Chirps from Center Ice

The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins wrapped up their 25th season with an overtime loss to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms on Friday and were swept out of the First Round of the Calder Cup Playoffs by their Turnpike rival.

The Penguins finished with a 39-24-8-1 record, good for third in the Atlantic and 87 points. They accomplished this with 56 players in the regular season and two debutants making their appearances in the Calder Cup Playoffs. That number is up from 43 the year prior, when the Penguins did not qualify for the playoffs.

Here’s words on every guy that put on a jersey this season in any game that mattered grouped into sections, similar to what I did last year.

MVP Division

Ty Smith, Joel Blomqvist

Ty Smith was injured April 7 on a nasty knee on knee hit that went uncalled by ex-Penguin Garrett Wilson and the Penguins weren’t the same. His 43 points led the team and his presence on the blue line was calming and steady. Wilkes-Barre was in good position to qualify for the playoffs when he went down, but he was sorely missed in the First Round series against Lehigh Valley both on the power play and on defense. He’s property of the Carolina Hurricanes, who don’t have an AHL affiliate at the moment but if they do next season, Smith is gone. Smith would have been a difference maker for the Pens in the playoffs, as he was all season long Wilkes-Barre in the regular season.

Blomqvist was the Penguins sole AHL All-Star, named to the Rookie Team and was a second team end of year all star. In my opinion he is the number one prospect in the organization and will be in the NHL full time one day. When? Well, after a shaky series against Lehigh Valley the answer may be later rather than sooner.

Class of 2024

Valtteri Puustinen, Jack St. Ivany

Both should be full time NHLers next season. Puustinen is a Group 6 UFA next season so we will see where he goes. St. Ivany is a restricted free agent and probably priority one to get a qualifying offer out to. St. Ivany was a diamond in the rough find and played a level headed, steady NHL game that endeared him. I’d be shocked if he made it back down to the AHL anytime soon. The job of the AHL is to graduate players to the NHL and I think that mission was accomplished with this pair here.

You’re the best we have! Now, get out of here!

Rem Pitlick, Alex Nylander, Ty Smith

I threw Smith in this group with Alex Nylander and Rem Pitlick as the leading scorers on the team at the time they were traded. Only Nylander didn’t see the AHL after he left Wilkes-Barre. Pitlick was traded for essentially nothing as a dead cap shred to Chicago but ended back in AHL Rockford, Nylander was given away to Columbus by some guy in Pittsburgh they didn’t let play on the final day of their season because of the conditions that went with it and Ty Smith was traded to an NHL team that didn’t have an AHL affiliate and was allowed to stay via loan.

Glue Guys

Vinnie Hinostroza, Sam Poulin, Corey Andonovski, Austin Rueschhoff, Jagger Joshua, Jack Rathbone, Xavier Ouellet, Jonathan Gruden, Marc Johnstone, Peter Abbandonato

Big list of guys that make up the heart and soul of the team. Hinostroza played 42 games and had 35  points and was in and out of the lineup due to recall or injury. Poulin had a little bit of a bounce back after last season but the jury is still out on if he is a bonafide NHL player, Andonovski was a good player that made you want to tear your hair out at times but improved as the season wore on and he was given more of a role, Rueschhoff and Joshua were cut from the same cloth. I would actually like to find a tier for these two as B level players, not superstars but not average, in between but this tier makes the most sense. Jack Rathbone seemed to get better as the season wore on and Ouellet and Gruden were the hard nosed type players  that gave everything night in and night out. Gruden was rewarded with a decent look in the NHL. I would argue that he is more of an NHL player than say Sam Poulin at the moment. Abbandonato doesn’t have a contact for next season and was hurt February 21 in a game against Lehigh Valley. Prior to, he had 23 points in 33 games for the Penguins. He was acquired in a trade with Owen Headrick for future considerations by the Chicago Wolves.

Marc Johnstone gets his own paragraph because he busts his tail every shift and if not but for an injury that sidelined him February 3 in Lehigh Valley until Game 2 of the First Round series with the Phantoms, the Penguins could have been in a better position for a potential first round bye. Johnstone is under contact next season, so that’s good news and a good start.

C’s Get Degrees

Radim Zohorna, Dmitri Samorukov

May be more of a recency bias with Samorukov, who played in 64 regular season contests but had a bad Game 1 and was scratched for Game 2. He was OK this season but there has to be better options out there. I don’t think Radim Zohorna is much of an NHL player to be honest. He has size and that’s all. His skill set is average. He went from a player you wanted to a player you are OK with being on the team because of flashes of brilliance. I doubt he’s highly sought after this summer as an unrestricted free agent.

