Player profile: Ian Cole

Ian Cole is an interesting part of the Penguins deadline day. A former first round pick himself, he hasn't found a home in St. Louis, but has decent possession numbers (a 53.3 CF% and 67.1 GF% this year) and is known to be a fairly well-rounded player.

To get a better look at what the expect, we caught up with Hildy at St. Louis Game Time, to get some 4-1-1 at Ian Cole:

Ian Cole is pretty defensively responsible, but he's still learning thanks to the fact that he hasn't been able to stick on the team. Hitch likes to sit him and the team's always seemed to have one extra defenseman that renders Cole a spare part. He can move the puck, but is still working on how to do it smoothly.

He's usually on the third pairing with Barret Jackman, so I think a lot of fans seem to think that he's a stay at home guy when he's really not. I know +/- is a BS stat, but he's a +16 right now (he doesn't start against tough competition so I'm sure that has a but to do with it).

I like Cole and was hoping that he'd get traded so he can play somewhere consistently and get experience. I knew that he wouldn't be able to do that in STL, so this is a really good opportunity for him and I'm sure that he'll make the most out of it.

Cole is an interesting study for the Pens. He only played 15:03 per game for the Blues when he did play, and did play mainly with Jackman- a slow, older 3rd pairing defensive defenseman. Sounds like someone we know, doesn't it?

Seems wise to slot Cole in with Rob Scuderi on the Penguins 3rd pair and see how that goes.