Saints11
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Any word on Jimmy Schuldt who is the other key FA defenseman? Captain of St. Cloud State and a Hobey Baker candidate.
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No link to the Penguins.
If you search his name on twitter, most chatter is about Montreal.
Speaking Moistly
What a terrible image.
Recent history says they’ll be pretty damn good if they don’t have to figure out who to draft and the injury curse looks elsewhere.
Developed Dumoulin from college.
Stuck with Maatta through some shit.
Got Cole’s career solidly on track.
Rehabbed Schultz.
Oleksiak has been doing well.
They’ve been alright with the AHL guys like Bengtsson (poor bastard looked really good before getting hurt again), Pedan (matched his best AHL season), Corrado (looked respectable in the NHL) Prow (supposedly improving) and someone like Ruhwedel has carved out a sweet #7 spot. Just don’t count on them to draft defensemen.
Someone like Brickley is younger most of those guys but someone like Pouliot sucking shouldn’t ruin their reputation. They also have a good record with playing younger forwards and goalies. They’re not perfect but there shouldn’t be a flaming stay away sign, and they’re experienced with surprising health problems.
Gurglesons
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Gotta hard disagree on this. Shero’s drafting legacy here is giving college players a chance.
Factor in you get to play with a forward core of Malkin, Crosby and Kessel, I think any college D is stoked to join this roster.
madinsomniac
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College ufas might not be able to play in the playoffs here, but the likelyhood of us needing to call someone up from the ahl sooner or later means there should be premium ahl minutes in the ahl playoffs for them
Saints11
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AverageJoeFan
Mad cat
Andrey Pedan looks like the real deal on paper, but no NHL experience at 24. 6'5", much improved stats over last year at WBS. Not sure what his positioning, movement, passing is like, but he takes shots. Seems like he has gotten comfortable enough to pickup his O game this year. Gotta wonder what the plan is for him now that he is back from injury. Would be a decent depth guy perhaps?
Empoleon8771
Registered User
I am curious to see what the Penguins think of Pedan. Is he an actual prospect that the team thinks can challenge for a NHL spot? Or is he just a warm body that came back for Pouliot? His AHL stats are good, but I also think it's telling that he hasn't been called up yet. But on the other hand, he was also waiver eligible if he would have been called up this year, so maybe that's why they kept him down.
My hunch is that they view him to be the same as Corrado, an okay prospect they got for a guy they wanted to dump. If he ends up being an NHLer, great. If he doesn't, oh well. I like Corrado as the #8, but I doubt he ever gets higher than that on the depth chart.
My hunch is that they view him to be the same as Corrado, an okay prospect they got for a guy they wanted to dump. If he ends up being an NHLer, great. If he doesn't, oh well. I like Corrado as the #8, but I doubt he ever gets higher than that on the depth chart.
Everyone said that Butcher was a meh 3rd pairing offensive D. And while I've barely watched him... he does have 37 points. So I kinda take what's said around here with a gain of salt. That said... the odds of any of these college kids being high end players is slim. But free is free, and we should be after everyone we can get our hands on - especially blueliners.
Empoleon8771
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Butcher is a bottom pair PP specialist, I don't think his production really disproves any claims made about him. He's being put in a position to succeed by New Jersey, with light minutes and heavy OZone starts.
Yeah, but he's a good 3rd pairing offensive D so far, not a meh one
Re Pedan: Based on reading Canucks fan sites, it sounds like they made a real dog's mess of his development by trying to get him to play winger.
No clue on Pens' feelings towards him, but I do hope he can develop, as a guy who won the fastest skater and hardest shot competitions at the Canucks' NHL camp a few years back would be great to have if everything else was there...
AverageJoeFan
Mad cat
Did you say fastest skater? At 6'5"? If that's true...wow.Yeah, but he's a good 3rd pairing offensive D so far, not a meh one
Re Pedan: Based on reading Canucks fan sites, it sounds like they made a real dog's mess of his development by trying to get him to play winger.
No clue on Pens' feelings towards him, but I do hope he can develop, as a guy who won the fastest skater and hardest shot competitions at the Canucks' NHL camp a few years back would be great to have if everything else was there...
Has any college free agent D man actually signed here though? I can’t remember one hyped prospect that ever chose the Pens...our D consists of two draft picks and basically players we traded for...
Edit..and one FA signing in Ruh
Prow. Dunno how hyped he was, but he was a Hobey Baker finalist. Zink signed here on an AHL deal. Not College, but we got Bengtsson.
Dipsy Doodle
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You'd be hard-pressed to find a team that could boast signing highly touted college FAs at every position. We have been successful in terms of getting highly touted college FA forwards here.
True, but with us giving up high draft picks for many, many Sid-Geno years, we’re going to have to do a much better job of signing these guys...ZAR was a great signing...we need more of those...just seems like we miss out on a lot of top college FAs
Empoleon8771
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Let's be honest, a huge percentage of undrafted defensemen don't pan out. Maybe it's just confirmation bias with how the Penguins have developed players, but it seems like there are a lot more undrafted forwards who become regulars than undrafted defensemen. That might just be the way it is with the Penguins, though.
For every Lovejoy, it seems like there are 4 guys like Letestu, Dupuis and Sheary.
For every Lovejoy, it seems like there are 4 guys like Letestu, Dupuis and Sheary.
JimmyTwoTimes
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Same goes for the draft, so yeah.
Alot to do with only 6 available spots on a roster as opposed to 12
The defensemen likely are harder to predict and develop. But we’ve done a really good job with players that started out somewhere else first (Schultz, Olek, Ruh, Cole, Dumo)...I don’t see why we can’t sign younger D directly from college and work with them too...why aren’t they interested in signing here?
Dipsy Doodle
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There's 31 teams in the league man. Every team misses out on a lot of college FAs, and many of them aren't as successful as we've been. We seemingly just hit a home run with ZAR and got what many considered a potential top college FA in Adam Johnson, who was so impressed with the Pens development camp that he signed with us a year early. I bet a lot of teams around the league are wishing they had that kind of recent success.
We can always do a better job, and it has to be a big part of our pipeline because of all the draft picks we move as contenders, but there's no merit in suggesting that the Pens haven't been on the ball so far. They've done a pretty bang-up job. But again, there are 30 other teams who want the same thing, so even the best FA recruiters are going to have far, far more misses than hits.
AverageJoeFan
Mad cat
Pretty awe inspiring ...that is an awful big man that can skate fast and has some offensive upside. Pretty hard to find I would say...
JimmyTwoTimes
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Shady Machine
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He has 20 ES points this year as a 23 year old rookie. Still pretty impressive.
I'd MUCH rather just spend the 2m vs taking the chance that he leaves if we didn't qualify him all in the attempt to save 500k (or whatever). We might not really need Sheahan next season (at least not as a 3C), but I'd rather have both him and Brassard on the team come next June (2019) even if both were pending FAs. I have next to no confidence that we would be able to extend Brassard. I'm fairly confident that we could extend Sheahan if we were going to give him the 3C role. Not ideal... but if he can play at a 35/40pt pace with Kessel on his wing... then I'd extend him vs taking a chance that we couldn't find a replacement. Much better off overpaying to keep him, vs ending up in the same boat we were in this Oct come Oct 2019.
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