2017 Prospects Challenge – Pittsburgh Penguins Results

I have already found a reason to like this new Prospects Challenge in Buffalo more than the old Rookie Tournament in London. The staff at the HarborCenter posts game sheets for all the matches, so I can look back at stats and see who did what. It is still rather limited like the AHL score sheets are, they don’t even have plus/minus available since they don’t list who is on the ice, but it is better than having nothing at all.

Game 1 Friday September 8, 2017: Pittsburgh Penguins 2 – Boston Bruins 3

Game 2 Saturday September 9, 2017: Pittsburgh Penguins 6 – New Jersey Devils 2

Game 3 Monday September 11, 2017: Pittsburgh Penguins 5 – Buffalo Sabres 3

The Penguins went 2-0-1 and won the tournament with the fewest Goals Against. Below I will go over the team and individual stats from each of the Penguins games as well as an overall tally for the tournament.

Pittsburgh Penguins – 2017 Prospect Challenge

The Pittsburgh Penguins announced their roster for the 2017 Prospect Challenge in Buffalo. This will be their first time competing in Buffalo’s tournament as in previous years they have participated in the Rookie Tournament in London.

They will face the Boston Bruins on Friday September 8 at 3:30 PM, the New Jersey Devils on Saturday September 9 at 3:30 PM, and the Buffalo Sabres on Monday September 11 at 7:00 PM. All three games will be broadcast live on the Penguins website.

The tournament will be headed by Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Head Coach Clark Donatelli and his Assistant Coaches J.D. Forrest and Tim Army. After they return from Buffalo they will be preparing for NHL Training Camp which starts at the end of next week.

Where are they now? Pittsburgh Penguins F Tryouts

Yesterday I decided to write an article looking back at old Pittsburgh Penguins Prospect Development Camp/Rookie Tournament invites to see what happened to them afterwards.

Some stayed in the system, even if it was only on an AHL deal with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins or an ECHL contract with the Wheeling Nailers. Others went back to school or back to Juniors and could possibly return again in the future (or in a couple incidences already have). Then there are those who moved on to other teams, or made a change by going back to school or hanging up the skates to go into coaching.

I had intended to include forwards in that post, but after seeing how long it was already I figured I would just split it up and cover them in a part 2. So let’s look at the forwards who were invited to summer activities as free agent tryouts (some were on AHL/ECHL deals looking to earn an NHL contract).

Where are they now? Pittsburgh Penguins D and G Tryouts

When I was looking over the Wheeling Nailers roster the other day it got me thinking about how great it is when the Pittsburgh Penguins manage to keep guys in the system in some manner, whether signed to an ECHL contract or in the AHL with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.

There are a few guys who worked their way up, they came to Prospect Development Camp and/or the Rookie Tournament as free agent invites and played well enough to earn themselves a place in the Penguins system. Some of them even managed to work their way up from there are are now in the NHL.

So I wanted to look back at the rosters from the past few summers in order to see who the Penguins had invited into Camps and find out what happened to them since then. I’m only going back the past 4 seasons since they had to cancel the Rookie Tournament during the lockout year in 2012.

Minor Distractions – Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins

I have been using 7 game chunks to evaluate the NHL Pittsburgh Penguins, so it seemed like a good cutoff to use in order to take a look out how the AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins have played to start the 2016-17 season.

WBS is currently 1st in the Atlantic Division, 2nd in the Eastern Conference, and 3rd in the AHL with a 5-1-1 record (78.6 P%). They have outshot their opponents 217-175 (55.4 SF%) and at Even Strength they outscored their opponents 13-7 (65.0 GF%).

They are #18 in the league having gone 5 for 31 at a 16.1 PP%. They are #1 in the league having stopped 30 of 32 at a 93.8 PK%. They are also tied for the league lead with 3 shorthanded goals. They also have 1 Penalty Shot goal.

Goaltenders

Jarry has gone 3-1-1 stopping 118 of 125 for a 1.39 GAA (#5 in the AHL) and .944 Sv% (#7 in the AHL). He’s the best overall so far amongst goalies that have played more than half of their team’s games.

DeSmith has gone 2-0-0 stopping 48 of 50 for a 1.00 GAA (#4 in the AHL) and .960 Sv% (#4 in the AHL). So far this year he has been the top rookie netminder.

Pittsburgh Penguins 2016 Preseason – Final Results

The Pittsburgh Penguins have played all six of their scheduled preseason matches and must be under the 23-man roster limit and fully Cap compliant by Tuesday October 11. The 2016-17 NHL regular season officially begins Wednesday October 12 while we first hit the ice with a home opener against the Washington Capitals on Thursday October 13.

Overall the Penguins finished the preseason with a 3-3 record (all three wins were shutouts) and were outscored 12-14. They went 1 for 24 at a 4.2 PP% and stopped 17 of 22 for a 77.3 PK%. They outshot their opponents 176-163 but were outchanced 314-317.

