A few years ago, the Penguins’ talent pipeline was all but clogged with promising young defensemen.
Olli Maatta. Derrick Pouliot. Simon Despres. Joe Morrow. Scott Harrington. Philip Samuelsson.
It seemed a shame that none of them could play goal, for there was precious little talent in that area of the organizational depth chart.
That all has changed, however. Maatta is a fixture in the NHL and Pouliot still projects as an impact player, but Despres, Morrow, Harrington and Samuelsson have been traded, and there are no other defensive prospects of real note in the Penguins’ system.
Conversely, they have accumulated a bounty of good young goalies.
So many that associate general manager Jason Botterill calls goaltending “our biggest strength,” on an organizational basis.
He also volunteered that “we’d like to have a few more defensemen coming through our organization,” underscoring how a club’s strengths and weaknesses can vary from year to year.
“It’s the cycle of things,” Botterill said. “You can’t overreact to anything because things can change very quickly.”
Matt Murray, who earned his first NHL victory when the Penguins beat Columbus, 5-2, Monday, is their top goaltending prospect.
He was named the AHL’s top goaltender in 2014-15 and was 12-4, with a 1.84 goals-against average and .938 save percentage, in 17 games with the Baby Penguins before being recalled when Marc-Andre Fleury was diagnosed with a concussion a week ago.
“What Matt Murray has accomplished over the last year-and-a-half in the American Hockey League has just been outstanding,” Botterill said.
The Penguins acquired Murray in Round 3 of the 2012 draft and the rights to Sean Maguire, in his third year at Boston University, one round later, then traded up to claim Tristan Jarry in the second a year later. Those are looking like shrewd investments.
Jarry, Murray’s backup in Wilkes-Barre this season, is 8-1, with a 1.50 goals-against average and .940 save percentage in 13 appearances.
For several years before Murray graduated from junior hockey, the Penguins had relied on free agents like John Curry, Brad Thiessen and Jeff Zatkoff to be the Baby Penguins’ go-to goalie.
“We utilized some draft picks in back-to-back years on goaltending because we felt we needed more goalies in our system,” Botterill said. “And now, we view it as a strength.”
He also likes how many forwards with NHL potential the Penguins have assembled below the major-league level, while conceding that they don’t appear to have any potential game-breakers on the way.
“We may not have the high-, high-end sort of prospects, but, when you look at the depth there, we’re very excited about it,” Botterill said. “There are a lot of players on the cusp of playing National Hockey League games.”
Injuries to Sidney Crosby and Beau Bennett prompted the Penguins to recall some of those forward prospects — Conor Sheary, Scott Wilson and Bryan Rust — from Wilkes-Barre recently, although Wilson and Rust were returned to the Baby Penguins Tuesday.
Sheary fit nicely with Crosby during their brief time together, reinforcing Botterill’s belief that some of the Penguins’ young centers and wingers eventually could fill spots on the first or second line in the NHL.
“I clearly believe a guy like Jake Guentzel or Dominik Simon or Conor Sheary has the hockey sense and ability to play top-six roles,” Botterill said. “I’m not going to limit a guy like Scott Wilson, too, because of what he has accomplished in the American Hockey League in a top-line role.”
Too bad for the Penguins that he doesn’t play defense.
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NOTE — Clark Donatelli has been named coach in Wilkes-Barre. He had been coaching the Penguins' ECHL affiliate in Wheeling, W.Va., where he was the Nailers' all-time leader in victories and compiled a record of 133-109-9-20.
Dave Molinari: dmolinari@post-gazette.com and Twitter @MolinariPG.
First Published: December 23, 2015, 5:00 a.m.