Chirps from Center Ice

A fan blog about the AHL's Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins

Cutting, Waiving

Comments Off on Cutting, Waiving Posted by on October 7, 2016

Pittsburgh trimmed their roster by four today.

Assigned to Wilkes-Barre straight up on Friday were Carter Rowney and Jake Guentzel. Placed on waivers were David Warsofsky and Kevin Porter.

Here’s what Pittsburgh’s roster looks like currently. Porter and Warsofsky are still with the team technically because they have not been officially assigned because of being on waivers.

One more roster cut is needed to get to the 23 man roster for opening night next week. Many options remain. Sestito? Wilson? Pouliot? Bengtsson?

If Coal Street makes cuts later today I’ll jump back in and edit this story. If not, look for the next blog piece Saturday night after the exhibition game with the Bears. If Warsofsky or Porter get claimed, I’ll have a brief reaction piece to that news here for the blog in the afternoon.

Pittsburgh, WBS

Preseason Game #1 – Penguins 1, Albany 4

Comments Off on Preseason Game #1 – Penguins 1, Albany 4 Posted by on October 6, 2016

Nothing too flashy with preseason recaps. AHL doesn’t have box scores to link to and the process is insignificant cause it doesn’t count in the end.

If you were to take one thing out of this game, a 4-1 Devils win tonight, it was that the Penguins struggled with the Devils speed all night. Albany cashed on four power plays tonight. That, and if you struggle to keep up with a team at even strength, your weaknesses are exposed exponentially when one of them are in the penalty box.

Maybe I am overthinking things. Anyway, here’s a look at the lines…

Nick Sorkin – Jarrett Burton – Reid Gardiner
Cody Wydo – Miloš Bubela – Derek Army
Gage Quinney – Sahir Gill – Ryan Haggerty
Christian Hilbrich – Adam Krause – Garrett Meurs

Tim Erixon – Ethan Prow
Ryan Segalla – Barry Goers
Reid McNeill – Michael Webster

Casey DeSmith – Leland Irving

DeSmith opposed Mackenzie Blackwood. I didn’t see where Albany put lines out. Lots of names I didn’t recognize. Ty Loney warmed up and played.

Pens scratches were a mile long. Erixon, Haggerty and Goers wore A’s.

First Period: Pens found themselves on the penalty kill three times in the period taking lazy stick penalties. Albany cashed in on the third attempt when either a puck bounced in off of Reid McNeill’s skate or went in off the stick of Jan Mandat.

DeSmith looked great in goal otherwise, stopping 6 of 7 shots including three highlight stops on a penalty kill.
Wilkes-Barre had quick transitioning attempts at Blackwood but were denied every time. Sahir Gill had a chance alone but shot right into the pad of Blackwood, later Ryan Haggerty danced around a guy but was shut down by the Albany netminder.

No fights in the period, which I thought was weird, being it’s the first press on game and guys are fighting for jobs.

Second Period: Penguins would get on the board when Reid McNeill hammered a shot from the blue line that was tipped in by Jarrett Burton.

Casey DeSmith was in midseason form, making more dazzling stops. Coal Street could cut up his highlights on just this game alone and they would last a month.

Leland Irving took over goal halfway through. Within the first minute he was required to stop three Albany attempts off of Penguins turnovers on the power play. DeSmith would stop 12 of 13 shots.

Devils would score when John Quenneville whipped in a shot past Irving for a power play goal and a 2-1 lead.
No fights in the second period. Weird for a preseason game with jobs on the line.

Third Period: It was becoming apparent that the Pens were not able to deal with Albany’s speed. More penalties by the Penguins resulted in more power play goals for the Devils, who tacked on two more in the period.

No fights in this game. Really strange.

Three stars were Ben Sexton, Jarrett Burton and Yan Mandat in that order.

Pens are back in action Saturday when they host the Hershey Bears Saturday at 7:05. If there is anything newsworthy to note Friday, check back then.

