Czeching up on the kiddos

Our first look at how Penguin prospects are faring this season:

Professional level (age in parenthesis):

Wilkes-Bare Scranton Penguins
Luca Caputi (20): 23 games played, 6 goals, 6 assists, +5
--Caputi's the 8th leading scorer as a rookie on a very competitive AHL team. He's been lauded for his offensive game and also has seemed impressive away from the puck according to reports. Caputi's probably the Penguins best prospect at this point.

Dustin Jeffrey (20): 24 gp, 3g, 11a, 6+
--Jeffrey's fourth on the team in assists and now that Janne Pesonen and Chris Minard are in Pittsburgh he's starting to get more icetime and opportunities.

Ben Lovejoy (24): 24 gp, 4g, 10a, +14
--Cited as a possible replacement for a Rob Scuderi-type defensive defensemen, Lovejoy has had a great season so far...His +/- is tops on the team..Last year(his first in the pros) he only scored 2 goals and 18 assists, so he's well on pace to up his production.

Janne Pesonen (26): 20gp, 5g, 16a, +4
--Pesonen's been among the best players at the AHL level, but it remains to be seen if he will be a player at the NHL level.


Wheeling Nailers

Nick Johnson (22): 18gp, 14g, 10a, +6
--Johnson, a former 3rd round pick, scored a goal in his first game for WB/S...Johnson at 6'2, 200 has the size to make a difference, it'll be interesting to see how he develops. The injury situation in Pittsburgh is a chance for him to be more involved.

CHL

Rimouski Oceanic (QMJHL)
Keven Veilleux (19) 17 games played, 8 goals, 12 assists, 20 points, +3
--Veilleux missed some games earlier in the season with injury, but has been having a very fine season for when he has be on the ice. Sometimes the knack on big players like Veilleux (6'5, 215) is they don't produce very early in their careers. By establishing himself as a PPG+ player in the "Q, KV's having no such issues.

Vancouver Giants (WHL)
Casey Pierro-Zabotel (20) 28 gp, 10g, 34a, +26
--CPZ has had a nomadic career so far, after he couldn't make eligibility for the NCAA, he decided to go to the WHL and he's been able to settle in and fufill his promise. The Giants are the #1 team in the league so far and CPZ is the leading scorer on the team, and 3rd in the league.

St. Johns Sea Dogs (QMJHL)
Alex Grant (19) 27gp, 6g, 19a, 25p, -3
--Grant, a defensemen lauded for physical play, is the leading defensive scorer on his team and 2nd in penalty minutes.

Kingston Frontenacs (OHL)
Nathan Moon (18) 27gp, 11g, 17a, 28p, -13
--Moon, the Penguins highest draft pick from 2008 (4th round), is leading his team in scoring. But, as one might hazard to guess from looking at his plus/minus, Moon's team is not that great; sporting a 6-19-6 record.

US College

Boston College
Carl Sneep (21) 15 games played, 1 goal, 7 assists, 8 points
--Sneep, now a Junior, is the highest scoring defenseman on the Eagles. Interesting note: Brooks Orpik's little brother Andrew is a 4th line forward on this team.

Boston University
Brian Strait (20) 15gp, 1g, 1a, 2p, 26 PIMs
--Strait, a Jr., leads his team in penalty minutes...Last season he had 10 assists in 37 games.

Catching up with Angelo

Fewer prospects have been as intriguing or experienced such a roller coaster ride as Angelo Esposito. Esposito, now just 19 years old, has been on the radar of hockey people and fans for years. At one point, before the 2007 draft he was mentioned as the presumptive #1 pick and drew favorable comparisons to another skilled center phenom, Sidney Crosby. Esposito lived up to all of this during the 2005-06 season, his first in major junior competition where he scored 98 points (39 goals and 59 assists) in 57 games.

But that success wasn't to be. Esposito's breakout season was aided by playing with current NHL star Alex Radulov, and when Radulov left Espo's production went down the wayside. In the past two seasons in the "Q" Esposito's scored 79 and then 69 points.

