Development camp report: Penguins have more young talent 'than the hockey world realizes'

CRANBERRY, Pa. -- The Penguins wrapped up their annual development camp with a scrimmage at the Lemieux Complex on Tuesday.

With only four days of practices, it's hard to say that any of these players made any major strides on the ice, or massively improved their place in the organizational depth chart in this camp alone.

That wasn't exactly the main goal of this camp, though.

As director of player development Scott Young explained after Tuesday's scrimmage, the focuses of this camp were to get the young players acclimated to being in the Penguins' organization and set them up to be comfortable entering the main NHL training camp.

Of the 24 players who attended development camp, 21 are currently scheduled to attend training camp when on-ice sessions begin Thursday.

"We'll see more when it really gets into the main camp," Young said. "You know, this was a combination of rookie camp and development camp, we kind of called it a hybrid between those two, because we haven't been able to have our last two development camps. So we wanted to get these guys in early, get them used to the facilities, get them accustomed to what we do here. So they'll have a better chance and feel better going into main camp."

The Penguins' development camp process encompasses more than just the skills work, practices, or scrimmages that we see on the ice. Off the ice, players participate in off-ice educational sessions and meetings with the coaching staff. When Young was asked about his main takeaways from this group of players after camp, he pointed to what he saw from those players in those off-ice settings.

"We love the work ethic," Young said. "They're great kids. Everything that we've brought them through, whether it's on the ice, whether it's off the ice through meetings, we try to educate them in a bunch of different ways. And it's been a really receptive group that asks questions. They're sponges, they want to learn. And that's nice. But sometimes when you get around a big group as a player, and you're around a bunch of strange players, you're afraid to ask questions, or you're afraid to get involved. And this has been an excellent group, as far as that goes."

Young acknowledged that most of the players who attended development camp won't be pushing for an roster spot when the NHL season starts, though he called some of the young forwards like Samuel Poulin and Nathan Legare "close" to competing for a spot. But Young added that the Penguins have "more (young players) than people realize" who could compete for NHL time, namely Drew O'Connor, Kasper Bjorkqvist, Radim Zohorna and P.O Joseph.

"Yeah, we were not loaded with a bunch of first-round picks and a bunch of second-round picks," Young said. "But I think there's more than the hockey world realizes that we have."

MORE FROM DEVELOPMENT CAMP

• Team Black used the following lines and pairings in the scrimmage:

Sam Poulin - Jonathan Gruden - Valtteri Puustinen
Shaw Boomhower - Felix Robert - Kyle Olson

Cam Lee - Ryan McCleary
Niclas Almari - Dylan MacPherson

• Team Gold used this lineup:

Justin Almeida - Lukas Svejkovsky - Josh Williams
Filip Hallander - Sam Houde - Nathan Legare

Chris Merisier-Ortiz - Will Reilly
Isaac Belliveau - Josh Maniscalco

• The three goaltenders -- Filip Lindberg, Brett Brochu, Tommy Nappier -- all rotated throughout the scrimmage. 

• With only enough skaters for two forward lines and two defense pairings per team, it wasn't a full game-like scrimmage. The scrimmage started out five-on-five, with play being stopped and the lines/pairings being swapped out every two minutes. No goals were scored in five-on-five.

• After five-on-five, several players went through a shootout. Lindberg stopped Sam Poulin, Valtteri Puustinen, and Jonathan Gruden, while Brochu stopped Justin Almeida, Josh Williams and Nathan Legare. 

• Teams played three-on-three after the shootout. Defenseman Will Reilly scored twice. Defenseman Cam Lee and forward Josh Williams each scored goals.

• Lindberg stopped Poulin and Felix Robert on breakaways during the scrimmage, and had a really strong game overall.

• After three-on-three, each skater went through another shootout. Puustinen scored the first goal of that portion: 

• I thought Filip Hallander's speed was noticeable in this setting.

• Robert's ability to win puck battles despite his size (5-9, 180), also stood out here.

• Young spoke about P.O Joseph and what he needs to do in order to become an NHL regular.

"It's going to be that consistency," he said. "That mental consistency too, it's not just the physical consistency. We saw how well he did when he was up last year. So, not that he's going to be at that peak at all times. But to be a consistent pro, you've got to mentally be focused and be able to do that day-in and day-out. That's something that he's really, really close. I think everybody can sense that. So we'll see how it plays out."

• Sidney Crosby skated on his own on the Lemieux Complex's second sheet of ice during the scrimmage.

• A large group comprised of many of the NHL players in town and some AHL/depth players took part in an informal skate after development camp ended. Andy Chiodo worked with Tristan Jarry and Casey DeSmith, while goaltending development coaches Kain Tisi and Charles Grant worked with Louis Domingue and Alex D'Orio.

• Jarry debuted his new mostly-black pads:

PENGUINS_EQUIPMENT / INSTAGRAM

• Kris Letang cut his man-bun. His hair is short again.