This is part two of Pittsburgh Sporting News' 2015 Penguins top-10 prospects. The methodology and part one can be found here. High risk, high reward These players have the potential to make a splash in the NHL some day, but as of now their future is less certain. #6 Jake Guentzel will be a junior at the University of Nebraska-Omaha this year. He has found himself near the top of various national rankings in each of his first two seasons of college hockey and looks like he may be capable ... Read More
Part 1: Penguins 2015 Top-10 prospects
In the last decade, the Pittsburgh Penguins have seen some of the most intriguing and high-profile prospects in the entire National Hockey League come through their system. Even as the team's big-time draft picks of the early 2000's turned into NHL stars, the team was still touted for their defensive depth. Those days, however, have passed. Now, after a series of trades and a few players that have moved on to full time NHL positions, the cupboard is once again looking rather bare. Corey ... Read More
Report: Pens rookie Sundqvist suffered severed tendon
Pittsburgh Penguins rookie center Oskar Sundqvist missed the team’s prospect development camp in July with what he said at the time was a hamstring injury. Hamstring injuries are relatively common as athletes begin training after the offseason. But according to a report by Arvid Marklund of the Swedish newspaper Norran, Sundqivst’s injury was more serious than a run-of-the-mill hamstring pull. Sundqvist reportedly suffered a deep laceration in his left thigh while playing with Skelleftea ... Read More
Penguins bring Gonchar in for tryout contract
The Pittsburgh Penguins announced Friday that they are bringing back Sergei Gonchar on a tryout contract. The veteran free agent Gonchar played with star center Evgeni Malkin for Metallurg Magnitogorsk in the Russian Superleague back in 2004-05 and after the lockout ended, signed with the Penguins. He spent five seasons in Pittsburgh, serving as an alternate captain for four of them, and was an integral part of their playoff success in 2008 and 2009. Gonchar was an excellent power play ... Read More
Pens mailbag: Why Matt Cullen, is Franson a fit, and more
Why did the Pens sign 38-year old center Matt Cullen? Penguins GM Jim Rutherford gave lip service to Cullen being the type of player that he wants in his locker room after signing Cullen to a one-year deal last week. But as the Penguins witnessed last season with Craig Adams, all the intangibles in the world don’t add up to squat if the player can’t produce on the ice. Well, Cullen may be 38, but he’s far from unproductive. Over the last two seasons with Nashville, he averaged .122 goals ... Read More
Summer of Jim: Pens GM making all the right moves in 2015
Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford faced a lot of criticism in his first year on the job. Many commenters (including this columnist) felt that Rutherford did not adequately manage his assets or the salary cap in order to put his team in the best possible position come playoff time. It was an easy criticism to make. The Penguins had so little salary cap space that they were forced to play with five defensemen for a long stretch at the end of the season, while minimal ... Read More
Penguins sign Matt Cullen
The Pittsburgh Penguins continued to build their depth in the bottom six on Thursday by signing free agent center Matt Cullen to a one-year contract worth $800,000. Cullen, a 6-foot-1, 200-pound native of Virginia, Minnesota, spent the last two seasons with the Nashville Predators. In 2013-14, he scored 10 goals and recorded 29 assists in. In 2014-15, a pair of injuries held him to just 62 games played, but he still was able to score 7 goals and tally 18 assists. Cullen can play center and ... Read More
Pens part ways with longtime broadcaster
The Pittsburgh Penguins have parted ways with longtime broadcaster Bob Grove, according to a report first filed by Josh Yohe of DKPittsburghSports.com and confirmed by the Pittsburgh Sporting News. Grove had been with the team since 1998, serving as the host of the pregame, intermission and postgame shows on the team’s broadcast network, which currently airs on WXDX-FM. “I’m very disappointed,” he told DKPittsburghSports.com. “But I want to thank the Penguins organization for treating me ... Read More
Pittsburgh Penguins 2015-16 salary cap outlook
The Pittsburgh Penguins have made quite a few roster moves this year, as just 10 of the current players were on the opening night roster last October. The sweeping changes in the lineup have brought with them an entirely unfamiliar salary cap situation. Forwards: The Penguins currently have 10 forwards on one-way NHL contracts that are expected to begin the season in the NHL: Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby, Phil Kessel, Patrick Hornqvist, Chris Kunitz, David Perron, Pascal Dupuis, Eric Fehr, ... Read More
Pens sign Fehr; trade Sutter to Vancouver
The Pittsburgh Penguins have signed free-agent center Eric Fehr to a three-year contract worth $2 million annually. To make room under the salary cap for Fehr, the Penguins traded center Brandon Sutter, along with a 2016 third-round draft choice, to the Vancouver Canucks for Nick Bonino, Adam Clendening and a 2016 second-round pick. Fehr, 29, had spent nine of is 10 NHL seasons with the Washington Capitals, who drafted him in the first round in 2003. In 75 games with the Caps in 2014-15, Fehr ... Read More