His NHL draft stock, as we all know, took a Brady Quinn, and the Penguins selected him 20th overall and then traded him to Atlanta as part of the Marian Hossa package.

The Atlanta-Journal Constitution has a nice article about Esposito, currently in Atlanta for their summer prospect development camp, and the hopes that they have for him.

Esposito will play another year of junior hockey, Waddell said, for the new Junior de Montreal team in Esposito's hometown. The Thrashers need to sign him by June 1, 2009. "From there," Waddell said, "his play will dictate where he goes."

Note that what's expected to be one of the worst teams in the league next year doesn't even expect to have Esposito make a push for the NHL roster. Of course, this has something to do with the measured development that the Thrashers are charting for Angelo, which probably will benefit him and perhaps the team in the long-run. But if he was polished enough mentally and physically to be a contributor at the NHL level, surely he wouldn't be looking at having tea with Miss McGill already...

We're thinking the Penguins may have bought Esposito's stock at it's low point and still were able to sell while it had significant value.

Penguins sign Janne Pesonen

..To which should immediately asked "who the f is Janne Pesonen".

Well, he's 26 year old Finnish player that's played in Finland his whole career. He plays for the powerhouse team Karpat (along with former Penguin property goalie Andy Chiodo] and has won the champion four out of the past six seasons. Last season Pesonen lead the Finnish league in goals [34], points [78] and plus/minus [+39]. He's listed as a 5'11, 180 pound winger.

Thanks to the magic of youtube, here's a Pesonen highlight reel. The guy is definitely Ovechkin-esque when it comes to celebrating goals--we especially like the "drop to your knees and slide" routine when the score of the game is now 4-0 at the 0:41 second mark. (Warning: there's a funky sounding Finnish song in the background, check your speakers..)



Who knows is Pesonen will be able to hack it in the NHL, a highlight reel from the Finnish league doesn't necessarily mean future success in the difference of style of the North American game. However skilled wingers don't grow on trees and the guy did just win a scoring title, so he has to have some amount of talent. It'll be interesting to see if maybe the Pens scouts have pulled a rabbit out of their hats on this one.

Shooting for the Moon

The Pens took Nathan Moon with their first pick, which might be more impressive if the first pick wasn’t just before the beginning of the 5th round of the draft.

Still, it seems like Moon has a lot more going for him than the usual 120th pick in the draft, perhaps a subconscious reaction by Pens fans since he was the top pick. Here’s how the Faceoff Factor described his up-and-down season and overall game:

Head coach Bruce Cassidy [a former NHL coach with Washington –Ed], one of Moon’s biggest supporters, was fired after a six game losing streak.

Moon continued to produce at a high level, however, things changed as the season wore on. Call it frustration, the loss of a mentor, whatever – Moon and the Frontenacs were stuck in the basement of the OHL and Nathan Moon’s game began to become slightly inconsistent from night to night.

I think overall, for Moon, it’s time to leave last year behind and begin to start working on things to make him a better overall player. Not that Moon is a one dimensional character at this point, but his defensive game needs work. Overall, this was certainly the best player available for the Penguins the 4th round. Moon should have been taken mid to late third, so Pittsburgh comes away with a fantastic prospect way behind where he should have been taken.

Overall, we don’t have much of a reaction. Outside of a few slam-dunk picks, most of the time it’s near impossible for professional hockey scouts and general managers to predict which 18 year old kids will turn into solid professional players 5-10 years down the line. Which is why you often see players like Henrik Zetterberg get drafted way down the list but then have a solid NHL career, while a lot of high picks never pan out to expectations.

It’s an inexact science, to be sure. But, right now there’s a reason Moon was on the board at 120. He’s smallish, had an up and down season. But there is some upside to him to, it seems like you’d be hard pressed to find a guy with the offensive ability and perhaps potential as Moon that late in the draft. That’s a good thing. Time will tell if Moon will pan out and create a nice career for himself or just fizzle away, but in the NHL, that’s the way the draft goes.

