Chirps from Center Ice

Announced Tuesday morning that the Pittsburgh Penguins re-signed Restricted Free Agent Tom Kuhnhackl to a one year deal.

Kuhnhackl took a big step forward for Wilkes-Barre in 2014-15, 30 points in 72 games. He flourished on a line with Carter Rowney and Dominik Uher. Rowney is already signed up for next season and I expect Uher to be qualified and re-signed soon, so the claim that the band is getting back together holds true.

Obie’s thoughts…

[tweet https://twitter.com/MikeOBrienWBS/status/613346843913797632]

I updated the 2015 Offseason Moves List.

Oh, in case you were wondering about the headline, it’s a play on this.

The Pittsburgh Penguins announced the ninth head coach of the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins on Thursday morning.

His name is Mike Sullivan.

Coming on the heels of the news that John Hynes departed for the New Jersey Devils on June 2 and took Alain Nasreddine with him on Wednesday, the search for a new man to lead the prospects on Coal Street was on.

Sullivan comes over from the Chicago Blackhawks organization where he served as a player development coach for the AHL affiliate of the Stanley Cup Champions, the Rockford IceHogs. Prior to that he served as an assistant coach with the Vancouver Canucks, the New York Rangers and Tampa Bay Lightning. He was an NHL head coach once with the Boston Bruins.

He’s got quite a resume coming in as a coach with work in the AHL and NHL. I think he may be the most experienced coach coming into the job in Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins history. Michel Therrien coached the Montreal Canadiens prior to coming into the job in Wilkes-Barre in 2003. The rest didn’t have much if any NHL / AHL coaching experience at all before taking over as head man of the prospects on Coal Street.

So I see it as a great hire.

Nothing announced as far as assistant coaches yet. I anticipate that something will be announced in the coming weeks. Sullivan will most likely be actively involved in the process.

Check back later in case the Penguins put up a podcast with the new coach. If they do I will link it in here.

Let’s Go Pens!

News out of Coal Street Monday afternoon was that they re-signed F Carter Rowney to a one year AHL pact.

Rowney had a breakout year this season for the Penguins, seventh on the team in points with 10-21-31 and a +14 in 63 games for the Penguins in 2014-15. He also had a 64.25% GF% and a 63.83 ESGF%.

I considered Rowney a Priority One guy for the Penguins to re-sign in the offseason. This is an AHL deal, so his Europe prospects were probably there but he most likely wanted to give it one more run in North America and possibly a shot at an NHL deal in 2016-17 or beyond.

Regardless, with Tom Kostopoulos re-signing a month ago and Barry Goers in the fold again, it would look like the band is getting back together.

Mike O’Brien had these series of tweets which I found appropriate…

[tweet https://twitter.com/MikeOBrienWBS/status/610508440306348032] [tweet https://twitter.com/MikeOBrienWBS/status/610509270308790272] [tweet https://twitter.com/MikeOBrienWBS/status/610509642800697344]

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EDIT: The Pittsburgh Penguins announced later in the afternoon that they have signed D Niclas Andersen to a one year entry level contract. Andersen is a 27 year old left-handed defenseman that is 6’1 and 218 pounds. He captained Brynas of the Swedish Elite League this past season. He was a fourth round pick of the Los Angeles Kings in 2006 but never signed. From the limited information out there that I can read that isn’t Swedish, he looks like a defensive defenseman. He’s projected to be a depth guy, which means that he could see Wilkes-Barre in the Fall.

I have updated the 2015 Offseason Moves List appropriately, including the Andersen news.

Let’s Go Pens!

Coal Street announced Wednesday that they have re-signed Barry Goers to an AHL contract for the 2015-16 season.

Goers has rounded into the form of a solid AHL defenseman this past season. One of the hard workers on the team, he will be expected to step up into a bigger role next season. It’s a role that the brain trust is confident Goers will accept with enthusiasm.

Goers was the Penguins selection for Man of the Year, for his outstanding contributions to the community during the regular season.

The 2015 Offseason Moves List has been updated for the second time this week.

Game 3 of the Calder Cup Finals is later as the series shifts to Utica. Manchester will be gunning for a 3-0 series lead. I’ll have a recap for the Power Play Post Show later on.

Some news out of Coal Street Monday afternoon.

Forwards Ty Loney and Adam Krause signed AHL contracts today, the team announced.

Loney is the son of long time NHL forward Troy Loney, who won two Stanley Cups with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1991 and 1992. Loney played four years at the University of Denver and was once a teammate of Beau Bennett. He signed an amateur contract with Norfolk late last season and appeared in five games going 2-2-4.

While doing a search for Loney, I found this article on him and his brother Reed, who were featured by the Pittsburgh Penguins back in 2008.

Krause had a bit of a head start, as he suited up for six games with the Wheeling Nailers in the regular season, where he too was 2-2-4. In the Kelly Cup Playoffs, Krause had a goal and three assists. He’s big too, listed at 6’3 and 210 pounds. He captained Minnesota-Deluth last season.

Admittedly, that’s all I know about these two. You are looking at AHL depth guys that have the pedigree to develop into the next Conor Sheary. Whether or not that happens, remains to be seen.

I have updated the 2015 Offseason Moves List with our first two signings for 2015-16.

You could see the writing on the wall when it was announced a few weeks ago that Ray Shero was taking the GM position of the New Jersey Devils.

Or, maybe you could see the writing on the wall when he wasn’t named head coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins last season.

John Hynes is an NHL Head Coach.

It was announced at a press conference today in Newark, NJ that Hynes, late of Wilkes-Barre / Scranton of the AHL will become the seventeenth head coach in the history of the New Jersey Devils.

Hynes, at age 40, will also become the youngest head coach in the NHL, surpassing another former Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins head coach, Mike Yeo who is 42 years old.

They call Penn State University, “Linebacker U” for their reputation of cranking out great linebackers like Jack Ham, LaVar Arrington and Paul Posluszny. They may as well dub Coal Street, “NHL Head Coach U” for the names of ex-Penguin coaches who have managed the bench here in Wilkes-Barre. Michel Therrien (Montreal) Mike Yeo (Minnesota) Dan Bylsma (Buffalo) Todd Richards (Columbus) and now Hynes (New Jersey) – and you can also include Todd Reirden who is an assistant coach with the Washington Capitals and Joey Mullen who is an assistant with the Philadelphia Flyers.

Hynes leaves Wilkes-Barre in a better place than he found it, which is all you can ask for as a head coach of an AHL team. Hynes had a record of 231-126-17 in five years and is the Penguins’ all-time winningest coach. His teams led the AHL in defense for four out of his five years with six different goalies (Brad Thiessen, John Curry, Jeff Zatkoff, Jeff Deslauriers, Eric Hartzell, Matt Murray)

As for replacements, the search is on. You can start in house and start with the man that stood right next to Hynes, assistant coach Alain Nasreddine. You can call up Wheeling Nailers head coach Clark Donatelli. The options are going to be limitless because it’s going to be a hotly contested job, as it is probably one of the premier jobs in all of North American pro hockey. Say what you want about Calder Cups or lack thereof around here. There are five NHL head coaches now that served as a head coach here in Wilkes-Barre. No other AHL team comes close (Hershey, 2) – so Penguins fans worried that the 2015-16 edition of the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins will be a pushover needn’t worry.

Why?

The next head coach that comes in will be expected to eventually leave Wilkes-Barre in a better place than he found it.