Confirmed with Link: Penguins re-sign Derrick Pouliot (1 yr/$800k) and Josh Archibald (2 yrs/$675k per)

[ColePens]

I would say this is Pouliot's last chance to get it together. It hasn't been a pretty ride for him. You would think this system supports his skillset, or that when he was scouted. But he's really on that last breath. He looked solid at the end of 2015-16 season with Cole until Schultz took over that pairing. He was an absolute hot mess in 2017. Any game he went on the ice he was brutal. He was weak, slow, bad in the corners, no offense, etc. It could not have been worse for him and i'm sure his confidence lacked.

So here's to hoping! I've seen crazier turn-arounds, that's for sure. But let's just say I'm not too optimistic. If you want to compare a struggling player who has massive potential, it's Maatta. You see glimpses in Maatta where you realize that top 4 potential. When you look at Pouliot, you don't see that. At all. But a desperate man fighting for his NHL career may be the best thing that happened to Derrick.

 

[Return of the Paek]

Two solid signings. It's nice to see the team give both 1 ways so we know this is their time with NHL club. There will be injuries and both will play games.

Looks they currently have (with my preferred combos):

Guentzel-Crosby-Hornqvist
Hagelin-Malkin-Kessel
Sheary-xxxx-Rust
Wilson-Rowney-Archibald
Kuhnhackl-Reaves (obviously he's going to play, but I did say these were my preferred combos)

Dumo-Letang
Maatta-Schultz
Cole-Hunwick
Pouliot-Ruh

You have to believe that a winger and/or Pooh would likely be a sweetener to any deal for a 3C.

 

[Ziggyjoe21]

Pooh has no trade value so I guess Pens have no choice but to play him and hope he fetches a 4th round pick or something.

I would imagine that Pouliot is gonna be the #8 guy.

 

[Penguinsyay]

People really dislike Pouliot eh?

This guy was selected over Jacob Trouba, Filip Forsberg, Teravainen, Vasilevskiy, Olli Maatta, Hertl, Ceci, etc, etc. That's not mentioning late surprise picks like Gostisbehere, Parayko, and Matt Murray.

Yeah, yeah. Its pointless to compare players in the same draft class, but my point is that it is always hard when a top 10 first round pick becomes a bust. Pouliot isn't yet at the 'bust' stage in my opinion, but it is really starting to look that way. But hey, getting Maatta and Matt Murray in a draft is pretty darn good, even if Shero fudged it with the #8 pick.

 

[Ziggyjoe21]

This guy was selected over Jacob Trouba, Filip Forsberg, Teravainen, Vasilevskiy, Olli Maatta, Hertl, Ceci, etc, etc. That's not mentioning late surprise picks like Gostisbehere, Parayko, and Matt Murray.

Yeah, yeah. Its pointless to compare players in the same draft class, but my point is that it is always hard when a top 10 first round pick becomes a bust. Pouliot isn't yet at the 'bust' stage in my opinion, but it is really starting to look that way. But hey, getting Maatta and Matt Murray in a draft is pretty darn good, even if Shero fudged it with the #8 pick.

How is Pouliot not a bust? I'd say if he becomes a regular NHL player at this point it would be a surprise.

A 23 year old player who's role within the organization has consistently been reduced over the past 2 years does not instill much confidence.

IMO if he wasn't a top 10 pick the Pens would not have re-signed him.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Well, Bengtsson is still under contract for 1 more year, I hope he does come back and is able to resume his career and this time, while knowing what medical issue he's had for a long time that he can now control. That kid was brought in for being a solid PMD, seems like a mentally tough kid to come back to train after what he went through, makes me want to see him make it even more.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

How is Pouliot not a bust? I'd say if he becomes a regular NHL player at this point it would be a surprise.

A 23 year old player who's role within the organization has consistently been reduced over the past 2 years does not instill much confidence.

IMO if he wasn't a top 10 pick the Pens would not have re-signed him.

Well he has to show he's earned his right to stay up. Guys like Ruhwedel did things that separated them from the pack, in Ruh's case, he was a smooth skating play it safe kind of guy that also jumped up on the rush but was fairly reliable in his own end.

Pouliot makes decision errors because he's hesitant and his lack of intensity is a huge problem at the NHL level, but again, he's shown he can put it all together, I just hope his game #82 vs the Rangers is more of what's to come from him and if that's the case, he will be a regular this year if he builds on that.

It makes no sense for him to be the odd man out in Sully's system, he gives everyone a chance to make their case, he's not like Disco who punishes young players for playing well or just playing in general. So if Pouliot wants this, its all on him to use the people around him, Gonchar is a full time assistant coach now and Jacques Martin has been one for a long time, bend their ear.

