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Looking for right mix

Penguins hope to combine youth, experience

By Tom Venesky tvenesky@timesleader.com
Sports Reporter

Defenseman Chris Lee has yet to play a regular season game for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, but he knows the organization as well as anyone.

As a member of the Bridgeport Sound Tigers last season, Lee and his teammates faced the Penguins six times in the regular season and five times in the first round of the playoffs. That experience taught Lee a lot about the organization and made his decision to play for the Penguins easy.

“We played you guys a ton last year so I know a lot about Wilkes-Barre,” he said. “I’m well aware of what you guys do here. You guys were a tough team to play and it’s exciting to come here.”

Still, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton team that Lee became familiar with last season has changed drastically, and while the systems may be the same many of the faces aren’t.

Thirteen players from last season’s playoff roster are gone. Most of them were veterans, including Jeff Taffe, Chris Minard, Connor James and Joey Mormina.

In their place are a lot of new faces and a little bit of youth, led by rookies Eric Tangradi, Joe Vitale, Lane Caffaro and Keven Veilleux.

With Mark Letestu out with an injury, Janne Pesonen and James signing in Europe and Taffe and Minard skating for other organizations, last season’s top five scorers are gone.

It may lead one to believe that this year’s Penguins team will be young, inexperienced and, as a result, unpredictable.

But nothing could be further from the truth.

While a glut of veterans did leave in the offseason, they were replaced with a nice mix of players possessing promise and youth and an equal number of veterans full of leadership ability.

Lee, for example, is a 29-year-old veteran with 170 AHL games under his belt. Enforcer Wade Brookbank has spent parts of seven seasons in the AHL, including a 39-game stint with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in 2006-2007. Goaltender John Curry is back for his third season with the Penguins.

And then there’s center Wyatt Smith, 32, who signed in the offseason after spending the last ten years playing for seven AHL teams and five NHL teams.

Now that’s experience, and Smith is ready to be one of the new veteran leaders for this year’s Penguins team.

“I’ve been on a new team pretty much every year so I know how things operate,” he said. “If young guys have questions, I have the experience to answer them and be there for them.”

Much like his ability to win faceoffs and put pucks in the net, Smith views his veteran status as another tool that makes him an effective player and teammate. Knowing how to use that status to benefit your teammates is important, Smith said, and he learned from the best when he broke into pro hockey with the Springfield Falcons in 1999.

“Rob Murray was the veteran who helped me in my rookie year,” Smith said. “Looking back at all the experiences I’ve picked up over the years, I do think that being a veteran is an asset.”

Becoming a veteran requires a maturity that Smith said only comes with age. When he was bouncing between the AHL and NHL in his early 20s, Smith said he didn’t notice the things in the game – on and off the ice, that he does today.

It wasn’t until the last few seasons, Smith said, that he realized all that he learned over the years and how important it was.

And it wasn’t until recently, Smith admits, that he became someone players could turn to for advice.

“I didn’t used to be real approachable and I kept to myself. But I’ve grown a lot in the last few years and you want guys to approach you,” Smith said. “You don’t want to think that you’re above anybody. It’s nice when someone turns to you for an answer. I wouldn’t say I’m a role model. I just have the experience and I take a lot of pride in helping my teammates out on and off the ice.”

Smith won’t have to shoulder the “veteran leader” role alone. The Penguins have several players with numerous AHL and NHL seasons under their belts ready to help out, along with two players who are only in their second year of pro hockey but quickly developed a knack for how things work.

Last season Luca Caputi and Dustin Jeffrey completed their first full tenures in the AHL and also experienced time with Pittsburgh. As they both prepare for their second season with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, they are ready to use their knowledge to help the rookies.

And like Smith, Caputi and Jeffrey also had good teachers - Minard, Taffe and James.

“I just remember the calmness they had. They didn’t worry,” Jeffrey said. “If you watch Taffer and Minard in a game, it might not go right for a period or two, but by the end of the night pucks started going their way and they’d finish with a few points each.

“You can’t get frustrated and you have to remain confident in your game. That’s something they brought every night.”

Caputi said it will be an adjustment for the young players on the roster who are expected to step in and fill voids left from offseason departures, but the solution, he said, is simple.

And proven.

“As soon as they buy into the system, it’s a winning formula,” Caputi said. “Pittsburgh is the Stanley Cup champions and we play the exact same system they do. Myself and others went through the adjustment to the pro game last year and we know what it’s like. We’re ready to help the young guys learn and adjust.”

While there is plenty of experience in the lockerroom for the rookies to take advantage, there are also two more options down the hallway where head coach Todd Reirden and assistant coach John Hynes have their offices.

Hynes, 34, spent the last six seasons as head coach of USA Hockey’s National Development Program helping young players progress on the ice and off. His accomplishments are proof that he knows how to help young players adjust and succeed. In 2004 Hynes coached the U.S. Under-18 squad to a silver medal at the World Championships, followed by a gold in 2006 and a bronze in 2008. His overall record in six years with the program was an impressive 216-113-19-9.

Reirden, 37, is entering his first full season as Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s head coach after taking over the reigns from Dan Bylsma late last season.

He also served as an assistant coach for Bowling Green in 2007-2008, but Reirden’s experience before that has proven to be among his biggest assets.

Reirden played pro hockey for 13 seasons, including 183 NHL games from 1998 to 2004. He knows what it’s like to be a rookie just trying to find your way and he knows the path they need to follow.

“These young players do have the game and the ability, but it’s not just teaching them how to be Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and Pittsburgh Penguins. It’s teaching them how to be responsible adults. Things on the ice and away from it should be tackled with a certain passion, pride and work ethic,” Reirden said.

“Our young players will be challenged to get better everyday and I will help them through professional challenges and to become adults. As they become more confident in the world away from the ice, they become better players on it.”