AHL: Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins: '24-'25 The Players Sully Hates

6'2" 200#, can skate despite what some reports say, decent stick work, and can play both sides. I'd bring him up for a game or two if possible. And I'd definitely be re-signing him for next season.
Ill be honest, he does not look 6'2 200 when you watch him play. He looks closer to Gryz than he does POJ in terms of size.
 
Also credit to @Jesse on this one...



Jeez @Jesse couldn't get vid higher than 12 frames per second???

I don’t see why Pono can’t be the 3C like right now

I hope he can and does. I don't know why but in the few WBS games I've watched this year I haven't been seeing it.

I think Lizotte - Hayes - Ponomarev is a very effective and very cheap 4th line like today. 2 burners with a big plug that still has *some* hands and smarts.

Wasn't sure if you meant Avery or Kevin til you added the "big plug" part.
 
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I think Ponomarev is basically just Blueger 2.0

I dont think there is anything bad about that.

Ponomarev is producing better numbers at a younger age. He has a bit higher offensive upside. But honestly I think TB would have been a consistent 30-40pt 3rd line center under a different coach. That’s what he is doing in Vancouver.

I think Sullivan broke any Teddy Blueger. His offense was stunted here
 
I dont think there is anything bad about that.

Ponomarev is producing better numbers at a younger age. He has a bit higher offensive upside. But honestly I think TB would have been a consistent 30-40pt 3rd line center under a different coach. That’s what he is doing in Vancouver.

I think Sullivan broke any Teddy Blueger. His offense was stunted here

Pono has less playmaking ability than Teddy. That's probably my only gripe. And, I mean, I wish he were taller/bigger but ya can't do much about that.
 
I can’t exactly watch tons of WBS games. But… Murashov has to be the real deal right? Everything I read is ohhh poor rebound control, but this guy has lost all of 9 games at every level of hockey he’s played at the last two years. Is rebound control a big deal if you never lose?
 
I dont think there is anything bad about that.

Ponomarev is producing better numbers at a younger age. He has a bit higher offensive upside. But honestly I think TB would have been a consistent 30-40pt 3rd line center under a different coach. That’s what he is doing in Vancouver.

I think Sullivan broke any Teddy Blueger. His offense was stunted here
Teddy isn't doing anything different in Van.

He did just as much there as he did here.
 
I dont think there is anything bad about that.

Ponomarev is producing better numbers at a younger age. He has a bit higher offensive upside. But honestly I think TB would have been a consistent 30-40pt 3rd line center under a different coach. That’s what he is doing in Vancouver.

I think Sullivan broke any Teddy Blueger. His offense was stunted here

Blueger has not hit 30 points once in his NHL career.

Blueger's a solid bottom-6 center, ideally an acceptable 3C or great 4C. Saying it's Sullivan's fault he's not more when he pretty much ended up exactly where he was projected to end up is bizarre.
 
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Likely more of an issue in the NHL than any other league. But I'm not seeing those issues. But I've also not watched him as much as others. Nor am I a scout of any kind.
Same. But it’s like… if you have those numbers and you’re giving up rebounds, that just tells me you’re an athletic freak who never gives up on the play. Goaltending is so mental (as we’ve seen this year) a guy who competes like that is more important to me than any technical facet.
 
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Blueger has not hit 30 points once in his NHL career.

Blueger's a solid bottom-6 center, ideally an acceptable 3C or great 4C. Saying it's Sullivan's fault he's not more when he pretty much ended up exactly where he was projected to end up is bizarre.
I mean it's not completely unreasonable IMO. He ended up where he was supposed to, sure, but as a not-as-effective version. It took a guy like Couturier forever to re-find his offensive game after being thrust into a defensive role for several years to start his career. Majority of players don't have the talent to do that however.
 
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I mean it's not completely unreasonable IMO. He ended up where he was supposed to, sure, but as a not-as-effective version. It took a guy like Couturier forever to re-find his offensive game after being thrust into a defensive role for several years to start his career. Majority of players don't have the talent to do that however.

