Penguins A to Z: Jordy Bellerive embraces a bottom-six role
While the NHL is on hold because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the Tribune-Review will offer Penguins A to Z, a player-by-player look at all 48 individuals under NHL contract with the organization, from mid-level prospect Niclas Almari to high-profile trade acquisition Jason Zucker.
Jordy Bellerive
Shoots: Left
Age: 21
Height: 5-foot-10
Weight: 195 pounds
2019-20 AHL statistics: 53 games, 22 points (12 goals, 10 assists)
Contract: Second year of a three-year entry-level contract with a salary cap hit of $733,333. Pending restricted free agent in 2022.
Acquired: Undrafted free agent signing, Sept. 16, 2017.
Last season: It would be a stretch to say Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins forward Jordy Bellerive is fearless.
But it certainly takes a lot to scare him.
During a home game against the Providence Bruins on Dec. 18, 2019, Bellerive gave a few shoves after a whistle to opposing forward Trent Frederic, listed at an ample 6-foot-2 and 200 pounds.
Frederic responded by ripping Bellerive’s stick out of his hand and stared him down.
The smaller Bellerive stood his ground as a linesman stepped in to separate the two as Frederic was assessed a roughing minor for responding to Bellerive’s antics.
Considering Bellerive survived burns suffered from a campfire mishap in 2018, a jawing session with a larger opponent doesn’t appear to phase him.
That attitude served him well in his first season of professional hockey as he adapted from being a prolific top-six forward as a junior player to serving as a bottom-six forward with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, a role which occasionally requires the occupant to agitate physically and verbally.
A two-year captain of the Lethbridge Hurricanes of the Western Hockey League, Bellerive led that team in scoring the season prior to his accident with 92 points (46 goals, 46 assists) in 71 games. Following his recovery, Bellerive rebounded with 83 points (33 goals, 50 assists) in 68 games.
Listed as a center, Bellerive finished the 2019-20 season as a left wing on Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s third line. And while he was deployed in a bottom-six role with fewer scoring opportunities most of the season, Bellerive collected the bulk of his offense last season in the final two and a half months of the campaign as he posted 16 points (10 goals, six assists) in his final 26 games — including with the second power-play unit — before the AHL halted play.
The future: Bellerive will likely inhabit a bottom-six role once again if the AHL resumes play Feb. 5 as scheduled. While he has the skill and ability to be a top-six forward in the AHL, his path to the NHL will likely be as a third- or fourth-line forward. He realizes that and has fully embraced the duties typically associated with that type of deployment.
As long as the Penguins are spending big on their top players such as forwards Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, that will require more frugal options to fill out the bottom tiers of the lineup.
Bellerive is still a long way from reaching those heights, but he certainly seems to have the base elements of being a candidate to fill that role and took a positive first step in that direction during his first professional season.
Seth Rorabaugh is a TribLive reporter covering the Pittsburgh Penguins. A North Huntingdon native, he joined the Trib in 2019 and has covered the Penguins since 2007. He can be reached at srorabaugh@triblive.com.
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