Penguins/NHL
It’s Early But………..
While there was certainly buzz when the team acquired Rutger McGroarty that the Penguins front office believed McGroarty was ready for an NHL role, whispers in the Penguins organization continue to paint a picture that McGroarty failed to jump out to head coach Mike Sullivan To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”! see’s McGroarty in the same vein of Jake Guentzel where the organization felt the American Hockey League did wonders for Guentzel in his development………….
— Vasily Ponomarev has been extremely impressive in his camp and his development of being NHL-ready fits a belief also outside of Pittsburgh. Third-Line center of the future or a potential significant trade asset? Lot of teams like him and feel his ceiling isn’t one to be regarded as a top prospect but has the makings of having a productive NHL career. One thing Ponomarev has going for himself is he comes off as a young player coaches can trust right away and that big for how Sullivan in particular views young players. The major question, though, that remains is whether Pittsburgh becomes so sold on Ponomarev they actually open a spot/legit role for him that would outweigh getting heavy minutes in the AHL for the first couple months of the season. “Ponomarev has had a really strong camp, he’s got great motor, skates well, good energy, guy I think he’s hard to play against,” Sullivan said this week. “[Vasily] He shows some hockey sense, has made some plays offensively……Key quote from Sullivan “He’s a conscientious player defensively.”
— Said it multiple times at the time of the Jake Guentzel trade, Pittsburgh viewed Ville Koivunen as the prized prospect of the return, and they remain ecstatic about his ceiling. Is how Pittsburgh feels about Koivunen a majority view around the league? No, but Koivunen has had a lot of good to great moments in camp and you can see why they like him so much and were comfortable moving on from Brayden Yager because of a belief that Koivunen is very close to being NHL ready. The Organization is thrilled with the early results and there’s something to how he’s a mature player at 21 where he can think and react at a high level to not look out of place next to an Evgeni Malkin and Rickard Rakell. “I think To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
MORE BUZZ
A belief around the league is Pittsburgh is more likely to trade [hide] Jesse Puljujarvi To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”! Columbus another team that’s had discussions with Pittsburgh on some of their depth pieces…….
A preconceived notion is prior to camp Emil Bemstrom was ahead of To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!
Some sense Valtteri Puustinen is being undervalued by the Penguins organization as he has an uphill battle to be a ‘regular’ to start the season………
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
GAME DAY BUZZ 
Penguins @ Sabres 7:00 PM on SN Pittsburgh
Top Goaltending prospect Joel Blomqvist will start and is scheduled to play entire game…….Howe, McGroarty, Koivunen, Ponomarev, Broz among the notable prospects to watch tonight………
Lines
McGroarty-O’Connor-Glass
Koivunen-Ponomarev-Bemstrom
Puljujarvi-Broz-Puustinen
Howe-Huntington-Hayes
