Development camp: Takeaways from scrimmage to close camp

CRANBERRY, Pa. -- The Penguins' five-day development camp wrapped up on Thursday with a 4-on-4 scrimmage between two teams of prospects at the Lemieux Complex.

Team Gold, coached by director of player development Tom Kostopoulos, won the scrimmage over Team Black by a 5-3 margin. The Gold goals came from defenseman Chris Ortiz, forward Lukas Svejkovsky, forward Tristan Broz, defenseman Daniel Laatsch and forward Corey Andonovski, while Team Black goals came from forward Ty Glover (2) and defenseman Nolan Collins.

Kostopoulos, working his first camp in his new role since being promoted from development coach, spoke about the real importance of an event like this following the game.

"I think it went really well," he said. "It was fun to do a development camp after everything that everyone's been through the last few years, it was fun to be able to bring these guys in here, they could meet each other, meet the staff, see the facilities, learn a few things and compete together. It was really nice to see the players come together as the week went on."

As these prospects go back home to get ready for their college seasons in the minors, or junior leagues, colleges, or European countries, Kostopoulos thinks that the connections made at a camp like this has the players better prepared to take the next steps in their development.

"It's basically letting them know that there's all these resources, there's a team of people here for them," he said. "We'll do anything we can to help them develop and reach the potential as a hockey player and young men, Just work hard, get ready for camp, whether it's junior college, Europe, or here. We really like players that compete. So it's just telling them and then showing them the compete level that's necessary to play for the Pittsburgh Penguins."

MORE FROM CAMP

• Kostopoulos was asked which prospects from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (who didn't participate in this camp) are ready to take the next step and make it to the NHL.

"P.O Joseph, I think is NHL-ready," he said. "I think he can help this team. He's a great kid. He's a great teammate. He's a heck of a player. I'm excited about his camp. I think (Filip) Hallander showed us he can play in the NHL. He was relied on in every situation in Wilkes and he's a guy that coaches can trust, just no matter the time or score, whatever is going on in the game. Those two stand out."

• Goaltender Filip Lindberg (ankle injury) didn't play in the scrimmage, neither did forward Jordan Frasca. This was the only day Frasca missed, not sure what may have happened to him. Lindberg skated with Casey DeSmith on the second sheet of ice at the Lemieux Complex instead of scrimmaging. The Penguins had a set schedule for Lindberg as he rehabs from his ankle injury and wasn't a full participant in every session each day.

• These were the rosters used: 

• Svejkovsky (fourth round, 2020) was one of the biggest standouts of the scrimmage and the entire week, really. He's just so skilled and has great hands. He was able to use his speed to create two breakaways for himself and converted on one of them. Still, I'd expect him to spend likely the full year in Wilkes-Barre. He's 5-foot-10 and 165 pounds. The organization wants him to get bigger and stronger.

• Laatsch (seventh round, 2021) had the goal of the game, and it stood to be the game-winner for Team Gold. He cut through the slot and ripped a shot that went bar-down.

• AHL-contracted defenseman Clay Hanus nearly had a goal for Team Black in the second half but rang it off the crossbar.

• I thought the two Western Michigan undrafted invites -- center Max Sasson and defenseman Aidan Fulp -- looked good in the scrimmage. Sasson had a couple of assists, both he and Fulp looked to be pretty physical. Sasson might have had the hardest hit of the game, hitting Andonovski in the corner in the second half. 

• No real takeaways from the goaltending, it's tough in a setting like this. Taylor Gauthier and Tommy Nappier split the game for Team Gold, Joel Blomqvist and free agent invite Nolan Lalonde split the net for Team Black. Blomqvist let in two goals on the softer side, but this is also a mid-July prospect scrimmage after he spent the last few weeks off the ice doing his mandatory military service in Finland. It doesn't mean anything.

• Aside from his breakaway goal, Andonovski stood out during the scrimmage. Good skater, physical, really heavy shot.

• I'll have more on Glover in a separate story in the coming days, but he was another standout. Pretty fast, hard on the forecheck, physical. His first goal came off the rush when he just flew up the left side of the ice and blew past a couple of guys. His other came when Nappier got caught out of position after making an initial save, Glover dropped to one knee and had a wide-open net in front of him as Nappier tried to make a diving save.

