Pittsburgh Penguins (NHL 14)

[Psyblast]

A new era in Pittsburgh
New GM promises radical change following 2013 ECF loss to Boston

July 9, 2013

PITTSBURGH - Even before the handshake line at TD Garden was completed, the ownership of the Pittsburgh Penguins, watching in grim resignation from far above, realized it was time for a change in direction.

The flashy Penguins, wildly successful in the regular season, had fallen short of the Stanley Cup Finals for the fourth season in a row since winning it all in 2009. Head coach Dan Bylsma had led the club to great success since then, but the team had started coming up small in the postseason. The defense of their Stanley Cup in 2010 ended with a Game 7 loss at home to Montreal in the semifinals. In 2011, another Game 7 loss on home ice, this time to an upstart Tampa Bay team in the first round. 2012 also ended in the opening round, this time a wild six-game defeat to arch-nemesis Philadelphia. Back-to-back losses in the first round in 2011 and 2012 guaranteed that 2013 needed to be a huge year, even with the lockout erasing nearly half the season.

The Penguins seemed to respond, winning 36 of the 48 games on the schedule, winning the Atlantic Division by 16 points, and running away with the #1 seed in the Eastern Conference. A brief scare from the Islanders in the first round gave way to an easy five-game dusting of the Senators in the semifinals, propelling Pittsburgh back to the Eastern Finals. But the Bruins mauled the Penguins into brutal submission; Pittsburgh scored two goals total in the four game sweep at the hands of Boston. The thorough domination that the Bruins exhibited over the Penguins has prompted change from the Pittsburgh brass after four straight seasons of failing to reach the franchise's goal.

Thus, GM Ray Shero has been relieved of his duties, and the Penguins' ownership has turned the keys to the car over to Brian Kudron, a young, relatively unknown scout who worked previously in the Detroit Red Wings' front office. The new GM was intent on making a big impression at his introductory press conference.

"I watched this franchise win the Stanley Cup in Game 7 on my old team's home ice five years ago," Kudron opened with, reference the Penguins' dramatic 2-1 win in Detroit in Game 7 in 2009. "It felt like the beginning of something very, very special for Pittsburgh, with a core nucleus of players not even in their prime yet, already experiencing a championship. You got the sense that the Cup was going to go through Pittsburgh for the next ten years.

"But somewhere along the line these past four years, the Penguins lost their way, a bit. I'm not going to stand here and take a flamethrower to my predecessor. But I will say as someone who's been in an NHL front office the past few years, some of the moves made by this franchise have left me scratching my head. Some of them were bold moves, to be sure. But ultimately, from my view, as I inherit this team and this roster, I see a team that has gotten further away from winning another Stanley Cup than closer, and it's my pledge to reverse that trend, immediately."

Behind the scenes, Kudron has reportedly been very critical of former GM Ray Shero, at times apparently blasting some of the moves Shero made with extreme prejudice. Most recently, Kudron is apparently not a fan of the mega contract the Penguins just gave to defenseman Kris Letang a week ago, and he privately told aides he would never have given such a deal to Letang if he had gotten the job in time.

"This franchise has a tremendous foundation in place, led by, in my view, the two most talented hockey players in the world today, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. It's the job of the front office to nurture and support rare, all-world talent like these two and ensure that their best years are spent winning championships, not coming up short because they don't have the necessary supporting cast," Kudron said.

There have been rumors behind the scenes that Kudron was very deliberate in specifically mentioning Crosby and Malkin, but no one else on the roster. Several sources around the league are already interpreting his comments to mean that every single player on the Pittsburgh roster except Crosby and Malkin is available for possible trade. In particular, Kudron is reportedly very bearish on almost the entire defense corps and goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury. Kudron views Fleury as unreliable and incapable of putting the Penguins on his back in the postseason, and sees the current defense as ineffective in shielding their goaltender's deficiencies. According to a source inside the Pittsburgh front office, the new general manager has promised radical and seismic changes up and down the Pittsburgh roster, determined to waste no time in assembling a team more akin to Kudron's vision of the Cup contender surrounding Crosby and Malkin.

"I can't make any promises to anybody," he told the press. "There are less than three months until the season begins, so I'm getting a bit of a late start here. But as soon as this press conference ends, I'm going to be on the phone. I don't believe this team is that far away from contention; but I also believe the roster as it stands now is not where it needs to be to achieve the goal that is shared by everyone from the front office, to the locker room, to the fanbase. And I'm going to leave no stone unturned in my quest to make sure that changes by October 3rd."

[Psyblast]

The first move is made
Fleury's rollercoaster ride in Pittsburgh is over

July 16, 2013

PITTSBURGH - The summer of shakeups has begun in the Steel City.

