Penguins/NHL
Competition increases at forward position
With Patric Hornqvist’ pending return this week to the lineup, likely Wednesday night vs the Washington Capitals, it moves one of the regulars from the first three games of the season to the press box.
Pittsburgh also has Josh Archibald a healthy scratch to open the season, who provides great speed and energy when given an opportunity, waiting to get his first crack into the lineup this season.
The Penguins have a situation brewing where some of the bottom-tier forwards will be on notice every game and a bad game or two will plant you in the press box.
If Monday’s practice is a pre-cursor of what to expect vs the Capitals, Scott Wilson will be the odd-man out with Conor To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!
Around the League
Stuck with too many NHL defensemen on 1-way contracts, Vegas GM George McPhee has been around long enough where he should not have fell into the trap of realizing how difficult it is to move players during the dog days of summer and early in the season when no GM’s are desperate.
One of Vegas’ big signings from the off-season (2 Years, $9 million) was 30 year old Russian Vadim Shipachyov. Due to the Golden Knights roster situation, Shipachyov has been stuck in the minors and reports out of Russian surfaced this week that he wants out.
McPhee called reports of Shipachyov wanting to return to the KHL false. Then said “He can’t, he’s under contract with us.”
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) October 9, 2017
Shipachyov is a skilled playmaking center with great vision but no one around the league knows yet if he can play at this level. Older European players in their upper 20’s/30’s who star overseas that try to come to the NHL rarely make it and are often misjudged/overhyped by evaluators.
One concern from scouts with Shipachyov on a smaller ice surface is how he holds [hide] onto the puck far too long. With him still not in the NHL, it remains a question mark unanswered.
With a $4.5 million cap hit this season and next, the growing consensus appears to be the Golden Knights and Shipachyov are stuck with each other unless Vegas took a worse contract the other way with term off another clubs hands.
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