|
Where Did They Go?
 Thu Jan 31, 2008 11:33 pm
Currently working
 |
|
|
|
I'm finally delivering on that 'Where are they now? post' I promised with the performance of all 2006-07 Penguins in 2007-08. It became a 'where did they go' post since I've played 32 games already in the 08-09 season. News on that to come.
I'll start with the players who made the least contribution (in my judgement) to their new teams the following year and work up toward the big contributors. 2007-08 WBS Pens will fall into another less detailed category at the end.
Out of the Organization:
#9 - Connor James - RW - When I checked up on all these guys on April 15th of 2008, I was unable to find any record that Connor James ever existed. It's my guess that he retired.
#33 - Eric Cairns - D - Cairns signed an AHL contract with the Toronto Marlies where he ran into a veteran wall and didn't play a game.
#41 - Jocelyn Thibault - G - Sat on the open market for a long time due to his price tag. Eventually signed by Helsinki H of the Finnish league whose season wouldn't begin (am I right?) until April 30th.
#10 - Troy Bodie - RW - Released by both Edmonton and Buffalo before landing in the Southern Professional Hockey League with the Richmond Renegades. He played 3 games there, had 3 points, and a 6.67 average rating.
#6 - Ryan Lannon - D - Played 14 games for Worcester (2 PTS, 6.79) before being released by San Jose. Landed in Sherbrooke of the LNAH where he played 8 games, registering 4 points (6.63).
#32 - Alain Nasreddine - D - Played 24 games for Sherbrooke (18 PTS, 7.33).
#5 - Jay Rankin - D - Wound up in Norway with Manglerud where he played 27 games (39 PTS, 7.37).
#27 - Dennis Bonvie - RW - Fan-favorite Dennis could not be kept due to financial and veteran restrictions and he wound up signing an AHL deal with Philadelphia (38 GP, 13 PTS, 6.79).
#29 - Wade Skolney - D - Thetford Mines of the LNAH employed last year and got 45 games out of him (18 PTS, 6.93).
#28 - Dave Roche - LW - Roche went overseas to Norway to play for Viking. He was an excellent player there, notching 64 points in 46 games and a 8.96 rating by April 15.
#34 - Matt Carkner - D - Matt also took the road less traveled to the LNAH and joined the Laval Chiefs (48 GP, 30 PTS, 7.23).
#4 - Daniel Fernholm - D - Daniel went back to his Swedish homeland to play in 50 games for Sundsvall (27 PTS, 6.60).
#18 - Eric Sonnenberg - LW - Eric was traded by Wheeling to Bakersfield in an ECHL swap. He played 32 games for the former (22 PTS, 6.56) and 30 for the latter (20 PTS, 6.40).
#51 - Chris Greene - RW - Chris wound up with the Augusta Lynx of the ECHL, played in all 72 games, and scored only 18 points with a 6.22 average rating.
#16 - Simon Ferguson - RW - Simon also found himself playing the whole season in the ECHL with South Carolina. He accumulated 37 points and a 6.49 average rating.
#7 - Sean Collins - C - The enigmatic Mr. Collins, an invite to all training camps, yet a guy who seems to be content playing in Wheeling for less money scored 117 points in 72 games (possibly led the league?) and averaged a 7.79. He finds himself back there this year as well amazingly.
#12 - Tyler Spurgeon - C - Tyler went to another of Edmonton's affiliates in Grand Rapids the following year. He was an integral contributor, playing 77 games, scoring 35 points, and a 6.95 average rating.
#19 - Justin Aikins - C - Aikins was a tryout from Phoenix who got a deal from the Ottawa organization the following offseason. He was assigned to Binghamton and ended up playing all 80 games, scoring 76 points (6.86).
NHLers
#24 - Rob Scuderi - D - Scuderi found himself a scratch most of the time with Pittsburgh, playing in only 3 games, scoring 0 points (6.33).
#8 - Mathieu Roy - D - High scoring D-man played in 28 games for the Phoenix Coyotes in 07-08. Amazingly, he scored 0 points (6.39).
#22 - Chris Thorburn - RW - Thorburn, who was traded to St. Louis midseason in 06-07 spent the whole year with the Blues playing in 43 games, registering just 3 points (6.35).
#37 - Turner Stevenson - RW - Top rated skater Stevenson played 74 games for the Colorado Avalanche, scoring 27 points (7.01).
#36 - Andre Roy - LW - Top notch checking forward played 76 games for Pittsburgh notching only 8 points and a 6.51 average rating.
WBS Pens w Qualifications
#42 - Zach Stortini - RW - Stortini spent most of the year with Edmonton where he played in 45 games, scoring 5 points (6.13) before being sent down for the end of the AHL season upon Oiler elimination.
#3 - Paul Bissonnette - D - The most consistent defenseman in 2007 (+41 rating!) was frustratingly inconsistent in 2008. So much so that he was shuttled between Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (19 GP, 0 PTS, 6.47) and Wheeling (16 GP, 12 PTS, 7.50) for much of the year.
#62 - Stanislav Neckar - D - Veteran D-man started the year with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (43 GP, 24 PTS, 7.95) before being traded to the Buffalo system and assigned to Rochester (22 GP, 9 PTS, 7.64).
Full Season WBS Pens
G Drouin-Deslauriers, G Franck, C Stone, RW Filewich, C Talbot, LW Carcillo, LW Nikolishin, D DuPont, C Dixon, C Campbell, C Murray, C Paddock, LW Pivko
***For whatever reason I managed to overlook Erik Christensen who was traded to Toronto early in my first season. I will edit the entry when I get access to EHM.***
|
|