Marc-Andre Fleury, the #1 overall selection by the Penguins in 2003 and the franchise leader in career wins, has been traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for young winger Brett Connolly and the 2014 2nd round pick that the Lightning acquired from the New York Rangers in the Martin St. Louis trade.

The trade brings to an end the tenure of one of the more erratic and inconsistent goaltenders in Pittsburgh history. Fleury was a pivotal cog in the Penguins' 2009 championship, but also played a huge role in the postseason defeats since then, often coming unhinged via soft goals and terrible gaffes at the worst possible moment. He showed enough talent to keep the former general manager invested in him, but his exit from Pittsburgh was all but assured once new GM Brian Kudron took the job.

"I want to thank Marc-Andre for his time here," Kudron said in addressing the trade. "He was the #1 goaltender here for nearly a decade; in a hockey-mad city like Pittsburgh, that's a tremendous burden, and he accepted it with dignity and determination. However, ultimately, I had to decide what was best for this franchise, and in the end I made the choice that it was time to go in another direction in goal. I have no doubt Marc-Andre will perform well in Tampa."

In return, the Penguins are acquiring one of the brightest young prospects in hockey. Selected 6th overall by Tampa Bay in 2010, Brett Connolly brings a dazzling skillset to Pittsburgh, combined with his youth (21) and size (6'2, 181 pounds). He's spent most of his pro career in the AHL so far, and it's unclear if the Penguins intend to start him out in Wilkes-Barre or Pittsburgh just yet, but they very much intend for him to be a part of their plans moving forward.

Meanwhile, the departure of Fleury in goal leaves veteran Tomas Vokoun as the current #1 netminder for the Penguins. Given Kudron's open desire to make the Penguins younger, it seems unlikely that the goaltending situation will remain in its current state. Vokoun performed admirably in the playoffs after replacing Fleury, and certainly can't be blamed for the loss to Boston when the offense in front of him could only muster two goals in the four-game sweep. Still, as Kudron's grand experiment for the Penguins begins its trek across the summer of 2013, it is almost a guarantee that the Penguins will look for another deal that brings in a goaltender.

Trade summary:

TB gets: G Marc-Andre Fleury
PIT gets: RW Brett Connolly and NYR's 2014 2nd round pick (via TB)

[Psyblast]

"Righting a wrong"
Penguins begin the shuffle on defense; Orpik out, Morrow in

July 20, 2013

PITTSBURGH - As previously mentioned, behind closed doors, new Penguins' GM Brian Kudron has criticized several of his predecessor's transactions, and alluded to the fact that he may try to, in essence, "undo" some of them.

That process began Saturday with a pair of trades that shipped out a veteran and returned a familiar-looking prospect.

First the Penguins decided to part ways with burly defenseman Brooks Orpik. Orpik was another key contributor to the Cup win in 2009 who had fallen short of expectations in subsequent years. More to the point, his brand of hockey is reportedly not what the new boss wants from his defensemen. Kudron is more interested in two-way defenders who have the smarts to jump in and contribute offensively without creating a risk of a bad pinch and an odd-man rush the other way. Orpik's game was almost entirely defense-oriented, so his value to the organization plummeted once Kudron took over. Thus, the Penguins have traded him to the Los Angeles Kings for a pair of picks in next summer's draft.

The second prong of the move involved calling up the team that just finished eliminating the Penguins from the postseason - the Boston Bruins. A source close to Kudron says the new GM is reluctant to make moves with a few teams he considers "rivals" - Boston, Philadelphia and Washington primarily. But in this case, the Bruins had a prospect Kudron coveted.

The previous front office traded former first round pick Joe Morrow to Dallas a few months back in the Brendan Morrow trade - one that did not benefit the Penguins come playoff time as they had anticipated. A couple weeks ago, the Stars packaged the young defenseman in the blockbuster trade that sent Tyler Seguin to Dallas and Loui Eriksson to Boston. The original trade that sent Morrow away from Pittsburgh was deemed egregious by the new general manager, and he was determined to fix it.

However, Morrow is still a very-valued prospect; drafted 23rd overall by the Penguins in 2011, Morrow is still just 20 years old and has capable size (6'0, 206) to go with his talent. Thus, trading for him meant having to pay a price, but ultimately, one Kudron deemed worth paying: winger Beau Bennett, whom the Penguins drafted at #20 overall in 2010. Bennett is also a very young and very promising prospect, and normally Kudron would've preferred to hold onto him. However, the acquisition of Brett Connolly in the trade with Tampa Bay helped to stomach the thought of having to part with Bennett in order to acquire Morrow from the Bruins. So the two sides made the deal, straight up, one for one.

