Pens extend Joe Vitale for 2 years

Eric Politowski | Pittsburgh Penguins

Jan 26, 06:28 PM | Hype this story!

Andy Strickland has reported from his official Twitter page, that the Pittsburgh Penguins have extended center Joe Vitale for two more years.

His Faceoff-Factor profile can be found here

The contract will be a two-way deal, allowing him to be summoned from Wilkes-Barre and even battle possibly for a fourth line spot within two years.

Vitale, who the Pens drafted in 2005 (7th round) has played most of the year on the Baby Pens’ third line and penalty kill unit. He is known for his faceoff ability, blazing speed and blue collar style of play.

After three years at Northeastern University (NCAA), Vitale joined the farm team in Wilkes-Barre last season for the AHL Playoffs. He didn’t post any points in the post season, but in the five regular season games he played in he put up 4 points (2+2).

This season he has really impressed, and as a result was extended by general manager Ray Shero. This season, he has 19 points (4+15) and 40 PIM in 41 games played.

Fellow Baby Penguin Eric Tangradi was quoted saying that if Vitale hadn’t gone to the NCAA he would be “the next Sean Avery” by now.

Vitale definitely has the potential to fill an agitator/grinding role in the future for Pittsburgh.

Comments

  1. bag o' pucks

    Jan 26, 10:23 PM

    Hard-nosed player, not the biggest guy but no quit in him at all. Either a solid model for WB/S players or a guy could replace Craig Adams in another year or so, or both.

  2. Moq

    Jan 27, 08:10 AM

    Well, I like the fact that we have quite a few third and fourth line players from within the system. Some of them might even be capable of more.

  3. Matt Bodenschatz

    Jan 27, 11:08 AM

    What we’ve seen during the Ray Shero era of Penguin hockey is that having third/fourth line grinders wins games when the scoring lines aren’t producing. Craig Patrick had an amazing run in Pittsburgh that was skewed by a poor last few years — but even in his prime, Patrick never showed an interest in creating gritty bottom lines.

    It would be great to have top-notch scoring prospects in the AHL, but having top-notch agitators, grinders, penalty killers, etc waiting to step in certainly is a nice consolation.

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