If it’s Boeing, I’m Not Going!

Colin White, Will Butcher, Mark Pysyk, Mark Friedman, Libor Hajek, Cedric Desruisseaux

These guys were either lost on waivers (Colin White) traded (Will Butcher to Minnesota, Mark Friedman to Vancouver) or here for an PTO and released (Pysyk and Hajek)

The biggest one in the bunch was obviously Colin White, who was recalled by Pittsburgh January 13 then placed on waivers and lost to the Montreal Canadiens. White had 21 games with the Penguins and 10 points and was good on the power play (2 goals, one assist) White’s absence eroded key points that the Penguins couldn’t come up with either in regulation or overtime, overtime especially because the Penguins struggled there (3-8) – are the Penguins in a first round bye as a two seed if White is still around?

Butcher was a good hand defensively but ultimately expendable. Pysyk and Hajek were older dudes trying their hand at AHL work on PTO’s and when they either couldn’t hack it or found greener pastures, bounced. Mark Friedman played in two games for the Pens on opening weekend in Charlotte and was traded to Vancouver with Ty Glover for Jack Rathbone (Glover didn’t appear in any games for the Penguins prior to the trade) and played 21 games for the Canucks.

Desruisseaux had 40 games for the Nailers, two for the Penguins and then bolted overseas. He had more success playing for Wheeling and really should have stayed in my opinion. He had a goal in Charlotte around Thanksgiving.

Hired Guns

Jesse Puljujärvi, Vasily Ponomarev, Jansen Harkins, Alex Nedeljkovic, Pierre-Olivier Joseph, John Ludvig

Puljujärvi and Ponomarev are under contact to Pittsburgh for next season. You’ll likely see Ponomarev in parts again next year in the AHL on the Penguins and Harkins was here for the first half of the season then called up for good to the NHL in the second half. He was here for the final week of the Penguins season down on conditioning. Same with Alex Nedeljkovic, who appeared in one game for the Pens in Providence and scored a goal, the second goalie goal in the history of the WBS Penguins. Puljujärvi joined Pittsburgh on a PTO working his way back from hip surgery, then signed with Coal Street and found his game with 9 points (4 goals, 5 assists) in 13 games. Other fans weren’t fans of his because they still thought he was an NHL player. He kind of still is, because he was recalled by Pittsburgh and stuck.

P-O Joseph appeared in two games in an early December conditioning stint and had and assist against Charlotte. Ludvig had two stints, one mid November and another at the end of January and into February.

Box of Nails

Evan Vierling, Raivis Ansons, Owen Headrick, Lukas Svejkovsky, Justin Addamo, Dillon Hamaliuk, Justin Lee, Garrett Sparks, Jordan Frasca, Tanner Laderoute, Taylor Gauthier, Matthew Quercia, Isaac Belliveau, Max Cajkovic

These guys were or have been Wheeling mainstays for most of the season. Out of the group, Svejkovsky (19 games) Ansons (34 games but hurt for most of the time here) Headrick (20) and Addamo (21) had the most significant impacts in Wilkes-Barre. Addamo and Svejkovsky had the same amount of points (2 goals, 2 assists each) that’s disappointing for Svejkovsky, which you will read more about in the next capsule down.

Vierling and Hamaliuk showed flashes. I am really excited to see if the Penguins would consider signing Vierling over the summer. Hamaliuk is an RFA.

The rest save for Gauthier had little to no impact on the current Penguins roster save for Cajkovic who had two goals and three assists in ten games. Gauthier, who you will read more of below, had a shutout in Syracuse back in November. Issac Belliveau is under contact and next season may be make or break for him.

Summer School

Joona Koppanen, Avery Hayes, Taylor Gauthier, Lukas Svejkovsky, Isaac Belliveau

These are players under contact for next season you want to see more of. Koppanen and Hayes played with Wilkes-Barre all season but Hayes had most of his season cut short back when he was injured in the Taylor Gauthier shutout game in Syracuse back in November but then caught fire down the stretch, finally scoring a goal against the Phantoms March 30 which set him on a tear that saw him score a point or more in 6 out of the last 9 games.

Koppanen was okay playing third line minutes with 21 points. He’s a big body and I think he plays better in that big body than say Radim Zohorna so it will be interesting to see how he is come the Fall.

Svejkovsky you will recall, I had in this similar category last year. He played full time last year in the AHL because they were so talent and injury ravaged that he had to. This season he nearly split time in the ECHL but had only four points this season in the AHL.

Gauthier won ECHL goaltender of the year for the Nailers and is likely in Wilkes-Barre at some point, depending on how the depth chart ahead of him plays out.

