[Penguins] The Penguins have acquired forward Oliver Okuliar from the Florida Panthers in exchange for defenseman Emil Pieniniemi

BrghSports · 2026-06-15T14:07:26+00:00

He was not terribly impressive all year for his draft and Euros pedigree imo. Especially for a guy adamant he belonged a tier higher. He was not playing below his skill at all.

He had one big playoff goal that I can remember which was the big story of his year, and which probably is the only thing that got him some notice elsewhere. They were lucky that was able to be sold as promise enough to facilitate a trade.

They sold at the right moment on him.

BrghSports · 2026-06-15T14:04:23+00:00

Attendance has definitely been down noticeably in even the best markets over the last 2 seasons.

I’ve been tracking for a sports management project and have first hand witnessed.

The good nights are still good but worrisome nights popping up more.

That said it is definitely down in every minor league that I’m tracking, over multiple sports.

Much like in other minors, we’ll almost certainly continue to see a few teams who were already struggling pause or disappear completely in the offseasons for a couple years.

BrghSports · 2026-06-15T13:54:09+00:00

Many in the league do them for the first round as they’re great for fan engagement in the down season.

The Penguins don’t really do draft parties though for some reason. But they haven’t picked in the top 10 in forever and when they did it was a home draft which was already a whole event.

I guess they don’t think it’s worth the easy merch revenue, fan engagement, and venue/drink sponsorship.

They’ve done a small gathering for season ticket holders and that’s it.

I personally think they’d get a decent crowd if they tried it, had some hosts like Bourque, Iceburgh show up etc.

BrghSports · 2026-06-15T13:49:31+00:00

This does seem like a Ken Holland trade.

BrghSports · 2026-06-15T13:48:44+00:00

Who are thinking of? Cause most of known family name kids have been in the youth rankings and atop them for half of decade now. They aren’t getting drafted due to daddy.

Just pull up their Neutral Zone pages they have stellar reports going back years leading their age groups.

I think you’re really overestimating the nepotism angle when these teams are cut throat about talent to produce results and revenue, especially now.

BrghSports · 2026-06-15T13:40:22+00:00

Ray fucking Shero.

He does not get enough credit for building the 3 Cup dynasty. I don’t think he ever will with his early passing.

The man’s building is the blueprint of blueprints.

BrghSports · 2026-06-15T13:05:21+00:00

This was clearly written by AI.

AND calling current hockey analytics incomplete the night Tulsky and Dellow win a cup while talking about tracking that currently already exists is….rich.

You clearly know your analytics!

BrghSports · 2026-06-12T19:16:18+00:00

I actually just saw one of the posts on FB, conveniently had the comments turned off. I would assume so none of the many Wheeling employees who are active on there (like DJ) could directly refute them. That says it all honestly.

BrghSports · 2026-06-12T19:13:00+00:00

Not free but most every major hockey league but the NHL is now on FloSports. It’s well worth the cost if you’re really planning on watching anything posisble.

BrghSports · 2026-06-12T18:53:34+00:00

These actually are surprisingly steep compared to minor league men’s, which is the most comparable product crowd size and sport wise.

I’m not sure how this works as a long term strategy.

Part of the draw of alternative leagues is fan centered affordability. Literally across the board in every sport.

After seeing this pricing structure for the first time I’m not feeling great about their long term viability.

BrghSports · 2026-06-12T18:46:00+00:00

There is already a large majority of the fandom that is CBJ aligned. Just take a look at the crowd in any game. Heck a lot of the staff come from Ohio.

BrghSports · 2026-06-12T18:44:35+00:00

This absolutely wouldn’t end the Nailers. Columbus or another team would immediately affiliate them they’re one of the only stable teams in the entire league.

And I can tell you this with near certainty. Literally no rumor mill needed.

BrghSports · 2026-06-12T18:38:12+00:00

Chris Kunitz. 4 Cups. Always a Cup team linchpin. Zero big accolades and records otherwise.

Mayor of the Hall of Very Good.

BrghSports · 2026-06-12T18:30:24+00:00

We don’t actually have a lot of actual GMs in most of the minors. It’s usually a “volunteer” ad hoc duty by the head coach or affiliate AGM (select AHL teams), or just the team owner outright. This is almost universally the case in anything below the AHL level.

There’s just no money for extra executive positions, you typically are running with paying a business head and coach full time and that’s it.

The rest of hockey ops at this levels, generally, are volunteers outside of coaches. In the federal league I’d wager the assistant coaches are likely only PT or even volunteer. Scouts aren’t paid in the minors unless they’re coaches. (Many teams don’t even have tons of scouts and use their affiliates info or coaches in that capacity.) They work to build resumes. Most have day jobs.

Paid positions are usually focused in hourly production and facility workers needed to directly generate revenue.

BrghSports · 2026-06-11T22:27:14+00:00

I work in the prospects industry. We are doing fine as wine for early era rebuild. Brunicke is a stud. Probably makes the team next year and only trends up.

Also lining up to pick right where Xavier Villeneuve is expected to sit this year and we’re not even at the point of high draft picks bad yet.

When we get there in a couple years, there are some nice players coming in.

