The Confluence
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Report: Ponikarovsky to Penguins for Caputi and Skoula
by Tony on 03/02/10 at 09:50 PM ET
Comments (25)
According to TSN’s Bob McKenzie’s Tweet:
Sources tell TSN deal in place for Ponikarovsky to Pittsburgh for prospect Luca Caputi but Pitt has to move contract for cap reasons first.
UPDATE 9:49pm: Again per Bob McKenzie:
Pending trade call with NHL, Pitt is sending Luca Caputi and Martin Skoula to Tor for Alex Ponikarovsky. No draft picks involved.
Penguins press release after the jump:
PENGUINS ACQUIRE LEFT WINGER ALEXEI PONIKAROVSKY FROM THE TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS FOR LUCA CAPUTI AND MARTIN SKOULA
The Pittsburgh Penguins have acquired left winger Alexei Ponikarovsky from the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for forward Luca Caputi and defenseman Martin Skoula, it was announced by executive vice president and general manager Ray Shero.
Ponikarovsky, 29, has 19 goals and 41 points in 61 games this season, just one goal shy of recording his fourth 20-goal season.
The 6-foot-4, 229-pound winger has seen action in nine NHL seasons with Toronto. Over that span the Kiev, Ukraine native has totaled 114 goals, 143 assists, 257 points and a plus-56 rating in 477 career games. He has added four points (1G-3A) in 13 playoff games.
Ponikarovsky, who was originally drafted by Toronto in the fourth round (87th overall) of the 1998 NHL Entry Draft, set career highs in goals (23), assists (38) and points (61) last season with Toronto.
Filed in: | The Confluence | Permalink
Tags: NHL-Hockey, Pittsburgh+Penguins, Toronto+Maple+Leafs,
Comments
There’s has to be more to this deal. There’s no way Burke would trade a consistent 20 goal scorer having a career year for an unproven prospect. There has to be some kind of draft pick involved.
Posted by Sonier from Canada on 03/02/10 at 09:34 PM ET
Caputi and a third round pick would be more than fair….
Caputi is solid, but he’s still that Call Up kinda guy. I guess if you get enough of those guys, one will pan out, but great trade for the Pens for a playoff run…
Posted by Unicorn Force from DC (but like everyone here, I'm not a local) on 03/02/10 at 09:47 PM ET
Caputi and Skoula for Poni, no picks involved, according to Dreger and McKenzie. Pretty good deal if you ask me.
Posted by Kstewy16 on 03/02/10 at 09:50 PM ET
something is up here on Shero’s end. i have a feeling he’s not done. this trade just reeks of another move to clear space.
Posted by Boo Kershaw from k on 03/02/10 at 09:54 PM ET
something is up here on Shero’s end. i have a feeling he’s not done. this trade just reeks of another move to clear space.
Just Goddard going to the LTIR most likely, and they’d only need to do that if they needed to call someone up.
They’ve got 13 forwards and 7 defensemen now even without Goddard.
Posted by HNBCTB on 03/02/10 at 10:00 PM ET
I like Caputi and all…but Tangradi seems to be the guy the Pens are actually coveting and for good reason; they think he’s going to develop into a prototypical power forward (which they need).
Poni will definitely help the power play…at least that’s my assumption.
Posted by stoneman from vegas on 03/02/10 at 10:07 PM ET
As I was mentioning on Twitter, I just don’t see Caputi’s game translating that well to the NHL game….
He’s not fast at all, which doesn’t mesh with HCDB’s style (see Sykora, Satan).... He’s not that big at all, and he gets banged off the boards with relative ease…
Having said that, I hope he proves me wrong and blossoms in Toronto….
Posted by Tony from Virginia Beach, VA on 03/02/10 at 10:12 PM ET
Caputi Can’t Skate well enough to Be a top 2 line player in the NHL & he is to weak & Small to play his game in front of the Net in the NHL
Ray Worked his Magic again
Posted by Evilpens on 03/02/10 at 10:12 PM ET
Yeah but…is Poni actually fast/has good hands. I’m not commenting I’m asking (haven’t checked youtube). Probably a step up from dupuis in the hands department I would suppose (probably slower).
Posted by stoneman from vegas on 03/02/10 at 10:22 PM ET
I wouldn’t call him “fast”, but definitely has good hands….
Posted by Tony from Virginia Beach, VA on 03/02/10 at 10:23 PM ET
Poni is a big guy that plays well when he plays like a big guy. Like I said earlier before the Skoula part of the deal was announced, he is good for 20 a season but not too much more than that. I know nothing about Skoula, other than his stats on hockeydb. Anyone got anything to say about him? Good deal for Pitt I think but not too impressed from the Burke end. We’ll see.
Posted by Sonier from Canada on 03/02/10 at 10:33 PM ET
Skoula had a couple of decent games for the Pens, but he reallllllly went downhill over the last couple of months….
Posted by Tony from Virginia Beach, VA on 03/02/10 at 10:37 PM ET
skoula’s play could best be summed up by FHCMT’s rant: he “don’t care” and he “soff”.
