Faceoff Factor

WBS Penguins' Contribution to Pittsburgh

Kyle Dreibelbies | WBS "Baby" Penguins

Jan 29, 06:30 PM | Hype this story!

If you were to take a shot each time the words ‘AHL’ or ‘Wilkes-Barre’ were used during any recent Pittsburgh Penguins game, you would most likely die of alcohol poisoning by the end of the second period. How much has the NHL’s top development league helped to support the superstars? You may be surprised to see.

Here’s a look at the amount of AHL experience each Pittsburgh Penguin has served:

FORWARDS:

C Sidney Crosby, C Evgeni Malkin, C Jordan Staal – 0 AHL games

RW Colby Armstrong – played over 250 AHL games for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, scoring 129 points.

C Kris Beech – the Penguins’ newest acquisition has played in 229 AHL games, most of them for the WBS Penguins, scoring at nearly a point per game in the AHL

C Erik Christensen – 97 points and a +16 rating in 141 career AHL games, all for the Baby Penguins.

RW Jonathan Filewich – 92 points in over 150 games with WBS. Also maintained a +18 career rating in the AHL

C Tyler Kennedy – Held a point per game pace in 50 AHL games with Wilkes-Barre.

RW Georges Laraque – We have to go back a little farther for this one. BGL scored 78 points and piled up 426 PIMs in 144 AHL games in the Edmonton farm system.

LW Ryan Malone – played 3 games for WBS after graduating from college. 1 assist and a -1 rating in those 3 games.

LW Jarkko Ruutu – Everybody’s favorite Penguin agitator played for the Syracuse Crunch in his first North American season, compiling a very complete statsheet filled with 58 points, +33 rating and 164 PIMs in 64 AHL games.

RW Petr Sykora – After being drafted by New Jersey, Sykora spent 50 games in the AHL, scoring 55 points in those games.

C Jeff Taffe – 157 points in 227 AHL games with a number of different teams. Most recently, he started the year in Wilkes-Barre as part of a successful attempt to get to the NHL again.

C Maxime Talbot – 55 points and 144 PIMs in 122 games in Wilkes-Barre.

Other callups from Wilkes-Barre this year included Nathan Smith, Tim Brent, Chris Minard, Ryan Stone, and Connor James.

DEFENSEMEN:

D Darryl Sydor – 0 games in the AHL

D Sergei Gonchar – spent 1 year with the Portland Pirates of the AHL, compiling a +39 rating along with 42 points in only 61 games.

D Kris Letang – a short ten game stint in the AHL before his promotion to Pittsburgh, mostly just to show he is ready for the NHL callup.

D Alain Nasreddine – Nas has piled up 659 career AHL games with a number of organizations, including parts of 5 seasons in Wilkes-Barre.

D Brooks Orpik – just over 150 AHL games in the Pittsburgh organization.

D Robert Scuderi – over 300 AHL games after being drafted by Pittsburgh.

D Ryan Whitney – 55 points while playing the blueline for the Baby Penguins in 89 games.

D Ryan Lannon was also called up, but did not dress for a game.

GOALIES:

G Ty Conklin – 99 career AHL games for different organizations, with a 2.74 GAA and .914 save %. Recently played with Wilkes-Barre before getting his callup to Pittsburgh

G Dany Sabourin – 2.44 GAA and .914 save % along with a 64-51-12 record for Wilkes-Barre and the St. John’s Flames.

G Marc-Andre Fleury – 66 games in Wilkes-Barre, often playing along with Sabourin. MAF sported a 36-21-4 record along with .909 save % and 2.33 GAA.

It’s amazing to look back on the fact that only 4 of the players on the Pittsburgh roster have not played in the AHL, most of them in the Penguins’ organization. Keep your eye on the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins as they continue to develop the supporting cast for the Pittsburgh Penguins.