Morning Pens Buzz: On Despres callup; Pens handling of Letang & more tidbits

The logic behind the Penguins callup of 2009 1st round pick Simon Despres is not yet known. Despres in his first professional season, has been playing well at the AHL level but not playing dominant hockey by any means.

The Penguins sent down Alexandre Picard to make room for Despres who makes his NHL debut vs the Caps tonight. Picard was a +5 in seven games with the Penguins this season.

The callup is not money driven as Despres carries an $840,000 cap hit at the NHL level, while Picard carries a $600,000 cap hit.

The 20 year old struggled in training camp and was among the Penguins first cuts not appearing in a preseason game as the Penguins felt it was important to get him down immediately to Wilkes Barre and start his career in the minors.

The Penguins though are believers in giving their top prospects a cup of coffee at the NHL level for the experience and rewarding their play in the minors, even if there's no plans for a long-term stay with the big club this season.

We saw it this season with Eric Tangradi who was recalled in November, appearing in two games in what was a short-term callup after he had 7 goals and 5 assists in his first 12 games. I wasn't a fan at that type of recall due to how well Tangradi was playing in the minors. Since returning to Wilkes Barre, Tangradi has 1 goal and 1 assist in seven games.