Report: Brunnstrom picks Dallas

We're not bragging, but we were among the first places that reported about Fabian Brunnstrom, the 23 year old Swedish enigma/wonderkid with a Youtube highlight video (with now over 40,000 hits). The Hockey News called him the next Daniel Alfreddson. Though on many teams' radar, Brunnstrom was never drafted to the NHL and too old to be drafted in the entry draft so he is free to select whatever team he wanted to join.

He visited a couple NHL clubs this spring but seemed to have the most intrest in Vancouver, Detroit, Montreal, Dallas and Toronto....Vancouver was the favorite, but reportedly Brunnstrom was not pleased with the uncertainty when they fired GM Dave Nonis. Detroit with plenty of Swedes and rich markets like Montreal and Toronto figured to out-bid about anyone.

But the choice is apparantely in and it's Dallas. With guys like Jere Lehtinen and Niklas Hagman, Brunnstrom will feel comfortable. With skill centers like Mikey Ribs and Brad Richards, he'll have support.

It'll be interesting to see how his rookie campaign goes. Brunnstrom is arguably going to be the most famous new face in the league next season (depending how you feel about rookie Steven Stamkos) and FB will certaintly be the most touted and hype....It'll be interesting to see if he can live up to it.

2007 Draftees

Joe Sager has a great write-up on the main page detailing the season's (and immediate futures) of the Penguins 2007 draft class---minus the traded Angelo Esposito, natch.

We apologize for the lack of meaningful posts lately, but there's not too much going on in Penguin world at the moment, which coincides nicely with the death of the main computer at TST headquarters. Also, we're hard at work on a project for Greg Wyshynski over at Yahoo! sports that you might be reading sooner than later too.

Not news: Penguins have best young players/prospects

Ok, so it's kinda hardly a surprise given the team gets three consecutive top 2 picks and through the fate, or blind luck, ends up with Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby and Jordan Staal.

If the Pens had their high picks in a different era* they could have ended up David Legwand [draft 2nd overall in 1998 entry draft], Patrik Stefan [1st overall in 1999] and Dany Heatley in 2000 [2nd overall in 2000]. So certainly timing, as usual, is everything.

*in terms of hockey prospects

But don't discount the other players under about the age of 21 that the Penguins have already developed into NHL players without the high picks.

• Tyler Kennedy [99th overall in the 4th round of 2004]
• Kris Letang [62nd overall in the 3rd round of 2005]

A lot of teams don't even have A player in their NHL lineup under the age of 22. We spot-checked three teams at random on hockeydb.com and it seems Carolina and Detroit (shocker!) didn't have any, while Vancouver has two (defensemen Alex Edler and Luc Bourdon). So that the Pens have more than just the obvious young players has to be a testament to their scouting and development right off the bat.

And with Alex Goligoski [61st overall in the 2nd round of 2004] seeming very close to being a fixture in the NHL and prospects ripping up the juniors like Luca Caputi [111st overall in the 4th round 2007] and Dustin Jeffrey [172nd in the 6th round] it's easy to see something we've been saying here for a while at TST....The young talent pool for the Penguins is significantly deeper than the casual observer might be lead to believe by just seeing the Staal's and Malkin's of the organ-eye-zation.

Czeching up on the kiddos part 3

Let's take another look at the statistics of notable Penguin prospects.

In Canada:

Keven Veilleux (C, Victoriaville Tigres/Rimouski Oceanic, QMJHL): 56 games played, 16 goals, 46 assists, 62 points, 71 PIMs, -8
Jacob Muzzin (D, Sault St. Marie Greyhounds, OHL): 62gp, 5g, 12a, 17p, 51 PIMs +14
Dustin Jeffrey (C, Sault St. Marie Greyhounds, OHL): 51gp, 30g, 53a, 83p, 28 PIMs, +20
Jean-Phillip Paquet (D, Baie-Comeau Drakkar, QMJHL): 62gp, 9g, 28a, 37p, 104 PIMs, -2
Luca Caputi (LW, Niagra Ice Dogs, OHL): 63gp, 49g, 58a, 107p, 94 PIMs, +25
Alex Grant (D, St. John Sea Dogs, QMJHL): 65gp, 14g, 27a, 41p, 96PIMs, +12


