Penguins Prospects Update: 1/4/2019

We now stand at the start of a new year. It is a time to look with hope to the future. So I figured I would take a look at out our Pittsburgh Penguins prospects.

 

Centers:

Top prospect Jordy Bellerive seems to be recovered from his off season accident now. After a slow start, he is on pace with his point totals of last year but he is showing a bit more defensive responsibility. Recent  5th round draft pick Justin Almeida is continuing to provide offense for his team. And Teddy Blueger continues to make a case for himself with offense and defensive responsibility. Blueger leads the Baby Penguins in scoring and has a respectable +/-. While at Penn State hulking 6′-7″ Russian import Nikita Pavlychev is showing promise.

Wings

Anthony Angello is tied for the team lead in Wilkes Barre – Scranton (WBS) for +/-. He is also tied for second in goals with Ethan Prow only behind  Blueger. Former 2nd round pick Kasper Bjorkvist  is averaging a point a game in College and is a +11. Among the other Wings I have been watching Adam Johnson is scoring, checking in at 4th WBS, while Filip Hållander, the Penguins second, 2nd round pick this past draft has 12 points in 23 games. I worry a little that he may not develop that quickly. Traditionally, it takes time for European players to acclimatize to North American Hockey, unless they are the real elite. I wish he was over here playing in on this side of the pond. Although, since he is only 18, that may not be possible yet.

Since Zach Aston-Reese isn’t looking like he wants to go back to the AHL, I didn’t list him among the prospects.

Defensemen

Even though Ethan Prow has never impressed me in the few times I have seen him play, his numbers are looking pretty good down in WBS. He is tied with Anthony Angello for the team lead in +/- and tied for 2nd for Goals. There may not be the same pressure to bring him up at the moment, given the Jekyll face of the Penguins Defense showing right now, if Hyde returns Prow could push for a shot with the big boys.

Calen Addison’s name is still being thrown about. Scouts do still talk about him and I still occasionally here the odd rumor of the kid being a possible trade chip should GM Jim Rutherford want to wheel and deal at the dead-line. I am not sure that I like that idea. The team is way too thin in young players to throw him away.

Since it appears, from what I have read, that the Penguins still retain the rights to both Andrey Pedan and Lukas Bengtsson I included them here. I can’t deny I was disappointed by both their defections.

Goalies

The only Goalie prospect of any significance right now appears to be Tristan Jarry. Alex D’Orio appears to be struggling right now.

Skaters

Name	Po	Team	League	GP	G	A	Pts	Pim	(+/-)
Addison, Calen	D	Lethbridge	WHL	35	6	33	39	34	-5
Almari, Niclas	D	HPK U20	Jr A SM Liiga	2	0	1	1	2	3
Almari, Niclas	D	HPK	Liiga	21	1	3	4	2	-2
Almeida, Justin	C	Moose Jaw	WHL	30	11	38	49	4	8
Angello, Anthony	C-R	WBS Penguins	AHL	34	10	6	16	23	15
Bellerive, Jordy	C	Lethbridge	WHL	36	18	29	47	34	10
Bengtsson, Lukas	D	Linköping HC	SHL	26	5	8	13	10	2
Birks, Dane	D	WBS Penguins	AHL	1	0	0	0	0	1
Birks, Dane	D	Wheeling Nailers	ECHL	28	0	6	6	34	6
Björkqvist, Kasper	W	Providence	NCAA	18	9	9	18	8	11
Blueger, Teddy	C	WBS Penguins	AHL	35	15	12	27	18	9
Czuczman, Kevin	D	WBS Penguins	AHL	27	3	8	11	34	9
Dea, Jean-Sebastien	C-R	WBS Penguins	AHL	9	2	7	9	6	-7
DiPauli, Thomas	C-L	WBS Penguins	AHL	29	7	8	15	32	6
Drozg, Jan	W	Shawiningan	QMJHL	30	9	23	32	24	-17
Erkamps, Macoy	D	WBS Penguins	AHL	6	0	1	1	0	0
Erkamps, Macoy	D	Brampton Beast	ECHL	21	1	5	6	21	-1
Haggery, Ryan	R	WBS Penguins	AHL	30	4	11	15	23	-1
Hållander, Filip	F	Timrà IK Loan	SHL	23	5	7	12	2	-5
Hayes, Jimmy	R	WBS Penguins	AHL	34	4	7	11	10	-2
Johnson, Adam	C-L	WBS Penguins	AHL	36	9	10	19	12	-3
Lafferty, Sam	F	WBS Penguins	AHL	36	5	19	24	49	4
Miletic, Sam	L	WBS Penguins	AHL	13	3	3	6	0	3
Ölund, Linus	C	WBS Penguins	AHL	34	4	6	10	2	2
Palojärvi, Antti	D	Lukko U20	Jr A SM Liiga	25	4	6	10	8	-4
Palojärvi, Antti	D	Lukko U20	Liiga	12	0	2	2	0	1
Pavlychev, Mikita	C	Penn State	NCAA	18	10	10	20	20	3
Pedan, Andrey	D	Ak Bars Kazan	KHL	31	1	8	9	40	15
Phillips, Clayton	D	U of Minn	NCAA	16	1	7	8	10	-4
Prow, Ethan	D	WBS Penguins	AHL	35	10	12	22	14	15
Reilly, William	D	RPI	NCAA	14	3	5	8	10	-2
Sexton, Ben	F	Belleville	AHL	17	0	9	9	16	1
Sexton, Ben	F	WBS Penguins	AHL	10	5	0	5	8	0
Summers, Chris	D	WBS Penguins	AHL	26	0	7	7	20	-4
Taylor, Jeff	D	WBS Penguins	AHL	25	1	3	4	16	1
Trotman, Zach	D	WBS Penguins	AHL	11	1	1	2	21	-2
Wilson, Garret	L	WBS Penguins	AHL	18	8	10	18	69	0
Wilson, Garret	L	Penguins	NHL	14	0	2	2	4	3

