Prospect Info: Pittsburgh Penguins Prospects Thread

[cygnus47]

Nice to see Archibald has finally started to produce. He's the one prospect I've been most disappointed by in the last few years relative to my expectations of him. I'm not saying he'll become the next Callahan, but it would be great if he could be a feistier "Tyler Kennedy in his prime" kind of player.

He just needs to watch Hagelin really. That's pretty much his game. Use his speed, get shots on net.

 

[Jacob]

Shero always tended to overemphasize character, pedigree and familiarity to a fault and the Staal pick was just one example of that. If Staal's last name was Baker he would've been a late top ten, or early teens pick.

It's hard to fault him in a draft that's center-heavy for going safe and dependable especially when you've already got Sid and Geno, but it's not about fit as much as it's about adding the best assets you can. If we had taken Kessel (a C at the time) or Toews, and one of those three didn't fit, you move one to the wing or trade one for a better fit.

 

[Pancakes]

Shero always tended to overemphasize character, pedigree and familiarity to a fault and the Staal pick was just one example of that. If Staal's last name was Baker he would've been a late top ten, or early teens pick.

It's hard to fault him in a draft that's center-heavy for going safe and dependable especially when you've already got Sid and Geno, but it's not about fit as much as it's about adding the best assets you can. If we had taken Kessel (a C at the time) or Toews, and one of those three didn't fit, you move one to the wing or trade one for a better fit.

I agree with you overall point but wasn't Staal ranked #2 by most scouting services? Pretty hard to fault Shero for that one.

Now Pouliot on the other hand makes no sense because he was I think ranked like 20th by most scouting services. If Shero was that dead set on picking him he should have tried to trade back from the 8th spot and at least recoup a few picks out of the deal. He could have easily gotten him later in the draft.

And think about that draft. We lucked out big time because Ollie Maatta was ranked top 15 and somehow fell right into our lap. If not for that happening Shero's drafting really could have screwed us.

 

[Jag68Sid87]

Honestly, Staal was a great pick. I wanted Kessel but we wouldn't have won a Stanley Cup without J. Staal.

You can't assume a player will eventually price himself out of your market, which is what Staal did. You also can't assume that he wishes to play with his sibling, which is also what J. Staal did. It was the perfect storm for Carolina, pun intended.

 

[Shrimper]

 

[SprootsMasterFlex]

Honestly, Staal was a great pick. I wanted Kessel but we wouldn't have won a Stanley Cup without J. Staal.

You can't assume a player will eventually price himself out of your market, which is what Staal did. You also can't assume that he wishes to play with his sibling, which is also what J. Staal did. It was the perfect storm for Carolina, pun intended.

If not Toews, I would've taken Backstrom. Could you imagine him setting up Malkin or Sid on the PP? Only issue is that they all want to play on the same right slot on the PP.

 

[Big McLargehuge]

The only issue with Backstrom is that he was seen as the one guy who was a 'pure' center. Staal & Toews both had those who thought they could move to wing and be just fine, but Backstrom's value was tied completely to his position (which makes sense as a playmaker).

He was my favorite of the prospects on the board and someone I saw as having a roughly 1% chance of being drafted by the Pens because of that.

 

[strandvag]

Any update on Sprong's recent play? Besides stats...

 

[WayneSid9987]

Any update on Sprong's recent play? Besides stats...

Anytime i've watched games lately it's the same. Sprong is dangerous with the puck. Theres not much attention to detail in the Q on D so players cheat a little and the top guys stay out for long shifts.

I've missed the last 2 though.

I only know that his team won last night and the night before against a Cape Breton team that they are chasing in the standings(Char:49pts CB:53pts now). Couple of pretty big wins for them.

Sprong had 3 assists in the game the night before in a 4-2 win:
http://theqmjhl.ca/video/jan-29-screaming-eagles-2-islanders-4/

He had no points in a 3-0 win last night.

Looks like Charlottetown only has 18 reg. season games left.

 

[strandvag]

Anytime i've watched games lately it's the same. Sprong is dangerous with the puck. Theres not much attention to detail in the Q on D so players cheat a little and the top guys stay out for long shifts.

