Penguins Shopping Janne Pesonen?

Since training camp the Penguins plan with Janne Pesonen was to give him 8-10 weeks in the minors to let him learn the North American game then reevaluate their plans for him. In 18 games this season Pesonen has performed well recording 21 points but indications are the front office views Pesonen as a playmaker only which hinders his chance to be a regular in the Penguins lineup. While the Penguins may not see Pesonen as a good fit, other teams around the league may. Pesonen’s agent has been rumored to be exploring potential destinations and in the past month the Toronto Maple Leafs, New York Islanders and the LA Kings have been scouting WBS and sources tell me Pesonen was among the top targets they were scouting. The Kings had scouts in attendance when the WBS Penguins played the Portland Pirates and the San Antonio Rampage in October.

Interesting Rumor

With those three teams believed to be showing some kind of interest, a fourth team may be in the mix. I received a tip today (unconfirmed) that a scout believed to be employed by the Chicago Blackhawks was in attendance at the Wilkes Barre – Lake Erie game today and I’m told this scout only paid attention to Pesonen and when Pesonen was off the ice, the scout did not take notes. Waiting for confirmation on this but the Hawks have been linked to Ruslan Fedotenko and Mark Eaton in recent weeks.