Catching up with Penguins Prospects through October 31, 2022

It’s that time again, folks. It is time for my review of our Pittsburgh Penguins prospects. Not only are we at the end of the first month of Hockey for the big club, but our Penguins occupy the 7th spot of the 8 team Metro Division. It might be time for the management to check out the prospects as well.

The Goalies

Normally I start by looking at the Forwards and working my way back to the Blue Line then Goal Line, but today I am going to reverse my pattern. Today I want to start by talking about our Goalie prospects.

And yes, there is a very good reason why I am changing my normal M.O.

Review the complaints about this season’s incarnation of our favorite flightless fowl. There is a lot of chatter about our Penguins being the oldest team in the league. Well, look at the Goalie table and see who is getting the most playing time in goal for our farm team the Wilkes Barre – Scranton (WBS) Penguins, Dustin Tokarski; 33-year-old Dustn Tokarski.

Not going to argue that Tokarski has been playing really well, just look at his numbers; 1.38 Goals Against Average (GAA), 0.949 Save Percentage (Sv%), and a 4-0-1 record. You want your farm team to do well, but the purpose of a farm club is to give prospects a chance to play. At 33 years of age Tokarski is hardly a prospect. He had his day in the sun. More importantly, Filip Lindberg is playing well too, and he is a prospect.

What this does show is two things, why our Penguins are the oldest team in the league, and why no Penguin drafted under Mike Sullivan has yet to play a significant role for his club, even though Sullivan has been in Pittsburgh since 2015-2016, kids don’t even get a chance to play in WBS.

No offense to the player but Tokarski’s preferential playing time is a travesty for the team.

On the plus side, look at these numbers, up and down the prospect pool, all our Goalies are playing well. Lindberg was hampered by a lack of playing time and an aborted game due to a power outage (I believe). Taylor Gauthier had a rough start for the Wheeling Nailers, in his pro debut but settled down and had a shutout in his last outing.

Joel Blomqvist has moved up to Finland’s top league (Liiga) and is transitioning well (Although I would rather he be here in WBS). And our most recent addition (in this years draft) Sergei Murashov is on fire, look at his numbers, 1.43 GAA, 0.954 Sv%, 5 Shut Outs (SO), and a 10-4-1 for Loko Yaroslavl of the MHL – a Russian Junior league. It may be time to consider trading from a position of strength, Goal, to shore up weak areas (if we can clear Cap Space).

The Skaters in WBS and Wheeling

I find it interesting that the Penguins brought up Drew O’Connor when Alexander Nylander leads the baby Penguins in scoring and Filip Hållander is tied with O’Connnor; Nylander and Hållander have been consistently playing well, whereas O’Connor started of really slowly and has only jumped up his numbers now at the end of the month.

I am happy to see Corey Andonovski putting up numbers and having one of the better +/-.  The way he played in the preseason made me think that he could eventually slot in a bottom 6 role and his start in WBS doesn’t do anything to change my position. Valterri Puustinen is also playing some good hockey, but that isn’t surprising.

On defense, Ty Smith has had a good start to the season with 2 Goals (G) and 3 Assists (A) and is a +2.

Xavier Oullet is also having a good start with 4 A and a +4. I am not surprised by this, I thought he played well in the preseason. However, like Tokarski, he is not really a prospect at age 29, so I would expect more out of him.

Nathan Légaré is disappointing me. His start is really slow after a strong preseason.

I am not sure what to think about Raivis Ansons, Jordan Frasca, and Lukáš Švejkovský; are they victims of the same mentality that has 33-year-old Tokarski getting playing time over 23-year-old Filip Lindberg? Or are there legitimate reasons for them getting so little playing time? (I am not going to say sorry – with the age of the main club and the preferential treatment of Tokarski, there is legitimate concerns here.)

Skaters in the not under contract or in the Juniors

Kasper Bjorkqvist didn’t take a contract with our seafaring Sphenisciformes. The young Finn opted to return to his homeland and is plying his trade in Kärpät

 of Liiga with fellow prospect Blomqvist. He is playing well defensively and is a +5 in 17 games, but only has 3 G and 1 A in 17 Games Played (GP).

The only Penguin Prospect forward who is even close to putting up numbers is Chase Yoder at Providence College. The young center has 1 G and 4 A in 7 GP.

The kid I for which I had hope is Kirill Tankov. He has shown really good offensive skill but suffered a serious injury at the vert start of the season. He was hit from behind by Artyom Maltsev on September 5th. Tankov went headfirst into the boards and fractured a vertebra (believed to be C5). He had surgery to repair it and it was successful but obviously he is out for the season. Maltsev was given a 10-game suspension (originally 3 but after review, 7 more games were added).

Defensively is where the team’s best prospects appear to be. Isaac Belliveau is on a tear, he is averaging over a point per game (3G and 11 A in 13 GP) and is a +5 for his efforts.

Our first-round draft pick this past draft, Owen Pickering has been picking up points pretty regularly too; 2 G and 9 A in 8 GP. However, Pickering is only now getting his +/- into the respectable range. Last week, I believe, I saw him at -5. He must have had a big weekend.

Tonight

Our Penguins face off against the Boston Bruins – go Pens! End this losing streak.