A look at the top prospects of the Pittsburgh Penguins in National Hockey League
Four-five years back Pittsburgh Penguins completely dominated the National Hockey League (NHL) by developing its prospects into big players and they helped them finishing 2007-2008 season as the runners-up of Stanley Cup and the next year as the Champions
of Stanley Cup.
Since then, they have not been paying much attention towards young players and the prospects and that is the reason that they have suffered in the Stanley Cup playoffs and not been able to reach beyond semi-finals in last three years.
This year Penguins have got some prospects and players who can be expected to excel for them in future. Some of those names are mentioned below.
1. Matia Marcantuoni
Matia Marcantuoni is the only centre player that Penguins have got in their prospects. His career has been affected by injuries and that is the reason that he was not picked first in the 2012 NHL draft.
Even though he was expected to be picked in the first round, he was picked 92nd overall in the third round of draft. He started playing for Kitchener Rangers in 2010-2011 season but could not play whole season because of injury and scored 11 goals,
16 assists for total of 27 points in 42 games.
The 18-year-old, born in Woodbridge, Ontario has been suffering with back injury, ankle injury, concussions and shoulder injury in last couple of years but still he managed to play 24 games last season and scored nine goals, five goals for total of 14 points.
2. Derrick Pouliot
Derrick Pouliot was Penguins’ first round pick in the 2012 NHL draft as he was selected 8th overall. The 18-year-old Defenseman comes from Weyburn, Saskatchewan and currently plays for Portland Winterhawks in the Western Hockey League (WHL).
Pouliot made his WHL debut in 2009-2010 season and could get just seven games, scoring one assist. Second season was lot better for him as he got 30 points in 66 games with 25 assists and five goals.
The 5-foot-11, 195 pounder also represented Canada in Under-17 2011 World Hockey Championships and showed a phenomenal performance in 2011-2012 season by scoring 59 points in just 72 games.
3. Olli Maatta
Also picked in the first round of 2012 NHL draft by Pittsburgh Penguins was Olli Maatta, a Finnish defenseman who plays for London Knights in the OHL. A lot of people were considering him as a top 10 pick in the draft and were surprised on him being picked
after Pouliot.
The 6-foot-2, 203 pounder, Finn International had a great first season with Knights in OHL by scoring 5 goals, 27 assists and total 32 points in 58 games. He also represented Team Finland in World Junior Hockey Championships in 2010, scoring one goal and
three assists for total of four points.
4. Joseph Morrow
Playing with Portland Winterhawks in WHL, Morrow is turning out to be a experienced defenseman after playing four years of hockey in WHL. His performance in continuously improving and points scoring is getting better with that.
The 19-year-old from Sherwood Park, Alberta, was picked 23rd overall in the first round of the 2011 NHL draft by Penguins and has scored 150+ points in four seasons of Western Hockey League he has played in, something which makes him a serious
contender for a spot on Penguins roster soon.
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