Postgamer

Preseason Eve 10/5

Comments Off on Preseason Eve 10/5 Posted by on October 5, 2016

Hockey returns to the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza Thursday night when the Albany Devils come to town for some preseason hockey against the Penguins for a 7:05 start.

Here’s the setup from the Penguins. Apparently the game will be on the radio if you can’t make it down to the Arena on WILK Radio.

Tom reported today that Casey DeSmith practiced with the first group today while Leland Irving practiced in the second. I think what Clark Donatelli may do tomorrow is have DeSmith start and have Irving come in either halfway through the second or in the third period.

On Irving, he was featured on the new and improved Penguins website Wednesday.

Today, Coal Street featured Gage Quinney. I’m hoping that Quinney and a less experienced lineup plays tomorrow. I’d like to get a look at some of the fringe guys to see if any of them stand out.

Albany is probably bringing an inexperienced group with them as well.

I’ll have a brief, stripped down recap Thursday night after the game. No pregame setups or anything like that. AHL doesn’t have boxscores available for preseason games so let’s hope I get the final score right in the blog story. I’ll have updates on Twitter.

In case you were wondering, everyone put on waivers Tuesday cleared Wednesday.

More Thursday after the game.

WBS

Here Comes the Calvary

Comments Off on Here Comes the Calvary Posted by on October 3, 2016

Monday afternoon, the Pittsburgh Penguins trimmed their roster by 17 players. From their release…

Players assigned to WBS include: goaltenders Casey DeSmith and Leland Irving; defensemen Tim Erixon, Ethan Prow, Stuart Percy, Cameron Gaunce, Reid McNeill, Steve Oleksy and Chad Ruhwedel; and forwards Oskar Sundqvist, Adam Krause, Ryan Haggerty, Sahir Gill, Josh Archibald, Dominik Simon, Garrett Wilson and Jean-Sebastien Dea.

If you were wondering about waivers, the release mentioned the guys on now. They have noon Tuesday to be officially reassigned to Coal Street. They are…

Erixon, Percy, Gaunce, McNeill, Oleksy, Ruhwedel and Wilson all have to clear waivers on Tuesday at noon before they can join WBS.

In case you were wondering, yes, that is likely the entirety of the Wilkes-Barre blue line which is on waivers at this time. Hold your breath.

Among the names still up with Pittsburgh that could still be re-assigned here include defensemen Lukas Bengtsson, Derrick Pouliot and David Warsofsky. Forwards are Jake Guentzel, Carter Rowney, Tom Sestito. Teddy Blueger and Thomas Di Pauli are injured and cannot be re-assigned until healthy. Outlier guys like Kevin Porter and maybe Scott Wilson are more solid locks to make the roster than Guentzel, Rowney or Sestito in my opinion.

Tristan Jarry remains up. Given the fact that he has not allowed a single preseason goal in two appearances, the safe money is him getting the backup job to Marc-Andre Fleury while Matt Murray recovers from his hand fracture. It appears as if he has won that job for the time being.

The roster currently stands at 31 players. Take Murray, Di Pauli and Blueger out of the picture and that’s 28 guys. Rosters on opening night have to be at 23 so there are five more guys that have to get cut. No one on the roster presently can get sent back to juniors i.e. say a healthy Daniel Sprong, so it’s a combination of Bengtsson, Warsofsky / Pouliot on defense and Guentzel, Rowney, Sestito and one more presumably. Porter? Scott Wilson? Conor Sheary and Tom Kuhnhackl are too valuable. Tough decisions ahead for sure.

If anyone gets claimed at noon Tuesday I will be here to blog about it.

Pittsburgh, WBS

2016-17 WBS Camp Roster Announced

Comments Off on 2016-17 WBS Camp Roster Announced Posted by on September 30, 2016

Friday afternoon, the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins announced their training camp roster. Camp officially begins Saturday on Coal Street.

Instead of linking off and pointing out some names here and there and calling it a day, I went through the roster and offer a blurb on each player. If you have any information or have better information on a particular guy, please feel free to leave me a note in the comments.

