Youth movement in full swing for Pittsburgh Penguins

[HF Article]

Photo: Derrick Pouliot has had difficulties staying with the Penguins this season, but he remains the best prospect on the team’s top 20. (Courtesy of Justin Berl/Icon Sportswire)


</p>The Pittsburgh Penguins have a solid group of homegrown prospects, especially at forward. However, it wasn’t always that way. For years, the Penguins relied on the free agent bargain bin to fill out the bottom six portion of their forward roster, often overpaying for players past their prime. That is not the case anymore, as seven different forward prospects played for the Penguins this year.

Several of the prospects, such as Derrick Pouliot and Matt Murray, have shown enough potential to suggest they could be impact players for the Penguins organization.… read more

The post Youth movement in full swing for Pittsburgh Penguins appeared first on Hockey's Future.



More...

Click to read more...

 

[Nakawick]

I wouldn't say that Pouliot has struggled to stay up. He was called up once and will be staying. Nice to see Wilson and Rust playing well. Murray will most likely see more starts this year.

 

[Fordy]

we have different definitions of full swing. i'd imagine pretty much every season we've had close to 7 different fwd prospects play due injuries. same with this year

 

[Beauner]

Wait one more week and they'll all be gone. Except Porter. What an invaluable asset, the team is lucky to have him

 

[KrisLetAngry]

I don't feel a youth movement

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Bottom 6 youth movement! Because that's all we have, bottom 6 youth.

I am curious if Wilson or Kuhnhackl could do well with Geno or Sid, those 2 have impressed me quite a bit. Both have scored in the last 5 games or so, I wish our top 6 wingers scored as much as they have in that span with 5 goals combined.

 

[Shady Machine]

we have different definitions of full swing. i'd imagine pretty much every season we've had close to 7 different fwd prospects play due injuries. same with this year

The difference is a few of them actually have NHL potential. The last time we've had promising guys come up from the AHL on forward IMO were Jeffrey and Letestu.

The Gibbons, Conners of the world didn't really project to be NHLers.

I certainly wouldn't call the youth movement in full swing, but for the Pens, this is a youth movement. Wilson, Rust, and Sundqvist could all be NHL regulars starting next year. Sheary probably isn't a full timer and I don't think Kunhackl is either.

 

[UnderratedBrooks44]

I don't feel a youth movement

Yeah that's an extremely exaggerated headline.

FYI having the real Kanye on this board would be great. Then again, I'm not sure anyone would even notice post quality-wise.

 

[Al Smith]

Bottom 6 youth movement! Because that's all we have, bottom 6 youth.

I am curious if Wilson or Kuhnhackl could do well with Geno or Sid, those 2 have impressed me quite a bit. Both have scored in the last 5 games or so, I wish our top 6 wingers scored as much as they have in that span with 5 goals combined.

Since Sheary and Wilson show some NHL-level offensive abilities/instincts, and since they seemed to be extremely effective with Simon in WBS, I'd be curious to see how Simon would do if brought up and subbed for Porter. Porter seems to serve the Kunitz function on that line; i.e., to kill any offensive opportunities the others generate.

 

[HandshakeLine]

Yeah that's an extremely exaggerated headline.

FYI having the real Kanye on this board would be great. Then again, I'm not sure anyone would even notice post quality-wise.

The new albums pretty tight imo.

 

[Doogle]

Yeah we have no one in the pipeline on defense or left wing, and basically one center and one right wing with potential. Two goalies, but we're set there at the NHL level, so that's not doing us much good for now. We have some mediocre bottom six forwards that are young. Hardly a youth movement.

 

[CrosbyMalkin]

Yeah we have no one in the pipeline on defense or left wing, and basically one center and one right wing with potential. Two goalies, but we're set there at the NHL level, so that's not doing us much good for now. We have some mediocre bottom six forwards that are young. Hardly a youth movement.

Half the defense with Maatta, Dumoulin, and Pouliot. Then you have Murray in goal that looks ready for NHL action. Add in 5 young forwards that have done a nice job on the 3rd and 4th lines with Simon, Sprong, and Guentzel not far away themselves. I would call that a youth movement. How much infusion should a team have in a few year period? 5 of the top 6 forwards are signed for at least 3+ years so not many openings for youth anyways in that top 6 anytime soon.