Why Do The Penguins Struggle With Player Development?

[displacedpensfan]

That's not actually true. They also have Tommy Westlund and Erkki Rajamaki, who are based in Sweden and Finland, respectively. Westlund's been a scout since fall 2011, and Rajamaki started in fall 2013.

They're listed as "Amateur Scouts" on the Pens' website, but they are very definitely European scouts.

That's not to say they couldn't stand to hire more, but it does mean they have only one less European Scout than the Red Wings.

I'd like to see them double that then. Add someone to cover the former Soviet Union and someone else to do Central Europe (Germany/Switzerland/former Czechoslovakia).

 

[billybudd]

Read what I wrote. That is the ****ing argument, much as you hate Bennett.

If you're going by GF/60, Bennett's like 10th among forwards and was never higher than 6th among wings. This on top of being probably the most high-risk wing on the team when it comes to pucks in your own net.

Metrics don't put him in the top 6. If you're going to complain about meritocracy and cite metrics, complain about Downie's usage. Or, Hell, Ebbett's demotion.

Bennett's being used exactly how his metrics suggest he should, which is not ahead of freaking Comeau.

 

[MrBurghundy]

Sidney Crosby
Evgeni Malkin
Beau Bennett
Kris Letang
Derrick Pouliot
Marc-Andre Fleury

What are current players actually drafted by the Penguins, Alex?

Also...

Sidney Crosby - Generational Talent
Evgeni Malkin - Generational Talent
Beau Bennett - Could be scratched for Adams at any moment
Kris Letang - Developed pre Stanley Cup
Derrick Pouliot - Teacher's Pet
Marc-Andre Fleury - Who else was there?

 

[FRUSTRATEDPENFAN*]

If one looks at our roster, it is really noticeable how relatively little of our lineup was originally drafted and developed internally. I only count eight: Crosby, Malkin, Bennett, Letang, Pouliot, Scuderi, Maata, and Fleury. Even then, seemingly half of those (Crosby, Malkin, Maata, and Fleury) came more or less pre-packaged in a way that we couldn't screw up their development.

Of what's left there's Bennett (who's been struggling mightily and was a 1st) and Pouliot (who looks like he'll be good but was a rather high pick). Which leaves us only Letang and Scuderi as the only real talent we've grown that didn't come out of the first round. To me that's not a real inspiring record full stop.

With that in mind, I'll propose something of a unified theory on the roots of our problems:

a) We've traded away too many picks and prospects for rentals. This has been discussed ad nauseum. The new management team has continued to do it; you'd have thought we'd learned something, but no. Fewer picks=fewer lottery tickets, and as with the lottery, you have to play to win.

b) The part of our player development program that deals with forward drafting and development stinks and should be cleaned out and new personnell brought in to run it. The corollary is that for years we were obsessed with only drafting PMDs at the expense of pretty much everything else, which was as nutty as a Snickers bar. Our two best forward prospects don't play at WBS; their development is being done over in Europe. That's highly telling as well.

c) Our organization is inherently impatient partly because of the WIN NOW mentality. Bennett and Despres are/were shining examples. We're not willing to give them quality stable development times because we "need veteranosity" for the playoffs; hence we trade Joe Morrow for Brendan Morrow and Despres for Lovejoy. You can't become a skilled player without growth time in the NHL; yet come playoff time we need skilled players with lots of experience (like Craig Adams and Ben Lovejoy). It's a vicious cycle.

d) We hold onto our past their prime vets/soon to be UFAs for too long to get a good package of futures for them. See Kunitz, Martin, Ehrhoff, Orpik, and to a lesser extent Nisky.

e) The organization's unwilling to ease off the throttle for a year to do a half scale rebuild/restock like Chicago did a few years back. With the Metro being insane this year, if there was ever a time to do so, now was it. Instead we're full bore in again when we could have made out like bandits in a deep draft year and haven't actually improved much against our competition after the deadline.

Thoughts?

Take a look at who they drafted the last 10 years none o them have played in the league except for a couple players. Poor drafting is the problem

 

[Dipsy Doodle]

If you're going by GF/60, Bennett's like 10th among forwards and was never higher than 6th among wings. This on top of being probably the most high-risk wing on the team when it comes to pucks in your own net.

I clearly wasn't.

And there's no issue with Bennett being high-risk. He manages the puck very well...better than most forwards on the roster.

Metrics don't put him in the top 6. If you're going to complain about meritocracy and cite metrics, complain about Downie's usage. Or, Hell, Ebbett's demotion.

I'm using ES production relative to Kunitz, and considering linemates. And I was explicit about that.

For the record, I think Downie's usage has been pretty poor too.

Bennett's being used exactly how his metrics suggest he should, which is not ahead of freaking Comeau.

Where did I say anything about Comeau?