Chirps from Center Ice

We have seen this fish before.

If you have been around this blog long enough have been a fan of the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins then you remember the names vividly, Barber with Hershey and Varone with Lehigh Valley. Varone was AHL MVP in 2018.

So proven goal scorers and point producers at the AHL level. Barber with Laval this season has 31 points in 39 games and nine NHL games (Montreal is the NHL affiliate of Laval) this year. He had 31 goals for a stacked Bears team last season. Barber is also an automatic 20 goal scorer.

Phil Varone had 70 points with Lehigh Valley in ’17-18 in his MVP season and was a point off Chris Terry of Laval that year for the point race. Varone this season with the Rocket has 27 games played, 4 goals and 10 assists. No NHL games this season.

Laval was in Providence Sunday and Mark Divver, one of the hardest working guys in the AHL and in Rhode Island, tweeted this…

So a clash in styles between two players who get shipped out to greener pastures in return for an NHL yo-yo in Blandisi and an unproven young commodity in Lucchini. I don’t know how anyone on this side of the aisle sees this as anything but and upgrade for the Penguins and winners of the trade. On the Laval side you get rid of two guys who look like they didn’t want to be there if Divver’s suspicions are true for a serviceable NHL piece in Blandisi and a good player in Lucchini with upside.

But we have been here before.

Mattias Plachta. Spencer Machacek. Danny Syvret. Ryan Parent. Derek Nesbitt. Colin Smith and Joseph Cramarossa. Chris Wideman.

Sure, Varone and Barber have great numbers and should, by rights, have an instant impact for the Penguins who are fighting for a playoff spot in the Atlantic Division. But history is an indicator (eight names isn’t an outlier, it’s a downright pattern and that is only some of the names) that these names may pop a few eyes here and there now and be the talk of the AHL going into and through this weekend, but the applications of the players putting in the work and producing remains to be seen.

By no means am I ruining this and saying that the trades are bad and you should expect to finish seventh in the Atlantic Division and miss playoffs for a second straight year. No, I am not saying that. Just take these trades with a guarded optimism that yes, they are massive upgrades over what you lost, but the history of pouting and clashing with management that comes with the trade is not something to be ignored and not just a young prospect thinking he should be in the NHL. Varone is 30, Barber just turned 26.

As to the immediate availability of the assets acquired…

–

In other news, Ryan Scarfo is up from Wheeling this week and Brandon Hawkins was sent back down. Zach Trotman went up to Pittsburgh on an emergency recall while John Marino recovers from facial surgery.

I was told this week that Kevin Czuczman was a full go in practice this week and Tyler reported that Dustin Tokarski practiced without limits too and also added that Thomas DiPauli won’t be available this weekend.

Also this, which happened Thursday at 5 right after my post went up…

I would assume that with DiPauli not available and Varone sorting out his visa issues, the recall of Knott was needed.

Around the division, Lehigh Valley and Hartford swapped backup goalies, J-F Berube to the Wolf Pack for Tom McCollum. Charlotte’s third leading scorer Julian Gauthier was traded to Hartford for their fourth leading scorer Joey Keane. The Wolf Pack look like they are going to go for a playoff berth this season.

Springfield too…

Same goes for the Penguins, and that applies to what you just read above.

Gameday setup is here Friday at 3 when Riley Barber squares off against his former team the Hershey Bears, provided Barber gets here in time.