Taylor Gauthier
I apologize, I was really busy yesterday and I didn’t have time to write up my Prospect Update. Fortunately, today I have a moment. However, before I do, I want to pat us at Penguin Poop, on the back. Just a couple of days ago, some other website, Pittsburgh Hockey Now, finally caught up with us, at least in some respects.
It was our friend and sometimes contributor, Jim Arthurs, who first pointed out the decaying state of our Pittsburgh Penguins farm system several years back. And yours truly, at the beginning of this campaign noted that not a single player drafted during the Mike Sullivan reign has made it to the Penguins big league roster. In Fact, with Sam Poulin on a leave of absence, only last year’s first round pick Owen Pickering is the only first round pick in our favorite flightless fowl’s system. Furthermore, Filip Hållander is the player in the first three Sullivan Era drafts still in the system.
Finally, after we here at Penguin Poop pointed out the pathetic state our Penguins Pipeline is in, Dan Kingerski finally caught up with us, in his January 31, 2023 post “Penguins One-Timers: Internal Frustrations Grow, Dumoulin Rebound”. Kingerski acknowledged that it has been 9 years since a Penguins draft pick made their own big-league roster. (Of course, eventually put the rose colored glasses back on and tried to ignore the truth about the Penguins ability to identify talent – but more on that in my next post).
Unfortunately, for our AHL affiliate, baby Penguins, across the state in Wilkes Barre – Scranton (WBS), former 2nd round pick, Hållander was injured for the entire month of January. In his absence, Drake Caggiula finally started to get on the score sheet. The Free Agent (FA) forward doubled his Point (Pts.) production in one month. Caggiula had picked up 15 Pts in 24 games leading up to January, but notched 15 more in the 12 Games Played (GP) the past month. The Winger moved up to 2nd on the roster in scoring, 9 Goals (G), 21 Assists (A), for his 30 Pts.
Jonathan Gruden was also having a strong month in January before being called up to the injury riddled NHL roster. Gruden had scored 5 G and 2 A in the only 5 GP before being called up. Had he played the full month he would have challenged Caggiula for the top Pts for the month. However, over the entire season he only has 16 Pts in 32 GP. Xavier Ouellet, a Defenseman in WBS has 17 Pts in 29 GP. Therefore, Gruden’s season is not really impressing me.
Overall, Alexander Nylander and Valterri Puustenin are still leading the team with 34 Pts. To keep perspective, our 2 top guns were barely in the top 50 in scoring in the AHL. Perhaps if there was more talent to surround Nylander and Puustenin, they could be sitting higher in the scoring race, but alas the team doesn’t have the supporting cast.
| Skater | Po | S | Age | Team | League | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | (+/-) |
| Andonovski, Corey | RW | R | 23 | WBS Penguins | AHL | 36 | 7 | 6 | 13 | 50 | -4 |
| Ansons, Raivis | RW/LW | L | 20 | WBS Penguins | AHL | 29 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 16 | -8 |
| Caggiula, Drake | C/LW | L | 28 | WBS Penguins | AHL | 36 | 9 | 21 | 30 | 27 | 8 |
| Frasca, Jordan | C/LW | L | 21 | WBS Penguins | AHL | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 | -1 |
| Frasca, Jordan | C/LW | L | 21 | Wheeling Nailers | ECHL | 14 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | -2 |
| Glover, Ty | C/LW | L | 22 | WBS Penguins | AHL | 26 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 7 | -1 |
| Gruden, Jonathan | LW | L | 22 | WBS Penguins | AHL | 32 | 11 | 5 | 16 | 30 | 2 |
| Hallander, Filip | LW/C | L | 22 | WBS Penguins | AHL | 26 | 8 | 17 | 25 | 8 | 12 |
| Légaré, Nathan | RW | R | 21 | WBS Penguins | AHL | 40 | 5 | 5 | 10 | 23 | -5 |
| Nylander, Alexander | W/C | R | 24 | WBS Penguins | AHL | 40 | 17 | 17 | 34 | 8 | 2 |
| O’Connor, Drew | LW | L | 24 | WBS Penguins | AHL | 20 | 8 | 14 | 22 | 18 | 9 |
| Poulin, Sam | W | L | 21 | WBS Penguins | AHL | 13 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 6 | -1 |
| Puustinen, Valterri | RW/LW | R | 23 | WBS Penguins | AHL | 41 | 16 | 18 | 34 | 20 | 9 |
| Švejkovský, Lukáš | C/RW | R | 20 | WBS Penguins | AHL | 26 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 6 | -6 |
Tristan Broz had the best month, during January, among the Forwards Prospects, outside of the AHL and ECHL. Broz had 4G, 3A, and 7 Pts in 7 GP, for the University of Denver in the NCAA. However, Luke Devlin still has the most points this season among forwards in the Juniors with 7 G, 17 A, and 24 Pts in 34 GP. Devlin’s 34 Pts has him tied for 80th in BCHL.