Isaac Belliveau comes highly touted and has put up big numbers for the Nailers this season. It’s time for him to climb the ladder into a bigger role in the AHL next season.

It is what it is…

Sam Houde, Taylor Fedun

Getting to the end of the line here with Sam Houde, who had 12 points in 12 games but was injured December 2 against Springfield and never seen again, ruled out with upper AND lower body injuries and Taylor Fedun, who concludes his captaincy of the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins with 43 games played, 12 points and a +11 rating. He was a veteran and was scratched for that very reason but had a very average, but OK year for a guy of his type. It never was about the numbers with Fedun. He’s played in 501 AHL games and his playing career is likely over, given he turns 36 this summer. Neither guy is under contract for next season and for Houde, it is unknown what the future holds. EDIT: I knew I would mess one contact status up, Sam Houde is under contract with the Penguins for next season having signed in February.

Get the F out of here

Matt Filipe, Ryan Shea, Magnus Hellberg

Maybe I am not being fair to Matt Filipe, who played in 51 games and had five goals, five assists for the Penguins, but when an aging Taylor Fedun plays eight fewer games and has two more points than you, that slots you here.

I don’t know what the hype was with Ryan Shea, who was unimpressive in my eyes. 23 games, 6 points, NHL contract. Thanks for playing. He’s unrestricted, so he’ll be getting paid for under average production someplace else next season.

Hellberg didn’t really impress with his 9-8-2 record and close to 3 goals against average. He was sent to Florida (AHL Charlotte) in a straight up trade for Ludovic Waeber.

Children are our future

Beau Jelsma, Mathieu De St. Phalle, Scooter Brickey, Logan Pietila, Ville Koivunen, Tristan Broz

Broz and Koivinen did not play in the regular season for the Penguins but did in Games 1 and 2 for the Penguins in the First Round. Koivunen may be the most polished of the group, coming over from the Finnish league and having an instant impact with a goal in Game 1.

Jelsma had a goal and two assists, De St. Phalle a goal, Brickey an assist and Pietila like the others are learning to be pros. Look for all of them to have some impact on the 2024-25 Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins next season. I think the future is bright with these kids and if the front office fills in the rest with good AHLers and solid vets, this team could be a contender again next season.

Protect the Nets

Joel Blomqvist, Ludovic Waeber, Magnus Hellberg, Alex Nedeljkovic, Garrett Sparks, Taylor Gauthier

Sparks was here as a third wheel for months before they sent him to Wheeling. Extremely unimpressive, appeared in two games and gave up four goals in 40 minutes of play October 29 against Hershey and was hurt in the second period of a game against Syracuse in November.

Gauthier, Blomqvist, Hellberg, and Nedeljkovic I touched on in parts above. Blomqvist was our MVP, Gauthier is our future and Nedeljkovic scored a goal in Providence when he was down for conditioning in his only start in the AHL this season. Hellberg was a bit of a disaster and was traded for Ludovic Waeber.

Waeber came in and had a bit of a shaky start, giving up three goals against Utica on March 23 but then won his final three games with the final one being a shutout against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms on April 20, the final regular season game of the season and the last win for the Penguins this calendar year (so far)

Only Gauthier and Blomqvist are under contact for next season, so if the Penguins want to rest on those laurels they can, but it’s doubtful they do. You’ll probably see another veteran come in, possibly two, with Nedeljkovic unrestricted in the summer as well. Nevertheless the nets in Wilkes-Barre should be in good hands.

Hey Coach

Head Coach J.D. Forrest, Assistant Coaches Sheldon Brookbank and Kevin Porter

I am not in the camp of firing the staff. I was last year and in parts early this season but I’m out. He still has some of the problems he had last season (can’t hold leads) but got better I thought with accountability with older guys but that may have had to do more in part with the glut of veterans on the team. Ask yourself this question. Could any coach done better? Maybe, but this wasn’t and won’t be a championship caliber team for the near term. Trading away Rem Pitlick and Alex Nylander are two or three salary grades higher and not the decision of the head coach.

He graduated Jack St. Ivany to the NHL and if he signs with a team, Valtteri Puustinen. He still needs to work on developing Sam Poulin but it takes a village. Radim Zohorna will be another coaches problem next season. How long does he have the services of Ponomarev and Koivunen for next year? How ready do Koppanen, Svejkovsky, Jelsma, Broz, etc. come to camp in September?

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So that’s all. I think I touched on every body that touched the ice for the Penguins this season. This was a very robust piece here for you, I went 2500+ words, but it’s not like you don’t have all summer to read it.

As always, if you disagree with where I have a guy or if I missed one, drop me a comment. Have a great summer.