Thank you For the info sir. Will be interesting to follow his developement.

 

[WayneSid9987]

Thank you For the info sir. Will be interesting to follow his developement.

Yea, he's just not gonna learn much more in the Q.
Just like Drouin before him.

The Pens should put him on a solid summer training program.
I'd get him working with Sid and McKinnon and that crew.
Or if he spends his summers in Quebec, hook up with an NHL group that trains there(Letang, for example).
Gives him a better shot to stick in the NHL cuz next season is gonna be the same.
NHL or back to the Q cuz of his age.
Ideally you'd want the NHL or AHL option...

 

[#66]

Eh... you may be right. Toews didn't EXCLUSIVELY play center coming out of college though, did he? I don't know how guaranteed it would have been that he stayed on the third line. Hell... Staal didn't his first year. He was mostly Malkin's LW.

Which, by the way, was one of his best seasons, IMO. Odd that the team kept insisting on trying to reverse that formula rather than ever attempt revisiting it. Things might have worked out a bit different.

I always wondered if Staal went back to juniors and spent some time as a true star down there... If his mindset would have been different. Then come along to understand his potential more than just being a 3rd line center. He always seemed to lack confidence and needed an ego boost IMO. I liked Staal though. One of the best Pens in that 09 final.

I dont think JT becomes JT without the C and playing as a 3rd line center. My pick from that draft was Backstrom... He played some RW at the time and I thought he was smart enough to be a winger for Sid or a center for Ovy.

Wanted anyone but Kessel... Didnt fall for that American Crosby jazz at all.

 

[UnrealMachine]

Goalie prospect Sean Maguire has come back to form since missing all of last season with a concussion. After a slow start he has a .940 sv% since December 12th. He still has eligibility for next season so he probably won't be ready for WBS until the 17-18 season. If the plan is to trade one of Murray/Jarry within the next year or two, he could be an important asset in restocking the goalie pool while the Pens focus their draft(s) on D and forwards (LW'rs).

 

[Penguinator]

Goalie prospect Sean Maguire has come back to form since missing all of last season with a concussion. After a slow start he has a .940 sv% since December 12th. He still has eligibility for next season so he probably won't be ready for WBS until the 17-18 season. If the plan is to trade one of Murray/Jarry within the next year or two, he could be an important asset in restocking the goalie pool while the Pens focus their draft(s) on D and forwards (LW'rs).

Good news. Is he playing on a good team?

 

[UnrealMachine]

Good news. Is he playing on a good team?

Yeah, he plays for B.U. He was always a pretty solid prospect, but he had a severe concussion and took the entire last season off. He played in the last Pens Prospects game. Apparently he has been playing at his best level yet over the last 7-8 weeks. He was very good in the Frozen Four tournament a few years back, which is the last time I saw (televised) him play.

 

[66-30-33]

We don't need to trade Murray or Jarry. Next season Murray will be the backup to Fleury and Jarry takes over as a number 1 G for WBS for a few years, then comes Maguire.

 

[Penguinator]

Yeah, he plays for B.U. He was always a pretty solid prospect, but he had a severe concussion and took the entire last season off. He played in the last Pens Prospects game. Apparently he has been playing at his best level yet over the last 7-8 weeks. He was very good in the Frozen Four tournament a few years back, which is the last time I saw (televised) him play.

Thanks & 66-29-33, we don't need to unless we include say Jarry in a package & the return is a good LW or a top4D.


But this is a moot point as neither Jarry or Murray have good return value at this point in time.

 

[WayneSid9987]

Good Maguire read here:

http://www.uscho.com/2016/02/01/aft...regains-his-focus-and-shines-in-beanpot-semi/

 

[Dipsy Doodle]

We don't need to trade Murray or Jarry. Next season Murray will be the backup to Fleury and Jarry takes over as a number 1 G for WBS for a few years, then comes Maguire.

If there's an opportunity to upgrade the roster and one of them is coveted, we may need to.

 

[CrosbyMalkin]

If there's an opportunity to upgrade the roster and one of them is coveted, we may need to.

I rather use picks and keep both. In 5 years when we go for a full rebuild having those 2 in net will be a good foundation to start the rebuild around. Good goalies keep teams in contention even when the rest of the team is subpar.