| Skaters | Po | S | Age | Team | League | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | (+/-) |
| Bjorkqvist, Kasper | W | L | 25 | Kärpät | Liiga | 34 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 37 | 3 |
| Broz, Tristan | C | L | 20 | Univ of Denver | NCAA | 27 | 9 | 11 | 20 | 12 | 12 |
| Caulfield, Judd | RW | R | 21 | Univ of North Dakota | NCAA | 27 | 8 | 7 | 15 | 10 | 7 |
| Devlin, Luke | C | L | 18 | West Kelowna Warriors | BCHL | 34 | 7 | 17 | 24 | 11 | 0 |
| Plante, Zam | C | L | 18 | Univ of Minn-Duluth | NCAA | 24 | 3 | 11 | 14 | 2 | -3 |
| Tankov, Kirill | C | L | 20 | SKA-Neva St.Petersburg | VHL | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Yoder, Chase | C | L | 20 | Providence College | NCAA | 27 | 5 | 6 | 11 | 12 | 2 |
In terms of Defensemen in the Penguins Organization. During the month of January, FA Jack St. Ivany led WBS with a grand total of 4 Pts (all assists). In terms of the season so far, Ouellet has the most Pts, 17 Pts, 3 more Pts than Ty Smith in just 1 more GP and a +/- 11 Pts higher. Unfortunately for Ouellet he wasn’t given a call up during the recent rash of injuries.
Injuries gave Josh Maniscalco an opportunity to come back up to WBS. The Defenseman had 8 G and 20 A in 31 GP before his call up from the Wheeling Nailers. In WBS he picked up 1 A in 8 GP.
| Defensemen | Po | S | Age | Team | League | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | (+/-) |
| Fedun, Taylor | D | R | 34 | WBS Penguins | AHL | 34 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 14 | 3 |
| Freidman, Mark | D | R | 26 | WBS Penguins | AHL | 19 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 12 | 5 |
| Maniscalco, Joshua | D | R | 23 | Wheeling Nailers | ECHL | 31 | 8 | 20 | 28 | 42 | 0 |
| Maniscalco, Joshua | D | R | 23 | WBS Penguins | ECHL | 8 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 2 |
| Ouellet, Xavier | D | L | 29 | WBS Penguins | AHL | 29 | 2 | 15 | 17 | 21 | 9 |
| Smith, Ty | D | L | 22 | WBS Penguins | AHL | 28 | 4 | 10 | 14 | 10 | -2 |
| St. Ivany, Jack | D | R | 23 | WBS Penguins | AHL | 33 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 18 | -2 |
| Swoyer, Colin | D | R | 24 | WBS Penguins | AHL | 14 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2 |
| Swoyer, Colin | D | R | 24 | Wheeling Nailers | ECHL | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 0 |
Outside of the North American minor leagues, Isaac Belliveau and Ryan McCleary had the best Pts totals in January with 8 Pts each. Belliveau was also a +10 over the course of the month; McCleary was a +5. This past Years 1st round pick Owen Pickering finished the month of January with 5 Pts but was a -6.
Overall Belliveau has 33 Pts, which is tied for 67th in scoring in the QMJHL. Belliveau is also a +24 which is tied for 19th in that league.
Overall Pickering has 27 Pts in the WHL and is a -4. Pickering’s 27 Pts ties him for 121st in scoring and his -4 ties him for 377th.
