Prospect Update - February Edition

The Pittsburgh Penguins are gearing up for the Olympic break, but their prospects in the NCAA and the Major Juniors are grinding their way through the final stretch of the regular season. The NCAA and the BCHL regular seasons finish up on Saturday March 1st while the Canadian Major Juniors extend a couple more weeks, Saturday March 15th for the QMJHL and Sunday March 16th for the OHL and WHL. Even over in Europe, the SHL season draws to a close on Saturday March 8th and the KHL plays until Tuesday March 4th. So how are the Pens prospects faring as the season draws to a close? You can scroll back through our previous installments: October Update, November Update, December Update, and January Update.

Major Juniors

Derrick Pouliot of the WHL Portland Winterhawks now has 13 Goals, 50 Points, and a +26 in 40 games played. 7 of his Goals and 15 of his Assists were scored on the PP while 1 of his Assists was scored shorthanded. He is #8 in Goals, #3 in Assists, #6 in Points, and #2 in Plus/Minus on his team and the #1 D in all categories. Because he missed time at the beginning of the season when he was in Pittsburgh and when he was at the World Juniors he has less games played than most of his teammates, so he is actually #4 in Points per Game. In the WHL at large he is #3 in Points amongst all D, but by virtue of playing over 10 games less than the players ahead of him he is actually #1 in Points per Game. His 37 Assists are #16 amongst all skaters in the WHL while he is #18 in PP Assists and #11 in Plus/Minus. Portland is 36-12-2-3 and currently sit at #1 in the US Division and #2 in both the Western Conference and the entire WHL. They also lead the league in Goals For and have the #1 ranked PP, while also being a reasonable #6 on the PK.

Matthew Murray of the OHL Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds has a 27-8-1-4 record with a 2.44 GAA, a .924 Sv%, and 6 shutouts. He currently leads the league in Wins, is #2 in GAA, #3 in GAA, and leads the league in shutouts. SOO is 35-11-1-4 and currently sits at #1 in the West Division, #2 in the Western Conference, and #3 in the OHL, and are in fact one of three teams that have already clinched a playoff spot. They are #5 in Goals For and #4 in Goals Against while also possession the #7 PP and #3 PK.

Matia Marcantuoni of the OHL Kitchener Rangers has 8 Goals, 19 Points, and a -18 in 35 games played. 3 of his Goals and 4 of his Assists were scored on the PP while 1 of his Goals was scored shorthanded. He is just #8 in Goals, #9 in Assists, and #10 in Points while possessing the team's worst Plus/Minus. However, the numbers don't accurately represent his ability as a player. He missed over a month from mid-November to late December due to injury and much of January was spent trying to get back in the groove. He had a respectable 8 Points in 12 games and 12 Points in 20 games before getting hurt, but hit a bit of a slump when he came back. However, he has had 2 Goals and 5 Points over the past 4 games, so it is encouraging to see him getting back on track. Of course, playing on one of the worst teams in the league doesn't help. Kitchener is 17-30-1-1 sitting at #5 in the Midwest Division, #9 in the Western Conference, and #18 in the WHL. They are one of the lowest scoring teams, #16 in Goals For, and have the #18 PP and #16 PK.

Clark Seymour of the OHL Peterborough Petes has 6 Goals, 19 Points, and a -12 in 45 games played. 4 of his Goals and 4 of his Assists were scored on the PP. He is the #2 D in Goals and #3 in both Assists and Points on his team, but has the 2nd worst Plus/Minus on the team. Peterborough is 22-23-0-4 and currently sits at #3 in the East Division, #6 in the Eastern Conference, and #14 in the OHL. They have let in the 5th most Goals Against in the league and have the #15 PP and #19 PK.

Tristan Jarry of the WHL Edmonton Oil Kings has a 33-11-0-1 record with a 2.29 GAA, .912 Sv%, and 6 shutouts. He currently leads the league in Wins, is #2 in GAA, but fell to #9 in Sv%, however he does still lead the league in shutouts. He hit a bit of a slump in December that stretched through January with fairly inconsistent play, but he appears to be back on track as he has once again gotten back to dominating recent games. Edmonton is 37-13-0-1 and currently sit at #1 in both the Central Division and Western Conference and #3 in the WHL. They are #3 in Goals For and #2 in Goals Against, while sporting a #18 PP and #2 PK.

Jean-Sebastien Dea of the QMJHL Rouyn-Noranda Huskies has 36 Goals, 50 Points, and a -1 in 48 games played, while going 707 for 1242 for a 56.9 FO%. 11 of his Goals and 9 of his Assists were scored on the PP while 4 of his Goals and 1 of his Assists were scores shorthanded. He leads the team in Goals but is just #10 in Assists, however this makes him #2 in Points. He is #4 in the league in Goals as well as being #8 in PP Goals and #5 in SH Goals, in addition to leading the league in faceoffs. Rouyn-Noranda is 27-18-3-2 and currently sits at #5 in the West Division and #9 in the QMJHL. They have the 5th best Goals For but also the 5th worst Goals Against, with the #4 PP and #9 PK.

Europe

Alexander Pechurski is the seldom used backup goaltender for the KHL Mettalurg Magnitogorsk with a 2-0-1-1 record, a 2.54 GAA, and a .905 Sv% in 6 games played. Magnitogorsk is 28-4-8-10 and currently sits at #1 in both the Kharlamov Division and the East Conference and #2 in the KHL.