Although I could care less about what the team needs years from now. We are not going to have a core like this to build around for a long time if ever. All we needed was a new coach to see Crosby is still at his best. Since the change Crosby has been ahead of his career pace. Letang has 30 points in his last 28 games. The core of Crosby, Malkin, Kessel, Letang, and Fleury is something that has to have the team go for it each year. The great thing about Rutherford is he is doing it without rentals (Kessel, Perron/Hagelin). I have no problem using picks for guys in prime age 25-29 with term. With this fast forechecking style this team can come out of the East and once you get to the Cup anything can happen.

Also for everyone that criticizes the prospect pool, we have 3 young defenseman in Maatta, Dumoulin, and Pouliot. Those 3 with Letang still in his prime is our 4 defenseman to build around for the next 5 years. If they progress well we will only need a 5-6 type defenseman which won't cost much. As far as top 2 lines you have 5 of the 6 for several more years and Sprong could be the 6th in a couple years. We have plenty of good 3rd-4th line prospects in the system so I really don't see a problem with our prospect situation. Go back to the 1993 to 2001 prospect years when we had no guys to help for years. We are far from that with several young players doing well on this team and a core still in prime.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

If there's an opportunity to upgrade the roster and one of them is coveted, we may need to.

I'd rather they not. This is the first time the Pens have 2 very good goaltending prospects in the system after years of trying to get the likes of college fa's such as - Thiessen, Curry, and Hartzell to be potential maybe's and fizzling out. Even Pechurskiy was thrown about by people here as a "He could maybe probably potentially some day stay in the AHL long enough to see what we have!!!"

Fleury is going on 32yrs old this year.

Also, those goalies are better bargaining chips when they get a few NHL games under their belt. Let's not be Ottawa and pull a Ben Bishop (Blues being the first to lose him).

Also, the Wild went from having a few solid young goalies to being desperate enough to give a kid like Dubnyk a shot off of waivers and they fluked out. Hackett and Gustafsson were promising potential #1's...but they at least kept Kuemper.

I don't want this team to be in that position, ever.

It wasn't long ago that we were the team that had incredible defense depth. With 3yrs we went from - Pouliot, Maatta, Harrington, Despres, Samuelsson, Morrow, Dumoulin, Bortuzzo to just Pouliot, Maatta and Dumoulin.

And what do we have left in the pool? **** all. What is the need right now? A defenseman that can play top 4 minutes, imagine that.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

How about we don't see this team trade any picks or prospects, it's not just the picks that need to be protected. This team can't afford to keep dumping away prospects for rentals or whatever.

If the team is desperate to land someone, shed some of the bloated contracts that are no longer useful - Like Kunitz or Cole.

The way this team ****s over prospects that come over seas as UFA's is also a concern, maybe the Pens were never in on that russian Defenseman that seems to want to go to Toronto, but if they were, you would just have to look at the team as the agent and say **** it. Plotnikov has not received a fair shake, same with Andersson, a guy that should have gotten a call-up.

 

[clefty]

If they one of them pans out, or rather is well on the path to panning out there's absolutely no reason not to entertain shopping the other. If they both pan out it's a no brainer. You don't need two starters.

Washington got Filip Forsberg out of dealing Varlamov when he was still a backup. They henceforth ****ed it up, because GMGM, but still.

 

[UnrealMachine]

The idea of trading one of Murray/Jarry is predicated on:

1. Both of them being potential NHL goalies;
2. Not wanting 3 NHL calibre goalies in the system while there are other holes to plug on the team.

What I don't want to see happen is Fleury staying around for another 5 years while they have 2 replacements who could do a similar or better job for 1/10th of the price. If Maguire ends up looking like a pro goalie as well, then there is even more reason to make a move. After having drafted exactly one NHL goalie over the last 20 years (it only took a 1st overall pick to so so), the Pens may have gone 3 for 3 with their last 3 goalie draft picks.

 

[Jacob]

There's no guarantee one of those two will be a future NHL starter.. but with both I think we stand a good chance. I'd keep both. I don't think goalie prospects have great value anyway, at least ones that aren't household names like Rask or Jones.