September brings the return of hockey, at least on some level. It means prospect tournaments and training camps. I would like to be transparent about my lack of interest in those subjects. They are small samples that are given way too much importance. I think it’s great for prospects to get experience at the NHL training camp. I don’t like overreacting to a two week sample. As a result I’m not going to be giving daily breakdowns of what happens at those events. I don't think embedding tweets from beat writers at these events is interesting or unique content.
Furthermore, the Penguins roster is boring. Not because of talent, but because there just aren’t a lot of open spots for any kind of meaningful competition. Derick Brassard playing wing or center is probably the biggest item on the table right now.
What I will try to do is comment on some of the things happening around the league as well as any notable Penguins developments. So for today I'll give some thoughts on the trade that went down when everybody was sleeping.
Last night Max Pacioretty finally got traded off of the Montreal Canadiens and he is heading to the defending Western Conference Champion Vegas Golden Knights. It’s going to sound weird saying this, but I think Marc Bergevin did a good job here. He got a top prospect, a useful NHL player in Tomas Tatar, and another second round pick. Pacioretty was leaving Montreal one way or another and getting that kind of haul back is very good for a “rental”.
As far as Vegas is concerned George McPhee has been drunkenly spending futures the last few months. To acquire Tatar he gave up a first, second, and a third round pick. Nick Suzuki was one of their top prospects and had 100 points in 64 OHL games last year. Vegas’ inaugural season was legendary. What more could you ask for? However, I think it has given their GM a false sense of how close they are and if regression hits these short term moves are going to come at the expense of their long term ability to compete at a high level.
Max Pacioretty is an awesome player. I don’t think this will be a rental. Max Pacioretty is also going to receive a ton of money and term on his next contract which will more than likely be paying for past performance and not future. George McPhee might need to pump the brakes with his futures at some point. Although I suppose no city in America speaks to the live in the moment quite like Las Vegas so maybe this is appropriate.
Thanks for reading!
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