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Pittsburgh's Ability To Re-Sign Casey DeSmith Will Likely Affect Tristan Jarry's Future

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Pittsburgh’s start to the season hasn’t gone as well as they’ve hoped but there have been some positives along the way.  One of those is goaltender Casey DeSmith who not only won the backup job in training camp but has started to take starts away from Matt Murray.  Accordingly, Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette suggests that it’s time to change the question when it comes to the netminder from whether he’s good enough to hold down an NHL spot to whether or not the Penguins can afford to keep him as an unrestricted free agent next summer.

The answer to that question may ultimately determine what they decide to do with youngster Tristan Jarry who has shown some signs of upside over his first four professional seasons.  If the Penguins believe they can re-sign DeSmith, then it frees them up to move Jarry if they can get someone that can help their roster now.  If not, they may be wise to hold off on moving him as they don’t have another goalie prospect that’s close to NHL ready at this time.

Pittsburgh's Western Trip Prevented An Early Trade; Derick Brassard Resumes Skating

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Penguins GM Jim Rutherford has made it clear that he’s not happy with how his team has performed this season.  He indicated earlier in the week that he will be actively pursuing trades if Pittsburgh doesn’t turn it around and noted to Josh Yohe of The Athletic (subscription required) that had they not fared well on their Western road trip earlier in the season, a move likely would have been made already.

Unfortunately for the Penguins, they haven’t won since that trip, losing five straight games heading into play on Saturday.  They also have very limited cap room to work with; while defenseman Justin Schultz is on LTIR, he’ll be back before the end of the season so they can’t really add a significant contract at the moment.  If they did, they’d have to make another move to get back into cap compliance before they could activate Schultz when he’s expected to return sometime in February.  As a result, if Rutherford wants to shake things up beyond a move involving Daniel Sprong, they will likely have to come close to matching contracts in whatever they decide to do.

  • Still with the Penguins, center Derick Brassard has resumed skating as he works his way back from a lower-body injury, notes Chris Adamski of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. He has been out of the lineup since sustaining a lower-body injury back on October 25th.  He’s still likely a week or so away from being cleared to return though as he’ll have to get the green light for contact first and get in some practices with the team.  The 31-year-old has a goal and four assists in eight games so far this season.

Daniel Sprong “Out There” In Trade Talks

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The Pittsburgh Penguins have been in a dire tailspin for the last few weeks, losing five games in a row including last night at the Washington Capitals. That’s created plenty of speculation about whether GM Jim Rutherford will make a move to address the roster in the coming days, given his propensity for making deals in the past. Darren Dreger was on TSN radio this morning talking about that, and mentioned that at least a small deal may be coming soon:

I don’t know that it’s going to be drastic. My sources yesterday [were] telling me that it might start with a smaller deal. You know Daniel Sprong, who is a 21-year old second-round pick of the Pittsburgh Penguins has been you know, a limited player in the organization the last couple of seasons. He’s out there for trade.

Dreger went on to explain his belief that Rutherford will make a move at some point to try and put an end to the losing skid, noting that other teams like the Los Angeles Kings could be looking to shake up their rosters as well. It’s not the first time Sprong’s name has been included in trade talks, given the fact that he still hasn’t established himself as an everyday player in Pittsburgh. That’s something that the organization was clear about wanting last spring, when Rutherford himself said that Sprong would be a “regular” in the lineup. He’s played in 12 of 14 games for the Penguins this season, but logged fewer than ten minutes of ice time in eight of them.

Still, there’s reason to believe that Sprong would still hold considerable trade value. The 21-year old forward scored 65 points in 65 games as an AHL rookie last season, and put up huge totals in the junior ranks of the QMJHL. Selected 46th overall in 2015, there’s still plenty of upside in the talented forward that could bring some more established talent back to Pittsburgh.

Giving up on a young prospect isn’t exactly ideal, but the Penguins know they are in the middle of their competitive window with Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel all quickly nearing the end of their most effective years. Rutherford has a reputation for making big positional changes in-season, and is never one to wait until the deadline to go after the player he is targeting. It’s not clear who Pittsburgh would want in any Sprong deal, but you can be sure the Penguins will make some sort of move before the season is out. Knowing that, there’s no doubt that teams are calling on Sprong to see if they can extract the talented young forward. Whether they can pry him out of Rutherford’s grasp is still to be seen.

