Pittsburgh Penguins Prospects Thread

[Dipsy Doodle]

Id more say his brain with the mentality that he could just skate by (pun intended) in juniors and AHL level but skill will only get you so far at the top.

We'll find out this year.

 

[Randy Butternubs]

*is*

You think you can just get by with a wink and a smile.

*winks*

What about the smile?

I am smiling.

Edit: okay so that's not the exact quote...

 

[Dipsy Doodle]

You think you can just get by with a wink and a smile.

*winks*

What about the smile?

I am smiling.

Edit: okay so that's not the exact quote...

If we never get Black Dynamite 2 I will consider my life wasted. Moreso.

 

[Tom Hanks]

 

[Dipsy Doodle]

 

[Gurglesons]

Q is f***ed so if we do get a season likely more reason to keep Poulin up.

 

[Gurglesons]

Pronnman has Poulin as an extra for Canada.

 

[Andy99]

Pronnman has Poulin as an extra for Canada.

that’s about right...people overrate him on this board because he’s our only sure NHL prospect...

 

[Tacitus Kilgore]

that’s about right...people overrate him on this board because he’s our only sure NHL prospect...

Oh contraire, Pronmann underrates him. We here at HF are never wrong

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Pronnman has Poulin as an extra for Canada.

That's bullshit.

Don't they know we at HFBoards think he could make our 3rd line?

 

[Gurglesons]

that’s about right...people overrate him on this board because he’s our only sure NHL prospect...

More like Cozens and Dach being there really changes things.

 

[Dipsy Doodle]

More like Cozens and Dach being there really changes things.

Being the 13th forward on any WJC team doesn't exactly bode well for the possibility of jumping onto the 3rd line of a would-be contender in a month or two.

 

[Peat]

Being the 13th forward on any WJC team doesn't exactly bode well for the possibility of jumping onto the 3rd line of a would-be contender in a month or two.

Pronman's projecting that Poulin will lose out on a regular spot to guys who've PKed for Canada before despite being a better player. If you removed the guys who'd normally be in the NHL like Dach, Cozens, and Byfield, Poulin would be in line for a regular start. That circumstances will maybe take that away from him doesn't alter his talent level.

The most reliable barometers of Poulin's chances of jumping onto the main team are the org's comments on him, the general consensus of the prospect watchers, and the tape. This is fourth.

 

[Jacob]

This is an unusually loaded group of forwards for Canada.. I wouldn’t read much into him making it or being cut. In a normal year you’d have guys making the NHL or injuring out.

I kinda hope he and other prospects of ours play but mostly just because it’s fun to watch our prospects play but it’s also free advertising for them to other teams and boosts their perceived value. But ultimately meaningless. Rust & Guentzel never made team USA, look at some of the names they chose instead. Guys that could barely cut it in the ECHL.

 

[Dipsy Doodle]

Pronman's projecting that Poulin will lose out on a regular spot to guys who've PKed for Canada before despite being a better player. If you removed the guys who'd normally be in the NHL like Dach, Cozens, and Byfield, Poulin would be in line for a regular start. That circumstances will maybe take that away from him doesn't alter his talent level.

The most reliable barometers of Poulin's chances of jumping onto the main team are the org's comments on him, the general consensus of the prospect watchers, and the tape. This is fourth.

We're talking about a player we're expecting to contribute on the 3rd line of a contender being pushed out of a world junior line-up for the sake of experienced PKers. If his offense doesn't make him a bigger net positive than the alternatives for that team, it's hard to imagine that'll be the case for an NHL team with designs on a Cup.

Not saying it can't happen, but it's not a positive development. Off-hand, I don't recall any WJC 13th forwards that made a contender's top 9 the following year.

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

Pronman's projecting that Poulin will lose out on a regular spot to guys who've PKed for Canada before despite being a better player. If you removed the guys who'd normally be in the NHL like Dach, Cozens, and Byfield, Poulin would be in line for a regular start. That circumstances will maybe take that away from him doesn't alter his talent level.

The most reliable barometers of Poulin's chances of jumping onto the main team are the org's comments on him, the general consensus of the prospect watchers, and the tape. This is fourth.

I think the Pens cap issues and their desperate need for young talent on an ELC, plus how Poulin seizes that golden opportunity, will ultimately decide his fate this season.

How things unfold for him at the WJCs will have approx 0.0% impact on his chances to make the big club.

Despite us being conditioned to this org being an annual contender, they are not. They are actually in a rebuild on the fly mode, in need of cheap, skilled talent.

Anyone who fancies them as a contender, should take a look at their last two playoff runs.

 

[Jacob]

And let’s be clear, team Canada brass isn’t immune to mistakes or political sway.