Idk my general feeling is that Blueger ended up pretty much exactly where he was projected to end up. I never got the vibe that he had the offensive upside to be much more than a defensive bottom-6 center. Decent playmaking but that's really about the only offensive skill that Blueger had that was notable.

I think Broz is more of a guy that fits that "2-way 3C upside" than either Blueger or Ponomarev. Both of those two feel more like primarily defensive centers, while Broz has the skill to also be a driver offensively that I don't think the others have shown.
 
I still don’t want these guys up with the big club and near this dumpster fire. Esp with the 4 nations break approaching. Just keep em down until the TDL, no need to break their momentum right now IMO.

Give them a taste after the deadline and Sully has lost a couple guys and has to give them some real ice time. Then back down and hopefully a deep run for Wilkes Barre.
yeah, we need a coach that's willing to put up with some growing pains and not be so ready to bench a kid the first time he is less than perfect.

I don’t see why Pono can’t be the 3C like right now
sully is still the coach. :dunno:
 
Pono has less playmaking ability than Teddy. That's probably my only gripe. And, I mean, I wish he were taller/bigger but ya can't do much about that.
wish he was taller, wish he was a baller, wish he had a girl that looked good-- i'd call her.
wish he had a rabbit in a hat with a bat and a six four impala.
 
Blueger has not hit 30 points once in his NHL career.

Blueger's a solid bottom-6 center, ideally an acceptable 3C or great 4C. Saying it's Sullivan's fault he's not more when he pretty much ended up exactly where he was projected to end up is bizarre.
I know it's just averages and doesn't mean jack, but his 82 game average works out to 10-20-30. Only problem is he only averages about 55 games per year. His 3rd and 4th year in the league he averaged .51 and .43 points per game at around 15 minutes atoi. So he did get Sullivanized as his usage changed.
 
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I know it's just averages and doesn't mean jack, but his 82 game average works out to 10-20-30. Only problem is he only averages about 55 games per year. His 3rd and 4th year in the league he averaged .51 and .43 points per game at around 15 minutes atoi. So he did get Sullivanized as his usage changed.

15 minutes TOI is 3C usage, though. He had that 1 bad year with the Penguins in 2022-2023 where his ice time was lower, but his usage has been very consistent throughout his career.

I just don't understand the "he got Sully'd" argument here. He was used in a pretty appropriate role with his skillset and tended to be on a very good 4th line (that was used like a 3rd line) with the Penguins. His role in Vancouver isn't any different, he's just playing with Joshua and Sherwood rather than Tanev and ZAR.
 
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15 minutes TOI is 3C usage, though. He had that 1 bad year with the Penguins in 2022-2023 where his ice time was lower, but his usage has been very consistent throughout his career.

I just don't understand the "he got Sully'd" argument here. He was used in a pretty appropriate role with his skillset and tended to be on a very good 4th line (that was used like a 3rd line) with the Penguins. His role in Vancouver isn't any different, he's just playing with Joshua and Sherwood rather than Tanev and ZAR.
He was down to 12 minutes and change and had little opportunity to maintain his .51 and .43 per game averages with his usage. Sully'd
 
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I know fans were initially skeptical of the "quantity over quality" Guentzel trade return but I remain hopeful we'll get 2-3 regular NHL contributors out of Pono, Koivunen, Brunicke and Lucius.

Pono Hatty!
Trade is looking better and better as time goes on. Even if there's no star there if we get 3 nhl regulars that's quite a haul for a rental.
 
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15 minutes TOI is 3C usage, though. He had that 1 bad year with the Penguins in 2022-2023 where his ice time was lower, but his usage has been very consistent throughout his career.

I just don't understand the "he got Sully'd" argument here. He was used in a pretty appropriate role with his skillset and tended to be on a very good 4th line (that was used like a 3rd line) with the Penguins. His role in Vancouver isn't any different, he's just playing with Joshua and Sherwood rather than Tanev and ZAR.

As other have said his pace in Vancouver is like 37 pts but he has some injuries.

It’s not just about line mates it’s about deployment. He play like 90% of the time against top competition and in dzone starts. He had 3rd line minutes but 4th line usage.

Again a 35-40 pt 3rd line center for pono would be great
 

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