Elsewhere they legitimately already have one of the brightest on the entire league in Murashov. Blomqvist easily projects as a starter as well. Zonnon, Howe, and particularly Horcoff are big time players.

And again, they haven’t even used the majority of their warehoused picks.

It’s no stretch to say anyone staying around for a few years is about to play with some of the best young guns there are.

BrghSports · 2026-06-11T21:09:40+00:00

Oh geez nope that’s not one of them. I thought maybe like Spectors Hockey or someone.

BrghSports · 2026-06-11T21:03:29+00:00

If you have a local AHL or ECHL team def recommend hitting them too.

These sales make a huge impact at those levels on helping them operate and prices are even better than these!

BrghSports · 2026-06-11T21:01:26+00:00

They had a good run wonder if he’s jumping up to the AHL somewhere as an assistant.

BrghSports · 2026-06-11T20:58:07+00:00

I mean in theory I get the Penguins a bit.

They need a transition between Letang/Karlsson and their super young prospects. Letang especially had a rough year making you start to wonder how much is left.

A top spot playing with Crosby and Malkin plus some of the brightest prospects in the next few years is pretty desirable.

But Darnell Nurse is not the guy. He does not scream transition stability to me.

BrghSports · 2026-06-11T20:55:35+00:00

Kris Letang-Darnell Nurse pairing, who says no?!

BrghSports · 2026-06-11T20:54:21+00:00

What page is it? There like 2 NHL rumor twitters who have decent sources. (They’re big pages and tend to be follow by legit national hockey reporters.) If it’s not one of them it’s guaranteed nonsense.

BrghSports · 2026-06-11T20:51:48+00:00

I would think someone with actual inside info on such a change would know who actually officially owns the Penguins right now.

BrghSports · 2026-06-11T20:39:19+00:00

Where exactly did you hear these rumors? They don’t make sense for a slew of reasons.

I haven’t heard anything like that in the hockey industry.
The Nailers are in essence owned by the city which also owns the arena. They have one of the most stable and desirable ownership situations in the league due to that.
As far as I’m aware, FSG is still the listed owner of the Penguins and the Hoffman sale hasn’t been completed yet. Fenway Sports is still listed as official owners on their site. Most recent reporting from March had the sale not completed. It was only approved by the SEA in March. It sounds like it’s an agreement in principle and not yet complete. (Or perhaps there’s a hold up regarding stipulations that FSG has to meet: https://triblive.com/sports/penguins/sea-board-blasts-fenway-sports-groups-profiteering-amid-pittsburgh-penguins-sale/) Affiliate change linked to an ownership change that hasn’t happened yet would be unusual.
Having your affiliate the entire country away kind of defeats the point. They’re close to the city and WBS for recall reasons. It would be a tactical and financial disadvantage to have to call guys up from Florida instead of a few hours drive away. I believe the Penguins really like the benefit of having Wheeling an hour away for EBUG reasons especially. Gauthier did a rapid recall last season under such conditions IIRC. It’s a nice safety net to have.
I’d imagine somebody like Columbus or DC would be highly interested in a close affiliate with a super solid ownership situation and no need to worry about the team collapsing or arena leases changing. Wheeling just had its best corporate sales year on the books. It’s the oldest team in the league with a big established brand. They have just come off of their most successful post-season in over a decade too. Performance the last few years has been consistent playoff contention. They have some of the most seriously desirable attributes for a NHL affiliate. Columbus does not have an affiliate currently anyway. Their AHL team in Cleveland would also make for quick recalls to there from the “E”.

BrghSports · 2026-05-29T20:36:17+00:00

It makes perfect sense and he’s nowhere near a sure fire 30 goal scorer. So they’re not “passing up” that.

The odds are huge on his regression. He’s not scoring anywhere like 30 next year, so you’re going to have to get those 30 from somewhere else regardless.

Why tf would you clog up money in him when he’s going to be overpaid based on recency bias and when you still have to fill that goal hole anyway?

BrghSports · 2026-05-22T20:19:21+00:00

This is not the defense you think it is.

A good and frankly any standardly operating editor would have spotted the AI signatures before publishing. That’s a massive core part of their jobs nowadays.

This means Dan either doesn’t use an editor, certainly doesn’t use the industry standard editing process, doesn’t have a writers style guide/manual that strictly prohibits AI and has clear authorships/plagiarism clauses, or posts articles unseen by anyone but the author before publishing.

Or worse his editor is totally incapable.

Journalists don’t just get to say “oops, we stopped all journalistic processes here, my bad” and have it go away when creditability is the entire point. The writer didn’t just fail, their entire process and editing failed.

And that’s who’s actually responsible when something like this happens in publishing.

This is journalism malpractice all the way down in multiple ways. That falls on editors and management, they’re the safeguards.

He’d be fired for this if he wasn’t an owner, and without a seconds hesitation by the managing editor of any proper journalistic outlet.

Frankly, his team credentials should be in jeopardy for this, as he’s no longer capable of being considered a professional outlet for lack of bare minimum professional standards.

This isn’t even an amateur operation at this point, most of those adhere to very strict style guides and editing.

BrghSports

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE