Penguins/NHL
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The Pittsburgh Penguins earned a 1-0 shutout win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday night.
Chicago dressed a roster with maybe 10% NHLers and what you look for in these type of games is which young/inexperienced players really stand out as NHL players.
So who were they?
Brian Dumoulin enters his second full season as an NHL player and what became clear last spring is that the Penguins have something special here.
A Penguins source told me last June Dumoulin is ‘Paul Martin for $4 million less’ and that’s really what he has evolved into so quickly.
Well he’s Paul Martin on the cheap for one more season.
If Dumoulin accepts any new long-term deal for the Penguins under $4 million per season, he should get a new agent.
The Penguins have had [hide] internal decisions this month about a new contract for Dumoulin and what one might look like. Dumoulin’s camp shouldn’t be surprised if the team approaches them with a four year offer in the $3.5 million range.
Dumoulin, though, shouldn’t accept anything less than Olli Maatta’s 6 year, $24 million contract and long-term that might be selling himself short.
At age 25, Dumoulin can be an unrestricted free agent on July 1, 2019, meaning the Penguins are likely going to have to pay upwards of $4 million per season to buyout some of Dumoulin’s free agent years if they are able to extend him beyond two years.
Dumoulin emerging into a shutdown top-2 pairing defenseman was a major development last season for the Penguins that didn’t get enough attention.
Even just watching him in the preseason here against most non-NHLers, you can just see the smarts, intangibles and how he’s only going to continue to get better and there’s a lot more offensive ability than the stats showed last year.
At even strength, the Penguins controlled possession on 71% of their shot attempts (19/8) when Dumoulin was on the ice tonight.
— Conor Sheary fit the mold of a player tonight when you watch him you know he’s an NHL player. Had a great setup on Wilson’s goal.
Scott Wilson scored the lone goal in the shutout win to cap off an excellent first week of camp. Through two scrimmages and now two preseason games, Wilson has been among the Penguins best performers in camp.
While it was terrible defense by the Blackhawks in two defenders leaving the front of the net, Wilson’s goal was the type of goal he has a knack for scoring.
Wilson has a great ability of finding the soft spots and being in high danger areas for scoring chances.
He’s reaching the point in his development where going back to the minors isn’t going to do him much good.
“Willy’s had a strong camp so far,” Sullivan said. “He’s really competing on pucks. You can see his scoring ability, he’s really got a nose for the puck.”
If Wilson can prove himself over the first 1/4 of the season, it’s going to enhance the odds of Jim Rutherford moving Eric Fehr a few months into the season as the Penguins have been laying the foundation for a possible trade, most likely to the Western Conference if a young player or two comes in and sustains a roster spot.
More Takeaways
— Jake Guentzel didn’t have the standout game he had Wednesday night but showed some good flashes again offensively. Really poised with the puck in letting plays develop. While many in the organization see his best position being center long-term, he’s going to play left wing the rest of camp.
There’s been internal discussions of playing him with Evgeni Malkin in an upcoming preseason game.
— One player who’s doing himself some favors in moving up the organizational depth chart is Carter Rowney. Had another solid showing tonight. “Carter’s had a pretty good camp,” Sullivan said. “Real solid two-way player. I really like that line with Guentzel, Simon, really talented three guys. Carter, he just keeps getting better and better,” Sullivan said.
— Mike Sullivan is a big fan of Tom Kuhnhackl and talked again tonight of their being another level Kuhnhackl can get to offensively. “I believe that Tommy has an offensive upside to his game, he’s got real good hockey sense,” Sullivan said. “He’s great in front of the net, he can deflect pucks as good as anybody. He’s a big, strong kid, and there’s another level of offense to his game. We’d like to challenge him this year to get there.”
— Sullivan tonight on Marc Andre Fleury: “I thought he was tracking the puck really well. He made some timely saves for us. He looked really comfortable in there tonight.”
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