And in the US college ranks:

Michal Gergen (W, University Minnesota-Duluth): 29 gp, 5g, 7a, 12p, 45 PIM
Carl Sneep (D, Boston College): 34 gp, 3g, 9a, 12p, 12 PIMs
Brian Strait (D, Boston University): 31gp, 0g, 10a, 10p, 16 PIM

---
By far, the cream of the crop--even if you still included Angelo Esposito--remains 2007 late round gems Caputi (4th round, 111th overal) and Jeffrey (6th round, 171st overall). Caputi is 4th in scoring in the OHL and Jeffrey (who missed games by remaining in Pittsburgh's training camp) is 10th that same race. Both of those prospects are listed as at least 6'3 and 190 so it should be interesting to continue to track their progress.

It should also be noted that the 6'5" Veilleux, a second round pick last summer, has put up 20 points in 14 games for his new team Rimouski since being traded there.

As of now Pittsburgh doesn't have a pick until the 4th round of this summer's draft; in part of the return to acquire Marian Hossa, Hal Gill and Georges Laraque the Pens gave up their 1st, 2nd and 3rd round picks respectively, essentially gutting the draft. If guys like Jeffrey, Caputi and Veilleux can become gems it will go a long way towards filling in the gaps for a contending organization that's dealt many picks away in exchange for established NHL players.

History of Penguins Deadline Day Deals

Two can play this game (props to my guy japers for the idea)....Here is a summary of the Penguins activity near the deadline since 1990--which was former GM Craig Patrick's first deadline.

• March 6th 1990: Pittsburgh trades future considerations to Edmonton for Brian Wilks
• March 6th 1990: Pittsburgh trades future considerations to Chicago for Alain Chevrier
• March 4th 1991: Pittsburgh trades John Cullen, Zarley Zalapski, and Jeff Parker to Hartford for Ron Francis, Ulf Samuelsson and Grant Jennings
• March 4th 1991: Pittsburgh trades Brad Aitken to Edmonton for Kim Issel
• March 4th 1991: Pittsburgh trades Ken Priestlay to Buffalo for Toni Tanti
• March 10th 1992: Pittsburgh trades Frank "The Save" Pietrangelo to Hartford for future considerations
• March 22nd 1993: Pittsburgh trades a 3rd round pick to Tampa Bay for Peter Taglianetti
• March 22nd 1993: Pittsburgh trades Bob Errey to Buffalo for Mike Ramsey
• March 19th 1994: Pittsburgh trades Jeff Daniels to Florida for Greg Hawgood
• March 21st 1994: Pittsburgh trades Mike Needham to Dallas for Jim McKenzie
• April 7th 1995: Pittsburgh trades Martin Straka to Ottawa for Troy Murray and Norm Maciver
