Pittsburgh Penguins searching for a top-six forward after losing Steve Sullivan –NHL Update
Pittsburgh Penguins, which are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Hockey League (NHL), have begun searching for a top-six forward after they lost Steve Sullivan to Phoenix Coyotes.
Sullivan was a free agent and signed recently with Coyotes.
According to Pittsburgh Penguins officials, there are few players on the list of Pittsburgh Penguins which they are looking to play in that position, which can replace Steve Sullivan there. Unfortunately with them, they missed out on the signing of Zach
Parise. They were interested in him but Zach Parise signed with Minnesota Wild.
Two of their players which they feel, can fill the gap and play in that position are Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin.
Malkin is 25-years-old and has been playing for Pittsburgh Penguins for last six years. The Russian has played 427 games for Pittsburgh, scoring 208 goals, giving 319 assists and earning total number of 527 points.
Whereas just like Malkin, Sidney Crosby has also been representing Penguins Pittsburgh in NHL for last six years. He has played 434 games in the meantime and has gotten much better statistics than compared to Malkin. He has got 223 goals (15 more than Malkin),
386 assists (67 more than Malkin) and 609 points (82 more than Malkin).
There is another centre of Pittsburgh Penguins, Tyler Kennedy, who might take that position.
Tyler has been playing for them for last five years but because of Sullivan’s presence, he could not get much of his chances. His stats still suggest that he is not a bad player. In 326 games he has got 70 goals, 87 assists and a total of 157 points.
Pittsburgh Penguins coach, Dan Bylsma, also said that he is surely looking for a top-six player. Bylsma said, “Could we possibly look at [adding] a player in a top-six role? We certainly could.”
There are few free agent players which could be on his list. Most famous of them, Phoenix Coyotes Captain, Shane Doan, who had confirmed he has heard offers from Penguins and his agent, Terry Bross, has confirmed that his player might be interested in playing
for them.
Speaking of Doan, Bylsma said, "There are certain attributes to having him on our team in that top-six role -- big-body guy, a strong power winger.”
Another player, who is a free agent, is Alexander Semin, who has not yet extended his deal with Washington Capitals. The Capitals forward is also someone who can have an impact and turn out to be a solid candidate for the post left by Steve Sullivan.
Talking about Alexander Semin, Bylsma said, “Alexander Semin has scored 40 goals in this league and is a dangerous player.”
So it can be expected that Dan Bylsma and Pittsburgh Penguins will soon announce their new top-six player which most probably would one of those mentioned above.
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