Comments Off on Pens sign Defenseman Boris Valabik
Posted by nafsnep on July 3, 2011
I showed up late to a 4th of July party today because right when I was leaving to go, the Penguins announced that they have signed Boris Valabik to a 1 year contract.
Valabik, you will remember, was the 6’7 giant on defense for the Chicago Wolves when they defeated the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins in six games in 2008.
It is a veteran signing. He will probably spend most of his time, if not all, in Wilkes-Barre. If you are content with a body on D then this is great news. If you are more analytical towards the signing and want to delve deeper into the numbers then read on.
Valabik hasn’t scored a goal since 2008-09 when he was with the Chicago Wolves. He has a grand sum total of 13 assists in AHL games since. If my math is correct, he is a -2 in those AHL games also, a sum total of 76 games since. Now, in 50 NHL games for the Atlanta Thrashers in 2008-09, he had 5 assists and was a -14. (source: HockeyDB)
These numbers are a bit concerning. There are speedy wingers in the AHL East division. Probably the most speedy in the entire AHL. I am not saying it’s a bad signing, I am just saying that I’d like to know more in what the thought process is bringing Valabik in. We / I may never know.
Bombulie had a blurb about it. Jonathan references two memorable fights which involved Valabik I went out and found:
and this one, more well known to the main stream:
Elsewhere, a very quiet day on Free Agent Movement and how it affects the East Division. Vancouver signed Bears pest Steve Pinizzotto. I’d suspect that business will pick up again Tuesday.
If anything happens tomorrow, check my Twitter feed or on the blog for a quick recap. If not, Happy 4th everyone! Stay safe.
Goaltender Tomas Vokoun was brought in to backup Michal Neuvirth. This means Braden Holtby starts the year in Hershey. Lots of mixed reactions on my Twitter feed on this move too.
Missed this yesterday but the Canes signed goaltender Brian Boucher. This likely means that Justin Peters will be sent back to Charlotte and tend the Checkers nets with Mike Murphy. Peters only played 12 games last year behind Cam Ward, so the thought is send Peters back to the AHL and have him push Mike Murphy and vice versa.
Andrew Gordon. Writing was on the wall for him when the Bears brought in Ryan Potulny and Chris Bourque returning sealed the fate. Could possibly crack the Ducks lineup but if he doesn’t will make the Crunch respectable.
Elsewhere:
Alex Giroux is still mulling offers. Oklahoma City Barons beat guy Ryan Aber caught up with Giroux, who should decide by today where he will be playing next season.
Giroux is among some big names still left on the board including Jeff Taffe, Brett Sterling, Ryan Keller, Christian Hanson, Paul Szczechura, Bryan Rodney, Graham Mink and Brian Willsie. Wilkes-Barre may or may not be pursuing any of these guys. Time will tell. Stay tuned.
The formatting of the way they have it over there is such that I don’t want to attempt to bring it over here, but apparently his line of business is “defender” and he is “gallant of the club” in his right. He is also the possessor of the goblet of Stanleys 2006.
Going to keep a watchful eye on the wire today. Here is another Bombulie blog update and who and what to expect in the remainder of Free Agency. Also, Bombulie has an in-print story on the newest WBS Penguin, Colin McDonald.
Day One of the NHL Free Agency Period is nearly in the books. The big NHL free agents are the hot commodities, but I kept my eyes on what went down in the AHL East Division with their parent teams. Team by team, here we go:
Pittsburgh / Wilkes-Barre / Scranton:
Colin McDonald from the Oklahoma City Barons. Led the AHL with 42 goals last season. This signing struck me like a Mack truck. I did not see this happening at all. I had him signing a one-way. This is big news.
Ray Shero states that this is not the market to be signing players. With about $2 million left in cap space does this mean he loads up the farm?
Washington / Hershey:
Paul Baier, a defenseman from the Rochester Americans. Fan favorite in Rochester and a Brown graduate. Not a veteran, so he solidifies them at that position.
Ryan Potulny from the Binghamton Senators. Center depth for the Bears if he doesn’t stick in Washington. Likely means the end of Andrew Gordon in Hershey.
Matt Ford from the Lake Erie Monsters. 26-16-42 for Lake Erie last season.
Michel Ouellet, who played overseas last season (ironically with the same team John Curry signed with the Hamburg Freezers) and did time in WBS many moons ago.
Elsewhere:
Edmonton signs Corey Potter. Disappointing to see Corey walk like that. Wish him well with his new team. Leaves a bit of a hole at the position but Wilkes-Barre has a plethora of talent at the position.
Hershey loses its captain, Andrew Joudrey to Columbus.
AHL observer Patrick Williams has a new job as NHL.com correspondent.
If you see any omissions from any other teams from the AHL perspective that will directly affect Wilkes-Barre, leave me a comment in the comment section. I will be back tomorrow to recap Day Two.
