Confirmed with Link: Penguins trade Derrick Pouliot to Canucks for Andrey Pedan, 4th rd. pick

[Pancakes]

Figured I might as well bump it since it's now the halfway point in the year. After being a healthy scratch for a couple of games, Pouliot got back into the lineup for the last 2 games. He continued his horrid play that he was doing before the scratches, and only played in 11:49 last game against Winnipeg. Canucks fans have quickly turned on him, now talking about how much he sucks while playing in actual minutes, rather than heavily sheltered minutes. He has 1 point in his last 16 games and is -18 over that stretch.

So basically, everyone who said Pouliot sucked was right

Said it before but I just don't know what our scouts ever saw in him. He had a nice first pass but he was/is undersized, slow, and soff.

Undersized and slow is a bad combination at the NHL level unless your skills are absolutely insane, and Pouliot's weren't at that level.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

Said it before but I just don't know what our scouts ever saw in him. He had a nice first pass but he was/is undersized, slow, and soff.

Undersized and slow is a bad combination at the NHL level unless your skills are absolutely insane, and Pouliot's weren't at that level.

I'll never know why Shero went with Pouliot. It doesn't even take hindsight to see there were better options available at that time, regardless of whether Shero wanted to go forward (Forsberg) or defenseman (Trouba). Both *looked* better than Pouliot and were rated higher than Pouliot in pretty much every draft rankings.

Shero tried to appear smarter than everyone else, and he ended up looking stupid with the pick.

 

[Pancakes]

I'll never know why Shero went with Pouliot. It doesn't even take hindsight to see there were better options available at that time, regardless of whether Shero wanted to go forward (Forsberg) or defenseman (Trouba). Both *looked* better than Pouliot and were rated higher than Pouliot in pretty much every draft rankings.

Shero tried to appear smarter than everyone else, and he ended up looking stupid with the pick.

True that. I can only assume it was because they saw a lot of him from previously scouting Morrow.

At least the Morrow pick I can understand though. He could skate and had a cannon. But Pouliot? Ugh.

 

[Captain Hook]

Yeah, my guess is the Pens scouts fell in love with Pouliot while keeping up with Joe Morrow's development. Probably also felt they could improve or work around Pouliot's weaknesses but they were wrong.

It's a shame they didn't take Forsberg. We'd been in need of more wingers forever and a winger projected to go as high as the top 3 in the draft fell into our laps. Although we weren't the only team that had concerns since a few others also passed on him until Washington took him and even they weren't sold on him to the point where they quickly traded him. Nashville's GM had it right though. He said right after he traded for Forsberg that he thought he was a top 5 player in that draft.

 

[WayneSid9987]

Forsberg was never really an option cuz he was a swede and a forward. Basically the anti-Shero pick. Trouba was doable.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Forsberg was never really an option cuz he was a swede and a forward. Basically the anti-Shero pick. Trouba was doable.

The funniest shit is that Shero in NJ has drafted a boatload of Euro players. I f***ing hate him even more for it.

Since that piece of shit took over NJ...

Hischier - Swiss
Boqvist - Swede
Zetterlund - Swede
Popugaev - Russian
Senn - Swiss
Zaitsev - Russian
Zacha - Russian
Bratt -Swede
Studenic - Slovakian
Maltsev - Russian
Rykov - Russian

Out of his 25 picks with the Devils, 11 were Euro, 44% of his f***ing picks were Euro. Meanwhile, his Penguins picks were mostly US born or Canadian (mostly College bound, safe picks).

 

[HandshakeLine]

The funniest **** is that Shero in NJ has drafted a boatload of Euro players. I ****ing hate him even more for it.

Since that piece of **** took over NJ...

Hischier - Swiss
Boqvist - Swede
Zetterlund - Swede
Popugaev - Russian
Senn - Swiss
Zaitsev - Russian
Zacha - Russian
Bratt -Swede
Studenic - Slovakian
Maltsev - Russian
Rykov - Russian

Out of his 25 picks with the Devils, 11 were Euro, 44% of his ****ing picks were Euro. Meanwhile, his Penguins picks were mostly US born or Canadian (mostly College bound, safe picks).

Well, that seems to suggest one of two things: either Shero's input on the draft picks has been over estimated here or that he's learned from his mistake.

I always thought the NA/Defenseman thing was Grillo's influence, and since he struck gold with Letang and Goligoski he was given more free reign, but that's just my read on it.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Well, that seems to suggest one of two things: either Shero's input on the draft picks has been over estimated here or that he's learned from his mistake.

I always thought the NA/Defenseman thing was Grillo's influence, and since he struck gold with Letang and Goligoski he was given more free reign, but that's just my read on it.

It's really tough to say, the Pens meddle with literally everything. Our HC can't pick all of his own assistants. Our GM can't pick his own ASGM.

 

[HandshakeLine]

It's really tough to say, the Pens meddle with literally everything. Our HC can't pick all of his own assistants. Our GM can't pick his own ASGM.

Yeah, it's weird. Which is why I can't get so worked up anymore about coaching/GM stuff. There's been so many cases of just weird staff behavior that goes away whenever someone gets a job somewhere else that you just have to assume that ownership has some sort of sway over decisions.

That's pretty much the one thing I want as a Pens fan over the years-- more explanation of the chain of command in the organization, if for nothing else than to at least give me an idea of who to be mad at during the proper times.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Yeah, it's weird. Which is why I can't get so worked up anymore about coaching/GM stuff. There's been so many cases of just weird staff behavior that goes away whenever someone gets a job somewhere else that you just have to assume that ownership has some sort of sway over decisions.

That's pretty much the one thing I want as a Pens fan over the years-- more explanation of the chain of command in the organization, if for nothing else than to at least give me an idea of who to be mad at during the proper times.

