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Some quick thoughts about last night’s game against Columbus:
Christian Ehrhoff is going to fit in just fine. He looked great alongside Kris Letang. Imagine Crosby and/or Malkin as their outlets instead of Craig Adams and Zach Sill. Ehrhoff was a +17 and Letang was a +18 in Corsi. High end stuff considering the forward lineup that the Penguins iced.
Thomas Greiss played great. His previous NHL numbers are also great. His numbers outside of the NHL have been mediocre. Who is the real Thomas Greiss? No better way of finding out than to keep playing him. I’m bullish.
Marcel Goc was terrific. The Penguins never got to see the real Goc last year due to his ankle injury. He had a jump in his step and was strong on the puck. If the Penguins were able to come across a trade scenario to pick up a top six forward that included Brandon Sutter, they wouldn’t miss a beat at all with Goc playing in that spot. I prefer Goc anyways.
Brian Dumoulin got beat by Cam Atkinson’s speed on the lone real goal of the game. He won’t be the first or last to get burned by that guy this year. Dumoulin is still plenty good enough for regular NHL action. Scott Harrington is also ready to make the jump.
Kasperi Kapanen had an uneventful night and for a guy looking to impress the team for a top six roster spot that isn’t good enough.
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Today the Penguins made some roster moves and sent some players down to WB/S:
The Penguins assigned 13 players to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League (AHL): goaltenders Matt Murray and Eric Hartzell; forwards Scott Wilson, Josh Archibald, Anton Zlobin, Jean-Sebastien Dea, Matia Marcantuoni, Tom Kuhnhackl, Adam Payerl, Bryan Rust and Nick Drazenovic; and defensemen Nick D’Agostino and Harrison Ruopp.Goaltender Tristan Jarry has been assigned to his junior team, the Edmonton Oil Kings of the Western Hockey League – the defending WHL and Memorial Cup champions.
Four players – forwards Tom Kostopoulos and Conor Sheary and defensemen Alex Boak and Clark Seymour – have been released from their tryout contracts and will report to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s training camp.
The only true surprise is Adam Payerl but I have never been that high on him, I think it is inconsequential that he has been sent down. The forward grouping of Dea, Archibald, and Zlobin showed some good signs, they will benefit from being in the AHL.
Some of the other forwards that are still up with the big club include Bobby Farnham, Pierre-Luc Letourneau Leblond, Andew Ebbett, and Zach Sill. Bobby Farnham is a wannabe Harry Z type, PL3 has literally no value, Ebbett is an AHL player, and Sill is physical but unskilled. I expect everybody from this group to be sent packing at some point as well.
Jayson Megna, Oscar Sundqvist, and Dominik Uher are the interesting candidates that are still up with the team. Sundqvist has shown some signs of NHL ability and will be given some more time to show more of that. Megna is one of the favorites for a roster spot, and Dominik Uher will most likely be sent down, but he has a higher ceiling than the guys in the paragraph above.
Kasperi Kapanen and Dan Carcillo are also still up with the team. Carcillo has yet to appear in a preseason game.
Philip Samuelsson is still up with the team but that more than likely has to do with his waiver status. Look for the Penguins to try and trade him so they don’t lose him for nothing. The depth is too good and too deep for Samuelsson to make his mark in this organization.
That's all for now
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