• April 7th 1995: Pittsburgh trades Drake Berehowsky to Toronto for Grant Jennings
• April 7th 1995: Pittsburgh trades Greg Brown to Winnipeg for an 8th round pick
• March 20th 1996: Pittsburgh trades Markus Naslund to Vancouver for Alek Stojanov
• March 18th 1997: Pittsburgh trades future considerations to Vancouver for Josef Beranek
• March 18th 1997: Pittsburgh trades Glen "Anyone But" Murray to LA for Ed Olczyk
• March 24th 1998: Pittsburgh trades Patrick Lalime to Anaheim for Sean Pronger
• March 13th 2000: Pittsburgh trades Pavel Skrbak to Nashville for Bob Boughner
• March 14th 2000: Pittsburgh trades Tom Barrasso to Ottawa for Ron Tugnutt and Janne Laukkanen
• March 12th 2001: Pittsburgh trades Jeff Norton to San Jose for Johan Hedberg and Bobby Dollas
• March 13th 2001: Pittsburgh trades a 6th round pick to Columbus for Frank Kucera
• March 13th 2001: Pittsburgh trades Sven Butchenson to Edmonton for Dan LaCouture
• March 2002: Pittsburgh trades a 4th round pick to Columbus for Jamie Pushor
• March 2002: Pittsburgh trades Billy Tibbetts to Philadelphia for Kent Manderville
• March 11, 2003: Pittsburgh trades Wayne Primeau to San Jose for Matt Bradley
• March 11, 2003: Pittsburgh trades Jan Hrdina and Francois Leroux to Phoenix for Ramzi Abid, Guillaume Lefebvre and Dan Focht
• March 11, 2003: Pittsburgh trades Marc Bergevin to Tampa Bay for Brian Holzinger
• March 11, 2003: Pittsburgh trades Ian Moran to Boston or a 4th round draft pick
• March 11, 2003: Pittsburgh trades Shean Donovan to Calgary for Mathias Johansson and Micky Dupont
• March 9th 2004: Pittsburgh trades Brian Holzinger to Columbus for Lasse Pirjeta
• March 9th 2004: Pittsburgh trades Marc Bergevin to Vancouver for a conditional draft pick
• March 9th 2006: Pittsburgh trades Mark Recchi to Carolina for Krys Kolanos, Niklas Nordgren and a 2nd round pick (later traded)
• March 9th 2006: Pittsburgh trades Cory Cross to Detroit for a 4th round pick (Alex Grant)
• March 9th 2006: Pittsburgh trades Ric Jackman to Florida for Petr Taticek
• February 26th 2007: Pittsburgh trades Noah Welch to Florida for Gary Roberts
• February 27th 2007: Pittsburgh trades Daniel Carcillo and a 3rd round pick for Georges Laraque
• February 27th 2007: Pittsburgh trades Dominic Moore to Minnesota for a 3rd round pick (Casey Pierro-Zabotel)
• February 27th 2007: Pittsburgh trades a 4th round pick to Florida for Joel Kwiatkowski
• February 27th 2007: Pittsburgh trades a 7th round pick to San Jose for Nolan Schaefer

