The Pittsburgh Penguins have had a rocky start to the season and were possibly eyeing some reinforcements for a fourth line that has been unable to generate anything thus far this season. Tony Androckitis of Inside AHL Hockey is reporting that the team received some unfortunate news today on the injury front as a couple of possible call-ups are hurt and will be out week to week.
Sam Poulin received an extended look at Penguins training camp and was likely one of the first players in line for an NHL call-up. But, unfortunately for the 22-year-old center, it appears he will be out of action week to week with a lower-body injury. Poulin missed a good portion of last season to focus on his mental health and came back this year looking stronger than ever. His positive play hasn’t translated to his offensive numbers as he has just a goal and an assist in five AHL games, but he remains one of the Penguins’ best call-up options in the AHL and could receive a promotion when he returns to action.
In other Penguins injury notes:
- Valtteri Puustinen is also out week to week for the AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins according to Androckitis. The 24-year-old was another Penguins forward who had a strong showing at training camp and could have likely cracked the lineup if it weren’t for his contract status. Puustinen is out with an upper-body injury, which when added to Poulin’s injury could leave the Penguins with very few call-up options should they decide to make the move for fourth-line reinforcements from internally.
- Finally, Androckitis is reporting that Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins netminder Garret Sparks will be out of action week to week after suffering a lower-body injury. The 30-year-old goaltender signed a one-year AHL contract with the Baby Penguins in the offseason and has dressed in just one game so far this year. The Penguins signed several goaltenders with NHL experience in the offseason to try and build up depth at the position for circumstances such as this. Sparks backstopped the Toronto Marlies to a Calder Cup in 2018 on top of playing 40 career NHL games.
Lady luck is brutal.
Yeah, but you can mitigate that with smart decision making. One way to avoid needing the AHL team to help you out is not building the oldest team in the league, and then not going ahead and doubling down on the age the year after. The bet didn’t pay off last year, and things so far sure don’t look promising for it paying off this year.
(Although speaking of which … Jeff Carter gave Pittsburgh a good year-plus, but he was mediocre last year and brutal this one; he’s just too old to play NHL hockey. If Dubas was so smart, he’d just send the guy down, suck up the cap hit, and SAVE money by bringing up some hungry kid to take his roster spot for league minimum … although there aren’t many more “kids” on the relatively elderly WBS roster than there are in Pittsburgh.)
Dubas CANNOT be smart with Carter because Hextall was dumb with him.
Full NMC.
He can’t be sent down, best place for him is the press box
Question for all of the hand wringing yinzers who whined about our HOF GM trying to win…
Are you glad we have Sam Poulin instead of someone who might have gotten us past the Isles (and then who knows) that year?
Well … *might* have. Me, I’d rather have the young prospect. I just think of some serious coups the Bruins made that were widely panned at the time: trading the last season of Ken Hodge’s career for a young fellow named Middleton, Barry Pederson (still at the time a point a game scorer) for a hadn’t-done-anything-yet guy named Neely, trading an Andrew Raycroft just one season removed from the Calder for the rights to a fellow named Rask, trading a Ron Grahame who was their starter and had All-Star votes for the pick that turned into Ray Bourque.
Heck, a more recent one that’s STILL paying dividends for Boston. Never mind that there was, at the time, a logjam on defense and a cap crunch: the Bruins’ faithful were PISSED when Johnny Boychuk was traded for two 2nd rounders. Just livid. Long forgotten, of course, with Boychuk out of hockey for years, and Brandon Carlo a fixture on the Boston blueline the last seven.
So who knows. Maybe Sam Poulin turns into something, and maybe he doesn’t. But that’s going in the right direction, anyway.
A player with a low ceiling AND a low floor who might well not be anything but will be a bottom six piece if he does happen to make it on a team you claim is no longer relevant anyway is preferable to maximizing a core’s championship window?
K.
I disagree.
Also, not sure how the younger minor league players getting hurt reflects on the strategy of employing veterans (who have stayed healthy) at the NHL level, but OK.
No, it isn’t.
Where we disagree is whether Pittsburgh DOES have a championship window. Whether they have a PLAYOFF window is a shaky proposition, and you can scarcely claim that the team’s performance so far is an improvement on last year’s failure.
So, again, he MIGHT (at best) become a middling bottom six player (if he doesn’t bust) on a team you claim has no business trying to contend.
You’d rather have that than a rental piece for a team one year removed from back to back Cups?
Fair enough but I’d have preferred the latter and said so at the time, as well.
Also, FWIW, I don’t pay much attention to Moneypuck, but the Penguins have the highest expected goals for in the entire league, just ahead of Colorado. They are driving the play in most games. But, yes, mental lapses and the exact opposite of clutch goaltending continue to plague us.
The guys who are too old have been largely great this year.
Yes, I would rather have a young player who might be good two or three years from now than an aging short term rental for a sinking team that’s not going anywhere anyway. I can’t imagine anything I’ve said to you over recent months that would give you any other impression.
I wager that the average Penguins fan cares a whole lot less for expected goals and “driving play” than they do about the painful fact that other than the utterly hapless San Jose Sharks, Pittsburgh has the *worst record in the NHL* so far … straw-clutching not usually being included among advanced analytics.
I’d much rather have had a key piece added to the 2019 team than a might be 4th center on the 2024 team. So be it.
I guess that’s just 1 Cup in 51 years thinking vs. mine.
Also, I’ll keep banging this drum…
Guentzel Crosby Rakell
Smith Malkin Zohorna
DOC Eller Rust
The top line is stale and we need more balance. Give Rust a chance to put numbers against third pairs. Get some more jam on Sid’s line while trying to spark Rakell.
Zohorna does deserve a much longer look in a better line. The guy has a knack for scoring goals.