Simon Despres in Juniors

i agree. he looks great.
Molinari had an article on Xmas day listing him at the Penguins #1 prospect.

he set up a sweet goal today vs. the Swiss

I fall into the category of people (i.e. non-Canadians) who can’t understand why people get so excited about the WJC. Until they make the NHL, they’re not important. But I’m happy Despres looks good, I have a good feeling about him.

I was only able to watch the first Team Canada game (sometimes I hate the holidays!), but I thought he looked pretty good even in that one. It’s nice to know that he is continuing to impress.

A few thoughts from watching 2 WJC games:

Constantly rewound the TV to see Despres’ shifts, here are some things I saw:

He always has his head up looking for a lead pass (really good trait for a defensemen in our system, fits our game)

Saw him lose his stick – and he immediately roved for about 3 seconds, then went down on one knee. He wasn’t amazing physically without a stick but positionally his play was very good…this all happened in about 10 seconds.

I think he likes to play in front of the goalie, did not notice him roam around much.

Despres was out on Canadas 1st team PK (I think?) he was strong, and again looked like he could play a PK role in the NHL.

Saw that he was out for one of the shifts that got a GWG, gotta have luck to make it!

He has size, a little strength and I get the feeling if he works on it he can be sort of like a baby Letang – he plays the puck before body right now, but maybe with NHL coaching staff he can even it out a little more. Kid can really force guys off of the puck.

Canada seems to really put their top D men out A LOT, did not really notice him do anything on offense, except I saw him have a solid breakaway (yes a breakaway) where he sort of got tackled/fell, but it was a good move to the net. To the same token I did not see him do anything BAD on D either.

Overall, a very solid D man and he should break the AHL roster and hopefully NHL roster soon, even though I think we all agree Engelland is a GREAT player, just not sure how Despres v Engelland v Lovejoy for a roster spot would turn out after Despres has fully developed. I know Despres scores points, he has before, so hopefully he can work on that touch and show it.

If I had to post a brief description of Despres for Pens fans to understand I would say Despres is like half a Letang. He is raw and could break top 4 D men IMO. I think he can become better than GoGo and fill a role similar to that, except with PK prowess.

blah… who made such a crappy playoff bracket that they meet in the semis?

I’ve been pleasantly surprised with his skating, especially when you consider his size.

This is what impressed me about Despres at the prospect camp at Southpointe. He’s not blazing fast, but he’s very smooth and when you combine that with his size, the potential for quality defender is evident. The icing on the cake is that he has some skill as well. He likely won’t be a big point producer or top PP guy, but he has the ability to move and rush the puck to play in all situations.

The best course for his development would be significant time in the AHL to gain experience — remember, D-men often need more time to learn the pro game — and also mature physically. With his frame he can likely get much stronger, which would go a long way towards making him one hell of defensive specimen [insert creepy Pierre McGuire “long/active stick” reference here].

what do we think is the timetable of Despres. Could he see NHL action for the first 10 games of next season or will it be another year before he gets a chance at the NHL?