Penguins Prospects: February 2022

February wasn’t exactly kind to our Pittsburgh Penguins. Oh, they did put up some respectable numbers in the W-L column going 6 – 3 – 1. However, offensively, they were 3^rd worst in the league in Goals For Per 60minutes (GF/60) 5-on-5. Our Goaltending slipped a bit as well, posting up 12^th in the league in Goals Against Average 5 on 5 and 12th regardless of Strength (PK, PP, etc). In Save Percentage (Sv%) our Pittsburgh Penguins came in 12^th Overall for the month and 13^th when looking at 5-on-5 stats. Defensively, I have seen more Defensemen forechecking and driving the offense than defending their own goal and precious few forwards braving the opponent’s blue paint. So, I thought it was time to review our Farm Clubs and Prospect Pool.

Forwards

Not only has our Penguins’ goal production well dried up but the team is faced with the probability of losing some of its scoring in the off season to Unrestricted Free Agency (UFA) and maybe even some Restricted Free Agency (RFA). Although Evgeni Malkin appears to be ready to take a team friendly deal, all the pundits speak like Bryan Rust is already gone. If the team is having problems with secondary scoring now, imagine what may happen next season without Rust.

Looking at the Wilkes Barre – Scranton (WBS) Penguins, Valtteri Puustenin still leads the team in scoring with 16 Goals (G) and 17 Assists (A). Alexander Nylander holds the second spot with 16 G and 12 A split between WBS and the Rockford Icehogs. February may not have been kind to the parent club, but she spread her favor to all the Forwards in WBS. Jonathan Gruden had the best month with 4 G and 8 A, while Filip Hållander had himself a Hat Trick (HT) just a couple of days ago, and finished the month of tied with Gruden in G with 4, for the month.

Hopefully, that HT is a good sign for Hållander, since we traded Jared McCann for him.

February was not only Gruden’s and Hållander’s month but some of our deeper prospects had big Februarys as well. Lukáš Švejkovský is getting back on track after being traded to the Seattle Thunderbirds. He had 7 G, 7 A, and was a +6 in 10 Games Played (GP) with his new team.

Mike, I wish I could say I scouted Švejkovský’s actual Games, I didn’t, but I did review some highlight videos. He did a pretty good job fighting his way through players, who were basically interfering with him, to get to loose pucks and to get his stick free. More importantly, He didn’t appear to have the typical Penguins’ aversion to skating into the slot.

My only concern for Švejkovský, is the number of times I saw him look down at the puck while he skated with it. Since I wasn’t watching full games, maybe what I saw was an anomaly, but if it were me, I would want him to work on getting a better feel for the puck on his stick and keeping his head up.

Kirill Tankov had a pretty good month in the Russian version of the AHL, the VHL. He had 4 Points (Pnts) in 6 GP. I don’t know how it all works out in the political arena right now, but I watched some more of Tankov’s video, I loved what I could find. If I am concerned for how Švejkovský seemed to need to look at the puck, I was in awe of Tankov’s stick handling, even in traffic. If we are to lose some offense this of season and end up with another pathetic draft position, I sure hope the politicians grow up and Penguins management brings this kid over here to see if his game translates onto a North American Rink.

Defense

Pierre-Olivier Joseph remains the best statistical defensive prospect in WBS. He is tied with Nylander with 28 Pnts and is +6 in 40 GP. Like most of WBS, Joseph had a strong offensive month in February. He potted 4 more G and picked up 6 more A. However, POJ’s defense wasn’t as sharp, while goaltending got better, he was -2 for the month.

I know there are fans of POJ and want to see him become a regular at the NHL level and I hope you are right. I don’t see it. As I mentioned before, right now POJ is too light, he loses way too many physical battles and I fear if he puts on enough weight to win the physical battles, like Olli Määtä before him, he could lose speed and mobility. I hope I am wrong.

Outside of POJ, I still like Clayton Phillips, but he did not have a good February. He added 0 Pnts to his total in February in his 5 GP, and was a -5.

Isaac Belliveau almost doubled his point output in February, adding 3 G, 6 A, and 9 Pnts in 10 games. He only had 10 Pnts altogether in his first 29 GP.

However, all 3 of these guys are Left-Handed Defensemen (LHD) and with the huge question mark surrounding Right-Handed Defenseman (RHD) Kris Letang, the real question is, “Do our Penguins have a plan “B” when/if Leang defects to Montreal? Right now, statistically speaking, Ryan McCleary had a very strong month in February, offensively he added 2 more G (he now has 6) and 5 more A. More importantly, McCleary was +10 this past month. I can understand how he got invited to training camp this season.

Sorry Mike, I didn’t have time to look at films of the Penguins Defense to give an eye-test evaluation. Maybe next month.

Goalies

Alex D’Orio not only impressed me several years back in a Prospects’ Tournament but the whole Penguins organization – he earned himself a contract. Since then, he has depressed me. If you harken back to just about 1 month ago, I mused that he would never get out of the ECHL, that he would finish his hockey career as a Wheeling Nailer.

Well, in February, he seems to have found his mojo. The team isn’t winning games for him, he has been an integral part of those wins. He has pulled his Sv% up over 0.900. Long term, Filip Lindberg, Joel Blomqvist and Calle Clang, represent the real future. (No, I am not tossing Tristan Jarry out, just yet, just looking at the future).

Wrap up

There you have it, our Penguins Prospects through February. I wanted to go off on one of my rants but let’s leave it at this.

Go Pens!!