CRANBERRY, Pa. -- With so few high draft picks in recent years, the Penguins have frequently turned to the undrafted free agent market to bolster their prospect pool.
The Penguins invited five undrafted free agents to this week's prospect development camp at the Lemieux Complex, and the two most intriguing prospects of the bunch are two products from Western Michigan University.
They are defenseman Aidan Fulp, who was a sophomore last season, and forward Max Sasson, who is coming off of his freshman year.
Both players are expected to return to Western Michigan for next season, so they won't be signing a contract and turning pro just yet. But it's not uncommon for undrafted prospects to impress in this setting and sign a contract with the Penguins in the future when they are ready to make the jump to pro hockey.
Fulp and Sasson are looking to be two of the latest undrafted free agents to earn entry-level contracts with the Penguins.
Fulp is intriguing because he checks a couple of boxes for the Penguins. There's a dearth of quality right-handed defense prospects in the Penguins' system, and Fulp is a righty. The Penguins are also looking to add some size to the backend of the prospect pool (as evidenced by their selections of Owen Pickering and Nolan Collins in the draft), and Fulp brings some significant size at 6-foot-3, 210 pounds.
The Penguins scouted Fulp throughout his sophomore year, and extended an invite to the development camp while the season was ongoing. Though only in his second season of college hockey, Fulp had a big role for the Broncos this season, and primarily played on the left side of Western Michigan's top pairing alongside Flyers prospect Ronnie Attard, and saw time on the power play and penalty kill as well. He played big minutes on that top pairing, and his average ice time of 23:37 per game ranked fifth among all NCHC players. He was frequently deployed against opponents' top lines, and tried to bring an edge to his game in that role.
"I'm a big, right-handed D-man who can who can skate and move the puck," Fulp told me of his style of play. "When I'm playing my best is when I'm playing with a little bit more of an edge and more of a physical side and just not letting the other teams' top lines score. I think I can play those big minutes, special teams. When I'm playing my best, it's more defensive with an edge."
Fulp said he likes to watch a number of two-way defensemen around the NHL, and looks up to players like Josh Manson and Brian Dumoulin specifically.
"I really like the way they play," he said. "They're a little more gritty and can shut down the game, but can also do well on offense and help the team that way. I think just watching those two-way guys who make that great first pass and can get their feet off the ice as well as defend the other team's rush as soon as they can are guys I look up to."
Fulp contributed offensively in his sophomore season, and ranked No. 3 in scoring among Western Michigan defensemen with two goals and 11 assists in 34 games.
As Fulp heads back to college and looks to win a national championship, he's going to focus on improving his skating and his quick transitions in his own game.
EDDIE PROVIDENT / DKPS
Max Sasson in Thursday's development camp scrimmage.
Sasson is coming off of his freshman season, and he had a slower start to his college career, recording just two goals and an assist through his first 18 games of the season. His production picked up in the second half of the year, and went a point-per-game with seven goals and 12 assists in the final 19 games of the season. The Penguins had been watching Sasson throughout the year, and it was after that midseason mark in January that they began seriously talking to him and eventually invited him to development camp.
Sasson started out the year as the Broncos' fourth-line center, and was elevated to second-line center at midseason after Broncos captain Paul Washe was removed from the team following criminal sexual conduct charges.
One of Sasson's wingers on the second line was Ty Glover, an undrafted forward who was signed to an entry-level contract by the Penguins in March. Sasson credited his increased role with playing a part in turning his season around.
"It was really hard at the beginning, it was definitely challenging," he told me. "I wasn't playing as much, and then I got bumped up to the second line midway through the year and just took off with that. I had great linemates, Glover was actually on my line and Jason Polin. We did really well toward the end of the year, definitely some confidence going into summer and next year."
Sasson didn't think he changed much with his own game that led to that turnaround, rather he just started seeing more minutes, more power play time, and luck just started going his way more.
"I think I was playing well in the first half, pucks were maybe not going in," he said. "I didn't change much, just started to bury some pucks and my linemates started scoring too."
Sasson, who is listed at 6-foot-1 and 181 pounds, says that his 200-foot game is one of the big strengths of his game, as well as his transition game and his sound positioning.
Sasson and Fulp's Western Michigan teammate, Glover, will be turning pro next season with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton after two years of college hockey with the Broncos. He thinks it's not long before his two teammates join him in the pro ranks.
"(Sasson) is an unbelievable player, centerman, just a year or two away from signing an NHL deal, he's pretty awesome out here," Glover said. "Fulp, another absolute great player, a shutdown defenseman. He's the same thing, another year or two away from signing NHL deal in my opinion."
The Penguins' prospect pool is extremely shallow relative to the rest of the league, and they're going to have to restock that depth in the coming years. Fulp and Sasson are going to be two players to keep an eye on over the next year or so, as they could potentially be a way to increase the depth of the Penguins' system in the future.