Here goes nothing…

Forwards

Derek Army – Familiar name with Penguins fans, Army saw time with four AHL teams last year besides the Penguins. Army played 4 games for the Portland Pirates, 7 for the Texas Stars and 12 for the Ontario Reign. He was on an ECHL contract with Wheeling last year so obviously familiar with Penguins head coach Clark Donatelli.

Miloš Bubela – 24 year old center out of RPI who played 8 games with Utica at the end of last season. Lots of experience playing in Slovakia as a teenager before coming to America.

Jarrett Burton – Played a fourth line for Wilkes-Barre last season. Better ECHL numbers, 38 points with Wheeling last season in 44 games, than AHL where he just had two goals with the Penguins in 23 games.

Reid Gardiner – Played with Prince Albert Raiders in the WHL last season. 92 points last year for the Raiders in 71 games. Big strong kid who works hard, is good on the puck and not a defensive liability. Could be a diamond in the rough type player.

Christian Hilbrich – One of the Penguins first signings this offseason. 6’7 giant who was the Cornell captain last year.

Tom Kostopoulos – Needs no introduction. Only question surrounding Kostopoulos is whether or not this is his final year.

Patrick McGrath – Needs no introduction either but needs to identify himself as either someone who can contribute or will he stay on the line of an ECHL type fill-in. Big season for him.

Garrett Meurs – Interesting addition here. Was an RFA with the Colorado Avalanche organization last year and was not qualified. Maybe the change of scenery does him good, he stands out and lands himself a job. 35 points in 51 games with ECHL Fort Wayne last season.

Gage Quinney – Quinney was with Pittsburgh for the Rookie Tournament and must have turned enough heads that Wilkes-Barre is bringing him in on a tryout. Las Vegas kid that had 57 points total between Kamloops and Kelowna in the Western Hockey League last season.

Nick Sorkin – Wheeling signed Sorkin this offseason. Rockville, MD product who played in Sweden last season. 25 points in 68 games for AHL Hamilton a couple seasons ago.

Cody Wydo – Wydo played exclusively for the Nailers last season, putting up 50 points in 59 games last season. Will he play his way towards an AHL contract? This camp may answer that question.

Defensemen

Danny Fick – Fick is a right handed defensemen who played 53 games last year for the Nailers. Harvard grad.

Barry Goers – Goers should be healthy enough this season to play a full year and contribute as a capable sixth or seventh defenseman.

Dan Milan – 27 points in two seasons playing with ECHL Wichita. I recall his name being tossed around up in Syracuse as a defensive replacement. Has only played in one AHL game. I don’t know why “Stylin’ Dan Milan” comes to mind when I see the name.

Kevin Schulze – Wheeling signed him late last season and liked him so much they re-signed him this offseason. Described as a good skating, quick defenseman. The AHL level work should be good for him.

Ryan Segalla – Fourth round draft pick by Pittsburgh in the 2013 draft. Turned pro after his junior year at UConn. He apparently thinks he’s ready. We will see.

Brett Stern – 72 games with Wheeling last season. With all of the defensive depth yet to get here from Pittsburgh plus what is already in camp currently, I don’t see Stern sticking, so he gets an early start on camp for Wheeling.

Michael Webster – Barrie Colts captain last season and the first AHL signing made by Wilkes-Barre this offseason. 44 points in 64 games last year for the Colts.

Goaltenders

Doug Carr – Pittsburgh cut Carr today so he could get up to Wilkes-Barre in time for camp Saturday. Wheeling signed Carr at the end of August. 24 games with ECHL Manchester last season and three with Albany. Carr saw a heavy workload with the Monarchs last year and even saw playoff action.

Adam Morrison – This is an intriguing addition. Morrison was a bit of a journeyman last season in the ECHL playing with three different teams. It is believed that his rights to an ECHL team lie with Reading. Reading’s AHL team is Lehigh Valley, who has a plethora of goaltenders to start with so Morrison just drove about an hour north to Wilkes-Barre for an AHL tryout.

