A New Era: Pittsburgh Penguins 2014-15 and Beyond

[goosedennis]

Penguins Fire Shero, Hire Rutherford


Shero, probably realizing that he isn't a very good GM

PITTSBURGH -- Penguins President David Moorehouse announced today that he has terminated the contract of General Manager Ray Shero. To replace him, the team has brought in former Carolina Hurricanes GM Grim Rutherford.

Shero, 51, has spent the last seven seasons with the Pittsburgh Penguins, with varied results. Although gifted with a core of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, Shero won just one Stanley Cup with the Penguins. For the past five seasons, the Penguins have been eliminated in the playoffs by a lower-seeded opponent.

The past seven years have also seen hit-and-miss moments by Shero. Although some acquisitions, such as James Neal and the Marian Hossa trade, have paid off well, others have left fans scratching their heads, such as selecting Jordan Staal second in the NHL Draft.

On the other hand, Grim Rutherford was the General Manager of the Hartford Whalers/Caroline Hurricanes for 20 years, leading them to one Stanley Cup in 2006. Like Shero, Rutherford's had his share of head-scratching moments, like trading Sami Kapanen for Pavel Brendl and Bruno St. Jacques, or submitting a $38 million offer sheet to Sergei Federov.

"We have a very strong core here in Pittsburgh. What we need to do is strengthen out the third and fourth lines," said Rutherford at his introductory press conference.

To an extent, this is true. However, it is hard seeing what Grim Rutherford plans on doing to add depth to the team, especially with his dismal trade history and the free agents the Penguins have this year.

[goosedennis]

Pens Make Big Splash at Draft


Little does that man know, the child is actually Landeskog's.

PHILADELPHIA -- New GM Jim Rutherford is certainly off to a big start. Shortly after NHL commissioner Gary Bettman introduced the crowd to the draft, he had to announce a trade:

"Before I start the clock on the first overall pick, I have a trade to announce. The Pittsburgh Penguins have traded James Neal, Pascal Dupuis, the rights to Matt Niskanen, their first round draft pick in this year's draft, and their first draft pick in next year's draft to the Colorado Avalanche for Gabriel Landeskog, Marc-Andre Cliche, and the first overall draft pick in this year's draft."

The crowd was certainly shocked: While there were rumors of the Penguins trading James Neal, nobody had expected a blockbuster deal in which the Pens received Avalanche captain and Calder Trophy winner Gabriel Landeskog as well as the first overall pick in the draft. (Yeah, there's no way I can control how the teams did during the 2013-14 sim.)

At a press conference following the draft, questions flew at Rutherford.

"You said you wanted to bring depth to the team, but you go and trade two depth players. How is this bringing depth," asked one reporter.

"I don't think anyone can argue that we received an incredible return for our goods. Dupuis, while a good depth player, is aging; Niskanen is a restricted free agent after this season and we had no interest in re-signing him."

However, only time will tell whether this was a good trade. While Landeskog is a very good, young player, his 2013-14 season was riddled with injuries, forcing the 21-year-old to only play 23 games.

After the trade still came the draft. Although the Penguins had the first overall pick, they did not have a pick in the second or third rounds. These are the results of the draft:

Pittsburgh Penguins Draft Recap
Pick	Team	Player	Pos	Ht	Wt
1	Pittsburgh Penguins	Nick Ritchie	LW	6'2"	209
102	Pittsburgh Penguins	Roberts Lipsbergs	LW	5'11"	178
121	Pittsburgh Penguins	Alexey Sleptsov	D	6'2"	168
162	Pittsburgh Penguins	Clark Bishop	C	6'0"	176
192	Pittsburgh Penguins	Maxime St-Cyr	C	5'8"	169

[goosedennis]

Pens Re-Sign Jokinen, Others


This shows up when I google "Jussi Joken" for some reason.

PITTSBURGH -- The Penguins have announced today that they have retained the services of several players for the 2014-15 season. Brooks Orpik has been re-signed to a 4-year, $12 million deal, perhaps joining Simon Despres, who was signed to a 5-year, $10 million contract, on a defensive pairing next year. The Pens' seventh defenseman, Deryk Engelland, has also been signed to a 1-year, $1 million dollar contract.

In addition to defensemen, the Penguins agreed to deals with Lee Stempniak, who will be earning $7.5 million over the next three years, Joe Vitale, who gets $1.74 million for two years, and Chuck Kobasew, who agreed to a 1-year, $800,000 contract. Even midseason acquisition Marcel Goc rejoined the team, agreeing to a contract where he'll earn $4 million over two seasons.

