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Penguins Blog: Scouting Report on the New Guy; Another Prospect Blocked
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- Penguins Blog: Scouting Report on the New Guy; Another Prospect Blocked
IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
CHICAGO —The Pittsburgh Penguins executed yet another trade Monday, acquiring Ryan Johnson, a mid-20s left-handed defenseman. Yet this time, the Penguins shed not a young forward whose potential had intrigued the fanbase, but a speedy 29-year-old defender, Caleb Jones , in the process.
On the surface, the trade is a giant bit of nothing. A defenseman who had been sent to the AHL by the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for one defenseman who had been sent to the AHL by the Penguins, coupled with a defenseman of ECHL quality ( Daniel Laatsch ). But it seems bigger than that, and more significant.
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Jones is an NHL defenseman who has found himself on the bubble over the last couple of seasons with deep teams. He broke camp with the Penguins last season. Johnson is an AHL defenseman who has had only a few cups of coffee over the last few seasons. He will serve as depth for the Penguins while Trevor van Riemsdyk recuperates from his lower-body injury, and it would seem an easy decision to put him through waivers when TVR returns.
Oddly, the Penguins passed over Ilya Solovyov , who recently cleared waivers for the depth role, too.
However, coach Dan Muse has scouted Johnson in the past and voiced optimistic projections for Johson's tenure. The D-man is signed through next season at bargain $875,000 cap hit.
"Kyle (Dubas), management folks, they do a great job of giving us information. As a guy, I saw him play a little bit in the evening as he was coming up. He played junior and college hockey there in Minnesota. I got to see him play a little bit," Muse said. "Then it's been a little while since he's been playing professionally, but a lot of the same. I remember seeing him play in college hockey. (He's a) really good skater, takes away time and space well. It's a very efficient game in terms of just the ability to support pucks, to break out pucks, to move pucks.
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"You know, the defensive detail, defensive sense, is something that I remembered, and that's a lot that lined up with reports as well as an organization how we feel."
While Muse seemed grenuinely optimistic for Johnson's arrival, like so many of the organization's other chess moves over the last three months, it piques curiosity. Overall, the team now has a logjam on the left side, too. In July, the Penguins signed van Remsdyk, a 35-year-old defenseman to a two-year $8 million contract to play on his offside, but who now appears ticketed for seventh defenseman status. They traded a defenseman they liked enough to award a full-time spot last season, whose skill set very much fits what the Penguins want to be and do, in exchange for Johnson. And they skipped over their own player, Solovyov.
All the while, prospect LHD Owen Pickering completes his matriculation in Wilkes-Barre.
Further, acquiring Spencer Stastney last week and Johnson this week to surround van Riemsdyk and presumably be ahead of Pickering on the depth chart, does beg the question of whether the Penguins are entirely open to Pickering. There is a not-so-fine line between making a prospect earn their call-up and putting obstacles in the way. With two, maybe three players ahead of the Penguins 2022 first-round pick, even a quick hi-and-bye call-up due to injuries seems unlikely.
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It's a fallout Dubas is obviously comfortable with, though the terms rebuild may no longer applies.
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