Pittsburgh Penguins Make Three Roster Moves

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The Pittsburgh Penguins have recalled Zach Aston-Reese and Garrett Wilson from the minor leagues, sending down Derek Grant in their place. This shakeup was expected after the team lost their fourth consecutive game last night when they were dismantled by a speedy and tenacious New Jersey Devils team. The Penguins are now tied with the Capitals, Blue Jackets and Flyers for second in the Metropolitan Division, having lost all of the lead they built early in the year.

Some onlookers had expected Aston-Reese to be with the team right from the start of the season, and his play for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins so far has shown why. The 24-year old undrafted forward has six goals and nine points through his first 11 games this year, and has looked out of place at times among his minor league contemporaries. That is, other than Wilson, who is off to another excellent start with 11 points in 11 games. The 27-year old veteran minor league forward has routinely put up big numbers in the AHL, but has just 34 NHL games to his credit—none of them with the Penguins despite this being his third year in the organization.

Grant meanwhile has struggled to find any success in the NHL this season, failing to register even nine minutes of ice time in any of the four recent losses. After scoring 24 points when pressed into service with the Anaheim Ducks last season, Grant looked like he might be able to be more than just a depth forward for the Penguins. That doesn’t appear to be true, and the team already cleared him through waivers just after the season began. With zero points so far in six games, he hasn’t made much of an impact for the Penguins and will head to the minor leagues to get his game back on track.

Metropolitan Notes: Buchnevich, Nieves, Murray, Rask, Pickard

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After sitting in the press box for the last two games of their road trip, New York Rangers forward Pavel Buchnevich is expected to be in Sunday’s lineup against the Sabres. This is just another example of the coaching demeanor of David Quinn who isn’t hesitant to make clear what he demands from his players, both physically and mentally. Regardless, Quinn expects Buchnevich to respond in only one way about the scratches.

“I hope he’s pissed, and I think he is,” Quinn said after Saturday’s practice up in Westchester (via the New York Post’s Brett Cyrgalis). “I want everybody to be pissed when they don’t play. Now do something about it.”

Buchnevich so far has kept his feelings about his benching quiet and prefers to keep his conversations with Quinn to himself. However, the general belief is that Quinn needs to see more consistency from Buchnevich, who has scored points in five games, but has also disappeared in the other five games this season. Quinn can only hope that Buchnevich is ready to buy in.

  • Staying with the Rangers, Newsday’s Anthony Rieber writes that forward Boo Nieves practiced with the team after suffering a concussion that he sustained in the preseason opener on Sept. 17. Nieves practiced with the Hartford Wolf Pack while the team was on their four-game road trip. While there is no timetable for the 24-year-old to be activated off of injured reserve, the 6-foot-3, 203-pounder is getting closer to providing the team with a big body in their lineup. Nieves played 28 games for the Rangers last year, putting up a goal and eight assists.
  • Josh Yohe of The Athletic (subscription required) writes that Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Matt Murray is getting tired of being hit during games. The 24-year-old has been hit incidentally with no penalties being called all season, including it happening three times on Saturday against the Toronto Maple Leafs. With three concussions in his young career, this new trend is alarming to the goalie. “I’m out there to stop the puck,” Murray said. “That’s got to be my main focus. If I have to do take a hit to do so, it is what it is. I hope that the refs will do something.”
  • In a Q&A with Carolina Hurricanes general manager Don Waddell, NHL.com’s Michael Smith learned that the team is expecting to get back winger Victor Rask in the first week of December. Rask injured his hand while slicing food in his kitchen and underwent hand surgery during the preseason and was listed as out indefinitely. Waddell said the team met with team doctors at the last home game who confirmed that week was viable.
  • The Athletic’s Charlie O’Connor (subscription required) writes that Philadelphia Flyers goaltender Calvin Pickard may have lost the game Saturday on two late goals by the San Jose Sharks, but the scribe writes that Pickard actually played a solid game and didn’t deserve to take the loss. The third-string goalie was called into action when injury-prone Michal Neuvirth returned to Philadelphia with an undisclosed injury. Despite struggling playing the puck on numerous occasions, the 26-year-old did play well in the net as two of the goals by Timo Meier and Joe Pavelski were unstoppable.

Kris Letang (Lower-Body Injury) Leaves Practice Early, Questionable For Tuesday

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Pittsburgh Penguins Place Kevin Czuczman On Waivers

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Monday: Czuczman has cleared waivers and can now be assigned to the AHL should the Penguins decide to do so.