But the two biggest signings of the day for Jim Rutherford were winger Jussi Jokinen, who was fourth on the Penguins in goal-scoring last season, and former Hurricane Brandon Sutter. Jokinen will be joining the Penguins for two more seasons with a $5.5 million contract. Sutter, who had a career-high 48 points last year, will be a Penguin for three more seasons after signing a $7.5 million contract.

However, this came at a cost: the Penguins had to part ways with several players, including backup goaltender Tomas Vokoun, with whom the Penguins could not reach a deal.

Entering free agency, the Pens will have $5.9 million in cap space. When asked what he planned on doing with this, Rutherford again claimed that he wanted to expand the depth of the roster, wanting a fast group to play on the third and fourth lines. Here is the Pens' roster right now:

Pittsburgh Penguins Depth Chart - 2014
	STARTER	2ND	3RD	4TH
LW	Gabriel Landeskog	Chris Kunitz	Jussi Jokinen	Beau Bennett
C	Sidney Crosby	Evgeni Malkin	Brandon Sutter	Marcel Goc
RW	Lee Stempniak	Chuck Kobasew	Craig Adams	Spencer Machacek
D #1	Kris Letang	Brooks Orpik	Rob Scuderi	Deryk Engelland
D #2	Paul Martin	Olli Maata	Simon Despres	Robert Bortuzzo
G	Marc-Andre Fleury	Jeff Zatkoff

The two gaping holes are, of course, a third-or fourth-line right winger and a backup goaltender. Without an abundance of talent in the free agent pool for this offseason, it will be interesting to see what the Penguins will do.

[goosedennis]

Pens Fill Out Roster, Start Preseason


Now that's a face only a mother can love.

PITTSBURGH -- While some fans called out for the Penguins to make more major moves over the offseason, management settled on signing just three players and playing golf.

The first addition to the Penguins' roster is goaltender Brian Elliott. Elliott, 29, has played the last three seasons with the St. Louis Blues, where he amassed a .907 save percentage and a 2.67 goals against average last season. He will play backup goaltender, though it is interesting to see how many games he will play as Marc-Andre Fleury's skills continue declining.

Grim Rutherford then came to the winger problem, which he tried resolving by signing Mats Zuccarello and Dustin Penner. Zuccarello is a 27-year old speedy forward who has spent the past three seasons with the Rangers. Last season, Zuccarello scored 14 goals and 41 points in 67 games for the Rags, a career high. He will earn eight million over four years. Penner is pretty different from Zuccarello, making him a queer choice for the Penguins. He played every game last season, proving him a durable option, but scored just 16 points and was virtually ineffective with ice time, somehow getting 137 penalty minutes. However, the Penguins believe enough in him to ink him to a $3.5 million deal spanning two seasons.

This all makes for very interesting position battles. While Elliott is more experienced that Jeff Zatkoff, even the backup goaltender position will be up for battle, in addition to the third and fourth-line wing spots and the bottom four defensive positions.

Luckily, there are seven preseason games where the Penguins can resolve these battles.

Pittsburgh Penguins 2014-15 Schedule
DATE	OPPONENT	RESULT
Sep 23	at Washington Capitals
Sep 25	at New York Rangers
Sep 27	vs Carolina Hurricanes
Sep 29	vs New Jersey Devils
Oct 1	at Philadelphia Flyers
Oct 3	vs Columbus Blue Jackets
Oct 5	at New York Islanders

Their lineup?

Pittsburgh Penguins Depth Chart - 2014
	STARTER	2ND	3RD	4TH
LW	Beau Bennett	Dustin Penner	Spender Machacek	Marc-Andre Cliche
C	Brandon Sutter	Marcel Goc	Andrew Ebbett	Joe Vitale
RW	Mats Zuccarello	Chuck Kobasew	Nick Ritchie	Craig Adams
D #1	Simon Despres	Olli Maata	Rob Scuderi
D #2	Deryk Engelland	Robert Bortuzzo	Brian Dumolin
G	Brian Elliott (Away)	Jeff Zatkoff (Home)

[goosedennis]

Preseason Recap


I had to search the internet to find a picture of Brian Elliott making a save.

It comes as no surprise to anyone that the Penguins did not win every game this preseason, as the universe's artificial intelligence somehow places all the good players on preseason rosters. What did come as a surprise, however, is the absolute atrocity with which they played.

While the position battles were, for the most part, resolved, questions still linger: Will the Penguins be ready for the beginning of the regular season? Will they actually score a goddamn goal? Who is the coach, anyway?

