Perhaps it was kismet.
A day after I wrote an article bemoaning the Penguins’ lack of muscle, one of the very few players in the organization with an aggressive bent had a huge impact yesterday at the Prospects Challenge.
Forward Jagger Joshua (No. 23 pictured above) delivered a booming neutral-zone hit on an unsuspecting Senators prospect on his opening shift, then proceeded to lather, rinse and repeat throughout the contest. Jolting foes with bodychecks totaling in double figures according to one observer’s unofficial count and drawing at least one retaliatory penalty.
The result? The Pens’ prospects won by a landslide, 8-3.
A far cry from the previous evening, when we lost to the Bruins’ prospects by a 4-2 count with a lineup described as “plain vanilla.”
Can anyone in a position of authority (ahem…Mike Sullivan) not see the difference some physicality makes?
To digress, I would love to have been a fly on the wall and watched Sully’s reaction to Jagger’s forceful play. If I had to guess at his expression? Bitter beer face.
Fortunately, Baby Pens and prospects coach J.D. Forrest noticed. Crediting Joshua with being the tone-setter, Forrest told the P-G’s Matt Venzel, “He plays with an edge. He’s not shy out there. And he brings a type of juice to the bench and a different type of swagger, and you love to see it. It gets guys into the game. You don’t have a choice. He’s bringing you into the game no matter what.”
Sounds a lot like departed Pens winger Jason Zucker, who Sullivan credited with having “the ability to drag us into the fight.” An element that would appear to be missing from the current bunch as we approach training camp.
For years I’ve been banging the drum for the Pens to add some legitimate physicality to the lineup. Forrest did a better job of explaining the benefits than I’ll ever do. That is, unless you don’t want your team to be emotionally engaged (Sully).
For the record, Joshua’s a 24-year-old left wing and the kid brother of Vancouver’s Dakota Joshua, who employs a similar spirited style. Jagger stands 6’3” and weighs 196 pounds according to HockeyDB. He played four seasons for Michigan State and didn’t really produce much until his senior year, when he netted a team-best 13 goals in 37 games to go with 96 penalty minutes. A whopping total for this day and age.
Following Joshua’s senior season, the Baby Pens signed him to an AHL deal on March 21. Seemingly a clandestine move that, intentionally or otherwise, appeared to skirt Sullivan’s sphere of influence.
In seven games with the Baby Pens, Joshua recorded no points and 15 penalty minutes, including a spirited fight with Charlotte’s Anthony Bitetto, a seven-year NHL vet. It should be noted that top pick Owen Pickering had no points as well in an eight-game cameo with the Baby Pens.
As for Joshua’s chances of ever suiting up for our Pens, let alone earning an NHL contract? An uphill climb for sure, especially given Sullivan’s well-documented aversion to tough guys. Yet the Dearborn, Michigan, native is quick to recognize and embrace his uniqueness among our prospects.
“Maybe something that can put me on the map is my physicality,” Joshua said. “They were kind of missing a player like me in their organization.”
Truer words were never spoken.
Poulin for Sam
Sam Poulin also stood out.
One of the few physically mature prospects (6’1” 208) in an organization littered with Smurfs and Ichabod Crane-types, the Pens would certainly benefit from a player of Sam’s bulk and stature.
By all accounts, the former first-rounder and junior hockey scoring ace plays a well-rounded game and is especially strong in the battle areas.
“He’s a first-round pick for a reason,” said fellow forward and top pick Brayden Yager. “He’s fun to watch when you’re on the bench. He works so hard and he’s so strong on his skates. When you watch him down low, he’s like a bear down there because he’s just so hard to take off the puck.”
Forrest seconded that notion.
“When Sam has the puck on his stick down low, he’s near impossible to knock off,” said the Baby Pens skipper. “On the defensive side, it’s the same way. He’s able to close guys out, finish plays and get us going the other way. As a scorer, he does a lot of grunt work that, when Sam does it, he just makes it look easier than it really is.”
In addition to his physical prowess and power game, Poulin’s versatile and can play either wing or center, his favorite position.
“I like playing center because I just feel like I can lead my line a bit more because you’re the one taking all the draws, making the plays, so I feel more comfortable because I can have this little task on my shoulders,” he said. “Also, I just feel like there’s no dead zones or moments where I don’t need to go in the corners. I feel it just helps me to be more focused the whole game.”
