One of the storylines in training camp for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton was just the sheer depth at defense, with a lot of players competing for a handful of spots.
Wilkes-Barre is currently carrying 10 defensemen, and most of them are left-handed. They have seven left-handed defensemen in P.O Joseph, Juuso Riikola, Niclas Almari, Matt Bartkowski, Cam Lee, Chris Bigras and Chris Merisier-Ortiz, and three right-handed defensemen in Taylor Fedun, Will Reilly, and Mitch Reinke.
"I think it's going to be a competitive position," head coach J.D. Forrest said of the defense during camp. "But it does mean for tough decisions for us, it makes for daily competition for our players. And all those are good problems to have. ... It may very well be that we have some guys that spent some time here last year see ice time and Wheeling, and maybe not. We'll just see how it plays out and kind of let the competition speak for itself."
Since then, they've sent one of those defensemen in Josh Maniscalco down to Wheeling for playing time.
The competition on Wilkes-Barre's blue line is still tight.
Something a player can do to make himself stand out on the crowded blue line is have the ability to play on his off side on a pairing, giving the team more options when it comes to where he can play. In the season opener on Saturday, Riikola, Bartkowski, and Almari dressed on the left side. Fedun was the natural righty playing on the right side, and Lee and Bigras played on their off sides.
In Sunday's 4-1 loss to the Charlotte Checkers, Joseph, Riikola, and Almari lined up on the left side. Lee remained on his off side, while Bartkowski was shifted to his off side.
"Some guys thrive on their off side, it is a different look," Forrest said of the makeup of the defense after the game. "It's just the way we made up the lineup today. It could change the next game, but we just felt that for the day that was our six best defensemen. Throughout the season I'm sure it'll change quite a bit."
Bartkowski has experience playing on the right side, doing so during his time in Vancouver in the NHL and then again last season with Iowa in the AHL. Lee hasn't ever played on the right side at the professional level -- though he did briefly play on the right side in Pittsburgh's training camp -- and I'm not sure that he has experience there in college.
"Cam's handled that really well," Forrest said of the move. "He can move, he sees the ice. I think he's done a nice job of adjusting to that, and it's another tool that he can have as far as being an option in different areas of the of the game here. If you get too many left-handed guys, he can play his off side and that's valuable because righties are harder to find."
As an offensive defenseman, there are times when Lee playing on his off side could help him, because his stick would be pointing up toward the middle of the ice rather than along the boards. There's still a trade-off, though, and that's perhaps more pronounced with Lee, whose focus since turning pro has been learning the risk-reward balance of being an offensive defenseman
"When you do get those passes up on the point you're you're able to walk the line a little easier, you can see things," Forrest said of Lee being on his off side. "You don't have to pull it as hard off the wall. It works both ways. But it works both ways, because when it's rimmed around, you've got to pick it up on your backhand. But if you get that tape-to-tape pass, you can take some steps in the middle of the ice and start seeing things down around the net and make some moves to give yourself a lane. So when he gets those plays, then yeah, I think it's just nice to see the ice from that vantage point. But when you're trying to keep pucks in on your backhand, that's when it gets a little bit more difficult. So it just depends on the situation that you're that you put in."
For a defense prospect in the system, the path to the NHL would seem to be more open on the right side, with Brian Dumoulin, Mike Matheson, and Marcus Pettersson on the left side, Kris Letang, John Marino, and Chad Ruhwedel on the right, and Mark Friedman being a natural righty who seems to prefer being on the left side.
As Forrest said, the makeup of the defense will likely "change quite a bit" as the season progresses. But if Lee can grow comfortable on the right side of the ice, that's just another tool in his toolbox that could be a deciding factor in his push for a spot in Pittsburgh.
MORE FROM THE GAME
• Joseph was re-assigned to Wilkes-Barre earlier in the day and made it there in time for the game. He skated on the top defense pairing alongside Fedun and worked on the top penalty-killing unit. His three shots on goal tied two other players for the team lead.
• With Joseph entering the lineup, AHL-contracted defenseman Bigras was the odd man out from last game. The only other changes to the group of skaters was Felix Robert replacing Jan Drozg at forward.
• Tommy Nappier started in goal with Alex D'Orio backing up, after Nappier backed up Filip Lindberg in Saturday's season opener. Nappier made 28 saves on 31 shots in the loss.
"He's just been consistently solid," Forrest said of Nappier. "I thought he played really well tonight, I don't think we helped him out very much. I thought they did a good job of getting traffic around him. He had to fight through some things we gave up, some turnovers that we shouldn't have that lead to some breakdowns and some really good opportunities for a couple tips, a power play goal. He played really well."
• Wilkes-Barre's lone goal came late in the third period on a power play. Forrest pulled Nappier in favor of the extra attacker, giving Wilkes-Barre a 6-on-4 advantage. The extra man he sent out there was Robert, and the decision paid off with Robert getting what ended up being the game's only goal for the Penguins:
I asked Forrest what led to the decision to send Robert out there as the extra man, given that there were some more proven goal-scorers sitting on the bench.