Let's take a look back at why these questions are asked:

Game 1 - Washington Capitals

Pittsburgh Penguins at Washington Capitals
Sep 23, 2014 1 2 3 F PIT (0-1-0) 0 1 0 1 WAS (1-0-0) 1 0 1 2 Three Stars Brian Elliott, PIT 39 SA, 37 SV, .949 SV% Eric Fehr, WSH 1 G, 1 A Brandon Anderson, WSH 24 SA, 23 SV, .958 SV%	Team Stats Comparison PIT WAS Shots on Goal 24 39 Hits 37 18 Faceoffs Won-Lost 22 14 Penalty Minutes 26 24 Power Plays Converted 0 1 Power Play Opportunities 2 3 Time on Attack 5:15 6:44
Scoring Summary FIRST PERIOD WAS 19:59: Brown (1): Fehr, Chimera SECOND PERIOD PIT 6:25: Ritchie (1): Ebbett THIRD PERIOD WAS 0:59: PP: Fehr (1): Beagle, Carlson
Pittsburgh Penguins - Goalies GOALIES SHOTS SAVES SV % GAA Brian Elliott 39 37 95% 2.00
Washington Capitals - Goalies GOALIES SHOTS SAVES SV % GAA Brandon Anderson 24 23 96% 1.00

Game 2 - New York Rangers

Pittsburgh Penguins at New York Rangers
Sep 25, 2014 1 2 3 F PIT (1-1-0) 1 0 3 4 NYR (1-1-0) 1 0 0 1 Three Stars David Leneves, NYR 26 SA, 24 SV, .923 SV% Chuck Kobasew, PIT 1G (GWG) Dustin Penner, PIT 1 G, 3 H	Team Stats Comparison PIT NYR Shots on Goal 28 20 Hits 34 8 Faceoffs Won-Lost 23 15 Penalty Minutes 22 20 Power Plays Converted 0 0 Power Play Opportunities 0 1 Time on Attack 3:36 5:00
Scoring Summary FIRST PERIOD PIT 7:53: Sutter (1): Dumolin, Scuderi NYR 14:41: Fast (1): Moore THIRD PERIOD PIT 12:29: Kobasew (1): Goc, Elliott PIT 19:44: Penner (1) EN: Dumolin, Elliott PIT 20:00: Zucccarello (1) EN: Despres, Engelland
Pittsburgh Penguins - Goalies GOALIES SHOTS SAVES SV % GAA Brian Elliott 20 19 95% 1.00
New York Rangers - Goalies GOALIES SHOTS SAVES SV % GAA David Leneves 26 24 92% 2.00

Game 3 - Carolina Hurricanes

Carolina Hurricanes at Pittsburgh Penguins
Sep 27, 2014 1 2 3 F CAR (1-1-1) 0 1 1 2 PIT (1-2-0) 0 0 0 0 Three Stars Mike Murphy, CAR SO Alexander Semin, CAR GWG Jeff Zatkoff, PIT 21 SA, 19 SV, .905 SV%	Team Stats Comparison CAR PIT Shots on Goal 21 23 Hits 8 38 Faceoffs Won-Lost 17 24 Penalty Minutes 10 15 Power Plays Converted 0 0 Power Play Opportunities 3 0 Time on Attack 3:30 5:33
Scoring Summary SECOND PERIOD CAR 15:55: Semin (1): E. Staal THIRD PERIOD CAR 7:18: Gerbe (1)
Carolina Hurricanes - Goalies GOALIES SHOTS SAVES SV % GAA Mike Murphy 23 23 100% 0.00
Pittsburgh Penguins - Goalies GOALIES SHOTS SAVES SV % GAA Jeff Zatkoff 21 19 90% 2.01

Game 4 - New Jersey Devils

New Jersey Devils at Pittsburgh Penguins
Sep 29, 2014 1 2 3 F NJD (4-0-0) 0 0 3 3 PIT (1-3-0) 0 1 1 2 Three Stars Dustin Penner, PIT 1 G, 7 H Adam Henrique, NJ 1 G, 1 A Charlie Graham, NJ 30 SA, 28 SV, .933 SV%	Team Stats Comparison NJD PIT Shots on Goal 35 30 Hits 14 44 Faceoffs Won-Lost 19 23 Penalty Minutes 5 28 Power Plays Converted 0 0 Power Play Opportunities 5 0 Time on Attack 5:13 3:48
Scoring Summary SECOND PERIOD PIT 13:28: Bennett (1): Despres, Sutter THIRD PERIOD NJD 2:45: Henrique (1): Gelinas, Boucher NJD 12:21: Tedenby (1): Henrique, Harrold PIT 14:10: Penner (2): Engelland NJD 16:50: Ruutu (1): Ryder, Zajac
New Jersey Devils - Goalies GOALIES SHOTS SAVES SV % GAA Charlie Graham 30 28 93% 2.00
Pittsburgh Penguins - Goalies GOALIES SHOTS SAVES SV % GAA Jeff Zatkoff 35 32 91% 3.01