–

Derek Graffius undertook a similar enterprise on his blog. Check out his words here.

In all, not a bad group. I have seen worse. Every player projects with an upside at least in my opinion or has something to play for or prove. That’s never a bad thing. They know that the reinforcements from Pittsburgh are coming in the form of more cuts. Maybe they make enough of an impression to stick or to be seen again down the road in the future.

WBS

Camp Coming; Cuts Made*

Comments Off on Camp Coming; Cuts Made* Posted by on September 29, 2016

* – questionable semicolon use by the author.

Wednesday the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins announced a training camp schedule. Camp opens Saturday on Coal Street. More about it here with a schedule. Practices held at 40 Coal Street in Wilkes-Barre are always open to the public.

Thursday, Pittsburgh sent defensemen Barry Goers, Michael Webster and Ryan Segalla and forwards Tom Kostopoulos, Milos Bubela, Gage Quinney, Jarrett Burton, Christian Hilbrich and Reid Gardiner to Wilkes-Barre. None of this first crop were on NHL contracts. There are 49 players left in Pittsburgh’s camp.

Tristan Jarry shined in his preseason start in Chicago Wednesday, shutting out the Blackhawks 2-0. Jarry will be gunning hard at the backup role behind Marc-Andre Fleury while Matt Murray recovers from his hand injury.

Elsewhere around the AHL…

— Binghamton is losing Ottawa as an NHL parent in 2017-18 it was announced this week. Pending AHL Board of Governors Approval, Ottawa will place their AHL prospects in Belleville, Ontario. Say hello to the Belleville Senators. They have a Twitter page and everything.

— Back in Binghamton, Executive VP of Operations Tom Mitchell emphatically states that the AHL is going nowhere when it comes to Binghamton. Video on that here. Mitchell didn’t mention anything about a potential NHL partner, so I don’t know if he is blowing smoke or if in fact there is an NHL team waiting in the wings once Ottawa uproots the Pens prospects at the end of this coming regular season.

I’ll say this. I love my trips to Binghamton. There are good people in Binghamton and it’s a great city for AHL hockey. I hope that Mitchell is in fact correct and that we all can rest easy and not worry about there not being hockey on the Southern Tier in 2017-18 and beyond.

— The Hershey Bears have a new voice. Meet Zack Fisch. Promoted from the Bears ECHL affiliate in South Carolina, he takes over for the job Scott Stuccio did for the Bears. They didn’t list his shoe size but he better have big feet because he has enormous shoes to fill.

Coal Street will probably publish a training camp roster some time Friday and when they do, I’ll jump back on here and blog about it.

One more thing. I don’t know if you noticed or not but the “WBS News” feed to the left of the blog is down. That’s cause I pull the RSS feed from wbspenguins.com but that domain is under construction. If you go to their website you are hit with a splash page that says that the new wbspenguins.com is coming soon. Hopefully the RSS doesn’t change.

It isn’t you. Or me. In case you were wondering, that’s why there hasn’t been any “WBS News” for the last month or month and a half.

More this weekend, presumably.

Pittsburgh, The AHL, WBS

Hasn’t Even Started Yet But It’s Started

2 Comments Posted by on September 24, 2016

Sigh. 

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Color me shocked that Pittsburgh was pristinely specific about type of injury (hand fracture) and estimated length of disability (3-6 weeks) here. I applaud them and hope that the specifics as to injuries and disability length continue. “Upper / Lower” body injury and status day / week / month to whatever is a terrible and horribly archaic way of describing why your player is not on the ice. 

Seth with more here including the battle brewing now between Tristan Jarry and Leland Irving for the backup role to Marc-Andre Fluery. 

Remember that Casey DeSmith is on an AHL deal and isn’t in the mix. 

Pittsburgh preseason games start this week. 

Pittsburgh, WBS

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