Ryan McCleary’s 25 Pts is only 2 Pts less than Pickering, but McCleary has 11 Gs, 5 Gs more than Pickering and McCleary’s +1 is 5 points better than our latest first round pick (or will it be bust). McCleary was a 7th round pick in 2021 but is only 4 months younger than Pickering, yet we used a 1st round pick on Pickering.
| Po | S | Age | Team | League | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | (+/-) | |
| Belliveau, Isaac | D | L | 19 | Gatineau Olympiques “A” | QMJHL | 34 | 6 | 27 | 33 | 18 | 25 |
| Collins, Nolan | D | R | 18 | Sudbury Wolves | OHL | 39 | 5 | 8 | 13 | 39 | -2 |
| Laatsch, Daniel | D | L | 20 | Univ Wisconsin | NCAA | 26 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 4 | -1 |
| McCleary, Ryan | D | R | 19 | Portland Winterhawks | WHL | 43 | 11 | 14 | 25 | 29 | 1 |
| Pickering, Owen | D | L | 18 | Swift Current Broncos | WHL | 37 | 6 | 21 | 27 | 12 | -2 |
It is kind of funny how our friend Rick Buker can use reverse psychology on our Penguins. It was only a couple of days ago Rick was dissing Taylor Gauthier, By the time January ended Gauthier has ended up with a Save Percentage Sv% only a few points below old man Dustin Tokarski’s Sv%.
Keep talking smack Rick. You may be able to sneak our Penguins in the playoffs and maybe turn a prospect or two into NHLers.
| Po | C | Age | Hgt | Wgt | Team | League | GP | GAA | Sv% | SO | W | L | T | |
| Gauthier, Taylor | G | R | 21 | 74″ | 207lbs | Wheeling Nailers | ECHL | 16 | 3.1 | 0.896 | 1 | 8 | 7 | 1 |
| Gauthier, Taylor | G | R | 21 | 74” | 207lbs | WBS Penguins | AHL | 8 | 2.2 | 0.919 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 |
| Lindberg, Filip | G | L | 23 | 73″ | 194lbs | WBS Penguins | AHL | 17 | 2.93 | 0.901 | 0 | 6 | 9 | 1 |
| Tokarski, Dustin | G | L | 33 | 72″ | 198lbs | WBS Penguins | AHL | 20 | 2.32 | 0.923 | 1 | 9 | 6 | 4 |
Joel Blomqvist, like Hållander missed the entire month of January, so there was not change in his stats. Sergei Murashov continues to impress. The young netminder tops the MHL in all categories Sv%, Goals Against Average (GAA), Wins (W), and Shut Outs (SO).
I have watched Blomqvist play, and he has all the tools. I need to find video of Murashov to see if his stats reflect his play.
| Po | C | Age | Hgt | Wgt | Team | League | GP | GAA | Sv% | SO | W | L | T | |
| Blomqvist, Joel | G | L | 20 | 74″ | 183lbs | Kärpät | Liiga | 20 | 2.36 | 0.903 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 8 |
| Murashov, Sergei | G | R | 18 | 73″ | 170lbs | Loko Yaroslavl | MHL | 31 | 1.18 | 0.954 | 11 | 21 | 6 | 3 |
| Murashov, Sergei | G | R | 18 | 73″/186cm | 170lbs | Loko Yaroslavl-76 | MHL | 5 | 2.04 | 0.932 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| Murashov, Sergei | G | R | 18 | 73″/186cm | 170lbs | Loko Yaroslavl | KHL | 1 | 1 | 0.947 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Well, there it is, the current state of our Penguins Prospects. There isn’t a lot down there, but I still would like to see Puustenin and Hållander replace some dead wood at the NHL level.
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Hey Other Rick,
Great work as always, but yowser does it point to an alarming lack of high-end or even mid-range talent among our prospects. Hextall and his staff really have their work cut out for them in terms of restocking the cupboard.
I know you're no fan of the Pickering pick (?!?!) On Pittsburgh Hockey Now, Dan Kingerski mentioned a kid named Lane Hutson who was taken in the second round by Montreal as someone he thought the Pens might grab. Hutson's an undersized defenseman who's putting up Bobby Orr-type numbers for Boston University.