Is this the season Sam makes his move? With a logjam of free agents and PTOs looming in his path, it’s hard to envision the 22-year-old making the team out of training camp. But IMHO, we could sorely use a player with his attributes.
I’m pullin’ for you, Sam.
Wow…just saw that Mike Babcock resigned as coach of the Blue Jackets over the pictures-on-the-players phones incident.
Maybe I shouldn’t be, but I’m stunned…
Rick
Hey Rick,
I didn’t see the game live, but I just found it on youtube and watched it. My thoughts,
1. Ottawa’s Goalie was soft, should have been pulled.
2. The most impressive players,
a. Dillon Hamaliuk – He worked his tail off and was rewarded with 2 Gs. He formed an incredible PK duo with Jordan Frasca that took away all the lanes and gave the Sens nothing to work with, attacking the puck at every opportunity.
b. Jordan Frasca – The other half of that dynamic PK duo. He was strong in the FO circle. earned multiple SOG. Took the body on the forecheck and was himself rewarded with a late PPG.
C. Isaac Belliveau – The LHD who was +50 last season in the QMJHL. He is very mobile and took command of the puck, skating the puck out of his own zone on multiple occasions, skating around forecheckers. He made solid decisions at the point, holding the puck while looking for a lane and dumping out of trouble to open ice for a forward to chase down. He stepped up and supported the attack but retreated in proper time when the play dissolved to cover his point. He fought to to keep his Goalies crease clean, putting one intruder into a head lock and knocking another on his wallet. His only blemish was when he got caught as the 1 in a 2 on 1 in front of his Goalie and the Sens capitalized.
Other thoughts,
1. Jagger Joshua often did look like a guided missile, energizing his team, when he was permitted to step a toe on the ice. However, after reading comments from talking heads and coaches, I am wondering why the young Winger was given so few shifts.
2. Sam Poulin looked really good as well when put on the PK. He fought hard and it seem to energize his 5on5 play. However he started out slow in the game.
3. Evan Verling, Atley Calvert, and Avery Hayes played well but I am not sure they have the skill to make the NHL.
4. Thimo Nickl also decked a Sen who violated the Penguins crease, earning a trip to the sin-bin.
5. I kind of liked Corey Andonovski and he did score a G but there were several times he was standing still and looked a touch lost.
6. Another player who scored a G but disappointed me was Brayden Yager. He made a solid play to keep the play alive at the point but the shot he got off was a weak fluttering shot that only went into the net because of weak goalie who was out of position trying to look around a heavy screen. It was not a case of him ripping off his vaunted shot, just a validation of the idea of get the puck on net.
Don’t get me wrong, I liked that, get the puck on net, that which really disappointed me about him was his slowness. I did not see him win one race to a loose puck and he was over-powered on more than one occasion along the boards, in the FO Circle, and behind the net.
7. Gauthier wasn’t challenged often so it was hard to gauge his play.
4.
Hey Other Rick,
Thanks so much for the follow-up…and your first-hand evaluations. Especially the encouraging reviews concerning Hamaliuk, Frasca and Belliveau.
Hamaliuk certainly intrigues me, mostly because his size (6’3″ 200) is an outlier among Pens forwards, but also because he was a second-round pick. Injuries appear to have derailed his development as a pro, but you always hope a kid with his dimensions will pan out.
Frasca’s another interesting player. Huge season as an overage junior, out-goaling heralded teammate Shane Wright. Then last season…pfft…virtually nothing as a pro, although he started the season on IR if memory serves me correctly.
It would be great if Belliveau develops into a mobile all-arounder.
Regarding Joshua’s lack of ice time, Mike Sullivan probably texted the bench and told Forrest not to play him too much. (KIDDING.) Re: Poulin, if he has a drawback, it’s that he doesn’t have the fastest first step and/or needs to be reminded to keep his feet moving instead of gliding.
Rick
Hey Rick,
Before you get too excited about Jagger Joshua, understand that he isn’t under contract to the Penguins. He is on a contract only with WBS. I remember Legare during 2 of his season’s in Pgh where he stood out with his physical play, including agitating Boston so bad that the Pens prospects won a game, but Legare who had the best shot of any player then or now in Pgh and look what happened to him.
You can hope or more to the point wish for Sullivan to wake up and smell the coffee, but it isn’t going to happen, not when the Head of Hockey Operations who is also the GM panders to every delusion of Sullivan.