montreal was that set on drafting him.

"A crappy drafting team sees something in this kid and wants to draft him higher than he should be taken?!? Can't have that!"

Are they really that bad at drafting, or god-awful at developing? Seems to me the Habs draft a lot of NHLers, most of whom develop elsewhere.

 

[SHOOTANDSCORE]

Yeah i'm fine with some busts if we can keep signing college , etc UFAs. It's like we get more draft picks in a way. We also signed UFA Di Pauli who's looking like a Rust clone.

D'Orio and Miletic too. They've done a really nice job supplementing the system.

And there are guys like Quinney and Zink, who are on AHL deals but may have an outside shot at becoming depth players down the road.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

Are they really that bad at drafting, or god-awful at developing? Seems to me the Habs draft a lot of NHLers, most of whom develop elsewhere.

In 2007, they hit the jackpot with Pacioretty, Subban, and McDonagh, plus a depth guy like Yannick Weber. But since then it's been pretty bad for them.

Gallagher, Galchenyuk, and Beaulieu are the only draft picks from 2008 and beyond to play over 200 NHL games, and only Sergachev (now with Tampa) looking like a legitimate top line/top pairing player.

So overall, they've been pretty bad after that 2007 draft.