Penguins/NHL category, Page 289
Mark Madden: Phil Kessel hit his sell-by date; Penguins GM Jim Rutherford acted
Five years ago, Jim Rutherford traded a point-per-game player for a guy who wasn’t. On June 27, 2014, the Penguins sent winger James Neal to Nashville for winger Patric Hornqvist. Neal had 61 points in 59 games the season prior. Hornqvist had 53 points in 76 games. Neal’s production can’t...
Alex Galchenyuk excited to tackle tough task after trade to Penguins
In explaining his rationale for trading winger Phil Kessel to the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday night, general manager Jim Rutherford said he wanted to add players to his locker room who weren’t content with their accomplishments and were excited to be Pittsburgh Penguins. He checked those boxes with Alex Galchenyuk....
After trading Phil Kessel, Penguins can dip toes into free agent pool
As of now, the trade Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford made Saturday night will be remembered as the Phil Kessel-for-Alex Galchenyuk swap. By Monday afternoon, it could have a slightly different flavor. Before saving $1.9 million in salary cap space by completing the Kessel deal, Rutherford said the Penguins...
Answering 8 burning questions about the Phil Kessel trade
The first question that springs to mind after the Pittsburgh Penguins traded winger Phil Kessel to the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday night is the easiest one to answer. Friday, Dec. 6. That’s when the Coyotes visit PPG Paints Arena this season, giving fans the chance to show their appreciation for...
4 years, 2 Cups: Remembering Phil Kessel’s time with the Penguins
April 11, 2015: Kessel records a goal and an assist in a 4-3 shootout loss to Montreal in what would be his last game in a Toronto jersey. Despite recording 394 points in 446 games over six seasons, the Leafs are, according to Toronto Sun columnist Steve Simmons, growing tired...
Penguins trade Phil Kessel to Arizona for Alex Galchenyuk
The long-rumored split between the Pittsburgh Penguins and popular winger Phil Kessel finally happened Saturday night, and it wasn’t exactly the prettiest divorce of all time. The Penguins sent Kessel, a fourth-round pick and defense prospect Dane Birks to the Arizona Coyotes for winger Alex Galchenyuk and defense prospect Pierre-Olivier...
Penguins GM Jim Rutherford has no shortage of trade chips to play
As Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford wrapped up an uneventful trip to Vancouver for last weekend’s NHL Draft, he admitted the next few days — the time leading up to the start of the league’s free-agent signing period Monday — would be his best chance to make the deals...
A quick overview of the NHL free agent player pool
The Pittsburgh Penguins will need to shed serious salary to become significant players in the free-agent market, but regardless of what they do, there will be some fireworks around the league when the signing period opens at noon Monday. Here’s a quick overview. BIG TICKETS The Columbus duo of high-scoring...
Skating doesn’t slow Penguins top picks Samuel Poulin, Nathan Legare in scrimmage
When the Pittsburgh Penguins used their first two picks in last weekend’s NHL draft to select power forwards Samuel Poulin and Nathan Legare, the question came almost immediately. Do they skate well enough to be impact players in the modern game? It was fitting, then, that the team’s annual development...
Penguins hire AHL champ Mike Vellucci as Wilkes-Barre/Scranton head coach
The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins have a new coach with strong championship credentials. The Penguins announced Friday night that WBS coach Clark Donatelli had resigned for personal reasons and was replaced by Mike Vellucci, who parted ways with the Carolina Hurricanes organization earlier in the day. Vellucci, 52, coached Carolina’s AHL team,...
Penguins notebook: Big 5th-round pick Judd Caulfield works on hands
At 6-foot-3, 204 pounds and coming off a season in which he had 12 goals in 64 games prior to getting drafted by the Pittsburgh Penguins, it isn’t difficult for Judd Caulfield to identify what he wants to improve at. “I just need to work on my hands and shooting...
Big hits no longer a big focus for Penguins prospects
A generation ago, it wasn’t a line buried at the bottom of a scouting report. It might be the No. 1 reason a player became a millionaire. The ability to deliver a big, open-ice hit was a sought-after commodity in the hockey community. Brooks Orpik and Colby Armstrong, for instance,...