Morrow has yet to break through at the NHL level, and if even half of the rumors swirling in the Pittsburgh front office these days come to pass, he will likely have to wait a bit longer at the AHL level. Kudron is apparently deadly serious when he speaks of a complete, radical overhaul of the team's defense corps, and is intent on restocking the blueline with young, puck-moving defenders capable of excelling at both ends of the ice.

Trade summaries:

LA gets: D Brooks Orpik
PIT gets: LA's 2014 1st round pick and BUF's 2014 2nd round pick (via LA)

BOS gets: LW Beau Bennett
PIT gets: D Joe Morrow

[Psyblast]

Penguins grab their goalie
Pittsburgh native John Gibson is a Penguin

July 23, 2013

PITTSBURGH - One of the rules of thumb Pittsburgh GM Brian Kudron tries to operate by is to value draft picks and prospects highly, but not too highly so that you become blinded by their potential and are too afraid to part with them in the correct trade.

Many (most?) GMs would be too reluctant to trade one of his organizations top prospects AND a first round pick for anything less than a sure thing. But that's what Brian Kudron did Tuesday, although the "less than a sure thing" he got in return is probably pretty close to it.

20-year old defenseman Scott Harrington was drafted in the 2nd round (#54) in 2011 by the Penguins, and had progressed into the organization's #2 prospect behind 2012 first round pick Derrick Pouliot. The Penguins, Kudron included, valued Harrington greatly, but once again, the re-acquisition of Joe Morrow made the thought of parting with Harrington slightly easier to cope with, if the return was right.

In Kudron's mind, the return in this case was perfect. The Penguins packaged Harrington and the first round pick they just got from Los Angeles in the Brooks Orpik trade, and sent them to Anaheim in exchange for 20-year old wunderkind goaltender John Gibson. Gibson is a Pittsburgh native, and, widely viewed as the top goaltending prospect in all of hockey, will now grow and develop for his hometown team, with the expectation of becoming the new franchise goaltender.

"I can't describe how excited I am about this situation," Kudron said. "John Gibson has all the natural talent in the world, and is an elite NHL goalie in the making. To bring him here, to his hometown, to tutor under a great veteran like Tomas Vokoun, I think this is the perfect situation. I wouldn't be uncomfortable with Gibby being our #1 goalie today. Tomas's presence gives us the luxury of bringing him along at a slower pace, prepping him to be the face of this franchise in goal for the next decade plus. When I called him and told him I was bringing him home to play for the Penguins, he got a little choked up. He's so pumped to be home, playing for the team he grew up watching, in the city he grew up loving. I think it's going to be a tremendous story, really. The Pittsburgh kid will one day lead the Penguins."

With the situation in goal now settled, Kudron is now free to unleash his grand plan on the rest of the roster. In particular, he views the bloated contract the Penguins gave Kris Letang a week before he took the GM job with contempt, and it seems like a foregone conclusion that Letang will never play another game with the Penguins. In addition, veterans like Pascal Dupuis and Chris Kunitz are on the wrong side of 30, and Kudron views their contributions to the franchise as a result of playing next to Sidney Crosby more than anything else, thus making them and their sizable contracts (both Dupuis and Kunitz are due to make over three million dollars each for the next four years) expendable as the Penguins' new GM tries to inject youth into the roster without sacrificing future seasons.

Trade summary:

ANA gets: D Scott Harrington and LA's 2014 1st round pick (via PIT)
PIT gets: G John Gibson

[kenp86]

love it. great writing.

[Psyblast]

The next shoe drops
Pens GM unloads Letang's contract on Nashville

July 30, 2013

PITTSBURGH - The Marc-Andre Fleury trade was a wave-maker for the Penguins, but the ensuing trades were, for the most part, simple shuffling. The truly big names rumored to be on the block were still place even as the Penguins shipped off Brooks Orpik and Beau Bennett and top prospect Scott Harrington.

Until now.

The Penguins made their next major move on Tuesday, trading star defenseman Kris Letang and his new huge contract to the Nashville Predators, along with Pittsburgh's 2nd round draft pick in 2015. In return, the Penguins are getting defenseman Michael Del Zotto and star prospect Calle Jarnkrok.

It's a huge move, as Letang finished 3rd in the Norris Trophy voting as the NHL's best defenseman this past season, averaging over a point per game in the abbreviated season (38 points in 35 games). But new GM Brian Kudron made it very clear from the outset that he hated the huge contract former GM Ray Shero gave Letang a week before Kudron took the job, and he was always looking to move him. The 26-year old Letang is entering his prime as a top-tier NHL defenseman, but for the new Pittsburgh GM, his price tag was simply too expensive.