Oh...regarding Gauthier. Great to see him doing well...he's reputed to be super athletic a la Marc-Andre Fleury. Glad I could "help" in his development... :)
I suppose if I wanted to poke the bear in return, I could point out that his boy Filip Lindberg seems to be regressing with a .901 save percentage and a record of 6-9-1... :)
Rick
PS--In the "lost prospects" department, Filip Gustavsson is emerging with Minnesota. He's got a 2.26 goals against average, a .922 save percentage, a .722 quality starts percentage and 9.1 goals saved above average.
Sorry Rick, you aren't poking any bears.
I do like Lindberg better than Jarry, DeSmith, and Tokarski.
He outplayed all 3 in the preseason, this year and Jarry and DeSmith last year.
When playing in WBS this season, Tokarski had the benefit of playing all those early games with the limited better defensemen on the roster, Freidman, Ouellett, and maybe Smith and with a healthy Hallander at forward.
Lindberg got precious little starts at the beginning of the season when the limited number of better players where on the roster. Then he got hurt. When he got back and Tokarski was hiding on the NHL roster bench, Lindberg had pylons in front of him.
Now lets look at WBS's laast game with Tokarski in Goal. They lost 5 - 2 against Lehigh Valley. The Phantoms scored 4 Goals on 17 Shots against Tokarski and notched an ENG. Joseph Georges Gonzague Vézina may be the only Goalie who could back stop the assemblage of pylons masquerading as defensemen in WBS. Some Goalies may love that much work, but only Vezina may escape with acceptable stats.
I stand on what I have said; Murashov (at least from Stats), Blomqvist, Lindberg, Gauthier, Jarry, DeSmith, Tokarski, in that order Is how I view the Penguins Goalie situation. Gauthier may surpass Lindberg at some point but Jarry, DeSmith, and Tokarski are on the bottom. More than likely all three veterans are at the top or on the down swing of their game and this is all they can do.
Hey Other Rick,
Wow...this is one instance where we totally disagree. You've got Jarry rated behind the kids? All I can say is, Jarry's 16-5-5. I think his record speaks for itself.
Regarding Tokarski? You keep focusing on one isolated outing, rather taking in his whole body of work. Which, frankly, has been rather good this season. A 2.31 GAA, .920 SV% and a 9-7-4 record on an admittedly not-so-great Baby Pens team. And a .915 SV% in two outings with the Pens.
I'd say he's earned his playing time.
As for Lindberg? He's posted an .875 SV% over his past six outings dating back to January 14, which appears to be when he came back from his injury. Maybe he's still not 100 percent. In fairness, he seemed to be settling into a groove in his five starts immediately preceding his injury. But at this stage he's hardly making a strong statement.
The good news is, sometimes goalies take a while to develop. Gustavsson had a bit of an up-and-down start to his pro career, but he seems to be developing nicely with the Wild. Perhaps it will (hopefully) be the same for Lindberg, Gauthier and Murashov.
Rick
Tor, great stuff once again.
I agree with you on most everything, but I'm with Rick as I really don't have a clue where you are coming from with this Jarry vs. minor league goalie comparison. The only way I can comprehend what you are saying is if your whole plan is to bring down Jarry's value come time to sign him ... wink wink nudge nudge, a winks as good as a nudge say no more.
Jarry is #6 in save percentage and one of the best win percentages also.
I do agree with you that Sullivan is protecting him and giving him the weaker of the back to backs as he did with Murray. I'm hoping that Jarry's value will fall victim to the constant injuries that has taken him out of some of the most important games.
On one and we have a goalie that is excelling on the pro level. On the other hand we don't have one goalie excelling on any level that should should excel on to even move up to the pro level.
Hey Phil,
Thanks, I love to keep an eye on the kids.
But understand I am not saying Sullivan is sheltering Jarry; maybe his maybe he isn't, I haven't really looked at game decisions. What I am saying is our Penguins insulate Jarry very, very well.
in 5 on 5 situations, among the 76 Goalies that have played 20 minutes or more;
1) The Offense scores 2.74 TGF/60, ranking him 23rd in the league (23/76 is just a hair under the top 3rd of the league in Goal Support from his Forwards.)
2) CF/60 59.92 good for 20 th in the League (20/76 is just a hair under the top 3rd of the league in Goal Support from his Forwards.)