• Speaking of Nappier, I caught up with him after the scrimmage for a bit. He took over as the No. 1 for Wilkes-Barre in the playoffs last season, something he called a "confidence-booster" entering this coming season. With Gauthier and Lindberg being rookies next season, as well as veteran Dustin Tokarski coming in to be the No. 3 goaltender, it'll be a challenge for Nappier to earn regular starts in the AHL. It's a challenge he's embracing.

"It's good to have more competition and compete," he said. "It makes you makes you compete harder every day and I'm just going to give it the best I can every day."

• In case you missed it, I spoke to forward Raivis Ansons (fifth round, 2020) and his junior team's general manager for this story on Ansons as he prepares for his first pro season. Everything I've heard or seen from Ansons -- his playing style, his demeanor in the locker room, his work ethic, his Latvian origins -- makes me think they found a way to clone Teddy Blueger and turned him into a winger. Ansons' GM called him a "coach's dream," and that feels like an understatement. Kostopoulos was asked about Ansons and it sounds like he could have talked about the kid for hours if they let him.

"Yeah, I might need more time to talk about him," Kostopoulos said. "He's a special kid. I don't think Raivis knows how good of a hockey player he is. He was a huge part of the Saint John Sea Dogs Memorial Cup champion team. Some people don't give them enough credit because of the way they won it (as the host city). But those are the rules and they won it, fair and square. They had a four-week training camp getting ready for it and then won it. And he does things on the ice that don't always get noticed but are essential to winning. He makes little plays with the puck, he makes wall plays, he's defensive. You don't see many kids that are his age block pucks the way he does. He just does all these little things well, kills penalties, he plays on the power play. I'm really excited about Raivis. I don't even remember what your question was, but I went on."

• Kostopoulos had high praise for Broz, too, after Broz scored a sick top-shelf goal from the slot in the scrimmage.

"He's a good kid," Kostopoulos said. "He can be misunderstood. He's got a lot of offensive ability and talent. I don't know if you saw the goal he scored there, but just the play he made in tight with his hands, and then to get the shot off was pretty special. It was a difficult year for him. You know, he decided to change things up. And I think he's in a good spot now going to Denver. Really excited about him and his future and I'm really glad he's in Pittsburgh."

• For the brand-new prospects like first-round pick Owen Pickering, the main benefit from a week like this was just having the staff get to know him off the ice.

"He really came in with an open mind," Kostopoulos said. "He wants to learn, he wants information. That's the best thing you can ask for with a young prospect. I think he understands that it's a path, and we're going to help him, he's open to learning. So it's been really fun to get to know him, see a little bit of his game. The on-ice stuff will be important as we move on. But this week, it was really fun just to get to know him as a person."

• On Wednesday the Penguins put the prospects through firefighter training. Kostopoulos mentioned that Glover was a "beast" in the training, but Fulp looked to be the standout from the video the Penguins put out. He was a little too strong for the hammer:

• A couple of the prospects' parents made the trip down to Cranberry to watch them in this camp, I got to meet a couple of them throughout the week. Cool to see them that excited for something like this. 

• Former Steeler Brett Keisel was in the locker room with his kids after the scrimmage and just looked like he was loving being there, he was wide-eyed and had the biggest smile on his face the whole time.

• Today was the last day of camp, but Danny Shirey and I still have several more prospect features in the bank that we'll be rolling out over the next little while here. Here's the rest of our coverage from the week, in case you missed any of it: 

• Physicality, clearing crease is Nolan Collins' 'bread and butter'
• Santeri Airola healthy, 'feeling really good' after injury-plagued seasons
• Luke Devlin embraces physicality, uses size to his advantage
• Tristan Broz learns valuable lessons in freshman year
• Hard to ignore Owen Pickering's self-confidence, leadership qualities
• 'Coach's dream' Raivis Ansons brings strong defensive play, championship pedigree
• Penguins 'extremely excited' about goaltending depth
• Jordan Frasca looks to get faster
• Free agents Aidan Fulp, Max Sasson look to earn deals
• Lukas Svejkovsky trending upward ahead of pro debut