Sunday: The Pittsburgh Penguins have placed defenseman Kevin Czuczman on waivers today, according to TVA’s Renaud Lavoie. He suffered a shoulder injury during training camp and was placed on season-opening injured reserve.

The 27-year-old, who is expected to be out until December, had to go through the formality of waivers at some point and with the defenseman’s continued progression through his shoulder injury, it makes sense to do it now. He has already been with the AHL team throughout the early part of the season of his recovery.

Czuczman spent all of last year with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in the AHL, finishing with four goals and 35 points in 71 games. Entering his fifth season in the AHL, he will be brought back slowly and eventually placed on one of WBS’s top defensive lines after he is fully healthy. Czuczman chose to re-sign with a one-year, $650K contract with Pittsburgh just before free agency opened this summer.

Trade Rumors: Hurricanes, Hayes, Pearson

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The Carolina Hurricanes have been one of the biggest early surprises of the 2018-19 season with a 6-3-1 record that trails only the powerhouse Pittsburgh Penguins in the Metropolitan Division. The team is in the top half of the league in goals for and against, led by top-ten NHL scorer Sebastian Aho and a top-six on defense that rivals anyone in the league. The Hurricanes are certainly not without flaws, special teams and goaltending to highlight a couple, but overall have been very impressive with one of the youngest rosters in the league. Yet, Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun writes that new GM Don Waddell is “open for business”. Given the surplus of talented defenseman on the Carolina roster and in the system, Waddell simply has the luxury of fielding offers from D-needy teams and waiting for the right offer. Potentially on the block could be long-time ’Cane Justin Faulk, young Brett Pesce, or reliable Trevor van Riemsdyk. Each of Carolina’s top-six defensemen is signed through at least next season, making these three righties attractive long-term additions. Teams in search of a younger asset could also take a look at AHLers Haydn Fleury or Roland McKeown, long considered by many to be players that should be playing regular minutes in the NHL. Garrioch notes that the Toronto Maple Leafs and Edmonton Oilers are among the teams most desperate for help on the right side of the blue line and adds fuel to the fire by reporting that Toronto GM Kyle Dubas was in attendance at the ’Canes last game. It has been rumored that Carolina could be the leading candidate to land disgruntled William Nylander, while Edmonton could be willing to part with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins in the right deal. Waddell’s first trade, in which he acquired Micheal Ferland and Dougie Hamilton from the Calgary Flames, has worked out nicely thus far. Can he do it again?

  • It comes as no surprise that New York Rangers center Kevin Hayes is drawing trade interest. Despite his insistence that he would like to remain in New York, the one-year extension he signed this off-season said otherwise. The rebuilding Rangers are likely to deal Hayes, one of many younger centers on the roster, before he has the chance to walk as a free agent. Sportsnet’s Nick Kypreos reports that many teams already have their eye on Hayes, implying that he may not last until the NHL Trade Deadline. Kypreos specifically names the Winnipeg Jets as a team in need of a center, after Paul Stastny’s unexpected departure this summer has left them short-handed down the middle. However, the Jets are not alone in that predicament; after losing Riley Nash to free agency and a failed preseason competition for the spot, the Boston Bruins could very much use a rental player at third-line pivot, while the trades of three different centers away from the club this summer has left the Arizona Coyotes thin at the position. These are just three of what is likely to be a list of more than a dozen suitors for the Rangers to choose between. Hayes’ days are numbered in New York.
  • One name that could be a sneaky candidate to be the first notable trade victim of the regular season is Los Angeles Kings forward Tanner Pearson. The Kings are floundering this season, holders of the worst record in the Western Conference, and Pearson has been part of the problem. The 26-year-old winger has just one point through ten games and has looked like a shell of himself. In Pearson’s defense, the Kings have also cut his ice time somewhat and relegated him to the fourth line for a while, but only as a result of his poor performance. Yet, Pearson has totaled 36 points or more in each of the past three year and is quietly a very strong two-way player. It would not be a shock to see Pearson right the ship with a change of scenery, but the Kings would have to ensure that they don’t sell too low on the well-rounded forward. Trade inquiries come with the territory of a basement record though and L.A., needing to shake things up, may soon be tempted to give Pearson away for the right price.

Metropolitan Notes: Johnson, Ferland, Boyd, Mayfield

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Ever since the injury to defenseman Justin Schultz, there have been rumors that the Pittsburgh Penguins may have to upgrade their defense if they wanted to make a serious run for a Stanley Cup. Regardless, Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford stated that the team has enough depth to fill the hole in their defense from within.