While they did have poor special teams performances, at Even Strength they put up a 2.14 GF60 and 1.50 GA60 (58.8 GF%). They outshot their opponents with a 27.4 SF60 and 26.9 SA60 (50.5 SF%) but they lost the overall possession battle with a 49.2 CF60 and 52.9 CA60 (48.2 CF%).

Goaltenders

Fleury went 1-3, posting a shutout in his victory, and at ES he posted a 2.14 GAA and .929 Sv%. The team was outpossessed at a 46.9 CF% when he was on the ice (he faced 29.9 SA60 and 58.0 CA60).

Jarry went 2-0 with both of his starts ending in a shutout. The team also did a solid job when he was in net, outpossessing their opponents with a 51.6 CF% (he faced 24.8 SA60 and 49.7 CA60).

Minor League Game Day

The Pittsburgh Penguins are in Washington today celebrating their Stanley Cup victory with President Obama, but fortunately we still have more hockey to watch. Today is the start of the preseason for both of the Penguins minor league affiliates.

In the AHL the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins take on the Albany Devils at 7:05pm.

In the ECHL the Wheeling Nailers face the Cincinnati Cyclones at 7:05pm.

The Nailers only play once more, heading on the road for a rematch against the Cyclones on Friday October 7. WBS will have two additional preseason games as the face the Hershey Bears in a home-and-home series Saturday October 8 and Sunday October 9.

Pittsburgh Penguins Trim Their Roster

As we anticipated when looking at the lineups after the Pittsburgh Penguins split their roster into a Team A and Team B they did indeed make another round of cuts after giving some of the players one final chance at getting in a preseason game on Sunday. When they returned to the ice for practice Tuesday morning it was with 27 healthy players (and 4 injured).

The Penguins placed defensemen Tim Erixon, Stuart Percy, Cameron Gaunce, Reid McNeill Steve Oleksy, and Chad Ruhwedel as well as forward Garrett Wilson on waivers.

They reassigned defenseman Ethan Prow as well as forwards Oskar Sundqvist, Josh Archibald, Dominik Simon, and Jean-Sebastien Dea to WBS. They are all signed to Entry Level NHL contracts and are still waiver exempt.

Lastly goaltenders Casey DeSmith and Leland Irving as well as forwards Adam Krause, Ryan Haggerty, and Sahir Gill were released back to WBS. Irving was attending on a PTO while the others were invites who are currently signed to AHL contracts.

I wanted to take a look at who all is left in Pittsburgh, what options they now have in WBS, and how that will effect Wheeling when the AHL roster gets trimmed down later this week.

Pittsburgh Penguins Preseason Game 4 at Columbus

The Pittsburgh Penguins are gearing up for their fourth match of the 2016 NHL preseason as they head to Columbus to face the Blue Jackets at 4pm Sunday October 2.

A couple of players are going to get their first games in today, and for a few of them this will probably be their last. The Penguins have an off day tomorrow and when they return to practice on Tuesday the roster is expected to be reorganized into one full team practice group. With Hagelin returning to practice today and Crosby coming back Tuesday it appears as if more players will be sent down the WBS soon as the finalized NHL roster is starting to take shape.

You can go back and read about their previous performances this preseason if you would like. They lost Game 1 at Detroit 2-4 but then won back-to-back shutouts against Chicago Game 2 2-0 on the road and Game 3 1-0 at home. Those posts all include some rudimentary fancystats (mostly just CF% but a couple other things here and there) if you are interested in seeing how they have performed in regards to puck possession.

2016 Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Training Camp

The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins begin their regular 2016 AHL Training Camp sessions on Saturday October 1. They began with the usual off ice stuff today (fitness testing and measurements and whatnot).

The Pittsburgh Penguins already sent a few players back down from the NHL Training Camp, and it is possible that they will cut a few more players after tonight’s game as they are scheduled to split the roster into 2 even teams this weekend. However with the number of injured players they are easing back into the lineup (and guys who are still getting a break after the World Cup of Hockey) they are already at the point where they have a fairly even split to dress a two team roster. So we might not actually start to see more bodies until after they play in Columbus on Sunday (the team has a scheduled day off Monday and the roster is expected to be cut down to one full team unit for Tuesday practice). And of course some of the guys that need to be placed on waivers may not arrive until right before the NHL regular season begins after Monday October 10.

There are 3 AHL preseason games this year, they face the Albany Devils on Thursday October 6 and have a home-and-home series against the Hershey Bears on Saturday October 8 and Sunday October 9.

So some of the guys that are expected to start the year in the AHL may not even reach WBS until after the preseason is already over and training camp is wrapping up for the year (the first regular season game is Saturday October 15). For now the roster is going to have an awful lot of unfamiliar names.