Some quick thoughts about Pittsburgh’s roster cut down from yesterday:
Daniel Sprong earned it. He’s been great. For those worrying about his ELC status if he stays past the nine games, who cares? Stanley Cup caliber teams get ELC contributions from their players in order to fit all the other talent onto the roster. If Sprong belongs then the team has more wiggle room to trade a forward to help the defense position. Furthermore if he earns a big contract that is fine. Scuderi, Kunitz, Dupuis, and perhaps Fleury will all be off the by books by then.
Try not to read too much into the GM speaking positive things about Rob Scuderi. Jim Rutherford accomplishes nothing from bashing him publicly. You can’t move a bad contract if you are out there tearing the player down in the media.
Sergei Gonchar just doesn’t have enough in the tank to make a contending team at this stage of the game. Jim Rutherford has offered the chance to stay within the organization if he does not pursue his playing career elsewhere. It would be nice to see Sarge stick around in whatever capacity they gave him. Perhaps some power play input…
Derrick Pouliot was not quite as bad as some people are claiming this training camp but he wasn’t good. The combination of his underwhelming training camp and the fact he can be sent down to WB/S without waivers made this an easy decision. This hiccup does not mean he cannot and will not become a top four defenseman in his career. Sending him down buys time for the team to make decisions on Adam Clendening, Brian Dumoulin, and Tim Erixon (who all need waivers). I would expect to see Pouliot up with the Penguins again no later than November.
Bobby Farnham is the 13th forward. You only play 12 forwards in an NHL game. I have no problem with him earning a bigger paycheck as long as his services aren’t needed. The gap between the 12th and 13th forwards on this year’s Penguins team is large. Something that hasn’t been the case lately.
David Perron looks like the odd man out at the moment but as long as he is on the Penguins he is a good forward that will help the team regardless of what line he is playing on. Eventually it would be in Pittsburgh’s best interest to play him in the top six where it utilizes his skill set the most. If he is indeed Pittsburgh’s best trade chip then you can’t lower his perceived value. Recency bias exists within the general manager ranks.
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Thanks for reading!