Yet rumors continued, especially after defenseman Jack Johnson was found to be on the ice for five goals against in their 6-5 overtime victory Tuesday against the Edmonton Oilers. Again, fans began clamoring to get help to lessen the role of Johnson, after he signed a questionable five-year, $16.25MM deal in the offseason. However, head coach Mike Sullivan was quick to come to Johnson’s defense, according to Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

“The reality is when you break down the involvement of those goals, he had no responsibility for any of those goals-against,” Sullivan said of Johnson’s performance against the Oilers. “He just happened to be on the ice for them. We try to look at the game a whole lot closer than the fact that guy is on the ice when a goal is scored because a lot can happen in a team game.”

Rutherford furthered that notion by reiterating that the team intends to stand pat with regards to adding more defense.

“I certainly don’t see us having to go get another defenseman with the group of guys we have,” Rutherford said. “We have guys in Wilkes-Barre who can come in and play on top of who we have here.”

  • While the Carolina Hurricanes made a number of moves this offseason, the team may be most happy with the play of Micheal Ferland, who came over in the trade with the Calgary Flames during the offseason. While the team’s main reason to bringing Ferland in was to add some toughness to a team that lacked it a year ago, the team seems to be getting quite a bit more than that out of him, according to Chip Alexander of the News & Observer. Ferland has found a place on the team’s top line with Sebastian Aho and Teuvo Teravainen, and has a team-high six goals, along with 10 points. If Ferland keeps that up, he could break his career-high of 21 goals this season.
  • NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti writes Washington Capitals head coach Todd Reirden said that Travis Boyd will have some tests tomorrow to determine the progress of his injury when he sustained a lower-body injury during training camp and was placed on LTIR. Because he was placed on LTIR, he was forced to miss 10 games, meaning he can be activated now if he’s healthy. “We’ll have him checked out again tomorrow and then see how close he is to being able to play as soon as Thursday,” Reirden said (via NBC Sports J.J. Regan). “But we still need to get some tests done and see exactly where he’s at. He’s been coming along and for the most part seems to be fairly pain-free.” Boyd made eight appearances with the Capitals last year and was battling with Nic Dowd for the fourth-line center position, but lost that job after getting injured.
  • New York Islanders head coach Barry Trotz said that perhaps the biggest surprise on the roster has been the play of defenseman Scott Mayfield, according to Newsday’s Andrew Gross. The 26-year-old has a goal and five points in seven games this season, but has really impressed the coach with his play even though Trotz admitted that he got off to a slow start at training camp.

Elias Pettersson, Brock Boeser Return To Canucks

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The Vancouver Canucks will have not one, but two young starts back in their lineup tonight. Head coach Travis Green announced that both Elias Pettersson and Brock Boeser will make their returns from injury for the game this evening. Pettersson has been activated from the injured reserve, which he landed on nearly two weeks ago after suffering a concussion. It is a relatively quick recovery from what looked like a bad head injury on a dirty play. Boeser has missed the past two games for the Canucks with a groin injury, but fortunately is back sooner than expected as well.

Boeser, of course, is Vancouver’s reigning rookie standout, finishing second in Calder Trophy voting last season and being named an All-Star. Boeser notched 29 goals and 55 points in 62 games to lead the Canucks in scoring, despite missing 20 games. The University of North Dakota product has been off that same pace early this year, recording six points through nine games, but the hope is that any lingering injuries are behind him and he can get back to 30-goal form. However, Pettersson, the team’s newest rookie phenom, is around to pick up the slack and more. The fifth overall pick in 2017, Pettersson was off to a hot start prior to his injury, with five goals and eight points in five games. If the skilled Swede is truly past his concussion, he should get right back to tormenting the opposition.

The Canucks could not have asked for better timing to get their dynamic young duo back in action. The team recently suffered additional injuries to Alexander Edler and Sven Baertschi, who both landed on injured reserve, and are still without Jay Beagle. On top of that, Green revealed that top defenseman Chris Tanev will also be sidelined tonight. At 6-5, the Canucks have managed well enough considering their injuries, but have not won a game in regulation in more than two weeks. Vancouver especially needed help as soon as possible as they get set to face the Pittsburgh Penguins tonight and hope that Pettersson and Boeser can bring the offense needed to keep up with the Eastern Conference powerhouse.

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