On the talks with Vancouver: “The conversations with Patrik (Allvin) had been ongoing. They’ve had a long interest in Marcus obviously. It was a great trade (in 2018) for the Penguins when Jim (Rutherford) was the general manager here. As he alluded to last night, it was an excellent deal that worked out extremely well for the Penguins. There was a deep familiarity and appreciation for Marcus and all that he does. Patrik had come to me earlier in the week. We had been going back and forth on this for a while. It looked like he was going to get another asset that he previously wasn’t able to offer … That was the way that materialized.”
On how much talks with Pettersson and his camp about an extension progressed, and when that was no longer a viable option: “I think Marcus and Peter Wallen, his representative, had made clear that he liked it in Pittsburgh and would have liked to have that conversation. I think I expressed this in September or October during the preseason media (availability) … I had met with Marcus and Drew personally after talking to their people, was just that we felt that the best thing to do for us was to protect all of our options and not go down that path to lock anybody in without seeing how things progressed in the season. It wasn’t from their lack of desire to be here, it was from us wanting to protect our options, see where the season was going, measure where we were at and then measure what was best for the long run of the team. It was our decision not to deeply engage with that.”
On the upcoming trade deadline (set for March 7): “Going into the deadline, we’re going to continue to have discussions that fit where we are at in our strategy overall. But we’ll also try to be in the mix for any younger players that become available and can come in and help our team. So we’ll try to use the collection of assets we have now to try to add to the group, if the right younger player becomes available. That collection of assets will get us into those discussions.”
On his hopes for the rest of season, and how to avoid the malaise that some guys admitted set in around last year’s deadline: “I think last year was very instructive, honestly. So last year, we were in that mix. And what I tried to convey to the players – and I think malaise is the right way to put it – was that all the other teams that were in that same mix as us also moved guys. Washington made the playoffs. They moved guys at the deadline and they moved guys for a number of years before at the deadline. Philly was in that mix. They had to move guys out. And so we weren’t the only team in that mix that had sold. And I think if you go back and look at that month of February and March, if we had not been in that spot, we would have collected more points and probably would have been in the playoffs. This year is a little bit different. Some of the teams over the last number of weeks have separated, very frankly. The Islanders have won six straight games. Columbus, they don’t seem to be slowing down. So we don’t have the time if we want to make a run for it like we did last year. We don’t have the time to see these points slip away. So I think we have to learn from [last year]. I think with young guys coming up from Wilkes-Barre, the hope is that will provide us with some energy and we can learn from last year and propel ourselves to have a meaningful run through February, March and April.”
On if he’s really starting to see the path forward solidifying with trades like this: “For me, I don’t ever want to put a timeline on anything because our goal is based on the types of people that we have in the locker room and how much they’ve meant to the city and franchise. We want to operate as urgently as we can to return the team there. We don’t want to buy patience or say it’s in X amount of years (or say our) plan in Year X, we hope to be at different points. Our goal is to try to acquire the assets that we’ve laid out and then either turn those draft picks and develop them into players that can help the team quickly – but not expedite it to hinder the development of the player – or, use those assets to be in the mic when players that can make an impact are present and can help us. Previously, even this season, it’s been tough to get into those conversations for us because we haven’t had that level of asset for when a really good young player becomes available. Now, having multiple first-round picks, seeing these younger players start to develop – it gets us more and more into that mix. We just have to keep moving down that path.”
On if there will be more opportunities for WBS players who are having strong seasons: “I think what we would like to do with the players from Wilkes is – they’ve really built a strong thing going on down there in terms of their performance night in and night out. I like the way they respond when things don’t go well and obviously, I think it’s been really pushed, especially of late, by the younger players that we’ve brought in here, drafted, acquired or were here before that have really come on. And so I think what we want to do with those players is, when they earn the opportunity to come up to not just play for a weekend but play for a prolonged stretch. Once they earn it, we’re not going to deny them that opportunity.”
On why they had Melvin Fernstrom ranked so highly rated in the most recent draft (he ended up going to Vancouver in the third round): “I think the thing that stood out in the draft is that when we interviewed him, he was known as an offensive, scoring winger. And we interviewed him and it was very clear to us that his mindset was in the right spot. His goal for this year was to earn a spot in the SHL and, knowing that role wasn’t going to be as a top-two-line scorer. And when we watched him this year for Orebro there, he was highly competitive. As an 18-year-old, he’s in their lineup every night. He’s not playing in the top two lines. He’s playing on the third or fourth line and on the second power play. But it’s what he’s doing in the games competitive. He’s chipped in. For an 18-year-old, he’s got nearly 10 points. And he’s been a very good player for the national team in the past. All of these players that you draft have been mostly top-line players or top-pair defensemen. Very rarely are you drafting a player from junior who was a lower-in-the-lineup guy unless it’s late in the draft and you think that there’s something that can pop. It’s going to be how they adapt when they’re lower in the lineup. Do they bring other elements when they’re not scoring and they’re not on the first-unit power play? And in his case, that’s what he’s continued to show. When we interviewed him at the draft, which was only seven or eight months ago now, he showed an understanding of what the development path was going to be like and what he was going to have to put into it, and that’s what impressed us then. And then as we track all of these guys – Andy Saucier’s department does this at an elite level – he is executing upon everything that he said, which is for us an important developmental attribute.”
