Penguins/NHL
The Penguins taking Kevin Hayes off the St. Louis Blues books over the summer continues to be the gift that keeps on giving for the Penguins organization. Wednesday, the two sides struck another deal with PO Joseph returning to Pittsburgh for nothing more than future considerations. Indications are based off games played Pittsburgh [hide] at worst will surrender a sixth-round pick eventually. The return of Joseph was pretty much a waiver claim with the Penguins dealing with injuries, ect. At the end of the day, though, when healthy Pittsburgh’s three best left-handed defensemen are clearly Marcus Pettersson-Owen Pickering and now Joseph. Don’t think the coaching staff will see if that way as internally they have remained high on Matt Grzelcyk and we will see how this plays out. Joseph was a little undervalued by the Penguins brass over the summer. He has some really good moments down the stretch last season in a #1 pairing when Kris Letang’s game had really taken a nose-dive last spring.[/hide]
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Playoff Buzz in Pittsburgh? (.500P%)
Long, long, long way to go, but for first time all season, some believers are coming out of the woodwork among coaches, evaluators around the league that not to write the Penguins off as a Last-Team-In playoff caliber team. Quite the turnaround from late November……… Mike Sullivan and his staff are earning a ton of praise for changes made to how Pittsburgh is defending the neutral zone of late. One former Penguin tells me Sullivan has adopted the same bottled up the neutral zone trap system he implemented in the 2017 post-season when Pittsburgh played less of a run and gun style than the 2016 run.
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Rumblings
The Penguins are bracing for a 2-3 week timetable regarding To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”! Could Pettersson have played his last game as a Penguins? To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!………..
Woes: Nashville won the offseason and enter tonight’s matchup dead-last in the NHL in points (24) and points% (.375). Predators are also dead-last in Goals For with 72. They are trying to grind out 2-1 games now and it’s only a matter of time before the ball eventually drops with the head coach due to the great suppression from their high-end players and it’s not just the newcomers. Roman Josi 85 points in 82 games last season, 23 points in 29 games and a minus-21 rating this season. Filip Forsberg 94 points in 82 games in 2023/2024, 22 in 32 games this season. Unless father time has hit everyone at one time on that roster 30 and over, just stunning drops offs down the line…………
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Pre-Game Buzz
— Cody Glass and Philip Tomasino get to face their former team tonight and you got some obvious motivation for both when you face a team that didn’t believe in you and in Glass’ case Nashville basically paid a draft pick price for Pittsburgh to take him. Of the two the spotlight is on Tomasino. His phenomenal start, as expected, has leveled off a bit. Pointless in his last four games and just 3 shots on goal during that span and a drop off in creating has been noticeable since the Avalanche game………
— Interesting Goaltending Decision Tonight: Do you reward Alex Nedeljkovic for a solid start against a pretty good Kings team or go right back to Tristan Jarry? Three games in five days and games looming against New Jersey, Philadelphia, Nedejkovic seems more likely to go tonight if he’s going to see any action in one of the next three games, though, don’t be surprised if its Jarry. Until futher notice, the coaching staff is no longer looking at things on a game by basis. Jarry is the #1. To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!
