Pierre-Olivier Joseph, the Penguins' top defense prospect, just seems to have a great outlook on life.
Joseph, who turned 21 this week, is one of the players who have returned to Pittsburgh to take part in the Penguins' informal skates at the UPMC Lemieux Complex as part of Phase 2 of the NHL's return-to-play plan.
Joseph arrived in Pittsburgh last Friday and has already skated a few times with the group since returning.
"It's fun to come back and get back to work," Joseph told me this week. "It was fun to be back home with the family and stay safe and see friends here and there, but I feel like everyone was missing (hockey). I'm happy to have the chance to come here and be with my teammates and practice to get ready for camp. It's fun to be back and be practicing again."
It's not a given yet that Joseph will be on the Penguins' expanded roster as a Black Ace if the season restarts. Training camps are expected to have a roster limit of 30 skaters, with that number being trimmed down to 28 skaters once teams move into their hub cities for actual games. Right now, Joseph is just taking things day-by-day, which isn't unlike his outlook on everything since the AHL season shut down in March.
"Right now the only thing we're thinking about is practicing and getting our days in and work done," he said. "We'll see what the future holds. I feel like I've been having that mentality, not giving ourselves expectations with what's going on in the world. At home, people were asking questions about when restaurants are going to open back up again. I was just, 'Whenever it's going to open, it's going to open.' For now I'm just focused on working and having fun with the guys."
"The guys" includes fellow French Canadian prospects Samuel Poulin and Alex D'Orio, young players also looking to be on the Penguins' expanded roster if the season restarts. The group of players in which Joseph has been skating also includes some older players -- like Zach Trotman or Chad Ruhwedel -- who have been in a Black Ace role like this several times in their careers and can give advice to the rookies in camp.
"I feel like everyday is a learning experience," Joseph said. "The guys who are the Black Aces here who are older than us have been Black Aces in the past and have played in NHL games. It's a lot of learning from them and being here as young people we can learn from them. It's a big taking in of experience."
Joseph said that he was able to skate a little in Montreal last week before coming to Pittsburgh, but he's mostly kept in shape by doing home workouts over the last few months with running, bodyweight exercises or some light weights. The past few months haven't been too unlike a normal offseason, and this current phase isn't that unlike a normal start to training camp.
"I think at first it was just regular time off, spend time with the family," he said. "I couldn't really get out of the house so I was mostly in the house, getting rest. I think it's important that everyone takes a second to cool down after the season. After, it was basically a start again. I think it's just fun to come back on the ice feel the chest burning from skating a lot, get the legs going a little bit, and having fun on the ice as well."
Joseph made great strides on the ice this season, his first season of professional hockey. His year started off a little bumpy -- he caught mononucleosis after six games with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and missed nearly a month as he recovered. After starting the year at 6-foot-3, 175 pounds, he lost 10 pounds while battling mono, 10 pounds that he was able to regain with the help of Wilkes-Barre's strength coaches after returning.
When Wilkes-Barre held its midseason physical testing, head coach Mike Vellucci told me that Joseph showed the most growth in his leg strength since the start of the season, even if that growth wasn't reflected on the scale.
"That, to me, proves that it didn’t matter that he was the same weight as he started, because he got stronger,” Vellucci said.
Joseph said that leg strength was especially a focus of his this season, given the speed and the strength in skating in the pro game compared to what he was normally up against in juniors.
"Coming back from mono, I had to work a lot and be in the gym a lot to come back and be strong," Joseph said. "I think (leg strength) is something that I'm working on, and I saw the difference with the speed between the QMJHL and pro hockey. That's something everyone needs to improve. I made that important this year."
Even with the growth Joseph showed with his strength, some fans or people in the media still put a lot of focus on weight when talking about Joseph. Yes, he's still pretty lanky. Vellucci, though, is tired of that being the focus.
“One of the conversations I’ve had with (Joseph) is that everyone always wants to talk about his weight,” Vellucci told me in March. “To me, some people are never going to have weight. But what he can have is strength. He gets stronger. There are guys who don’t weigh a lot who are wiry strong. I told him early on in the season that I really don’t want to talk about his weight at all, I’m tired of everyone talking about his weight.”
Joseph is on the same page.
"I feel like I've heard it so many times that I'm starting to get annoyed with it," he said of people focusing on his weight. "We all grow different. We all have different bodies. That's just how I'm going to be. I'm not trying to not gain weight, that's what people need to understand. That's just the way it is, the way I am. I mean, I'm still young. I'm 21. I think I have time to put a couple of pounds on me, but not everybody is going to be the perfect size of 6-foot-3, 6-foot-4, 215 and be in perfect shape. It's what I am, I just embrace it."
For much of Wilkes-Barre's season, Joseph was playing on the top defense pairing, playing big minutes in a big role. He finished the year with three goals and 14 assists in 52 games. At the end of the season, Vellucci told me that he believed Joseph would "do a good job, for sure" if he's called upon for NHL time next season.
“I even thought this year, with the strides he’s made, he could be a call-up," Vellucci added. "I’m not trying to rush him to the NHL, but can he fill in for games? Since Christmas on, I think yes, he’s shown tremendous growth.”
Joseph is hoping to get that call next season, but for now, he's just taking things day-by-day and not looking too far ahead.
"This year I was really focused on how I could help the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins to win," he said. "That was my main goal. If I have to go back there for a full season, that's what it would be, it would be fine. I'm not putting expectations on getting called up for the upcoming season. If it comes, it comes. I would be really happy to be there, but if it doesn't I need to stay here and help the team win."