JR has taken more "chances" with Euro picks.

It's kind of weird because when JR took over, the draft picks were kind of all over the place, a bigger focus on Euro picks all of a sudden. JR takes over and we suddenly draft:

Drozg
Olund
Palojarvi
Gustavsson
Bjorkqvist
Almari
Kapanen (likely his only call that draft, rest are very "Shero's scouting staff" type picks).
Sprong, Simon, Tiffels, Pavlychev were all taken in the same draft. All Euro that whole draft.

Compare that to Ray Shero's tenure with the Pens.

In his 8yrs he took 9 Euro players (Out of them, Kuhnhackl and Maatta are the only successful ones, the only other NHL'er out of them is Sundqvist - just barely).

Something always just seemed off to me about that, yeah maybe our head scout at the time had more of a say, but JR took over, despite a lot of moronic handcuffing by the ownership group's lackeys, he's managed to draft a lot of Euro's in 3yrs. Not just bad ones either.

Olund has potential to be a decent bottom 6 C (maybe).
Drozg just had a huge showing in WJr's.
Simon is making his mark now.
Gustavsson is probably one of the most coveted Euro prospect goalies in the NHL.
Sprong is our next Despres.

Etc..

 

[Honour Over Glory]

So maybe Shero did learn, that his playing safe and all of that crap was not getting him the results he wanted, so suddenly that asshole goes to NJ and starts drafting a bunch of Euro's.

Jesper Bratt is awesome btw, dude would fit so well on the Pens.

 

[HandshakeLine]

Didn't GMJR basically hire a whole new scouting staff though? That's what drove the turnover I thought, especially since we had only one guy in Europe covering CZ/SK/Scandinavia/KHL by his lonesome.

 

[Peat]

Didn't GMJR basically hire a whole new scouting staff though? That's what drove the turnover I thought, especially since we had only one guy in Europe covering CZ/SK/Scandinavia/KHL by his lonesome.

I'm still half convinced we don't have anyone scouting the KHL given the level of interest we show in it in terms of drafting/FA

Will be interesting to see what the picks look like with Allvin as Chief Scout.

 

[Dipsy Doodle]

The funniest **** is that Shero in NJ has drafted a boatload of Euro players. I ****ing hate him even more for it.

Since that piece of **** took over NJ...

Hischier - Swiss
Boqvist - Swede
Zetterlund - Swede
Popugaev - Russian
Senn - Swiss
Zaitsev - Russian
Zacha - Russian
Bratt -Swede
Studenic - Slovakian
Maltsev - Russian
Rykov - Russian

Out of his 25 picks with the Devils, 11 were Euro, 44% of his ****ing picks were Euro. Meanwhile, his Penguins picks were mostly US born or Canadian (mostly College bound, safe picks).

I can't remember if we're giving credit to Shero for our drafting during his tenure here now or not.

What's the order of the day? Something negative? I assume he burdens 100% of the responsibility, as opposed to when we talk about how many of those US/Canadian picks have turned out to be fantastic in retrospect.

 

[UnderratedBrooks44]

I'm still half convinced we don't have anyone scouting the KHL given the level of interest we show in it in terms of drafting/FA

Will be interesting to see what the picks look like with Allvin as Chief Scout.

I don't know about drafting, but we brought Plots over. I'm not sure how many teams have even brought a guy over from there let alone put him on the opening night roster. It's probably just not that worthwhile in terms of acquisitions.

 

[HandshakeLine]

I don't know about drafting, but we brought Plots over. I'm not sure how many teams have even brought a guy over from there let alone put him on the opening night roster. It's probably just not that worthwhile in terms of acquisitions.

Yeah, the KHL is really struggling and the lack of transfer agreement means we don't really have the incentive to go after late round gems there. Basically, any Russian we'd want is already well-known, and those that aren't aren't worth bringing over and developing for 4-5 years until they adjust to NA play.

Also talented Russians seem to know this and so they're playing way more often in Canadian junior hockey than in the KHL, if they have any desire to go pro in NA at all.

Honestly, I like what we're doing with the Česká Extraliga (Simon and Uher's league) and the Finnish/Swedish leagues.

 

[Peat]

I thought we brought over Plots because he'd played with Geno?

Either way, yeah, fair point. We're as in on terms of free agent signings as anyone. But in terms of drafting... not in ages. Probably with good reason as Master Lin points out. And we're certainly doing great from the looks of it in terms of the rest of Europe.

 

[Shady Machine]

I can't remember if we're giving credit to Shero for our drafting during his tenure here now or not.

What's the order of the day? Something negative? I assume he burdens 100% of the responsibility, as opposed to when we talk about how many of those US/Canadian picks have turned out to be fantastic in retrospect.

I'll stick with blaming or praising the GM 100% of the time on hockey related matters. Makes it easier than guessing at who is responsible for every decision.

So, with that in mind, Shero deserves credit for the mid to late picks that turned out years down the line, but criticism for most of the 1st-2nd round picks.

 

[Fatty McLardy]

i will say about Shero, he has learned a lot from his mistakes. Dude's killing it in NJ so far, that team was dead in the water.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

I can't remember if we're giving credit to Shero for our drafting during his tenure here now or not.

What's the order of the day? Something negative? I assume he burdens 100% of the responsibility, as opposed to when we talk about how many of those US/Canadian picks have turned out to be fantastic in retrospect.

I'm not saying his NA picks were all terrible, when you look back on Shero's drafting, he has a lot of gems in the later rounds, but his higher picks leave a lot to be desired, that year in general was just rather stupid. You take a D and then another D that high in the draft.

 

[ColePens]

This thread has run it's course. If it's prospects you want to discuss - go to the prospects thread.