Chirps from Center Ice

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

Coal Street Cuts Eight

1 Comment Posted by on October 9, 2016

Announced Sunday morning by the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins was the following roster moves…

Forwards Derek Army, Garrett Meurs and Nick Sorkin; defensemen Danny Fick, Dan Milan and Kevin Schulze; as well as goaltenders Leland Irving and Adam Morrison were all released from their tryout agreements with the Penguins. Army, Meurs, Fick, Schulze and Sorkin will report to the Penguins’ ECHL affiliate, the Wheeling Nailers.

Some of the names competing for jobs remaining in camp are Reid Gardiner, Cody Wydo, Jarrett Burton, Miloš Bubela, Christian Hilbrich, Gage Quinney, Adam Krause, Michael Webster and Ryan Segalla. You can probably safely say they will play this afternoon in Hershey. 

In goal, Doug Carr looks to have won the backup job by default. I say that because Leland Irving most likely has a job lined up elsewhere. Carr is signed to an ECHL deal with Wheeling, so let Irving sow his seeds at his new job and let Carr back up and get AHL experience while Tristan Jarry remains up with Pittsburgh. 

Wilkes-Barre plays once next weekend, home against Hartford then not again until October 21 against Springfield. A lot can happen between now and then. 

More later after the final preseason game in Hershey.

WBS, Wheeling

Preseason Game #2 – Penguins 4, Hershey 2

Comments Off on Preseason Game #2 – Penguins 4, Hershey 2 Posted by on October 8, 2016

Nothing flashy again here recap wise for the second of three preseason Penguins games and the first of a weekend home and home against the Hershey Bears.

One piece of news before the recap. Kevin Porter and David Warsofsky cleared waivers at noon Saturday making them eligible for assignment to Wilkes-Barre.

The Penguins beat the Bears tonight 4-2. Even though it’s preseason, it’s always fun beating Hershey.
These were the lines put out by Coach Clark Donatelli for tonight’s game against the Hershey Bears:

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First Period: Penguins were a lot quicker tonight then they were Wednesday. Hershey loses control of a puck in their zone, take a delayed penalty when Patrick McGrath wired one from the top of the slot in for a 1-0 Penguins lead. The fourth line was on the ice for that one as Nick Sorkin and Miloš Bubela assisted on the goal.

Later, Dustin Gazley went invisible for a second because the Penguins defenders must have forgot he was on the ice, as he skated in unabated and picked his spot on DeSmith and evened the game at one a piece.

Pens looked great on the penalty kill, DeSmith outstanding overall.

Second Period: Joe Cannata made a great pad stop on J-S Dea while the Pens were in two on one. Then Casey DeSmith got in on the pad action with a stop the other way.

Halfway through, Vitek Vanacek took over the Bears net. Casey DeSmith stayed in. I’m thinking some combination of Leland Irving and / or Doug Carr start Sunday in Hershey.

Hershey edged ahead when Dustin Gazley centered Hubert Labrie while the Bears were 3-on-1.

Pens had a power play after that. They spent the entire two minutes in cycling the puck and taking shots but were not able to put one past Vanacek.

DeSmith was up to his old tricks making spectacular saves.

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DeSmith may push Jarry for starter once Tristan gets back from Pittsburgh. The brain trust up too may not rush Matt Murray back if DeSmith continues to play like this at the AHL level and Jarry so far at the NHL preseason level.

Third Period: Pens turned the game in their favor thanks to two penalties drawn by Oskar Sundqvist. Sundqvist got the first power play goal off a nice behind setup by Tom Kostopoulos, drew a holding penalty later when Reid Gardiner crashed the net to make it 3-2 Penguins.

Bears pulled Vanacek and Tim Erixon scored into the empty net from about 190′ away that iced the game away.

Pens rode out the Hershey storm the first five minutes of the period then took off and never looked back. I think DeSmith faced just one shot on goal the final ten minutes or so.

Some collateral damage. Josh Archibald was held crashing the net and went hard into Vanacek and did not return. He was helped off not putting any pressure onto his left leg. If there is a report by Tom or Seth later, I’ll run an edit or mention it in a future piece.

Wilkes-Barre closes out the preseason Sunday in Hershey at 5.

Postgamer

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.

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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

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