What are the Penguins getting in Evan Rodrigues and round two of Conor Sheary?
Well, based on their first game since coming over from Buffalo, not much.
Neither player had a point as the Penguins lost to Los Angeles Kings 2-1. Rodrigues didn’t have a shot on goal, a blocked shot, or a hit. But he won four-of-five draws. Sheary was a minus-1 and registered only one shot.
That’s just one game, however. We try to find out what they may add long term in Thursday’s podcast.
Lance Lysowski — who used to cover multiple sports when he worked here in Pittsburgh — now is the beat writer for the Buffalo Sabres at the Buffalo News. He joined me to answer those questions as I sat in for Mark Madden on 105.9 the X.
Specifically, we attempt to figure out how much of an upgrade Sheary is over Dominik Simon on Sidney Crosby’s wing.
Or, if he is an upgrade at all.
As far as Rodrigues goes, the assumption was that he’d be more of a wing than a center. But Lysowski tells us that may not be the case.
A concerning angle to that, though, is that Lysowksi insists Rodrigues hasn’t had the greatest attention to detail or defensive responsibility in Buffalo. That’ll be a problem. And Mike Sullivan will bench him quickly if that is the case.
We also analyze how Dominik Kahun will — or will not — pan out with the Sabres. Some say he needs to be on a good team to be everything that he is. Others insist he is the type of player that needs volume opportunities on a lesser roster to put up the points that are expected of him.
If he stays healthy in Buffalo, maybe we’ll find out.
We kick around the future of general manager Jason Botterill in Upstate New York, too. The former Penguins assistant G.M. was taking some heat on social media after these deals and a few others. Is he long for Buffalo, or not?
And, given the recent news about those NCAA violations at Pitt, we talk with Lysowski about his time covering the Panthers and how ugly the situation got in Oakland with Kevin Stallings as the basketball coach.