3) Ozone FO%: 50.44 good for 32nd in the league. (32/76 dropping but at least average. Jarry is not working any harder than any other Goalie)
4) Pens shooting %: 8.2 in Front of Jarry (This is the only stat I can find where the O doesn't support Jarry.
5) Average Shot Distance against Jarry: 37.85 The longest in the league - Ranked 1. (Jarry's Defense really protects him.)
6) Rush Attempts Against: 1.54 6th least Rush Attempts Against. (again as poor as our Pens D can be, they insulate Jarry).
7) Gv/60: 082, 10th most in the league (Jarry Shoots himself in the foot giving the puck away - I guess he thinks he is at least a MAF or Barrasso)
8) Rebound Attempts Against: 4.42, 39th in the league (39/76 just past the bottom half of the league. again Jarry's poor rebound control hurts himself).
So, you can tout his overall Sv% buoyed up by long range LDSA and his Win% with Forwards carrying the play but he isn't impressing me. His deeper stats show why he has yet to win a playoff series or really a whole lot of games.
Don't get me wrong, I don't envy any Goalie who has to back stop this team's defense but as I mentioned in my mid-season grading, he is average, nothing special. He doesn't warrant a raise or long term contract. If he wants to stay here and bridge this team into the future he needs to understand his limited value. Even when healthy he can easily be replaced. The only problem here is that Sullivan only chooses weaker options, DeSmith and Tokarski. He refuses to roll the dice, he is comfortable with average.
Sorry Rick but about 1/3 of all of Jarry's games have ended with Sv% of under 0.900 and he is not a kid anymore.
So what does him not being a kid anymore mean? He isn't going to get better, this is all he is - inconsistent.
Go back through and look at his last 3 seasons. He has been one of the most insulated of Penguin Goalies.
I don't have the numbers in front of me right now but he faces the least HDSA and the most LDSA of any Penguins goalie. He also has more Gv/60 and has a very high Rebound Attempts Against/60. More importantly he has yet to win a playoff series. He is in his contract year and is playing very weakly.
As for Tokarski, sorry, once again, I have mentioned 2 specific games in which Tokarski got rocked, not the same game. He also is very inconsistent down in WBS. And did you read what I wrote? Do you remember what the baby Penguins Roster looked like for most of Lindberg's games? He has had to try and back-stop an AHL team bereft of its best defensive forward (Hallander) and with a host of ECHL defensemen in front of him. I watched him in the preseason, not only was his stats far better than Jarry, DeSmith, And Tokarski, he looked better doing it.
As for Blomqvist, once again, I make my statement based on having watched his game films. His post-to-post movement, rebound control, angles, puck tracking, and speed back up to his skates destroys any of the other goalies I have watched, and I have seen all but Murashov game films or live.
Jarry and DeSmith still give up the short side shoulder way to often and over-react and panic taking themselves out of plays. Tokarski is a journeyman AHLer.
I don't let anyone else color my opinions. I watch them play and having played Goal know when the Goalie is at fault and when the Defensemen in front Stink.
Hey Coach
Once again your statistical update is wonderful and it gives us all a clearer picture of how are the Pen's prospects doing.
It shows that we certainly do need an infusion of new talent at all levels of the Pens organization.
I want people to realize Hockey is a business and as such there are 2 different games being played each day by all NHL franchises. The one played on the ice that we see on TV and the one played in the backrooms and off the ice. Each one is equally important for teams success. You can not neglect one and just concentrate on the other. That will catch up to you and you will eventually pay a heavy price in both sides ..
How is it that some teams can consistently draft in the later rounds and find talent that can become top 6 players and contribute to the success of their NHL Club while others can not even draft first rounders and get them to the NHL ?
Which leads me back to your excellent point that "In the Sullivan era we have not had one prospect graduate to the Big Club " !That terrify s me Coach !! Who is really in charge?
Great report as usual. Thanks for all your hard work.
JIM
Hey Jim,
As I mentioned above, you sir are the real visionary. You saw this coming while we were all watching parades, you began beating this drum while the rest of us were still sipping Champaign.
And amen, our Prospects pool is like the movie Jaws frightning.