My Thoughts on the Penguins Acquiring Jason Zucker

Penguins GM Jim Rutherford finally pulled the trigger tonight, and acquired Jason Zucker from the Minnesota Wild. The price to add Zucker was Alex Galchenyuk, a conditional 2020 1st round pick (pick can slide to 2021 1st rounder if Penguins miss the playoffs this year), and the Penguins top prospect in defenseman Calen Addison. I'll …

Why the Marcus Pettersson contract is a great value signing for Pittsburgh.

Marcus Pettersson has been signed by the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 5 year, 4.025M AAV contract today. The internet of Penguins fans is abuzz about how this is a great signing, or, the worst contract possible since...Tanev?....Johnson? You probably get the picture. If you've seen any of my tweets, or posts over at LetsGoPens.com, I've …

Early Injuries are a Concern for Penguins

If you haven't yet heard the latest Penguins news, you might want to sit down: Both Malkin and Bjugstad are expected to be out long-term with lower-body injuries. Malkin is expected to miss more time than Bjugstad. This was announced today by head coach Mike Sullivan after this morning's practice. Sullivan did say Malkin's injury …

2019 Game 2 Preview: vs Columbus Blue Jackets

Optional morning skate today for the team, so no definitive look at expected lines and pairings. Based on yesterday's practice, the forward lines are expected to be: Guentzel-Crosby-SimonGalchenyuk-Malkin-TanevMcCann-Bjugstad-HornqvistZAR-Blueger-Kahun The back-end remains a mystery up until game time. Jack Johnson and Juuso Riikola took turns next to Gudbranson yesterday in practice, and Pettersson was back with …

Tracking Jack Johnson: Game 1 vs Buffalo

Live Game Notes Through the 1st period of the game, Jack Johnson had the lowest 5v5 ice time of any Penguins defenseman, as well as the lowest total (all strengths) of any Penguin defenseman. In one or two instances, Pettersson jumped out on the ice with Schultz instead of Johnson. Johnson had a poor clearing …

2019 Season: Game 1 Preview

The 2019 Regular Season begins for the Penguins tonight at home against the Buffalo Sabres. We've all heard the same questions all summer long: Can Malkin rebound?Can the team get by without Kessel's production?Can Murray stay healthy and regain his form?What about this defense, including Jack Johnson? Heading into tonight's game, there are some more …

Quick Hits for 6/20

The NHL GM Meetings run from 3pm to 6pm Pacific time. After much frustration about the cap limit possibly not coming until Saturday, there is now an indication, according to multiple national media outlets, that the cap limit could be announced tonight directly after the GM meetings. That would be 9pm Eastern. We could see …

Maatta traded to Chicago: RHG Feedback on the trade.

Tonight, Jim Rutherford traded Penguins defenseman Olli Maatta to the Chicago Blackhawks, in return receiving 23 year old winger Dominik Kahun (pronounced Ka-hoon) and a 2019 5th round draft pick (originally owned by Tampa). Kahun turns 24 on July 2nd, and is scheduled to make 925K next season before becoming a Restricted Free Agent. He …

Return from a long hiatus.

OK, let's be real. That wasn't even a hiatus.....that was file a missing persons report disappearance. It was caused by a number of things, such as busy work schedule, burning myself out a bit in the early going, some constructive feedback, and maybe a few other things. However, as the summer heats up, so has …

Penguin’s center depth is again an issue.

Last year, the Penguins struggled early on in the season as they failed to find a sufficient 3rd line center over the summer, and were forced to field Greg McKegg and Carter Rowney as their 3rd and 4th line centers.  As the season went on, Rutherford acquired Riley Sheahan, and made a huge trade to …