"Just hounding pucks," he said. "He's got a knack for stealing pucks. So I thought, you know, we need to get the puck. *laughs* ... I thought that'd be a good situation to put him in. We probably would have liked to pull the goalie earlier, we just couldn't get it down in their end. They did nice job of preventing us from doing that."
• Vallteri Puustinen and Riikola got the assists on Robert's goal. It was Puustinen's second point of the season after scoring in the opener, and Riikola's second point of the season after assisting on Puustinen's season-opening goal.
• Goaltender Louis Domingue and forward Anthony Angello both didn't dress in the first two games of the season. Forrest said today that they're both day-to-day with lower-body injuries, "nothing too crazy but something that needs to be monitored for now."
• When Angello was a late scratch for the opener, the forward who got into the lineup in his place was Sam Houde, signed to an AHL contract out of the QMJHL this offseason. Houde stayed in the lineup for this game.
"He had a really strong camp both in Pittsburgh and here," Forrest said of Houde. "It has you wondering, what exactly can we get him in now that we're in the regular season in the American League. You see some of the spots where we really need to emphasize with him. It's actually good from a teaching standpoint, hopefully. He seems like a quick learner, he picks up on some of these things. We can watch his game progress as the season goes."
• The top power play unit was Riikola, Sam Poulin, Nathan Legare, Puustinen, Radim Zohorna.
• The second power play unit was Lee Jonathan Gruden, Michael Chaput, Jordy Bellerive, Kasper Bjorkqvist.
• The first penalty-killing unit was Joseph, Fedun, Bellerive, Gruden
• The second penalty-killing unit was Almari, Bartkowski, Bjorkqvist, Chaput
• Wilkes-Barre went 1-for-3 on the power play and 1-for-2 on the penalty kill.
• Bjorkqvist stood out on the penalty kill with a couple of big hits and plays like this to break up passes:
• Mike Sullivan said during training camp that Zohorna still needed to get his conditioning up to in-season form, something he noted sometimes just takes longer for bigger guys. Zohorna is skating hard down in Wilkes-Barre, like in this rush up ice late in the game that drew a penalty from Charlotte:
• Poulin already has his first pro point after assisting on Puustinen's goal in the opener, but he's still looking for his first goal. He had a number of good opportunities in this game and had three shots on goal, including this shot off of a great pass from Zohorna:
• Filip Hallander is still looking for his first shot on goal after two games.
• The Checkers have a joint affiliation deal with both the Panthers and Kraken for this season, after which the Kraken will get their own affiliate. As part of the affiliation agreement, the Panthers supply the head coach for the Checkers, while the Kraken supply the assistant coach. The Checkers' assistant coach is Dan Bylsma, who returned to Wilkes-Barre for a game for the first time since the 2008-09 season, when he served as Wilkes-Barre's head coach until he was promoted to Pittsburgh midseason.
• In Saturday's season opener, Katie Guay became the first woman to officiate an AHL game when she served as referee. Guay is one of 10 women hired by the AHL as either referees or linespersons for this season. I asked Forrest about being a part of the first of such games.
"She's got quite the career as an official and as a former player," Forrest said. "So it was nice to be a part of. It's great, now we have an opportunity for more competition in these referee spots. And I'm all for that, get the best ones out there. So I thought she did a fantastic job, and it was neat to be a part of."
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Scoreboard
• Standings
• Statistics
THE THREE STARS
As selected at Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza
1. Joey Daccord, Checkers
2. Lucas Carlsson, Checkers
3. Alex True, Checkers
THE HIGHLIGHTS
THE INJURIES
• Goaltender Louis Domingue is day-to-day with a lower-body injury.
• Forward Anthony Angello is day-to-day with a lower-body injury.
THE LINEUPS
Forrest's lines and pairings:
Sam Poulin - Radim Zohorna - Valtteri Puustinen
Filip Hallander - Michael Chaput - Jonathan Gruden
Kasper Bjorkqvist - Jordy Bellerive - Nathan Legare
Felix Robert - Sam Houde - Jamie Devane
P.O Joseph - Taylor Fedun
Juuso Riikola - Cam Lee
Niclas Almari - Matt Bartkowski
And for Geordie Kinnear's Checkers:
Maxim Mamin - Zac Dalpe - Aleksi Heponiemi
Max McCormick - Alex True - Logan Hutsko
Scott Wilson - Luke Henman - Grigori Denisenko
Carsen Twarynski - Cole Schwindt - Serron Noel
Gustav Olofsson - Cale Fleury
Max Gildon - Connor Carrick
Lucas Carlsson - Chase Priske
THE SCHEDULE
The Penguins will host the Hartford Wolf Pack on Friday at 7:05 p.m., then play the Phantoms in Lehigh Valley on Sunday at 3:05.
THE CONTENT
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