Generation X Prospect/Young Player that you wanted to stick around, but didn't...

Postby **MR25** » Mon Sep 05, 2016 6:00 pm

Peterson is either still playing or recently retired, IIRC.

Postby **shmenguin** » Mon Sep 05, 2016 7:44 pm

Just looking at Morozov's stats: 49 points in 72 games, 25 in 27, and 50 in 75 games on one of the worst teams ever assembled in 03-04. Its a shame he didn't come back to play in the Crosby/Malkin era. He would have put up points and probably saved us from things like the Ziggy Palffy experiment.

Palffy was a joy to watch that year. Sucks that we couldn't keep him...but all's well that ends well.

I picked surovy. He seemed like a guy who should have found a home in the NHL.

Postby **Dickie Dunn** » Mon Sep 05, 2016 8:51 pm

Peterson is either still playing or recently retired, IIRC.

I always liked Peterson and kept tabs on him throughout his career. Assistant coach with Lake Erie/Cleveland. Retired after the 13-14 season and immediately went into coaching. He really found a home in the Stars organization. 550 AHL games, just shy of 400 NHL. Played all three forward positions and even took shifts on defense when necessary. Dude wasn't a star by any means but he had a solid career.

Postby **Rylan** » Tue Sep 06, 2016 1:24 am

Rick Berry was going to be amazingness.

Postby **Freddy Rumsen** » Tue Sep 06, 2016 1:24 am

Konstantin Koltsov no question

Postby **LITT** » Tue Sep 06, 2016 7:11 am

KK, fata and surovy

Postby **Kicksave** » Tue Sep 06, 2016 8:33 am

From the list, I did pick Milan Kraft. That final NHL year made me think he could do more with some better talent around him.

Postby **Defence21** » Tue Sep 06, 2016 10:36 am

I often wonder how many of those players might have a home in today's NHL. When you stop and think of it, the Penguins teams of the early 00s were absolute garbage, and these young players really had no one to support them and allow them to develop properly on the roster. I realize they were all dime-a-dozen prospects who we made out to be much better (if only to make ourselves feel better), but the speed of Koltsov, Fata, and Rita surely would have a place in today's NHL if developed properly.

Long and short of it: were these players that bad or was the organization so bad that prospects came here to die?

Postby **Craig** » Tue Sep 06, 2016 10:48 am

I think most of it was both. But a couple of careers had to have been ruined/wasted.

YouTube · Postby **mikey** » Tue Sep 06, 2016 10:56 am

It's an interesting question for sure. They clearly didn't get much in the way of coaching...Edzo...I mean, Jesus...no full-time goalie coach for the 18 year old NHL goalie...it was kind of an old boys club in a lot of ways certainly...

I think probably a lot of those guys weren't very good though...but they didn't have a lot of help, you're right...

Postby **Jim** » Tue Sep 06, 2016 11:52 am

I often wonder how many of those players might have a home in today's NHL. When you stop and think of it, the Penguins teams of the early 00s were absolute garbage, and these young players really had no one to support them and allow them to develop properly on the roster. I realize they were all dime-a-dozen prospects who we made out to be much better (if only to make ourselves feel better), but the speed of Koltsov, Fata, and Rita surely would have a place in today's NHL if developed properly.

Long and short of it: were these players that bad or was the organization so bad that prospects came here to die?

Lack of talent. Peterson was the only one of any of those guys to move on and do anything. Even the guys that went to Europe, KHL, etc never really did anything. All of these guys had played hockey for years before running into the Edzo coaching clinic for a year or two. If some blame Edzo for their career flops then they REALLY were not very good to begin with.

Postby **Kraftster** » Tue Sep 06, 2016 12:25 pm

Kraft, Koltsov, and Lintner stand out to me. I was really surprised Kraft and Koltsov never got another chance after the lockout. There were so many 40ish point guys pre-lockout that disappeared and then others, who seemed fairly comparable in terms of talent, that went on to excel. It's weird how much damage it seemed to do to some players' careers.

Postby **Craig** » Tue Sep 06, 2016 12:34 pm

Kraft was definitely an NHLer. Didnt he just get constantly hurt over in europe though?

Postby **Dickie Dunn** » Tue Sep 06, 2016 1:00 pm

Yea, I typically look at how players fared once moving on from the NHL to get a feel of "what could have been".

Beech put up some wholly mediocre numbers bouncing around Europe and most recently played in Belfast.
Rita had a stellar season in Finland and then became mud.
Koltsov continues to hang around the KHL but can't score to save his life.
Surovy put up decent numbers in the KHL and then became old and bad.
Kraft sucked in the Czech league.
Pirjeta died of old age shortly after being a second line center for the Penguins.
Fata was a mediocre producer everywhere he went.
Abid put up pretty solid numbers in multiple Euro leagues, but was worthless in the KHL.
Sivek didn't do much and then got his face mushed in by a puck.
Endicott spent a couple years turning off Japan to the idea of hockey and then played in low level Euro leagues.
Caron got his name on the Stanley Cup. Nothing else matters.
Chiodo is a whatever.
Murley has put up decent numbers in Europe.
Lintner floated around Europe putting up points and playing horrible defense.

Overall, there's not much there. Koltsov probably could have survived here as a bottom forward. Skating hampered Abid (and to a lesser degree Surovy) and that issue would be even more exploited now. Maybe Matt Murley, who surprisingly averaged .71 ppg in the AHL, .60 in the SHL, and .52 in the KHL.

Postby **MR25** » Tue Sep 06, 2016 1:04 pm

Source of the post Caron got his name on the Stanley Cup. Nothing else matters.

Only got a ring. Didn't play enough to get his name on the Cup.

Apparently, he's still kicking it in the DEL.

Postby **Dickie Dunn** » Tue Sep 06, 2016 1:07 pm

Source of the post Caron got his name on the Stanley Cup. Nothing else matters.
Only got a ring. Didn't play enough to get his name on the Cup.

Apparently, he's still kicking it in the DEL.

He can still hawk that ring for big bucks though. And yea, DEL with stats ranging from really good to puke.

YouTube · Postby **mikey** » Tue Sep 06, 2016 1:35 pm

Source of the post Endicott spent a couple years turning off Japan to the idea of hockey

Postby **Gaucho** » Tue Sep 06, 2016 2:23 pm

Postby **Shyster** » Tue Sep 06, 2016 3:32 pm

I'm going to go with Andy Chiodo simply because for a Canadian he had a good Yinzer name.

Postby **iamjs** » Sun Sep 25, 2016 3:00 pm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CedYrO2HmJA

that speed at 2:30

I always forget that K2 was a first round pick for the Penguins, but the first round of that draft (1999) was mostly

and possibly the worst 1st round in the last 20 years.
For the longest time I was hoping he'd make it back to the Penguins. With him being 35, I'm guessing his chances of coming back are next to nothing.