Penguins notebook: new voices take on bigger roles in the analysis department

With former chief of analysis Sam Ventura moving up after being hired as vice-president of the Buffalo Sabers on July 5, the Penguins have a sizable front office hole when it comes to their use of advanced stats.

Data scientists Nick Citrone and Katerina Wu, who have each worked under Ventura, will fill that void for now.

“What we did was we stepped things up with Nick, who was Sam’s understudy, and Katerina moved here permanently,” CEO Ron Hextall said in a phone interview Thursday. . “We put her on the fast lane and she’s here now.

“Sam was doing a lot of our hat work and stuff behind the scenes. These two, for the most part, were doing the scans under Sam’s direction. We’ll assess where we’re at. This is probably something we’ll be discussing more in August than right now. But we are happy with Katerina and Nick.

On July 12, the Penguins hired four new scouts along with Hextall’s son Brett Hextall as their integrated development coach.

In addition to Brett Hextall, scouts Kerry Huffman and Will Acton have previous ties to Ron Hextall.

“It’s definitely heartwarming to me,” said Ron Hextall. “But the most important thing is that I know their hockey spirit. That is really what it is about: bringing in good hockey minds, good people and good workers. Everyone that we brought in – Kerry Huffman, Will Acton, Brett – are all very good people with good skills, so we’re delighted to have them on board. Our professional prospecting certainly needed a few new additions. We were a little light in this area.

One region in which the Penguins were not present was Russia. This led to the hiring of former NHL defenseman Alexander Khavanov to explore his homeland.

“It was a hole we had over there in Russia,” Hextall said. “There’s a lot of coverage you need these days. It was a hole we had to fill.

Hextall provided updates on a few other offseason developments:

• Hextall said he does not plan to buy back any contracts until the NHL buyout window closes on July 27.

• Center Evgeni Malkin (right knee), goalkeeper Casey DeSmith (mid muscle) and defenseman Jesper Lindgren (shoulder unspecified) appear to be making satisfactory progress as they recover from various surgeries.

“They’re all progressing,” Hextall said. “We’ve had pretty much good news or what we’ve been expecting so far.”

Hextall said it was too early to offer a deadline for Malkin’s recovery from right knee surgery. The team announced that Malkin underwent a procedure on June 4 but did not specify the date of the operation.

DeSmith’s procedure took place on June 10 and a six to eight week time frame was proposed. Lindgren, a prospect, injured his shoulder in the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins’ first preseason game on Jan.31.

• Qualifying offers for free agents with pending restrictions are expected on July 26. According to Hextall, forward Mark Jankowski will not receive an offer and will be allowed to become an unrestricted free agent.