Fluery to the minors

TSN.ca Staff

10/1/2005 12:24:57 PM

The Pittsburgh Penguins pared down their roster further on Saturday,
assigning goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury to Wilkes Barre/Scranton of the
American Hockey League.

The team also sent down centres Colby Armstrong and Michel Ouellet,
left wing Erik Christensen and right wing Tomas Surovy, and defencemen
Daniel Fernholm, Ryan Lannon, Andy Schneider, Noah Welch and Ryan
Whitney.

Fleury, their first overall selection in 2003 will have one more year
to develop in the minors while veteran Jocelyn Thibault and backup
Sebastien Caron handle the duties.

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some pretty interesting moves as the team gets ready for the regular
season. some of these guys seemed to be ready to make the jump-- colby
armstrong, noah welch, whitney, and MAFluery. is this more a
reflection on the free agent additions to the team, or are these guys
lagging behind in their development? is the money situation the
primary motivating factor in sending MAFluery down to the minors??

a little more insight from the post-gazette . . .

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The most significant variable in deciding who stays might be whether a
specific player must be put on waivers. Make a mistake by demoting a
prospect who does, and all the time and money spent developing him is
wasted if he's claimed by another club.

That is why, if management is to err, it figures to be by sending down
younger players -- Ryan Whitney and Marc-Andre Fleury headline that
group -- who could compete in the NHL, not older ones who would have to
go on waivers.

Simply being the Penguins' best goalie throughout camp might not be
enough to get Fleury a job with them in the regular season. Not if
management decides it doesn't want to risk losing Sebastien Caron on
waivers (to say nothing of possibly having to pay Fleury $3 million in
attainable bonuses.)

And Whitney, with more than a year of AHL experience and a dozen or so
pounds of fresh muscle, looks as if he could step into the NHL and be
effective, but the Penguins' surplus of veteran defensemen might make
him a luxury they'll try to get by without.

While Fleury and Whitney are potential victims of the waiver rules,
players such as Matt Hussey, Matt Murley, Colby Armstrong, Rob Scuderi
and Tomas Surovy could be beneficiaries of them.

All would have to be put on waivers before going to Wilkes-Barre, and
that should enhance their chances of sticking in the NHL, if only
because it's a tiebreaker that works in their favor if they're
competing with a younger player for a spot.

Young prospects such as defensemen Noah Welch, Andy Schneider, Daniel
Fernholm and Ryan Lannon look like locks to join the Baby Penguins, but
many of the other moves figure to be extremely close calls, with
factors such as a player's ability to kill penalties or play more than
one position possibly being decisive.

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hopefully armstrong and surovy will clear waivers. T-minus: four days
till opening night!