Penguins History of Deadline Day Deals

Two can play this game (props to my guy japers for the idea)....Here is a summary of the Penguins activity near the deadline since 1990--which was former GM Craig Patrick's first deadline.

• March 6th 1990: Pittsburgh trades future considerations to Edmonton for Brian Wilks
• March 6th 1990: Pittsburgh trades future considerations to Chicago for Alain Chevrier
• March 4th 1991: Pittsburgh trades John Cullen, Zarley Zalapski, and Jeff Parker to Hartford for Ron Francis, Ulf Samuelsson and Grant Jennings
• March 4th 1991: Pittsburgh trades Brad Aitken to Edmonton for Kim Issel
• March 4th 1991: Pittsburgh trades Ken Priestlay to Buffalo for Toni Tanti
• March 10th 1992: Pittsburgh trades Frank "The Save" Pietrangelo to Hartford for future considerations
• March 22nd 1993: Pittsburgh trades a 3rd round pick to Tampa Bay for Peter Taglianetti
• March 22nd 1993: Pittsburgh trades Bob Errey to Buffalo for Mike Ramsey
• March 19th 1994: Pittsburgh trades Jeff Daniels to Florida for Greg Hawgood
• March 21st 1994: Pittsburgh trades Mike Needham to Dallas for Jim McKenzie
• April 7th 1995: Pittsburgh trades Martin Straka to Ottawa for Troy Murray and Norm Maciver
• April 7th 1995: Pittsburgh trades Drake Berehowsky to Toronto for Grant Jennings
• April 7th 1995: Pittsburgh trades Greg Brown to Winnipeg for an 8th round pick
• March 20th 1996: Pittsburgh trades Markus Naslund to Vancouver for Alek Stojanov
• March 18th 1997: Pittsburgh trades future considerations to Vancouver for Josef Beranek
• March 18th 1997: Pittsburgh trades Glen "Anyone But" Murray to LA for Ed Olczyk
• March 24th 1998: Pittsburgh trades Patrick Lalime to Anaheim for Sean Pronger
• March 13th 2000: Pittsburgh trades Pavel Skrbak to Nashville for Bob Boughner
• March 14th 2000: Pittsburgh trades Tom Barrasso to Ottawa for Ron Tugnutt and Janne Laukkanen
• March 12th 2001: Pittsburgh trades Jeff Norton to San Jose for Johan Hedberg and Bobby Dollas
• March 13th 2001: Pittsburgh trades a 6th round pick to Columbus for Frank Kucera
• March 13th 2001: Pittsburgh trades Sven Butchenson to Edmonton for Dan LaCouture
• March 2002: Pittsburgh trades a 4th round pick to Columbus for Jamie Pushor
• March 2002: Pittsburgh trades Billy Tibbetts to Philadelphia for Kent Manderville
• March 11, 2003: Pittsburgh trades Wayne Primeau to San Jose for Matt Bradley
• March 11, 2003: Pittsburgh trades Jan Hrdina and Francois Leroux to Phoenix for Ramzi Abid, Guillaume Lefebvre and Dan Focht
• March 11, 2003: Pittsburgh trades Marc Bergevin to Tampa Bay for Brian Holzinger
• March 11, 2003: Pittsburgh trades Ian Moran to Boston or a 4th round draft pick
• March 11, 2003: Pittsburgh trades Shean Donovan to Calgary for Mathias Johansson and Micky Dupont
• March 9th 2004: Pittsburgh trades Brian Holzinger to Columbus for Lasse Pirjeta
• March 9th 2004: Pittsburgh trades Marc Bergevin to Vancouver for a conditional draft pick
• March 9th 2006: Pittsburgh trades Mark Recchi to Carolina for Krys Kolanos, Niklas Nordgren and a 2nd round pick (later traded)
• March 9th 2006: Pittsburgh trades Cory Cross to Detroit for a 4th round pick (Alex Grant)
• March 9th 2006: Pittsburgh trades Ric Jackman to Florida for Petr Taticek
• February 26th 2007: Pittsburgh trades Noah Welch to Florida for Gary Roberts
• February 27th 2007: Pittsburgh trades Daniel Carcillo and a 3rd round pick for Georges Laraque
• February 27th 2007: Pittsburgh trades Dominic Moore to Minnesota for a 3rd round pick (Casey Pierro-Zabotel)
• February 27th 2007: Pittsburgh trades a 4th round pick to Florida for Joel Kwiatkowski
• February 27th 2007: Pittsburgh trades a 7th round pick to San Jose for Nolan Schaefer

Fabian Brunnstrom Update

This blog on Swedish prospect Fabian Brunnstrom was one of our favorite recent posts but it didn't get many site views or feedback.

Anyways, surprise surprise, the Red Wings have made a pitch for the 22 year old that some call the next Daniel Alfredsson. Detroit, Toronto and Vancouver are thought to be the front-runners for his services (which won't start until next season) according to that report.

(hat tip to kuklaskorner with the link)

2 Pens Prospects Named OHL All-Stars

Congratulations to Penguin prospects Dustin Jeffrey and Luca Caputi for being named to the Ontario Hockey League’s All-Star team. It’s impossible to declare both (or either) of these prospects as surefire NHL contributors but one certainly has to give a nod to the scouting staff for digging up these players. Jeffrey was a 6th round pick (171st overall in 2007) and Caputi was drafted in the 4th round (111th overall).

Jeffrey impressed at camp and was given a long look. With all the veterans and contracts he wasn’t close to cracking the NHL lineup but it was clear the brass was impressed by him. In fact, a couple weeks into the season they signed him to a contract. Jeffrey has 49 points (18 goals, 31 assists) in 31 games so far this season.

