Penguins
Penguins Practice: Sullivan Loudly Scolds; Puustinen on Waivers
CRANBERRY, Twp — A day after a positive, uplifting coach Mike Sullivan ran the Pittsburgh Penguins practice at the UPMC Lemieux Facility, the angry version of Sullivan made an appearance.
Following a botched power play/penalty killing drill, Sullivan’s voice boomed throughout the facility. His anger was directed at the second penalty kill unit and the defensemen who wandered away from the net, allowing the Penguins’ second power play unit an uncontested path to the net from the left corner.
Sullivan quickly bore in on the second PK unit, skating from his center ice position toward the defensemen skating off the ice.
“You play defense!” was part of the verbal spanking, which continued for several sentences with heavy bass and full volume.
Before Sullivan commenced more special teams drills on the other side of the ice for PP1 and PK1, he skated back to the bench for a second bite at the apple, and he did not use a pleasant or encouraging tone.
The tone of the practice quickly turned somber as players recalibrated.
One player didn’t take the scolding too hard, telling PHN that Sullivan needed to get his point across and no one’s feelings were hurt; it was nothing more.
Later in the practice, assistant coach David Quinn stopped power play drills and demanded improvements in a few key principles of taking what the coaches call good ice.
It was the most demonstrative Sullivan has been in practice this season. It was the first time Quinn had asserted himself in the same way.
Valtteri Puustinen on Waivers
The Penguins put forward Valtteri Puustinen on waivers on Tuesday afternoon. Assuming he clears waivers, which is not a sure thing, he could be sent to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League.
Puustinen, 25, has dressed for 10 of the Penguins’ 23 games. He has one goal, one assist.
Penguins Practice Lines
With Philip Tomasino participating in his first practice with the Penguins, the lines and pairings looked like this at practice:
Rickard Rakell-Sidney Crosby-Bryan Rust
Anthony Beauvillier-Evgeni Malkin-Philip Tomasino
Michael Bunting-Blake Lizotte-Drew O’Connor
Matt Nieto-Noel Acciari-Kevin Hayes
Own Pickering-Kris Letang
Marcus Pettersson-Erik Karlsson
Ryan Shea-Jack St. Ivany
Ryan Graves-Matt Grzelcyk
Read This Next
Recommended
Hi Dan! Do you have any news about why Puljujarvi is not part of any line? I think he’s been playing ok, compared to some others…
He has at least been trying hard. Hasn’t produced anything on the scoresheet.
Right now the best production I woudl love to see is a 0-0 score after OT in a Penguins game. Then we might be able to say someone was playing defense.
He isn’t over 30 so by all means we need to put on waivers. Sullivan wants to play a speed game and puts Hayes back in line up. Pens are a mess and Sullivan has a lot to do with it.
Sullivan doesn’t know what he wants except for it to be 10 years agp.
Is Jesse hurt?
Jesse Puljujarvi and Valtteri Puustinen, pre-waivers, practiced but were not part of the top four lines.
Ridiculous that Jesse is not in the lineup each night.
Bet a trade is coming and he’s at least one piece of the trade.
If that were the case there would be no need to put him on waivers.
Only Puustinen is on waivers, to be clear. Also, Puljujarvi had major hip surgery, so maybe the scratches aren’t a terrible decision to rest that hip! He is lucky to be playing at all honestly, as the same type of surgery has stopped Backstrom from playing ever again.
Actually, I believe Puustinen is the only one, of the two finns that’s on waivers. It seems like Jesse is just being left out in the cold, for some reason 🥱
See my comment above. Perhaps, it is resting the hip for Puljujarvi? Idk, seems logical to me.
Yes, I read later today that he probably was dealing with some kind of injury.
Instead of trading Guentzel and Eller the Penguins should have gotten rid of Karlsson and Graves. The other night Karlsson just stood there, didn’t move, didn’t even put his stick on the ice to try and block the shot. He’s lazy!
EK can’t be traded without his consent and tbh who wants him. The only solution is a benching and eventually eating his salary if that doesn’t motivate him
So Sully is frustrated by what he sees on the ice and feel like he is gonna loose his shit? Hmmm, sounds like most of us fans this year too.
You hit the nail on the head. I’ve been saying for at least the last 3 yrs it’s time for Sullivan to go. They could have snatched up Montgomery.
Loose? Nah, he looks constipated.
lol, yeah a few typos. I should proof read before posting
Hopefully when Glass is back in the lineup; Nieto is benched.
Don’t count on it, it looks like Nieto is this year’s Harkins!!!
My prediction, Nieto is waived and sent to WB/S before too long.
Ok, so Sully takes his best line the last 3 games(22,10,18), sends Poulin down and benches Puljujarvi!!! No wonder we have been in steady decline the last 6-7 years!
I been trying to figure that out myself. He had 2 goal in 2 games with a team that can’t score and he sends Puljujarvi to minors. Sullivan has been like this for years. Did the same crap to most young talent, Mathison for Montreal always stood out for pgh and he never got ice time from Sullivan now he is assist captain for Montreal. It just time that Sullivan needs to go. Kids don’t have a chance here. It’s like an old age home
And there are rumors Montreal would like to trade him.
Yep….boys….instead we’re gonna go with the speed line of Nieto, Acciari, Hayes…
And HCMS isn’t part of the problem ???
He’s “pulling all the levers” I think was the quote…
It’s hard to be a fan anymore…
Ned was right on the money, “This sucks!”
How many goals did they score?
In the last three games, the Penguins have only scored 4 goals…2 on the PP and 2 at even strength…
Puljujarvi had 1 of them…
So 1 goal, yep he is on 🔥
Sullivan back to head games with Pujularvi again I see. Nobody ruins young players like Sullivan. Jesse is defense responsible and it’s not his problem night after night his line mates can’t put some outstanding passes into the net.
If your crying about Jesse not scoring goals you’re missing the rest of his game with and without the puck. It’s better than almost every bottom 6 player on the Pens.
The OPP line was the only line keeping offensive pressure so you send Poulin down and sit Puljujarvi. This makes zero sense.
So O’Connor stays and the line gets dismantled for being too good!
Good job Sulli!
I guess coach isn’t down with OPP.
Good one! As good as that line was, they didn’t produce anything from it. The lines are going to be in a blender until they start actually getting on the scoresheet
And when might that be. I’d say 2027 if they get rid of Sullivan. If not 2030 lol. What a shame and to honor Sid n Geno KD and MS have put together the worst supporting cast in memory and I’ve been watching every game since 1984. This is the most pi-s poor management I’ve ever seen.