Teams named after franchise icons at Penguins development camp-ending 3-on-3 tournament
It’s a 3-on-3 tournament with 14-minute periods and no power plays. But the organization is doing its best to get the competitive juices flowing. The annual capper to the Pittsburgh Penguins development camp is game play at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex. To spice things up, the Penguins award a...
Penguins system braces for Finnish invasion
When defenseman Olli Maatta was traded to the Chicago Blackhawks earlier this month, the Pittsburgh Penguins locker room was almost completely cleared out of Finns. It won’t stay that way for long. The next crop of Finnish players is on the verge of arriving, and it’s practically a tidal wave....
Matthew Boucher, son of former Penguins defenseman, returns to ‘Mario’s place’
When Philippe Boucher was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins by the Dallas Stars in November of 2008, the timing was absolutely perfect in one way. Boucher’s son Matthew was a few weeks shy of his 11th birthday. It’s a formative time for a young sports fan, and the playoff run...
After debut college season, Austin Lemieux back at Penguins camp
This is the fourth Pittsburgh Penguins development camp for Austin Lemieux at the facility that bears his surname. In that time he’s grown from a 20-year-old kid playing junior hockey to a 23-year-old man heading into his redshirt sophomore season for a successful Arizona State NCAA program. That hasn’t made...
Penguins defense prospect Clayton Phillips looking for fresh start in college hockey
One of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ top prospects could use a change of scenery. Clayton Phillips, an offensive defenseman picked in the third round of the 2017 draft, is in the middle of the transfer process after spending the first two years of his college career at the University of Minnesota....
Penguins prospect Jordy Bellerive travels tough road to recovery after campfire explosion
Countless hockey players, even ones young enough to be participating in Pittsburgh Penguins development camp in Cranberry this week, have stories to tell about rehabbing from a tough injury. Few have as harrowing a tale to tell as Penguins prospect Jordy Bellerive. After suffering a serious hand injury in a...
Penguins could use push from next generation of prospects
When Jake Guentzel, Matt Murray, Bryan Rust, Conor Sheary, Tom Kuhnhackl and a generation of young players burst onto the NHL scene a couple of years ago, they helped the Pittsburgh Penguins win back-to-back championships. But that’s not all they did. They also set the bar incredibly high for future...
The ‘other’ Matt Murray embraces attending Penguins camp
Pittsburgh Penguins development camp is the domain of draft picks, college free agents and tryouts. So what was goalie Matt Murray doing out on the ice at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex on Wednesday? Not that Matt Murray. “A few inches shorter and one number off,” the other Matt Murray...
1st-rounder Samuel Poulin out to beat odds, make Penguins at 18
It has been five years since a rookie first-round pick has been present at Pittsburgh Penguins development camp. That’s for a simple reason: they Penguins haven’t made a first-round pick since 2014. The draft rarely translates into players making an impact at the NHL level, but occasionally it happens. Which...
Penguins bring back Zach Trotman, Kevin Czuczman for defensive depth
The Pittsburgh Penguins shored up their defensive depth Wednesday, re-signing Zach Trotman and Kevin Czuczman to two-year, two-way contracts. Both contracts will pay $700,000 annually at the NHL level. Trotman, 28, has been a call-up option for the Penguins each of the last two seasons. Last year, he played 13...
Penguins GM Jim Rutherford hoping to replicate important trade
When Jim Rutherford talks about the second act of his managerial career, the one that brought him back-to-back Stanley Cup championships with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2016-17, his first inclination is to be humble. “I already had a great advantage when you come into a team with (Sidney) Crosby and...
Penguins GM Jim Rutherford chosen for Hockey Hall of Fame
Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford turned 70 back in February, but all it took was a phone call Tuesday afternoon to turn him into a teenager sending a text. “I said, ‘OMG,’ ” Rutherford relayed, describing his reaction when he heard Lanny McDonald and John Davidson were on the...
Penguins to open regular season with 4-game homestand
The Pittsburgh Penguins will open 2019-20 with a relatively soft early schedule filled with plenty of home games, but over the course of the next six-plus months, they’ll be tested by plenty of back-to-backs. The Penguins open with a four-game homestand, starting with the Oct. 3 opener against Buffalo and...