In return, the Penguins welcome the 23-year old Del Zotto. A former first round pick of the New York Rangers in 2008, the 6'0, 195-pound Del Zotto peaked with 41 points in 2011-2012 before seeing his play drop off this past season, prompting the Rangers to sour on him and trade him to Nashville. Del Zotto made it clear he was not interested in staying with the Predators, so Nashville looked to immediately move him. In addition, Calle Jarnkrok is an extremely talented 21-year old Swede who was formerly one of the most promising prospects in the Red Wings' organization before being traded to Nashville. Now Kudron has another top-tier prospect, one whom he is familiar with from his time in Detroit. Jarnkrok is just getting his feet wet in North America, and will likely need time at Wilkes-Barre in the AHL before he's ready for the NHL game.

Trade Summary:

NSH gets: D Kris Letang and PIT's 2015 2nd round pick
PIT gets: D Michael Del Zotto and C Calle Jarnkrok

[Psyblast]

Pens' D starts to take shape
Shattenkirk gives Pittsburgh another elite, young defenseman

July 31, 2013

PITTSBURGH - Nobody who's been paying attention can truly claim to be surprised.

Penguins' GM Brian Kudron made it very clear from the moment he took the job less than a month ago that a wave of change was about to wash over the Pittsburgh roster. Today, barely a day after trading Kris Letang and bringing in two big pieces in Michael Del Zotto and Calle Jarnkrok, Kudron concluded a blitzkrieg-like July with another blockbuster that shores up the evolving Penguins' blueline.

As previously mentioned, Pascal Dupuis and Chris Kunitz were viewed in unfavorable terms by the new Pittsburgh front office, due to their age and their contracts. However, Kudron believed all along that he could package the two together and get a very handsome return for them; and that he did on Wednesday, trading the two veterans along with Pittsburgh's first round pick in next summer's draft to the St. Louis Blues in exchange for veteran center Steve Ott, and the prize of the deal, young star defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk.

"I believe we have, over the past 24 hours, obtained a top pair of defensemen," Kudron said, referencing Del Zotto along with the newly acquired Shattenkirk.

Shattenkirk, just 24, is only 5'11, but at over 200 pounds, has the size necessary to mix it up defensively, to go along with a dynamic offensive game that saw him put up 23 points in 48 games with St. Louis this past season, and 43 points in 81 games two years ago. Playing with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin on Pittsburgh's top line should only serve to increase his production. Ott, meanwhile, despite being older (he turns 31 in August) than what Kudron seems to be looking for, brings excellent faceoff skills and defensive responsibility, along with the scrappiness all NHL teams look for in a 3rd line center. An added bonus on top of the deal is that the Blues agreed to retain 50% of Ott's salary, so the Penguins will only pay him 1.375 million dollars for 2013-14.

The additions of Del Zotto and Shattenkirk inject a dynamic combination of youth and two-way play into the Penguins' blue line. The question is, will they stop there? Paul Martin is a very dependable defensive defenseman, so much so that his relative lack of offensive play and his age (32) may be overlooked. He is the most expensive defenseman on the roster now, however, and that could play a factor in whether or not the Penguins choose to pursue a deal involving him. One byproduct of the Penguins shipping off Fleury, Letang, Orpik, Dupuis and Kunitz is that they now have over 12 million dollars in open cap space.

Trade Summary:

STL gets: RW Pascal Dupuis, LW Chris Kunitz, and PIT's 2014 1st round pick
PIT gets: D Kevin Shattenkirk and C Steve Ott

[Psyblast]

Goligoski returns to Pittsburgh
Another trade infuses more youth and offense into the Pens' defense

August 4, 2013

PITTSBURGH - Well, the question about Paul Martin's status with the Penguins took less than a week to answer.

Pittsburgh GM Brian Kudron was effusive in his praise of Martin as a defender, but once again, it was three strikes and he was out: over 30, too expensive, and not enough of a producer on offense. So when the Stars inquired about him and brought up Alex Goligoski's name, Kudron's interest was piqued.

The new GM shrewdly haggled the Stars into including their own 2nd round pick in next year's draft, along with retaining half of Goligoski's cap number before agreeing to the trade that sent Martin to Dallas. In doing so, Kudron has actually increased the available cap room for the Penguins at just under 14 and a half million dollars. Per a source inside the Pittsburgh front office, this has all been part of the grand strategy designed to "clear the deck" for what's to come. "What's to come" isn't exactly clear, but all signs point to the Penguins angling for a massive move that will send shockwaves throughout the league as the summer goes on.

Trade Summary:

DAL gets: D Paul Martin
PIT gets: D Alex Goligoski and DAL's 2014 2nd round pick