Caputi is listed at 6’3 and 185. Once he fills out Caputi could be a forceful power forward that is so coveted around the league. Caputi is 6th in the OHL in scoring with 64 points (32 goals, 32 assists) in 42 games. He’s also accumulated 74 penalty minutes. His 32 goals are tied for 2nd in the league. He's tied with Steven Samkos, the expected #1 overall pick of this June's draft, btw

As we said though, both have a long journey to Pittsburgh and the NHL but it looks like the pipeline is still churning out players that are difference makers at the junior/collegiate level.

(Hat-tip to japers for the link)

Another Czech Up on the Kiddos

Since we're 1/4 the way through the NHL season and have a couple day break in Penguin games, now is as good a time as ever to look at how Penguin prospects in the juniors and college are fairing. The first early look at the prospects (from Oct 9) can be looked at here.


Angelo Esposito (C, Quebec Ramparts, QMJHL): 20 games played, 12 goals, 17 assists, 29 points, 31 PIMs, +12
Kevin Veilleux (C, Victoriaville Tigres, QMJHL): 27gp, 7g, 20a, 27p, 30 PIMs, -6
Jacob Muzzin (D, Sault St. Marie Greyhounds, OHL): 23gp, 2g, 7a, 9p, 18 PIMs +7
Dustin Jeffrey (C, Sault St. Marie Greyhounds, OHL): 20gp, 14g, 23a, 37p, 8 PIMs, +5
Jean-Phillip Paquet (D, Baie-Comeau Drakkar, QMJHL): 25gp, 2g, 14a, 16p, 54 PIMs, +10
Luca Caputi (LW, Niagra Ice Dogs, OHL): 24gp, 16g, 17a, 33p, 45 PIMs, +4
Alex Grant (D, St. John Sea Dogs, QMJHL): 24gp, 5g, 5a, 10p, 38PIMs, +2


Michal Gergen (W, University Minnesota-Duluth): 7 gp, 2g, 3a, 5p, 0 PIM
Carl Sneep (D, Boston College): 11 gp, 1g, 3a, 4p, 12 PIMs
Brian Strait (D, Boston University): 11gp, 0g, 4a, 4p, 2 PIM, +2

Czecking in on the kiddos

The juniors are already almost 10 games into their seasons, so let's take a peek at some select Penguins prospects:

Angelo Esposito (C, Quebec Ramparts, QMJHL): 6 games played, 4 goals, 4 assists, 8 points, 6 PIMs, even
Kevin Veilleux (C, Victoriaville Tigres, QMJHL): 8gp, 2g, 2a, 4p, 12 PIM, -5
Jacob Muzzin (D, Sault St. Marie Greyhounds, OHL): 8gp, 0g, 5a, 5p, +1
Dustin Jeffrey (C, Sault St. Marie Greyhounds, OHL): 5gp, 4g, 8a, 12 points, even
Jean-Phillip Paquet (D, Baie-Comeau Drakkar, QMJHL): 9gp, 0g, 5a, 5p, 14 PIMs, +8
Luca Caputi (LW, Niagra Ice Dogs, OHL): 7gp, 6g, 9a, 15 points. +8
Alex Grant (D, St. John Sea Dogs, QMJHL): 8gp, 2g, 2a, 4p, 15PIMs, +7

Johannes Salmonsson (LW, Brynas IF Gavle, SEL): 7gp, 0g, 1a, 1p, 2 PIM, -3

Some of the Penguins prospects (like Michal Gergen, Carl Sneep, Brian Strait and Nick Johnson) play collegiately and haven't started, but most of the high profile choices are obviously already in the NHL. Nice problem to have, not tracking but one #1 pick through juniors/minors.

The standouts, so far, are a pair of 2007 late round picks (Caputi and Jeffrey) that are tearing up the OHL is scoring. Caputi is tied for second (along with some dude named John Tavares), and Jeffrey signed a pro contract today. Jeffrey stuck a little longer in camp, so the coaches must have seen something in him. Because of an extended stay in Pittsburgh, Jeffrey's only got 5 games but is tied for 5th in the league is scoring.

Mr. Shero's very obvious philosphy of drafting for size (no prospect drafted by the Pens in 07 is listed under Esposito's 6'1") might have founded some gems in the rough...Time will tell.