Pittsburgh Penguins remain stacked with collegiate talent

[Shady Machine]

The NHL is built for smaller guys now, with no hooking and less contact. If the talent is there and they work hard, these guys stick on rosters compared to previous years where teams just had that mentality of getting bigger!!!

I think you are joking, but I'm not sure. Smaller guys only succeed if they are super fast and/or have crazy lower body strength.

 

[Valarukar]

Didn't someone say after he was drafted that his brothers and dad had growth spurts at like 21?

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

Even if Guentzel's game translates to the NHL, which is doubtful, he's of zero use to us unless we trade Evgeni Malkin or Sidney Crosby, which I don't want to do and certainly not to be backfilled by a player like that.

To be honest it seems pretty wise for the Penguins to have guys who can competently fill in for Malkin and/or Crosby and maybe provide some secondary scoring when both are healthy.

 

[wej20]

Didn't someone say after he was drafted that his brothers and dad had growth spurts at like 21?

One brother was 5'11 the other 6'0. I don't get the complaining about Guentzel, he was 2nd on his team for scoring as a freshman and is now leading his team in scoring as a sophmore.

 

[Dipsy Doodle]

Guys like Granlund and Schwartz aren't burners but make up for it with smarts and creativity. Guentzel has displayed plenty of both traits, and his skating is more than adequate.

As people are saying, he's hardly a pick we should be moaning about. He looked crafty in camp and he's producing well in college.

I think some people have ODed on our glut of small college forwards and are lumping Guentzel in with the rest sight unseen. He's a good prospect.