As you already know some exciting news just hours before the trade deadline. Ray Shero traded top prospect Luca Caputi and defenseman Martin Skoula for left winger Alexei Ponikarovsky. He is commonly referred to by his teammates as “The Poni Express” , “The Ukraine Train” or simply “Poni”. We head over to PSAMP to get answer to a question thats on tip of everyones tongue: “Can Penguins and Ponies live in harmony?” His answer was … “Hey man they have on my blog for about 3 years now.”
On this note we continue. While Shero might still get some criticism on putting end to Luca Caputi rap album which was scheduled to be released just weeks before the trade, at the end of the day its what you get for your buck, right? So what do Pens get? When Ponikarovsky was heavily scouted in the January and weeks before the Olympics i have read some peoples opinions that stated Poni is going to be just another Ruslan Fedotenko. I can understand losing Skoula but is losing top prospect Luca Caputi for a rental Poni really worth it? Only time will tell. For now i’d like to compare the two players. Now Poni is Ukranian that much him and Tenk have in common. They both look cute when they were young…
Young Ruslan Fedotenko …
7 year old Alexei Ponikarovsky …
Lets look at the number comparisons:
Ruslan Fedotenko:
Age: 31
Date of birth: January 18, 1979
Place of birth: Kiev, USSR (now Ukraine)
Ht: 6-2 Wt: 195
Shoots: L
Salary: $ 1,800,000
NHL Seasons: 8
Alexei Ponikarovsky:
Age: 29
Date of birth: April 09, 1980
Place of birth: Kiev, USSR (now Ukraine)
Ht: 6-4 Wt: 220
Shoots: L
Salary: $ 2,500,000
NHL Seasons: 8
Pretty similar so far. Alexei definitely has the size advantage but how he is going to use it in front of the net is another question.
Lets look at career highs:
| RUSLAN FEDOTENKO CAREER HIGHS (SEASON) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| ALEXEI PONIKAROVSKY CAREER HIGHS (SEASON) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Major difference in number of assists and therefore points. Alexi also has 4 shorthanded goals showing some strong abilities at penalty kill. However, Alexei has seen only 23 NHL playoff games in his career in contrast to Ruslan who has 77. Ruslan is known for stepping up his game during playoffs and scoring big goals in big games.
Career totals:
Ruslan: 597 games played, 139 goals as well as 139 assists, 278 points, and 369 PIMs.
Poni: 416 games played, 95 goals, 121 assists, 216 points, and 274 PIMs.
This season:
Ruslan: 61 games played with 9 goals and 15 assists.
Poni: 61 games played with 19 goals and 22 assists.
Alexei’s number are definitely better this season showing potential for being better overall player than Tenk who goes through hot and cold streaks. On a good note having all Russian players line certainly seems like it could potentially work well for the Pens … best part no one will ever know what the hell they are talking about. I guess time will tell if Shero made the right move.
Leaving you with some pictures from a guy that goes around taking pics of NHL players with Buffalo Hat. Here are some Pens players …
YEAH!
LETS GO PENS!!!
Tags: Alexei Ponikarovsky, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang, Marc Andre Fleury, Ruslan Fedotenko, Sidney Crosby
New Jersey was a Worldwide Trending Topic on Twitter today http://bit.ly/bfjwXC I’m just glad it was about Skoula and nothing to do with Snooki.
awwwww! i love the pics of feds and poni when they were kids.. hahahaha