My thought is that Wilkes-Barre, Hershey and the heavyweights in the East Division are not done beefing up. We still need to get Brad Thiessen and Dustin Jeffrey signed. I don’t think we are done yet. Stay tuned. Business is picking up.
Comments Off on Thursday Notes 6/30
Posted by nafsnep on June 30, 2011
On the eve of the free agent frenzy, I decided to run just a few notes I have kept my eye on these past few days. So here we go again in bullet format:
The Thomas Sabo Ice Tigers Nürnberg made the Chris Collins signing official on their website. It’s a very quick blurb.
The affiliations are all set for the AHL in 2011-2012. As we had it on Friday, you can see the listings here.
Michael Fornabaio from the Connecticut Post has a handy list of all restricted free agents not sent Qualifying Offers at his blog. Some NHL names whose time in the AHL is done and some high impact AHL tweeners who could make a big splash in a new city.
Playing off of the above list, Jonathan Bombulie fine tuned his free agent list and included those who did not receive qualifying offers.
Some news which can indirectly affect the Hershey Bears goaltending situation as it would appear from this tweet that Semyon Varlamov is off to the KHL. What this could mean is that Braden Holtby could be the back-up to start the season in Washington.
In keeping up with players to come through the WBS pipeline someday, defenseman Joe Rogalski was traded from the Sarnia Sting to the Soo Greyhounds. Jesse Marshall from Faceoff Factor tweeted me on what this means for Rogalski. Also, according to Seth Rorabaugh from Empty Netters, Tom Kuhnhackl is going to stick with his junior squad, the Windsor Spitfires, for another season.
Finally, the AHL gave its member teams six guaranteed dates this week. Wilkes-Barre has not yet announced their dates. But from what I have seen on the Twitter side from them they are looking to package the announcement on the dates with an announcement on Pensfest II. Stay tuned on that, as I will have something up here on that fairly soon, maybe as early as today.
Comments Off on Tom Sabo Traps a Penguin
Posted by nafsnep on June 27, 2011
Reports out of Germany is that Chris Collins has indeed signed a contract to play in the DEL with the Thomas Sabo Ice Tigers Nürnberg for next season.
No fun with Babelfish for this one. The headline of this post is all me. Thomas Sabo is a local jeweler who bought the team from keeping it from going bankrupt.*
Best, most trusted source coming out confirming the transfer is the Augsburger Allgemeine, which is a major German regional daily newspaper published since 1945.** You can read the blurb about Collins here. (already translated to English, you are welcome)
Collins joins ex-WBS Penguin Captain Ryan Bayda and defenseman T.J. Kemp on the team next year.
Chirps from Center Ice wishes Chris Collins the best in his German endeavors.
Comments Off on Who is the New Guy?
Posted by nafsnep on June 26, 2011
The NHL Draft was this past weekend. I am no draft guru of any kind, so if you are looking for me to provide you with draft analysis on winners and losers you have come to the wrong place.
Anyway, the Pens drafted five guys this past weekend. Here, you can find info on all five in this one tidy blog post.
In the first round, the Pens went with defenseman Joe Morrow from the Portland Winterhawks out of the Western Hockey League. (WHL)
Pittsburgh had a nice Q & A with Morrow (in it’s Penguins Report, you have to scroll a bit to see it and it is not really a Pittsburgh interview, but rather a media scrum Q & A)
The draft experts over at Faceoff Factor have the scouting report on Morrow.
Bombulie with a blurb about the logic on taking a defensemen when it would appear the cupboard is stacked with depth and talent at the position.
In day two, the Pens selected another defenseman in Scott Harrington from the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League in round two. In round five they selected Dominik Uher, a center from the Spokane Chiefs from the WHL. In the sixth round they selected Josh Archibald, a high-schooler from Minnesota who plays left wing. In the seventh and final round the Pens selected Scott Wilson, a center from Georgetown out of the Ontario Junior Hockey League.
Bombulie again, with blurbs on the four as well as a nice thumbnails on all five players drafted.
Whether or not the above five will ever be relevant in Wilkes-Barre remains to be seen. A lot can happen in between draft day and when the decision is made to sign these guys.
Meanwhile, on more pressing matters, the deadline for Restricted Free Agents to get qualifying offers is tomorrow at 5. Dustin Jeffrey, Joey Haddad, Brad Thiessen and Tyler Kennedy are Pittsburgh’s RFAs. Nothing official I have seen anywhere on these guys re-signing with Pittsburgh…yet. If these guys do not get offer sheets from Pittsburgh by 5 tomorrow they then become unrestricted free agents. If I were to guess the order of importance as to who gets offers is as follows. 1) Dustin Jeffrey, 2) Brad Thiessen, 3) Joey Haddad, 4) Tyler Kennedy.
WBS News
