Penguins off season to date

Looking at the Penguins' offseason moves, it is pretty obvious that they were not too happy about the early exit from the playoffs this year.  It has been pretty busy thus far, with the moves of Friday opening up 6M in cap space for Pittsburgh.  First, off of Staal's lack of interest in signing a 60M, 10 year extension with Pittsburgh, Shero dealt him quickly to Carolina bringing in Brandon Sutter, the 8th overall pick in the draft with turned into Derrick Pouliot, and solid defensive prospect Brian Dumoulin.  Later in the evening, Shero sent Michalek back to Phoenix in return for Harrison Ruopp, a big physical defensive prospect, borderline goaltending prospect Cheverie, and a third round pick i the draft that was converted into center prospect Oscar Sundqvist.  These day one moves put the Penguins 6M under the cap, added to a ridiculously deep group of defensive prospects, opened up room for Niskanen, and some combination of Strait, Bortuzzo, and Despres, while making one of them very moveable in their efforts to go after a big name like a Bobby Ryan of Anaheim.  They also have the cap space to be in on Zach Parise or Gary Suter on July 1st, two impact moves.  If they can move Paul Martin, they may have the money to go after both. Let's not forget that Shero had already made an impact move in bringing in Tomas Vokoun to give Pittsburgh one of the best goaltending tandems in hockey.  An interesting development for me is to think that one of my two favorite Pens prospects, Simon Despres might be in play for trade purposes.  First, the Penguins went VERY heavy again in terms of getting solid, large puck moving defensemen in the draft and in draft day trades, second Ray Shero hinted that there are/were possible trades he could have made already, and finally Dan Bylsma made an interesting comment today.  He was giddy in noting that Scott Harrington, Joe Morrow, Derrick Pouliott, and Olli Maatta could be the core of the best defense corps in the near future.  Putting the Shero and Bylsma comments together, it sounds as if Despres is being asked about (he is a great young Dman), and could be part of a big deal(Bobby Ryan from defense starved Anaheim).  Bylsma may have spoken off the cuff, but Despres has been slated as making the team, and having top four potential, so his ommission in the comment of the young core MAY have been an accidental hint.  Or a telling sign that he is the desired bait to complete another big time tranasaction given the NHL ready nature of Bortuzzo and Strait, whom they either use on the big club or lose on waivers.  Time will tell, but one thing is for sure, and that is that the Penguins have made big changes, and seem poised to add more top notch talent to this club. 

SUMMARY:

IN  via trade-Brandon Sutter C, Tomas Vokoun G, Brian Doumalin D, Harrison Ruopp D, Derrick Pouliott (8th pick), Oskar Sundqvist (81st pick), Marc Cheverie G

OUT-7th round pick, Jordan Staal C, Zybnek Michalek D

The new Penguins Draftees:

As discussed in yesterday's post the Penguins added lots of defensive depth in the trade with Brian Dumoulin, and then with the 8th pick Derrick Pouliot, and the 22nd pick they got Olli Maatta. Finally as part of the Michlek trade they brought in tough defenseman Ruopp from Phoenix.  There is no need to reiterate their abilities in this post.  Today the Penguins added the following players:

Second Round-Teddy Blueger 52nd overall, Center, 6-0 171 lbs from Shattuck St. Mary's.  In 51 regulars season games he had 24G and 64A to lead the team with 88 points.  He led to team to its second straight U-18 US Title. Scouts say that Blueger possesses very high offensive upside and sees the ice extremely well;

Third Round-Oskar Sundqvist-81st overall, Center, 6-3 172 lbs from Skellefta SWE-JR.  He had 61 points (26G and 35A) in 43 games with 132 PIMs. Scouts say he plays a lot like Peter Forsberg, is big and rangy, skates hard with good hands and skills in tight;

Third Round-Matthew Murray-83rd overall, Goaltender, 6-4 160lbs from Sault Ste Marie (OHL).  He was ranked 18th among North American goaltenders, and scouts say he is a project, but he possesses tremendous size and athleticism;

Fourth Round-Mattia Marcantuoni-92nd overall, Forward, 6-0 195 lbs from Kitchener (OHL).  He had 9 G and 14 points in just 24 games before a concussion shortened his season.  He is a possible boom or bust pick who was ranked in the top 20 at one point by some scouts prior to his concussion.  He has speed to burn and a high intensity level with a motor that is always running;

Fourth Round-Sean Maguire-113th overall, Goaltender, 6-2, 180 lbs.  He will attend Boston University next year, and made the BCHL 2nd team allstars last year.  Scouts say he is not as big or athletic as Murray but has great upside and four years at BU to develop;

Fifth Round-Clark Seymour-143rd overall, Defense, 6-4 205 lbs from Peterborough (OHL).  Seymour is a defensive minded defenseman.  Scouts say that he is a very good skater who plays a hard physical game.  They call him a "denter.";

Sixth Round-Anton Zlobin-173rd overall, Right Wing, 5-11 195 lbs from Shawnigan (QMJHL).  Zlobin had 40 G and 76 points in 66 regular season games, he also had 5G and 4A during the 2012 Memorial Cup Run for Shawnigan, including the championship clinching OT goal.  Scouts call him a short stocky player with good speed and skills in tight.  He has top 6 potential. 

While the Penguins lost Staal and Michalek this offseason, they have added Vokoun, a potential starter to back up Fleury, and Sutter, a very solid third line center.  In addition, through the trades and draft, the Penguins added 5 more defensive prospects, 3 wingers, 2 centers and 2 goaltenders, while opening up 6M more in cap space to use for impact plays.  They possess almost scary depth at defense with Orpik, Letang, Niskanen(likely), Martin, Engelland, Lovejoy all on the big club, with Bortuzzo and Strait NHL ready, along with Despres and Morrow who almost made the team last year.  Behind them, they have Sneep and Samuelsson in the system.  In the past two days they added high end prospects Domoulin, Pouliot, and Maata to the mix, and defensive grinders like Ruopp and Seymour.  Some of this depth will be used to fill the other holes in the coming weeks.  Look for Shero, who claims he had/has offers on the table to activley seek impact moves in the next two to four weeks.