Penguins notebook: New voices take on bigger roles in analytics department
With former director of analytics Sam Ventura having moved on after being hired to a vice president position with the Buffalo Sabres on July 5, the Penguins have a considerable hole in their front office with regards to their use of advanced statistics.
Data scientists Nick Citrone and Katerina Wu, each of whom worked under Ventura, will fill that void for the time being.
“What we’ve done is we’ve ramped things up with Nick, who was Sam’s understudy, and Katerina has moved here permanently,” general manager Ron Hextall said in a phone interview Thursday. “We’ve put her on the fast track and she’s in here now.
“Sam was doing a lot of our cap work and stuff behind the scenes. These two, for the most part, were carrying the analytics under Sam’s guidance. We’ll assess where we are. It’s probably something we’ll address more in August than right now. But we’re happy with Katerina and Nick.”
On July 12, the Penguins hired four new scouts as well as Hextall’s son, Brett Hextall, as an integrated development coach.
In addition to Brett Hextall, scouts Kerry Huffman and Will Acton have previous ties to Ron Hextall.
“It’s certainly comforting for me,” Ron Hextall said. “But the biggest thing is that I know their hockey minds. That’s really what it’s all about: Bringing in good hockey minds, good people and good workers. All the people that we brought in — Kerry Huffman, Will Acton, Brett — these are all really good people with good skill sets, so we’re excited to have them on board. Our pro scouting certainly needed a couple of new adds. We were a little light in that area.”
One area the Penguins had no presence in was Russia. That led to the hiring of former NHL defenseman Alexander Khavanov to scout his native country.
“That was a hole that we had over in Russia there,” Hextall said. “There’s a lot of coverage that you need nowadays. That was a hole that we needed to fill.”
Hextall provided updates on a few other offseason developments:
• Hextall said he does not anticipate buying out any contracts before the NHL’s window for buyouts closes July 27.
• Center Evgeni Malkin (right knee), goalie Casey DeSmith (core muscle) and defenseman Jesper Lindgren (unspecified shoulder) appear to be making satisfactory progress as they recover from various surgeries.
“They’re all progressing,” Hextall said. “We’ve gotten pretty much good news or what we’ve expected thus far.”
Hextall said it was too early to offer any kind of time frame for Malkin’s recovery from surgery on his right knee. The team announced Malkin underwent a procedure on June 4 but did not specify the date of the operation.
DeSmith’s procedure was June 10, and a time frame of six-to-eight weeks was offered. Lindgren, a prospect, suffered a shoulder injury during the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins’ first preseason game Jan. 31.
• Qualifying offers for pending restricted free agents are due July 26. According to Hextall, forward Mark Jankowski will not receive an offer and will be allowed to become an unrestricted free agent.
Seth Rorabaugh is a TribLive reporter covering the Pittsburgh Penguins. A North Huntingdon native, he joined the Trib in 2019 and has covered the Penguins since 2007. He can be reached at srorabaugh@triblive.com.
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