 

[Jaded-Fan]

The entire regular season is akin to the preseason for a team like the Pens.

Pouliot will be given every chance and three more to show that he now belongs. The Pens really need him to do that, the skills he was supposed to bring are exactly the skills needed by this team, transition game and PP QB.

I really hope that everyone was wrong about him and that he simply took forever to get there.

Again, at least the Pens have north of 80 games of essentially preseason hockey for him to try and do it.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

Pouliot never struck me as a guy with high-end hockey IQ. In junior, he was a guy with elite puck moving ability who could thread the needle on passes. I never really thought of him as having a cerebral game though.

And in the NHL, he looks like a guy that may have decent physical tools, but doesn't have the brain to process what he needs to do in a quick amount of time.

I think Pouliot is closer to Letang when it comes to hockey sense. The difference being Letang's physical gifts are a hundred times better to compensate.

 

[froods]

Pouliot never struck me as a guy with high-end hockey IQ. In junior, he was a guy with elite puck moving ability who could thread the needle on passes. I never really thought of him as having a cerebral game though.

And in the NHL, he looks like a guy that may have decent physical tools, but doesn't have the brain to process what he needs to do in a quick amount of time.

I think Pouliot is closer to Letang when it comes to hockey sense. The difference being Letang's physical gifts are a hundred times better to compensate.

And his passion and dedication to working hard. As much as Tanger is talented, his work ethic is something to behold.

 

[cygnus47]

How is Pouliot not a bust? I'd say if he becomes a regular NHL player at this point it would be a surprise.

A 23 year old player who's role within the organization has consistently been reduced over the past 2 years does not instill much confidence.

IMO if he wasn't a top 10 pick the Pens would not have re-signed him.

So we should have sold off Dumo before he made it? He turned 24 his first NHL season too. Sheary was 24 when he first made the NHL. Should have never signed him? Both busts those two.

 

[Darth Vitale]

I don't think DP will play another game for the pens again in his career. They have 8 def on one way contracts now, they aren't gonna keep all 8, somebody's gotta go.

I think with that contract he's a pretty good trade candidate. Maybe as part of a larger deal, we'll see. But I agree. I can't really see him playing for us at this point. Big drop off from the other D.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Pouliot never struck me as a guy with high-end hockey IQ. In junior, he was a guy with elite puck moving ability who could thread the needle on passes. I never really thought of him as having a cerebral game though.

And in the NHL, he looks like a guy that may have decent physical tools, but doesn't have the brain to process what he needs to do in a quick amount of time.

I think Pouliot is closer to Letang when it comes to hockey sense. The difference being Letang's physical gifts are a hundred times better to compensate.

The problem with Letang isn't that he doesn't have good hockey IQ, its that he does and then he gets stuck in his own head and gets caught for not being "present" in the play.

People have this silly notion that Letang is some nitwit that is barely passable for hockey IQ but his talents are immense, it's kind of ridiculous.

 

[xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

How is Pouliot not a bust? I'd say if he becomes a regular NHL player at this point it would be a surprise.

A 23 year old player who's role within the organization has consistently been reduced over the past 2 years does not instill much confidence.

IMO if he wasn't a top 10 pick the Pens would not have re-signed him.

Agreed. Dude is 100% living off of draft pedigree right now.

 

[Peat]

How many RFAs making under a million don't requalified every year?

 

[hiptanaka]

I remember not being impressed with Dumoulin when he was around 23/24. Hopefully Pouliot can figure things out.

 

[Ziggyjoe21]

So we should have sold off Dumo before he made it? He turned 24 his first NHL season too. Sheary was 24 when he first made the NHL. Should have never signed him? Both busts those two.

Pooh made his NHL debut in 2014 when he was 20-21. As a matter of fact, that season was arguably his best season as a pro because he played a whopping 34 games in the NHL which is (by far) a career high for him.

Dumo and Sheary started their NHL careers late because they played in college and turned pro at 22-23.

Obviously we can't complain about our team's accomplishments, and we still got Maatta/Murray from that draft, but boy was Pouliot a bad pick in hindsight. There was a lot of talent left on the board at the time.

 

[jmelm]

I don't think DP will play another game for the pens again in his career.

They have 8 def on one way contracts now, they aren't gonna keep all 8, somebody's gotta go.

I don't necessarily agree with this. Pouliot can definitely be traded IF he would be an important part of a package to bring in a 3C, but the Pens will otherwise just give him away unless he absolutely blows it in training camp and shows up in bad shape. His cap hit isn't a problem for us and we know injuries are going to happen at some point.

