According to Seth Rorabaugh of the Tribune-Review, the Pittsburgh Penguins are unlikely to issue forward prospect Raivis Ansons his $813K qualifying offer this summer. Ansons would become an unrestricted free agent for the first time in his career and would be a candidate to return overseas to continue his professional career.
The Penguins selected Ansons with the 149th overall pick in the 2020 NHL Draft from the QMJHL’s Baie-Comeau Drakkar. Ansons scored 13 goals and 35 points in 60 games during his draft year, and Pittsburgh believed he could be a long-term candidate in the bottom-six of the team’s forward group.
After a year in his native Latvia and a return trip to the QMJHL, Ansons signed his entry-level contract with the Penguins in 2022 and played for their AHL affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. Unfortunately, his time in the AHL has been nothing short of a disaster, as Ansons has only managed five goals and 14 points in 87 career contests. Coupled with an undisclosed injury that limited him to nine games this year, the Penguins organization is seemingly ready to move on from one of their recent draft choices.
Other notes from the Metro Division:
- Although General Manager Daniel Brière would like to add more pieces than he subtracts this offseason for the Philadelphia Flyers, don’t expect them to be wild spenders. Anthony Di Marco of DailyFaceoff writes that Brière will only look for specific areas of need, rather than go after the market’s biggest fish. The only hypothetical option Di Marco listed was Brock Nelson of the Colorado Avalanche on a three-year deal, given the Flyers’ need for centers. Meanwhile, although the team may like to improve their disappointing goaltending, Di Marco doesn’t believe Brière will be interested in any of the options on the free-agent market.
- Despite having his entry-level contract reported two weeks ago, Alexander Nikishin has yet to play a game in the Carolina Hurricanes organization. Much of that can be explained away due to his visa issues, however, Cory Lavalette of the North State Journal passed along a note from Carolina General Manager Eric Tulsky indicating Nikishin hasn’t signed his entry-level contract yet. Fortunately, Tulsky pointed out they’re merely working out the deal’s finer points, and the organization doesn’t feel rushed to add Nikishin to a lineup that has won the first two games of their Round One series against the New Jersey Devils.
“Ansons scored 13 goals and 35 points in 60 games during his draft year, and Pittsburgh believed he could be a long-term candidate in the bottom-six of the team’s forward group.”
Unless it’s an elite generational third line center like Jordan Staal, you should NEVER draft a player thinking they will be in your bottom six or on your bottom pairing.
Those roles can be filled easily, you should only chase ceiling and upside during the draft.
I disagree. Plenty of prospects are not expected to be top 6 contributors. Also, it’s obviously not easy to fill out a bottom six because ours has been crap for years.
The guys who you draft hoping they can be stars often settle into bottom six. If not, they are cheap to acquire in trades or as free agents. That Hextall and Dubas are bad at it doesn’t change the price.
As one example, Kirill Kaprizov was a swing for the fences boom or bust fifth round pick. Imagine being the team in front of them who took a guy who might be a fourth line plugger. Chase upside. It pays off.
*Just looked for fun, Ryan Shea was taken ahead of Kaprizov.
The Canes also indicated that he can play some AHL games as long as he doesn’t sign. If he needs to play NHL, he’ll sign right then.
Sam Bennett is the guy for the Flyers I reckon. Youngish still, decent C2/3 who shouldn’t cost a lot nor command massive term. He might go somewhere else for a little less, but he can help the wings.
Bennett over Nelson, if it came down to those two. Surely there is a goalie available that can go one-two with Ersson. The two Russians? Nyet.
I’d like to see Bennett on the Canes. Add a little snarl.