Game 5 - Philadelphia Flyers

Pittsburgh Penguins at Philadelphia Flyers
Oct 1, 2014 1 2 3 F PIT (1-4-0) 2 0 0 2 PHI (3-1-1) 0 3 2 5 Three Stars Eric Wellwood, PHI 2 G Kimmo Timonen, PHI 3 A Jakub Voracek, PHI 1 G, 1 A	Team Stats Comparison PIT PHI Shots on Goal 27 36 Hits 35 20 Faceoffs Won-Lost 15 12 Penalty Minutes 25 15 Power Plays Converted 0 2 Power Play Opportunities 0 5 Time on Attack 4:32 6:37
Scoring Summary FIRST PERIOD PHI 4:04: Kobasew (1): Goc, Elliott PHI 11:47: Zuccarello (2) SECOND PERIOD PIT 4:26: Downie (4): Schenn PIT 12:21: Voracek (1) PP: Timonen, MacDonald THIRD PERIOD PIT 16:30: Wellwood (1) PP: Steckl, Timonen PIT 0:48: Giroux (2): Voracek, Timonen PIT 13:31: Wellwood (2): Handzus
Pittsburgh Penguins - Goalies GOALIES SHOTS SAVES SV % GAA Brian Elliott 36 31 86% 5.00
Philadelphia Flyers - Goalies GOALIES SHOTS SAVES SV % GAA Steve Mason 27 25 93% 2.00

Game 6 - Columbus Blue Jackets

Columbus Blue Jackets at Pittsburgh Penguins
Oct 3, 2014 1 2 3 SO F CBJ (3-2-1) 1 0 2 1 4 PIT (1-4-1) 1 0 2 0 3 Three Stars Marcel Goc, PIT 1 G, 1 A, 5 H Sergei Bobrovsky, CBJ 50 SA, 47 SV, .940 SV% Rob Scuderi, PIT 1 G, 6 H	Team Stats Comparison CBJ PIT Shots on Goal 23 50 Hits 20 35 Faceoffs Won-Lost 20 28 Penalty Minutes 14 12 Power Plays Converted 0 0 Power Play Opportunities 1 2 Time on Attack 5:04 5:14
Scoring Summary FIRST PERIOD CBJ 8:40: Horton (1) PIT 13:28: Scuderi (1): Goc THIRD PERIOD PIT 6:19: Sutter (2) CBJ 10:16: Umberger (3): Johansen, Frattin CBJ 14:50: Frattin (1) PIT 19:55: Goc (1) SHOOTOUT CBJ Horton PIT Bennett CBJ Anisimov PIT Goc CBJ Dubinsky
Columbus Blue Jackets - Goalies GOALIES SHOTS SAVES SV % GAA Sergei Bobrovsky 50 47 94% 3.00
Pittsburgh Penguins - Goalies GOALIES SHOTS SAVES SV % GAA Jeff Zatkoff 23 20 87% 3.01

Note: At this point in time, I was rather frustrated, so I changed the sliders a bit -- they did absolutely nothing for the next game

Because this upcoming game was the final one and the position battles have been resolved, I brought up what my lines might be for the regular season and let them play, just to get used to playing with non-garbage players:

Kunitz - Crosby - Landeskog
Jokinen - Malkin - Bennett
Zuccarello - Sutter - Stempniak
Penner - Goc - Kobasew
Martin - Letang
Maata - Orpik
Despres - Scuderi
Fleury
Elliott

Game 7 - New York Islanders

Pittsburgh Penguins at New York Islanders
Oct 5, 2014 1 2 3 OT F PIT (2-4-1) 0 0 0 1 1 NYI (4-1-2) 0 0 0 0 0 Three Stars Scott Stajcer, NYI 30 SA, 29 SV, .967 SV% Marc-Andre Fleury, PIT SO Sidney Crosby, PIT GWG	Team Stats Comparison PIT NYI Shots on Goal 30 24 Hits 38 18 Faceoffs Won-Lost 23 12 Penalty Minutes 17 15 Power Plays Converted 0 0 Power Play Opportunities 0 1 Time on Attack 4:37 4:45
Scoring Summary OVERTIME PIT 3:15: Crosby (1): Letang
Pittsburgh Penguins - Goalies GOALIES SHOTS SAVES SV % GAA Marc-Andre Fleury 24 24 100% 0.00
New York Islanders - Goalies GOALIES SHOTS SAVES SV % GAA Scott Stajcer 30 29 97% 0.98

This tight-scoring game game at a cost, however. Both Pittsburgh's Simon Despres and New York's Travis Hamonic suffered concussions and will be out to start the season.