Goalies

Name	Team	League	GP	GAA	Sv%
D’Orio, Alex	Saint John	QMJHL	25	4.46	0.883
Jarry, Tristan	WBS Penguins	AHL	18	2.85	0.909
Jarry, Tristan	Penguins	NHL	2	3.5	0.887
Muse, Jonathan	WBS Penguins	AHL	4	2	0.934
Muse, Jonathan	Wheeling	ECHL	10	2.69	0.903

 

Those of you who consistently read these boards have come to realize that I am not exactly shy about expressing my opinion. Furthermore, you would probably not doubt that I am a fan of bringing in some youth and not going on archaeological digs to fill in bottom 6 spots on the roster. Below I am including a watch list of players that I have mentioned in the past as having wished our Penguins would have courted or kept.

Skaters

Name	Po	Team	League	GP	G	A	Pts	Pim	(+/-)
Hague, Nicolas	D	Chicago	AHL	34	9	8	17	20	19
Hersley, Patrik	D	SKA St Petersburg	KHL	30	12	17	29	6	8
Kostin, Klim	F	San Antonio	AHL	28	5	6	11	48	-8
Larsen, Philip	D	Salavat Yulaev	KHL	44	7	13	20	14	-1
Mozik, Vojtech	D	Vityaz Podolsk	KHL	38	5	15	20	53	1

Goalie

Name	Team	League	GP	GAA	Sv%
Gustavsson, Filip	Belleville Senators	AHL	21	3.47	0.889

 

Recently, there was an exchange reminding me that I was against the Penguins trading for Ryan Reaves. I still do not deny that I doubted that Reaves would ever get a shot to play in Pittsburgh. The interesting thing about this trade was that once here, I did become a Reaves fan. I did not wan’t to see the team trade him, but they did; thus vindicating my trepidation for the trade. When Rutherford dealt the Oskar Sundqvist and swapped the teams first round pick for Reaves ad St. Louis‘s 2nd round pick, I wanted the team to draft Nicolas Hague a 6′-6″ 214 lb Defenseman. Our own James Arthurs wanted the team to draft Klim Kostin. So, I figured while I was looking at prospects I would include these 2 players.

I included Filip Gustavsson since he was part of the Ryan Reaves – Ian Cole for Derick Brassard trade. Earlier this season, Gustavsson was struggling to adjust to North America. His Goals Against Average (GAA) was well over 4. It has since dropped to below 3.5. Despite the current run of victories and even if the team gains some measure of success the Brassard trade could prove pyrrhic.

Again, in light of the recent defensive turn around, my wish to have added Patrik Hersley, Philip Larsen, or Vojtech Mozik (1 or 2 of them) may not appear as urgent. I do hope the course the team did choose will work out, but I still think the team would have been better off, following my path.

 

Odds and Sods

• Note that the stats from above were taken on January 1, some players may have played since then.
• Congratulations to Ethan Prow, he was named to the AHL All Star Game.