Oskar Sundqvist of the SHL Skelleftea AIK has 5 Goals, 14 Points, and a +3 in 42 games played. 2 of his Goals and 1 of his Assists were scored on the PP. He is #10 in Goals, #9 in Assists, and #11 in Points which isn't bad considering he mostly plays as 3rd or even 4th line depth, but he is just #16 in Plus/Minus. He is a natural Center and has gone 81 for 170 for a 47.7 FO%, which explains why he was shifted to the Wing for much of the year as he is #7 in both FO% and faceoffs taken. He is #10 in PP TOI and the #6 F in PK TOI. Skelleftea is 28-3-5-10 and is currently #1 in the SHL in addition to being #1 in Goals For and #2 in Goals Against as well as #3 in PP% and #6 in PK%.

NCAA

Bryan Rust the Alternate Captain of the University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish has 9 Goals, 21 Points, and a +4 in 27 games played. 3 of his Goals and 6 of his Assists were scored on the PP while 2 of his Goals and 1 of his Assists were scored Shorthanded. He is #3 on the team in both Goals and Assists while being #4 in Points. He actually leads the Hockey East in both SH Goals and SH Points. Notre Dame is 15-11-1 and currently sits at #8 in the Hockey East Conference.

Josh Archibald of the University of Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks has 18 Goals, 28 Points, and a +4 in 24 games played. 5 of his Goals and 5 of his Assists were scored on the PP. He leads the team in Goals, is #6 in Assists, and also leads in both Points and Plus/Minus. He even leads the entire NCHC in Goals, is #12 in Assists, and leads the NCHC in Points, in addition to leading the Conference in PP Goals, PP Points, and Game Winning Goals. UNO is 10-12-2 and currently sits at #2 in the NCHC.

Scott Wilson of the University of Massachusetts-Lowell River Hawks has 5 Goals, 14 Points, and a +5 in 22 games played. 1 of his Goals and 4 of his Assists were scored on the PP. He is #5 in Goals, #4 in Assists, and #4 in Points on his team. UMass-Lowell is 18-7-2 and currently sits at #2 in the Hockey East Conference.

Theodor Blueger of the Minnesota State-Mankato Mavericks has 3 Goals, 16 Points, and a -3 in 27 games played. 2 of his Goals and 4 of his Assists were scored on the PP. He is #10 in Goals, #4 in Assists, and #5 in Points on his team. He is actually #14 in the WCHA for Assists. Minnesota State is 15-13-0 and currently sits at #2 in the WCHA.

Sean Maguire of the Boston University Terriers has gone 2-9-0 with a 3.13 GAA and .912 Sv% in 12 games played. After not playing for a month at the end of last semester he seems to have gotten back into the swings of things as he started 5 games this semester while his co-starter has had just 3. He actually has the better stats of the two for in-Conference play, improving to a 3.10 GAA and a .918 Sv%. But even when he plays well the team is just not winning. He is #12 in GAA, #7 in Sv%, and #13 in Win% amongst Hockey East Goaltenders. Considering the team he is playing for, that is pretty good. BU is 8-14-3 and currently sits at #10 in the Hockey East Conference.

Jake Guentzel of UNO has 3 Goals, 19 Points, and a -2 in 24 games played. 1 of his Goals and 6 of his Assists were scored on the PP. He is #9 in Goals and #3 amongst Freshmen, #2 in Assists and the top Freshman, and #5 in Points and the top Freshman. He leads the entire NCHC in Assists and is #4 in Points, in addition to being #7 in PP Points and leading all Freshmen in Points.

Ryan Segalla of the University of Connecticut Huskies has 1 Goal, 10 Points, and a -1 in 23 games played. 1 of his Assists was scored on the PP. He is the #3 D in Goals, #1 D in Assists, and #2 D in Points in addition to being the #2 Freshman D in Goals and top Freshman D in Points. He is the #11 D, the #12 Freshman, and the #2 Freshman D in Points for the Atlantic Hockey Conference. UConn is 13-8-4 and currently sits at #3 in the Atlantic Hockey Conference.

Blaine Byron of the University of Maine Black Bears has 6 Goals, 12 Points, and a +1 in 21 games played. 2 of his Goals and 2 of his Assists were scored on the PP. He is #6 in Goals and leads the Freshmen, #7 in both Assists and #3 amongst Freshmen, and #7 in Points as well as #2 amongst Freshmen. Maine is 12-9-3 and sits at #6 in the Hockey East Conference.

Dane Birks is committed to Michigan Tech in the future but for now is playing for the BCHL Merritt Centennials. He has 2 Goals and 15 Points in 42 games played. 1 of his Goals and 3 of his Assists were scored on the PP while 1 of his Assists was scored shorthanded. He is #4 amongst D in Goals, Assists, and Points. Merritt is 25-18-4-1 and sits at #5 in the Interior Division and #9 in the BCHL with the #7 PP and #4 PK.

Troy Josephs of the Clarkson Golden Knights has 2 Goals, 5 Points, and a -1 in 19 games played. He is just #11 in Goals but #2 amongst Freshmen, #15 in Assists but #4 amongst Freshmen, and #13 in Points but #3 amongst Freshmen. In addition, he has the 2nd lowest Plus/Minus on the team. Clarkson is 16-10-2 and currently sits at #5 in the ECAC.