A couple of little ditties floating around on a summer day, mostly seeming to revolve around the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.
- Top WB/S coaching candidate Todd Nelson has accepted a job with Grand Rapids (Detroit). Which, makes a lot of sense if you sit down and look at all the young talent that the Red Wings have coming up through the ranks. Nelson wants to be an AHL head coach and probably thinks he could be the next John Cooper. Grand Rapids should be a great gig for him.
- The Pens also lost another candidate for the gig, since former assistant (and Pens player) Alain Nasreddine is following John Hynes to New Jersey to be an NHL assistant coach. Nasreddine is basically replacing Devils legend Scott Stevens in that assistant role, which is pretty huge. Good luck to him out in Jersey. (And no, before you ask, Pittsburgh does not get any compensation for losing an assistant coach to become an assistant).
- Jonathan Bombulie from the Trib reports that the new top candidate is Mike Sullivan, a former Boston Bruins head coach and long-time NHL assistant coach. He's only 47 and worked last season with Chicago in a player development role. Sounds good to me!
- From Highland Park Hockey, Pens UFA-to-be forward Andrew Ebbett has agreed to sign with a team overseas (details to be revealed on July 1). Ebbett played 26 games in the NHL with the Penguins last season (1g + 5a) and was a point-per-game player (17g+27a in 44 games) down in WB/S. His presence there will be missed.