Faceoff Factor

Part 3: Baby Steps From Wilkes-Barre/Scranton

Kyle Dreibelbies | Pittsburgh Penguins

Sep 13, 09:05 PM | Hype this story!

In the AHL, there is always plenty of roster turnover as prospects graduate to the NHL, migrate to a different organizations or defect to Europe. This was especially true for the Penguins organization as 10 players who finished the 2006-07 season in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton are no with the organization.

So, in this third part of Faceoff Factor’s nine-piece package, we’ll look at the new faces and the old faces with new contracts who will be participating in their first Pittsburgh Penguins training camp this month.

Goaltenders
G #35 Ty Conklin – 6’0, 184 lbs
Conklin spent time with Buffalo and Columbus of the NHL, posting a combined record of 3-5-2 with a 3.33 GAA and .878 save percentage. He also spent time with the Syracuse Crunch of the AHL, boasting a record of 3-12-3 with a 3.32 GAA and .902 save percentage. Conklin signed this deal hoping to resurrect his career after his debacle with the Edmonton Oilers in the Stanley Cup, where he badly misplayed a puck behind the net and Rod Brind’Amour deposited a huge goal off of the miscue.

Realistically, he only makes the NHL squad if Dany Sabourin gets hurt in camp. Sabourin has a 2 year, one-way deal while Conklin holds a 1 year, two-way deal. Sabourin has historically been strong in training camps, especially last year, when he outplayed every goalie on the Pittsburgh roster. So, the math and precedent suggests that Conklin will be the mentor to a young prospect in the AHL this year and play 35-45 games for Wilkes-Barre.

Defensemen
D #72 Mark Ardelan – 5’11, 202lbs
Ardelan is a solid two-way defenseman who played 79 of a possible 80 games with the Iowa Stars of the AHL last year. In those 79 games, he posted 8 goals, 30 assists and 32 PIMs. Ardelan has no chance of making the NHL team out of training camp. He will be counted on to be a steady, stabilizing veteran on the Wilkes-Barre Penguins’ blueline since there will be so many young d-men in the AHL this year.

D #73 Deryk Engelland – 6’2, 202lbs
Engelland defected from the hated Hershey Bears to sign a two-way NHL contract with Pittsburgh. He played 6 games in the ECHL this year with the Reading Royals and 44 with the Hershey Bears of the AHL. His AHL numbers are 4 goals, 6 assists and 95 PIMs. Like Ardelan, he has zero chance to make the Pittsburgh squad. Engelland will be counted on to fill the role that Wade Skolney played in Wilkes-Barre last year. That role is a bottom-pairing defenseman who will hit hard and drop the gloves with the light heavyweights of the AHL.

D #65 Ben Lovejoy – 6’2, 214lbs
Lovejoy will be in competition for the #6 or #7 defenseman spot with the Wilkes-Barre Penguins. An offensive defenseman who was undrafted, Lovejoy played 5 games with the Norfolk Admirals of the AHL last year, scoring no points and earning 6 PIMs. With Dartmouth, he scored 23 points and had 28 PIMs in 32 games. If Ardelan and Engelland have no chance at the NHL team, then Lovejoy should celebrate if he makes it past the first cuts in Pittsburgh’s camp. The best-case scenario for him would be to make the AHL Penguins roster after his first camp.

Forwards
RW #56 Aaron Boogaard – 6’3, 220 lbs
The Penguins signed the younger, smaller brother of the NHL’s Derek Boogaard near the end of last season. His ticket is already punched for the AHL and a year as the understudy of minor-league enforcer Dennis Bonvie. He earned 173 PIMs in 69 WHL games this past season. Pittsburgh’s hope for Aaron is that he can develop into their enforcer in a couple years so that they will not have to pay big bucks to lure a Georges-Laraque-type enforcer to the team.

C #47 Tim Brent – 6’0, 188lbs
Brent was acquired from the Anaheim Ducks this offseason for C Stephen Dixon. A right-handed faceoff specialist, Brent split last season between the AHL and the NHL. With Portland of the AHL, he scored 16 goals, 14 assists, and earned 40 PIMs in 48 games. Brent is one of the players to watch in training camp. He has the inside track to an NHL job, but is competing with Jonathan Filewich, Ryan Stone, and Tyler Kennedy for that last forward spot with Pittsburgh.