[Edmontonoilersfan70]

What is Ritchie's potential and overall?

Nice trade BTW

[goosedennis]

Season Preview: Pittsburgh Penguins


The Penguins hope to reenact the 1992-93 season. Except for losing to the Islanders in the playoffs.

PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Penguins hope to make a sharp turn for the better in the 2014 season.

For five consecutive seasons, the team has been eliminated in the playoffs by a lower-seeded team, prompting ownership to fire both General Manager Ray Shero and Head Coach Dan Bylsma, replacing them with Grim Rutherford and Mike Johnston, respectively.

"This will not happen again," said coach Johnston. "The Penguins are the most talented team in the league, yet they have failed to take advantage of this talent for the most part in the past few seasons. We will win the Stanley Cup this year, mark my words."

Team co-owner Mario Lemieux is not so sure about this, however. His goal for the Pens this year is to reach the Eastern Conference Finals and win 46 games in the regular season. Fans, on the other hand, agree with Johnston, with 73% of fans expecting the team to at least reach the Stanley Cup Finals in an online poll this week.

Jim Rutherford has made additions to the team during the offseason in hopes to achieve Johnston's goal. His most notable addition, of course, is youngster Gabriel Landeskog. Landeskog is a smooth-skating winger who somehow scored 30 points in just 23 games during the 2013-14 season. He is expected to play on the first line with Sidney Crosby and Chris Kunitz.

Other additions include small speedster Mats Zuccarello, grinding winger Dustin Penner, and backup goaltender Brian Elliott. While not blockbuster additions, they are expected to contribute to the team this season.

An interesting change from last season is the bottom six. Previously a motley crew which featured Craig Adams, Joe Vitale, and whatever AHL player Dan Bylsma had a boner for that week, the bottom six now has talented players such as Lee Stempniak, Beau Bennett, and Dustin Penner.

Although winning just two games in the preseason, vibes are positive among the team.

"I'm excited for this season," responded captain Sidney Crosby. "After all, we have a new coach and a few new players. It feels like we'll do better than the past couple of years."

.....................................

Let's take a look at the preseason stats:

Well, crap. It looks like we don't really have a lot of samples to go by, but the defense was sub-par.

What this did resolve, however, were a few position battles that were raging throughout the preseason. Without further ado, your 2014-15 Pittsburgh Penguins!

- -
Gabriel Landeskog - Sidney Crosby "C" - Chris Kunitz

- -
Jussi Jokinen - Evgeni Malkin "A" - Mats Zuccarello

- -
Beau Bennett - Brandon Sutter - Lee Stempniak

- -
Dustin Penner - Marcel Goc - Chuck Kobasew


-
Paul Martin - Kris Letang

-
Simon Despres - Brooks Orpik "A"

-
Olli Maatta - Rob Scuderi


Marc-Andre Fleury

Brian Elliott

Scratches:
&
Deryk Engelland & Brian Dumoulin

.....................................

Here is a peek at the Penguins' upcoming schedule:

Pittsburgh Penguins 2014-15 Schedule
DATE	OPPONENT	RESULT
Oct 11	vs Washington Capitals	Won, 2-1
Oct 14	at Washington Capitals	Lost, 4-1
Oct 15	at Tampa Bay Lightning	Won, 3-2
Oct 17	at Ottawa Senators	Won, 5-3
Oct 20	vs Montreal Canadiens	Won, 3-2
Oct 23	at Florida Panthers	Won, 2-1
Oct 25	vs Tampa Bay Lightning	Won, 5-0
Oct 28	vs Toronto Maple Leafs	Won, 4-1
Oct 30	vs Boston Bruins	Won, 1-0

[goosedennis]

Quote: Originally Posted by Edmontonoilersfan70

What is Ritchie's potential and overall? Nice trade BTW

64 overall, 4-star potential.

And thanks. The Avs actually offered it to me when I had Neal on the block. Of course, because the trade AI is broken, I added Nisky's rights because [???].