Posted by Boo Kershaw from k on 03/02/10 at 10:40 PM ET
I guess the Skoula thing was a salary cap move. Pens should be happy with Poni I think. he can be very frustrating to watch if he isn’t playing well but he might be able to get some chemistry with his fellow Ukrainian Fedetenko. I hope he wins a cup.
Posted by Sonier from Canada on 03/02/10 at 10:45 PM ET
Caputi is wiling to go to the net and play chippy, but he’s not a good skater and seems to have immaturity issues. He has been demoted to the Penguins ECHL affiliate in Wheeling a few times. His upside is a top-nine forward on a good team or a top-six forward on a bad team.
Posted by cs6687 on 03/02/10 at 10:46 PM ET
Coup for the Pens to rid useless salary in Skoula AND pick up Poni. Caputi is a throw in. He has potential, but will liklely never reach a consistent NHL career. Poni is a great rental. Shero wins again.
Burke???? What were you thinking?
Mastermind of a no-chance team USA gets what in return????
Posted by Unicorn Force from DC (but like everyone here, I'm not a local) on 03/02/10 at 10:48 PM ET
Are Toronto fans forgetting that the russian winger is a free agent next year. he is good, but not top tier like Kovulchuk to demand anything significant in return.
Caputi, whatever his flaws are, is still rated as a good prospect.
Posted by Praveen on 03/02/10 at 10:57 PM ET
1. No one said he was worth anything near what Kovalchuck was worth.
2. He is Ukrainian
Burke was looking for a prospect and a second rounder. All I’m saying is that it would be nice to get back a draft pick. Obviously not a first rounder but at best second rounder, or third rounder.
Posted by Sonier from Canada on 03/02/10 at 11:01 PM ET
i kinda see what toronto was getting at. caputi is the type of player burke likes. but after all of his squandering, i cant see how caputi and skoula are helping, even if they didn’t think they had a chance/wanted to resign poni.
Posted by Boo Kershaw from k on 03/02/10 at 11:16 PM ET
Skoula’s a decent 6th or 7th d on an average blue line, but he’s just in the deal as the leafs’ facilitation of a Pittsburgh cap-dump.
Caputi’s a tall, gutsy, “truculent” power forward prospect who isn’t physically strong enough to play that way on the NHL level or to make up for his average skating—as of right now.
If Caputi adds about 30 pounds without losing any more speed, then the leafs got what will eventually be a mean 20-30 goal winger and probably the best player out of this deal. But that’s a big ‘if’.
Without adding a great deal of size and strength, Caputi will never be able to contribute in the NHL. Not as a third-liner, not as a fourth liner—he will simply be nothing.
What’s the book on Ponikarovski? All I know about him is that he’s tall, Ukranian, Don Cherry hates him, and he’s the quietest/least-hyped consistent 20-goal-scorer to ever come out of Toronto.
Posted by steve on 03/02/10 at 11:19 PM ET
Don Cherry actually doesn’t hate him! He is definately the type of player he would hate, but the other week on coaches corner he said something along the lines of “why would you want to trade a 20 goal scorer off a team that has no other scoring”. Also I doubt Caputi will become anywhere near a 30 goal scorer. Obviously it’s a toss up with players his age, but 30 is a lot to ask for, but then again so is 20.
Posted by Sonier from Canada on 03/02/10 at 11:25 PM ET
Probably a step up from dupuis in the hands department I would suppose (probably slower).
Those ‘bad’ hands scored a great goal tonight. The Dupuis bashing needs to stop, he is having a great year.
Posted by gretzky_to_lemieux on 03/02/10 at 11:26 PM ET
Don Cherry actually doesn’t hate him!
Thought I remembered a “why are we sitting Wellwood when you got this Pokahovski guy skating around like a ballerina. I don’t understand it!” rant or two from a few years back. Maybe not.
Also I doubt Caputi will become anywhere near a 30 goal scorer.
I’ll go one further and say I’d bet money that Caputi never even becomes a regular NHL player due to poor skating + the fact that he isn’t close to being strong enough to play his style of game at the NHL level. Adding 30 pounds of muscle isn’t exactly realistic.
Having said that, the kid’s got heart, hands and guts. If you were to put him in, say, Artyukin’s frame and game him a decent center, you’d get your 30 goal-scorer. Of course Caputi’s in Caputi’s frame, not Artyukin’s frame (which is currently without a tenant) and Toronto doesn’t really have any centers at the moment.
It’s probably better to describe Caputi as a project, not a prospect.
Posted by steve on 03/02/10 at 11:48 PM ET
“Poke-a-hon-sky”
Worth every penny for the center ice subscription to hear Cherry butcher names on a weekly basis!
Here’s hoping he does well in Pittsburgh.
Posted by enice from Pittsburgh on 03/03/10 at 01:12 AM ET
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Great move for the Pens. Lets see who they demote or trade…
Posted by Unicorn Force from DC (but like everyone here, I'm not a local) on 03/02/10 at 09:21 PM ET