Penguins Rumors: Wild/Thomas Greiss; Arcobello, Maatta

The Penguins 7-2 rout over the Minnesota Wild Tuesday night was another example of how the Wild have hit rock bottom and you know things are going bad for you when the Penguins fourth line opens the scoring on you and Zach Sill picks up a primary assist. It was Sill’s first point in 48 NHL games.

The Penguins were sloppy with the puck and gave up several prime scoring chances in the first two periods but the Wild couldn’t capitalize and eventually fell apart in the third period as Pittsburgh scored four times in the final period.

“Our effort was there? We lost 7-2,” Zach Parise said responding to reporters. “I don’t think there was a very good effort, no. You give up seven goals in a game, I’m not going to come out saying we had good effort.”

Parise after the game called the Wild easy to play against. “We’re so easy to play against,” Parise said. “We lose battles, we don’t bump off draws, the details of our game are terrible. We don’t even make it hard on the other team. They tic-tac-toe right around us.”

It’s clear a coaching change is going to happen to Minnesota, despite Chuck Fletcher badly not wanting to make one, and Parise’s comments about the team being so easy to play against just adds fuel to the fire.

Yeo after back to back playoff appearances, has lost the room but Chuck Fletcher has failed Yeo and the team with the goaltending position. Minnesota’s goaltending is so bad, that group just doesn’t have a chance on a nightly basis right now.

Fletcher in recent weeks has been looking to upgrade the position and is even looking at backups with starter potential on contending teams.

Thomas Greiss name has come up in Wild circles, according to sources, but Fletcher’s desire to only move a 5th-6th round pick hasn’t had the Penguins interested in talking as the Penguins are comfortable with their goaltending situation. If a team is willing to move a third round pick for instance, they will certainly consider and Greiss likely wouldn’t be against moving on to a situation with more playing time.

Greiss has appeared in just eight games this season after signing with Pittsburgh because he wanted an opportunity to compete for starting time and was sold on that, those close to Greiss say and Coyotes GM Don Maloney has told others around the league the same thing. That obviously hasn’t panned out with the season Marc Andre Fleury is having.

The Penguins claimed Mark Arcobello off waivers this afternoon and the talk out of the organization is Arcobello is viewed by some as a Brian Gibbons type from last year who can add some skill to the fourth line but also move up and play with skilled players when needed.

The Penguins have been actively scouting trade options to bolster their fourth line scoring as a 4th line of Sill – Goc – Adams isn’t going to cut it come post-season time. They get a look at Arcobello weeks before the deadline and got him for nothing.

That said, there is a clear lack of size on the 4th line and Arcobello obviously doesn’t address that.

Immediately, though, he could see time on the third line as Bryan Rust was re-assigned following today’s practice. Arcobello can play center and wing.

“He manages the puck well,” Johnston said of Arcobello, calling him a “very smart player.” Johnston said when the Penguins were in Buffalo, they had a night off, and were able to watch the Sabres and Oilers play live and Johnston was “really impressed” with Arcobello.

Olli Maatta is officially out for the season, undergoing his second shoulder surgery in eight months. The consensus seems to be that this was just bad luck for Maatta than the case of being rushed back, though, players have said in the past that it truly takes 6-9 months to be right after surgery on a torn labrum.

When Maatta and Derrick Pouliot both had shoulder surgery last May, doctors deemed Pouliot’s to be a little more severe which is why his rehab was expected to be longer and ended up being.

Ryan Suter a minus-22 in his last 20 games, is looking at likely a 2-3 game suspension for his elbow on Steve Downie. His phone hearing is set for 5:00 p.m.