Also, I think Cole factors into this situation. Of course Pouliot will never replace Cole's role, but I think whether we can extend him this summer may impact the situation. If we can lock in Cole to an extension, it makes it easier to dump Pouliot because we will have more overall depth in general. If we think Cole is going to walk next summer, then I think it's important to have depth and that t's worth seeing if Poo can at least be half-way decent as a bottom pairing guy.

Pouliot never struck me as a guy with high-end hockey IQ. In junior, he was a guy with elite puck moving ability who could thread the needle on passes. I never really thought of him as having a cerebral game though.

And in the NHL, he looks like a guy that may have decent physical tools, but doesn't have the brain to process what he needs to do in a quick amount of time.

I don't think his hockey IQ is a question at all. I think there are 3 primary issues with Pouliot:

1) His top speed (he doesn't have an extra gear, which has been my complaint since he was drafted)
2) Lack of competitiveness/urgency on a consistent basis.
3) Confidence. His confidence is completely shot and this effects every other part of his game.

The primary thing I would like to see from him, if he's going to be an effective player, is if he can find another gear in his skating. An offensive Dman needs to have recovery speed. It will help him get back into position to defend whether it's to back check if he jumps into the play, or get back to the front of the net from the corner/boards in the Dzone. Improved skating will allow him to become more of an effective player, which is necessary to help him build back his confidence.

 

[Malkinstheman]

People would feel alot better if Pooh atleast played good offensively but was a trainwreck in his own end. Instead, he was terrible at absolutely everything last season. He couldnt produce anything or defend anyone. There were literally no redeeming qualities to his play.

 

[Speaking Moistly]

So we should have sold off Dumo before he made it? He turned 24 his first NHL season too. Sheary was 24 when he first made the NHL. Should have never signed him? Both busts those two.

It's really bad if a top 10 pick isn't an NHL regular five seasons after being drafted. He's not comparable to a 2nd round pick or an undrafted player, both of whom went to college.

 

[Jaded-Fan]

It's really bad if a top 10 pick isn't an NHL regular five seasons after being drafted. He's not comparable to a 2nd round pick or an undrafted player, both of whom went to college.

I am not exactly sure what player development arc has to do with draft position.

Granted a top ten pick has a better chance statistically of developing into an actual player historically. But aside from that I have no clue why draft position matters in whether the player eventually puts it together or not five years down the road.

 

[Speaking Moistly]

I am not exactly sure what player development arc has to do with draft position.

Granted a top ten pick has a better chance statistically of developing into an actual player historically. But aside from that I have no clue why draft position matters in whether the player eventually puts it together or not five years down the road.

I'd say that the expectation is that they're closer to being NHL ready and less of a project. So eventually it's that there's no development left to be made earlier than a later pick or something has gone catastrophically wrong, or it was just a bad pick. Their development isn't supposed to be the same as a 3rd rounder. But I didn't look beyond top 10 because no one has that much time; I did some monstrous post about it that I'll dig up later when I'm not on my phone.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

The problem with Letang isn't that he doesn't have good hockey IQ, its that he does and then he gets stuck in his own head and gets caught for not being "present" in the play.

People have this silly notion that Letang is some nitwit that is barely passable for hockey IQ but his talents are immense, it's kind of ridiculous.

I'm not saying Letang is as dumb as a stump, I'm just saying that hockey IQ isn't one of his better strengths. He's probably a 5 or 6 out of 10 in hockey sense, but a 9 or 10 out of 10 in the actual physical tools.

I was just saying Pouliot, to me, was similar (about a 4 or 5 out of 10 in hockey IQ), but without Letang's physical ability to make up any deficiencies.

 

[Ziggyjoe21]

I'm not saying Letang is as dumb as a stump, I'm just saying that hockey IQ isn't one of his better strengths. He's probably a 5 or 6 out of 10 in hockey sense, but a 9 or 10 out of 10 in the actual physical tools.

I was just saying Pouliot, to me, was similar (about a 4 or 5 out of 10 in hockey IQ), but without Letang's physical ability to make up any deficiencies.

You don't become a 25 minute a night, 60+ point Dman without having hockey IQ.

 

[Ziggyjoe21]

I am not exactly sure what player development arc has to do with draft position.

Granted a top ten pick has a better chance statistically of developing into an actual player historically. But aside from that I have no clue why draft position matters in whether the player eventually puts it together or not five years down the road.

Top 10 players are usually closer to NHL ready than later round picks. That's why Pouliot made his NHL debut as a 20 year old. Unfortunately it seems like he's done zero development in the past 3 years.