Zohorna brings more than just size

CRANBERRY, Pa. -- The Penguins' center depth is being tested.

With Evgeni Malkin out week-to-week and Teddy Blueger out longer-term, the Penguins' four centers in the last pair of games have been Sidney Crosby, Jared McCann, Mark Jankowski, and Freddy Gaudreau, the latter being called up from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton earlier in the month.

One more center who is looking to take advantage of the opportunity is the 6-foot-6, 230-pound Czech forward Radim Zohorna.

Zohorna, 24, was recalled from Wilkes-Barre last week, and had his first full practice with the Penguins on Tuesday at the Lemieux Complex.

Zohorna is Wilkes-Barre's No. 2 leading scorer through his 11 games this season, scoring three goals and six assists. While he has experience playing as both center and wing in the Czech league, he's played exclusively second-line center in Wilkes-Barre in those 11 games. 

Wilkes-Barre head coach J.D. Forrest has praised the defensive side of Zohorna's game, and his ability to use his long reach to break up plays from the center of the ice.

"I've got the long hands and long stick so I try to be good on the ice," Zohorna said Tuesday.

He's a strong and agile skater, something that can't be said of many players his size. He has good hands, something he showed off in a shootout with Wilkes-Barre earlier in the season:

He exhibited those attributes in Tuesday's practice, and didn't look out of place in keeping up with the pace of the skate. This was the first Mike Sullivan has seen of Zohorna on the ice since training camp, and I asked what his impressions were of Zohorna after the practice session.

"I thought he did a really good job," Sullivan said. "He's got good hockey sense, he has real nice hands, he can make plays. For a guy that's as big as he is, he's a decent playmaker with the puck. I thought his pace was pretty good today. The tempo of the practice was high, and I thought he did a real good job of staying with the tempo."

Zohorna rotated with Anthony Angello for the last spot the second power play unit, taking considerably more reps than Angello did. He worked in a net-front role in all of his reps, which makes sense given his size. He played on Wilkes-Barre's top power play unit this season, but was positioned at the right circle, not at the net-front.

Mike Matheson, who also worked with the second power play unit, was impressed with what Zohorna brought to the ice in terms of his size.

"I definitely noticed him on the ice in camp and practices here," Matheson said. "It's hard to miss him with that size. I think he's a great player, obviously with his size and stuff. But his ability to control the puck and skate is pretty high-end as well. I think he can be a great presence on the ice."

Zohorna seems to be in a place where he's capable of stepping into a bottom-six NHL role, but he's needed those 11 games in Wilkes-Barre to get acclimated to the North American style of play.

"Right now it's better," he said of how he's handled the adjustment. "I had more games in Wilkes-Barre, so right now I think it's pretty good. It's still not as good as I want, but it's pretty good. In Europe, it's the big ice, so you have a lot of time. In the first few games I had a really big problem with the ice because players are so near by me. But now it's not so bad."

I asked Forrest about Zohorna adjusting to the style of play a few weeks ago, he spoke highly of Zohorna's work ethic and effort in trying to get as acclimated as quickly as possible.

"It's really different," Forrest told me. "There's a lot more ice out there, there's a little different pace, there's more set breakouts, set forechecks. (The North American style) is get up and go, quick transition, plays happen fast on the small ice. So it's going to take time to adjust, and I think he's done a great job. To his credit, he's asking for video, he's paying attention to his game, he's trying to figure out exactly what works for him here. It's a nice thing to see when he starts to connect the dots there."

If Zohorna plays, he'll have No. 67 on the back of his sweater, a number he clarified wasn't chosen because of it's proximity to Jaromir Jagr's No. 68. But he's definitely a fan of the former Czech Penguin. 

"He's a legend for everyone from the Czech Republic," he said.

Zohorna spoke of the Penguins' popularity in his home country because of the success of Jagr and other Czech players in Pittsburgh. He's hoping to be the next one in line.

"I'm glad to be here," he said. "I want to make the team and I want to play in the NHL like Petr Nedved and all those guys."

MORE FROM PRACTICE

• Brandon Tanev didn't practice. Sullivan said that he remains day-to-day with an upper-body injury.

• Jason Zucker skated alone with skills coach Ty Hennes in the morning in full gear. Sullivan said that the types of drills that Zucker is doing are advancing , and that his progress is encouraging.

• Mark Friedman skated with the taxi squad and is also making progress with his injury. Sullivan said that Friedman skating with the taxi squad rather than the main group like he had been doing previously wasn't due to any setbacks, but rather logistics so they wouldn't have too many defensemen on the ice.

• Evgeni Malkin's status still hasn't changed, he hasn't skated yet.

• The top power play was the same -- Sidney Crosby, Bryan Rust, Jake Guentzel, Kasperi Kapanen, and Kris Letang. 

• The second power play was Zohorna/Angello, Evan Rodrigues, Jared McCann, Matheson, and John Marino

• The top penalty-killing unit was Brian Dumoulin, Cody Ceci, with Sam Lafferty, Mark Jankowski, and Zach Aston-Reese rotating in as the two forwards.

• The second penalty-killing unit was Gaudreau, Colton Sceviour, Marcus Pettersson, and Juuso Riikola/Chad Ruhwedel rotating in the last spot.

• The second and third lines were shuffled around, with Aston-Reese and Rodrigues switching spots. 

Jake Guentzel-Sidney Crosby-Bryan Rust
Zach Aston-Reese-Jared McCann-Kasperi Kapanen
Evan Rodrigues-Mark Jankowski-Sam Lafferty
Colton Sceviour-Freddy Gaudreau/Radim Zohorna-Anthony Angello

Brian Dumoulin-Kris Letang
Mike Matheson-Cocy Ceci
Marcus Pettersson-John Marino
Juuso Riikola-Chad Ruhwedel

"It's hard to get a real assessment in one practice," Sullivan said of the switch. "Obviously we're looking for more contributions throughout our lineup and get a little bit of balance. I think if we were to put a guy like Zach up with Jared McCann and Kappy, he brings just brings a different dimension. He's more physical, he's stronger on the wall, I think he brings a heavier game, he can go to the net and the battle areas. It's just a little bit of a different look with Zach there versus Evan. We made that switch in practice today just to see what that would look like."

• Sullivan said that to his knowledge, no players or staff members have been vaccinated yet.  

• The NWHL playoffs will conclude Friday and Saturday. Tanev made a video message in support, and endorsed the Toronto Six for the Isobel Cup: