Penguins Director of Amateur Scouting Weighs in on 2018 Draft
The Penguins entered the Draft in Dallas with six picks but only used four of them. There might not be much quantity, but the organization is very happy with the quality of those players they selected. That assessment came directly from Penguins’ Director of Amateur Scouting Patrik Allvin. “I think with the picks we had…
Updates throughout: Penguins pick two in the second round in Dallas
The Penguins entered the draft with a couple of specific needs, which is a bit different than in some recent off-seasons. They hoped to add to the depth of their defensive pipeline as well as balance their wing situation by adding on the left side. They accomplished both goals with their first two picks selecting…
NHL Draft — Penguins restock defensive depth during Day 2
One of the Penguins’ major areas of focus entering the NHL Draft was the need to restock their organizational depth on the blue line. Ray Shero spent many season acquiring young blue liners before passing the baton to Jim Rutherford, but many of those were used in trades or allowed to move on in other…
Rutherford goes for toughness, acquires Reaves from St. Louis
General manager Jim Rutherford shocked some around the league when he said he might have to change his approach to team building to help protect his superstars. He took the first step towards doing that on Friday in Chicago when he acquired Ryan Reaves from the St. Louis Blues. Rutherford sent a first round pick…
Thank you MAF – remembering the Flower as he moves on to Las Vegas
Has it really been 14 years since the Penguins drafted Marc-Andre Fleury? It doesn’t seem like it, but at the same time it seems like so much longer. That’s because so much has happened since then. Personally, I went from being a guy who sat in section E28, row E, seats 14 and 15 at…
Uncanny how Penguins see history repeat itself in Niskanen’s ‘hockey play’
1:53 update — Sidney Crosby has been diagnosed with a concussion and will miss at least one game. Mike Sullivan — “He will go through the protocols that we always put our guys through when they’ve been diagnosed with a concussion. The nature of these things is that they’re all very different. Sometimes they come around…
Was the NHL’s Top 100 simply a popularity contest? Evgeni Malkin’s omission makes it look that way
Nothing polarizes groups of people like a “best of” list. Anytime an individual or group comes together to decide the top, the best, or most outstanding of something, there are going to be omissions that lead to great debates. The ‘100 Greatest NHL Players’ announced Friday during a gala in Los Angeles as part the…
Conor Sheary continues to prove doubters wrong
On Sept. 4, 2016, I took a long, hard look at Penguins forward Conor Sheary. I pointed to his production alongside Sidney Crosby during the Stanley Cup Playoffs as a sign that he could potentially thrive in that role moving forward, but I also spent time being a critical of the young winger. My fear…
Penguins’ recent problems not irreparable
The Penguins entered the weekend riding the third best start in franchise history. That’s an impressive accomplishment for a team that has won four Stanley Cups and has been around for 50 years, but (isn’t there always a but) something just doesn’t look right with them at the moment. They saw a five-game winning streak…