BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Forward prospect Matthew Wood grew up watching the Penguins.
He idolized Evgeni Malkin when he was young and continues wears No. 71 to this day at the University of Connecticut in honor of his childhood favorite player.
"I was always on the taller side," the 6-foot-4, 193-pound Wood told me with a grin at this week's scouting combine at the HarborCenter in Buffalo, N.Y. "(Malkin) is a really skilled, taller guy, and I really look up to him."
Wood, who is capable of playing both center and wing, said that he did interview with the Penguins' scouting staff at the combine. He thinks that it would be "really, really cool" if he were to get drafted by his childhood team in the first round at the draft on June 28 in Nashville, Tenn.
If the Penguins do select Wood with the 14th overall pick later this month, they wouldn't be getting a Malkin 2.0. A more apt comparison these days would be a Tage Thompson 2.0.
The comparisons between Wood and the Sabres' star center are inevitable.
UConn head coach Mike Cavanaugh would know better than anyone. He's been the coach of the Huskies since 2013, and coached Thompson when he came through the program from 2015-17. After coaching Wood through his freshman year this past season, he sees the parallels.
“I think the first time you see him play, you're going to say, ‘This is Tage Thompson,’ because he shoots the puck extremely well, he's in the same spot on the power play,” Cavanaugh told CT Insider. “He sees the ice well. He's not just a shooter. He has good feel. He can make a play and find and open guy. He's just got an uncanny knack on where to go with the puck.”
Thompson has a bit more size than Wood at 6 foot 6, 220 pounds. But NHL Central Scouting senior manager David Gregory sees the comparisons too, in terms of how both of the big forwards skate at their size.
"Both of (Thompson and Wood) are not going to look like the Energizer Bunny, having that quick twitch, but they've got the longer stride," Gregory told NHL.com. "Matthew thinks it well. He's got good edges. I think the power and strength will come."
I asked Wood on Saturday what he thinks sets him apart from other forward prospects in this draft class.
"I am a player that creates a lot of offense," he said. "I can score from anywhere and make good plays. I think that sets me apart, for sure."
Wood showed that scoring ability this year as a freshman at UConn, despite being the youngest player in all of college hockey this season. He broke into UConn as a 17-year-old freshman, not turning 18 until this past February.
Wood is Canadian, from Lethbridge, Alberta. He was drafted in the second round of the 2020 WHL draft by the Regina Pats, but had his sights set on college hockey. He was playing in the tier-2 British Columbia Hockey League from 2020-22 and was expected to join UConn in 2023-24, but an explosive 2021-22 BCHL season changed those plans. After leading the entire BCHL in scoring with 45 goals and 40 assists in 46 games that year, UConn decided Wood was ready to make the move to college hockey at 17 years old for this past season.
Wood proved he was ready -- he led UConn in scoring this season with 11 goals and 23 assists in 35 games.
"It was obviously a big transition," Wood told me of the jump to college hockey at his age. "You know, through the second half the season, I got a lot more confidence. I was able to put stuff that I learned in the first half of the season into play. I think going into next year, I'm going to be that much more confident. I'm really looking forward to it."
There were adjustments off the ice, too. While Wood lived with a billet family in the BCHL, he was now on his own in UConn. Things like figuring out what and when to eat, or how to do his own laundry were part of that transition process too. But he leaned on the coaching staff and UConn's leadership group of players for some of those off-ice adjustments too.
Wood is still adjusting to his size. One executive told me that "teams are really split" on Wood due to his skating. Wood himself called that adjustment to being as big as he is a "huge learning process" still.
"I think I've shown a lot of development throughout the year," he added. "I have a lot of fun learning about that stuff and different aspects of the game and being able to use my body. ... My growth has been pretty steady over the past year. I'm catching up and putting a lot of work in, a lot of adjusting to do being taller, but it's a fun process."
It's a process that has Wood continuing to look up to Thompson, who he referred to as a "unicorn" in the sense that players of that size are more commonly defensemen than skilled forwards.
"It shows a lot of credit to him for his character, being able to push through and develop and learn," Wood said of Thompson. "He's obviously a great role model and a great person and someone that I really look up to."
Most rankings have Wood being selected right around the time the Penguins pick at No. 14. Sportsnet as well as Bob McKenzie's most recent mock on TSN both have Wood ranked at No. 14 exactly. Other notable prospect websites have him going in the same range, with EliteProspects ranking Wood No. 16, FCHockey ranking him No. 17, and McKeen's Hockey ranking him No. 10.
If the Penguins think Wood is the guy, there's a pretty good chance that Wood will be available when they pick in the first round. That, of course, would also require the Sabres to think that one Thompson-like player is enough, and let Wood slip past them at No. 13.
If Wood is there at No. 14, he may just be the Penguins' own "unicorn" as a skilled forward with serious size.
This is the second story in a series of player profiles from the NHL's Scouting Combine in Buffalo, N.Y., focusing on potential first-round picks for the Penguins.
