The Penguins trimmed another 11 players from their roster this morning… here is the official update from the Penguins…
The Pittsburgh Penguins reduced their training camp roster by 11 players, it was announced today by executive vice president and general manager Ray Shero.
Forwards Chris Conner, Nick Johnson, Brett Sterling, Joe Vitale and Tim Wallace, defensemen Robert Bortuzzo, Corey Potter, Brian Strait and Steve Wagner and goaltenders John Curry and Brad Thiessen were assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
Conner, Curry, Potter, Sterling, Wagner and Wallace will have to clear waivers by Thursday at noon before joining WBS.
The transaction leaves 30 players on the Penguins’ roster: 18 forwards; 10 defensemen; and two goaltenders.
No big surprises on this list… of the group who has been re-assigned Nick Johnson and Brett Sterling have had the best training camp performances. However, when you are dealing with so many forwards on one-way deals, along with three youngsters (Eric Tangradi, Dustin Jeffrey, and Mark Letestu) who have shined throughout, you have to make tough decisions.
My personal opinion is that two of Tangradi, Jeffrey and Letestu will make the team… Ray Shero will have to get creative to make that happen via waivers and or trades, but I really think these guys have shown that they are ready to be NHL contributors…
More later…
WOW FATASS Flounder Madden Wrong AGAIN !!! who woulda thunk that !! hahaha MORON & his Room Temperature IQ acolytes !
Someone was due to be wrong, since I haven’t actually seen much of the pre-season games, I can only say…..I did hear Sterling’s name quite a bit over the radio. I was impressed with Letestu last year, so I am not surprised that he was not sent back down.
@Evilpens what did Madden say? I haven’t listened to his show in ages…
@Pugger I will say that Letestu, Tangradi and Jeffrey have stood out since the earliest moments… (especially Letestu). When it came down to keeping a journeyman type like Sterling over one of their actual “prospects” it wasn’t much of a contest. Though Sterling definitely has had a great camp… I like his hands and offensive potential. He got knocked around a good bit last night though…
Not huge surprises…
Sterling had the luck of playing with Crosby and Malkin, the little that I saw of him, he seemed like one of those career AHL/part-time NHL guys (not that there is anything wrong with that).
Metz he said on His show & on TIOPS that Stelring had the team Made! I don’t listen to that Rank Amatuer either But I saw it discussed elsewhere
7 more cuts… that’s tough out of this group.
Shero will have to make a small trade or waive guys to make it fit (at least for forwards).
Is the consensus on D, that Loevjoy & Engelland are #6 & #7? Does Engelland have to clear waivers? Maybe keep Dupres up for the start, and recall Engelland after Dupres is returned to Jrs?
Despres can get a glimpse like Letang did for 9 games, then be returned to junior if need be, he’s too young for the AHL at this time. If he is playing out of his mind enough for the coaches and management to warrant this kind of consideration, the only question that remains is his endurance. It’s 82 games against seasoned NHL’ers. That being said, Tyler Myers was a 19 year old beast last year….
I get the idea behind the CHL/NHL deal that protects the CHL from losing all these guys, but it’s hurting the players. And with seemingly more and more players coming into the NHL younger, maybe the eligibility thing can be revisited.
Going back to St. John’s wouldn’t help Dupres as much as going to the AHL this season. At least in the AHL, he’d get the 80 game schedule, and play against grown men every night.
I agree Rival !! But the Jr. teams Know if that rule goes Bye Bye the Teams will take their Best Players & put them in their Organization to have them Play the style they want them to play & simply have control of them, So I guess I can see both sides of the argument