The Pittsburgh Penguins prospects countdown reached No. 1 Sunday, and there is a new top dog in the 2024 PHN rankings. Unlike in years past, when compiling the list, it felt like the Penguins had a future. I dare submit that Penguins fans might want to borrow a page from the Pirates fans and start to like prospects coverage. Elsewhere in the Daily, Eric Stephens answered the question, why haven’t the Anaheim Ducks traded John Gibson? After all, the guy has been on the NHL trade block and has wanted out of Anaheim for at least two years. Colleagues slapped a grade on the Philadelphia Flyers signing Travis Konecny to a huge contract, our Detroit colleagues shined a light on the player development of the Detroit Red Wings, and dreams do come true in Florida.
Beginning today (I think. Maybe tomorrow?) you will see fewer ads on Pittsburgh Hockey Now! Instead of that god-awful pop-up that covers the screen every time you click on a new story, you’ll see it once, and then you’ll not see it again for some time. We’re in the process of working with a new company that will handle not only our ads but a coming Pittsburgh sports newsletter (finally), and they are going to hold our hand through the turbulent changes the tech titans have unleashed on the publishing world over the last six months.
Since most people aren’t plugged into the tech world’s polarity shift, essentially, Google and Facebook (Meta) signed our death warrant. Neither wants small or mid-level publishers to exist; they want readers to use their AI. For those who get here via Facebook, you’ve probably noticed a deluge of crap. Clickbait sites are turning up the volume to level 10 and blatantly cutting and pasting with alarming regularity.
And sadly, I caught Meta AI summarizing my entire top Penguins prospects story. Meta offered to tell me the top Penguins prospects, so I clicked. It is my story, summarized. No, I don’t get paid for that. Any lawyers want a huge class action suit?
Pittsburgh Penguins
Pittsburgh Hockey Now: Read the unsummarized version of our new Penguins Prospects top five, complete with full details and player projections for when they’ll reach the NHL and their ceiling. It’s the 2024 top-five Penguins prospects list.
We’ll put that behind the paywall later today, and I will email the full list (with summarized descriptions) to PHN+ subscribers by Tuesday.
OK, I hate to publicize bad news to prove a point, but many of you hit me hard over Alex Nylander and used Nylander’s mini-breakout in Columbus as proof of several nefarious things. Unfortunately for Alex, he was unable to secure an NHL contract this summer, not even a two-way deal, and signed an AHL-only deal Sunday. I’ll make you click–here are the details on Alex Nylander.
Pittsburgh Baseball Now: The Cardinals are the team that is ALWAYS ahead of the Bucs. Financially, preparedness, luck. Now, the Cardinals’ Alec Burleson is talking about solving Paul Skenes.
The Pirates had a bad weekend. Injuries, including to Nick Gonzalez, further weakened the lineup, but they salvaged a win in the desert over Arizona. Here’s the Pittsburgh Pirates recap.
Steelers Now: Training camp is underway in Latrobe. Someday, I’ll understand the devotion to sitting in the sweltering heat just to watch practice, but I know yinz love it. There has been some early drama in camp centering around George Pickens. Should the Steelers worry?
NHL Trade Talk, News & National Hockey Now
The Athletic ($): Eric Stephens was asked the million-dollar question in his mailbag late last week (stick tap to Spector’s Hockey for finding it), “Why is John Gibson still in Anaheim?” It’s a good question, and the Duck’s refusal to eat salary is a big part of Stephens’s answer.
Gibson makes about $1.5 million more than Tristan Jarry. I know many of you were going to look that up.
Philly Hockey Now: Travis Konecy signed a Jake Guentzel-like deal. Did he deserve it? Our Philly colleagues slapped a grade on the big-money splash by the Philadelphia Flyers.
Detroit Hockey Now: A few NHN sites will be doing this feature over the coming days–but Detroit is Hockeytown USA. So, the top homegrown products from Detroit, starting with Dylan Larkin.
Washington Hockey Now: Hendrix Lapierre. Instead of trading away draft picks, some teams kept them. He specifically is emblematic of the difference between the Penguins and their arch-rival Washington Capitals.
Florida Hockey Now: Hey, dreams come true. Usually, it’s Orlando that advertises that, but another city in Florida was all about making dreams come true in June. Jonah Gadjovich (a fine Slovak or Polish name) signed an AHL deal with the Charlotte Checkers, but that’s only the beginning of the story that ended up with his name on the Stanley Cup with the Florida Panthers.