C #51 Mark Letestu – 5’11, 195lbs
Letestu was another late-season undrafted free-agent signing out of college. Only playing limited minutes in 3 games with Wilkes-Barre, it’s tough to tell how his game will adjust to the AHL level. Most likely, he will be one of the first cuts along with Lovejoy and Engelland. Letestu may be destined for the Wheeling Nailers of the ECHL unless he has a strong AHL camp after his demotion.

C #52 Kurtis McLean – 5’11, 175lbs
McLean is an interesting player to watch also in camp. In each of the last 2 years, he has started the season in the ECHL and played a strong game after being called up to the AHL later in the season. McLean can best be described as a smaller, high-energy version of Erik Christensen. He possesses a hard and very accurate shot and plays all-out, despite his smaller size.
McLean’s career is a feel-good story after working his way from undrafted free-agent to ECHL contract to his new AHL contract. He was looking to move into the top 6 AHL forwards, but Pittsburgh’s busy offseason has dropped him down the depth chart. At 26 years old, McLean isn’t an NHL prospect anymore, but is hoping to play well enough in camp that he could get a cup of coffee in the NHL at some point this year. This will probably be his last North American training camp before heading to Europe next summer.

LW #39 Chris Minard – 6’1, 190lbs
Minard is best known for putting up big numbers in the ECHL during the lockout as Scott Gomez’ linemate. Since then, people have been wondering if that was a fluke. In 65 AHL games last year, Minard scored 32 goals, showing that he could be a legitimate sniper, at least at the AHL level. He will be a player to keep your eye on as he tries to make the coaches give him a long look before sending him down. It is doubtful that Minard can bust into the group trying to win the 13th forward spot, but don’t count him out. After training camp, keep an eye on his numbers in Wilkes-Barre. The team record for goals in a season is 31. If he repeats his performance from last year, the record could be his. If Filewich does not win an NHL spot this year, Minard and Filewich would form a deadly wing combination in the AHL.

C #57 Kyle Rank – 6’1, 185lbs
Rank had his first AHL experience last year as a late-season tryout with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, playing 10 games and scoring 2 goals and 2 assists along with 5 PIMs. After all of the offseason signings this year for the Wilkes-Barre team, I would count Rank as one of the first cuts from Pittsburgh. His purpose with the organization is as minor-league depth. Rank and Letestu will be fighting for the last forward spot in Wilkes-Barre.

C #41 Nathan Smith – 6’2, 206lbs
Smith was an offseason free agent signing from the Canucks organization. He was scoreless with no penalties in his one game with Vancouver this past year. The rest of the season was spent with the AHL’s Manitoba Moose, where he scored 19 goals, 21 assists, and earned 76 PIMs. If Tim Brent wins the NHL job, expect Smith to take the 3rd line center/penalty killer role that Stephen Dixon played well in Wilkes-Barre last year. He will most likely be a mid-camp cut.

LW #38 Jeff Taffe – 6’3, 207lbs
Taffe enters this camp as the biggest wild-card. He was a former first round pick who just never seemed to find his niche in the NHL. Taffe has size, but doesn’t use it much. He also showed a scorer’s touch at every level except the NHL. At 26 years old, he’s getting to the point in his career where he needs to start showing that he can reach his potential. Taffe scored 4 goals and 2 assists in 17 games with the Phoenix Coyotes and had a balanced 20 goals and 20 assists with the San Antonio Rampage of the AHL. If he has a great camp, he could break into the group fighting for the last forward spot in Pittsburgh. If not, his worst-case scenario is a mid-camp demotion to Wilkes-Barre, where he would compete for a 2nd line spot.

RW #63 Tim Wallace – 6’1, 207lbs
Wallace is entering his 2nd camp with the Penguins, so isn’t technically eligible for this list. However, I have included him because this is his first camp with an NHL contract. In his first professional season last year, he started in Wheeling but worked his way into a call-up to Wilkes-Barre and was one of the most consistent players among the bottom 2 lines. Because of that, he was given a two-year NHL contract by Pittsburgh in the offseason. Look for him to be demoted in the middle of camp, but watch for him next year as he could be competing for a 3rd or 4th line spot in the NHL. Wallace is a defensively responsible forward who will occasionally chip in some points. In Wilkes-Barre last year, he chipped in 5 goals and 9 assists in the 32 games he played.

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