 

[CheckingLineCenter]

I mean I still think it’s pretty unlikely Poulin makes the NHL team. Maybe there’s extra COVID reserve spots or something where he’ll hang around but I don’t expect him to be a regular. Would be nice though.

HC performance doesn’t mean anything. Ton of guys have been beasts at the WJC and done squat in the pros, and vice versa. Same goes for making the team. Just fun to watch our guys on a bigger stage than preseason camp or junior.

 

[Dipsy Doodle]

I mean I still think it’s pretty unlikely Poulin makes the NHL team. Maybe there’s extra COVID reserve spots or something where he’ll hang around but I don’t expect him to be a regular. Would be nice though.

HC performance doesn’t mean anything. Ton of guys have been beasts at the WJC and done squat in the pros, and vice versa. Same goes for making the team. Just fun to watch our guys on a bigger stage than preseason camp or junior.

The same can be said for any "beastly" performance at lower levels, whether it's junior, college, AHL, SHL, KHL...whatever.

Obviously none of these are the lone, definitive barometer for NHL success, but they are barometers.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Guentzel never made Team USA's WJC team, while Pouliot was one of Canada's top defenseman in his last year there. And you can't even use the "late bloomer" argument with Guentzel, he was over a PPG as an 18 year old in the USHL before being drafted and was at a PPG in the NCAA as both a 19 year old freshman and a 20 year old sophomore.

Sorry if I don't put any stock in how a player does at the WJC for their worthiness of playing in the NHL.

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

I mean I still think it’s pretty unlikely Poulin makes the NHL team. Maybe there’s extra COVID reserve spots or something where he’ll hang around but I don’t expect him to be a regular. Would be nice though.

HC performance doesn’t mean anything. Ton of guys have been beasts at the WJC and done squat in the pros, and vice versa. Same goes for making the team. Just fun to watch our guys on a bigger stage than preseason camp or junior.

If Poulin shows well at camp and that he’s NHL ready, he will make the team. I severely doubt they would send him back to juniors if he looks the part.

Pens bent over backwards to give Marino a roster spot when he had a good camp. They carried something like 9 blue liners and benched a couple vets for him.

The standard has been set under Sullivan with guys like Guentzel, Murray and Marino that show he will go out of his way to get young guys in the lineup when they show they are ready.

So Poulin will get his chance, but it’s obviously up to him to perform.

If he’s actually ready or not, who knows.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Team Canada is also the team that rode Zach Fucale for years because he played on a stack Halifax team with MacKinnon and Drouin, despite having a shitload of other options that consistently put up better numbers than him. Fucale starting for TC in 2014, despite what guys like Comrie, Murray and Jarry were doing that year and in the previous year, was an absolute joke.

You can do this with basically any team/player/coach. Coaches constantly make decisions for reasons that aren't player talent, in the name of thinking it will "help them win".

 

[Dipsy Doodle]

Guentzel never made Team USA's WJC team, while Pouliot was one of Canada's top defenseman in his last year there. And you can't even use the "late bloomer" argument with Guentzel, he was over a PPG as an 18 year old in the USHL before being drafted and was at a PPG in the NCAA as both a 19 year old freshman and a 20 year old sophomore.

Sorry if I don't put any stock in how a player does at the WJC for their worthiness of playing in the NHL.

The obvious distinction here is that we weren't expecting Guentzel to jump into a top 9 role at age 20.

 

[Empoleon8771]

The obvious distinction here is that we weren't expecting Guentzel to jump into a top 9 role at age 20.

What fans expect out of prospects is irrelevant, though.

Whether Poulin makes the team depends solely on how he does at camp with the Penguins and what the Penguins view their needs to be. What role he falls in for TC, when TC is making independent roster decisions with an entirely different roster, is completely irrelevant. Poulin may not make TC for one reason but may make the Penguins for a completely different reason, neither of which may be his talent level. Roster building isn't just "put the 12 best forwards and 6 best D in".

Poulin may only be an extra for TC because they view him as a complementary top-6 forward, but they don't have a top-6 slot open for him and they want their bottom-6 to be filled with defensive specialists. That's not indicative of his talent level at all, it's just the roster preference of the coaching and management. And on the flip side, he may make the Penguins because they're starved for ELC talent and need to get cheap contributors. That too is not indicative of his talent level.

To make an analogy to a situation on the Penguins, you're basically making the argument of Johnson was better than Riikola because Johnson played over Riikola with Poulin on Team Canada.

 

[CheckingLineCenter]

The same can be said for any "beastly" performance at lower levels, whether it's junior, college, AHL, SHL, KHL...whatever.

Obviously none of these are the lone, definitive barometer for NHL success, but they are barometers.

Multiple, full season samples in junior, college or European leagues where players are often on a team for multiple years (or their whole life) are barometers— not a two week national team tournament. Not even close to the same thing.