Penguins prospect Sam Poulin still adjusting as a professional

The route Ron Hextall has taken as Pittsburgh Penguins general manager has differed from his predecessor, Jim Rutherford, particularly when it comes to trades.

In nearly 14 months since joining the Penguins, Hextall has been fairly deliberate with transactions, having made five trades. In contrast, Rutherford was not nearly as hesitant to wheel and deal. He almost averaged one trade a month during his nearly seven-year tenure with the franchise.

But there is a commonality between them.

Neither wanted to trade forward prospect Sam Poulin.

As the Penguins’ first-round pick in 2019, Poulin is something of a unicorn with the organization. Along with forward Kasperi Kapanen (2014), Poulin is one of only two players in the organization who were drafted by the Penguins in the first round within the past 15 years.

So, he’s clearly one of the organizations’ top prospects.

But he’s endured some considerable growing pains in his first professional season.

Part of that growth comes from getting used to the professional game. A star at the junior level in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, Poulin received an abrupt lesson in how different life as a professional was.

“Whenever anybody makes that transition, whether it’s college or junior, it’s a big jump,” Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins coach J.D. Forrest said via video conference recently. “There’s certainly some things that have to be learned and, a lot of times, it’s done the hard way. You’re not used to that competition. In juniors, you’re playing against younger guys and you can kind of impose your will on everybody. So you get a little bit more freedom, a little bit more leeway from your coaching staff probably. Then when you make a mistake, you’re just able to go take the puck back. It’s a little bit different at this level.”

That quickly became apparent to Poulin in early January.

During a 6-5 road shootout loss to the Utica Comets on Jan. 7, an ugly defensive zone turnover by Poulin led to an easy goal for Comets forward Ryan Schmelzer.

One night later, Poulin was a healthy scratch for a road game against the rival Hershey Bears.

“To be honest, I wasn’t playing good,” Poulin said. “I knew something like that was about to happen. After that game, I think it was in Utica, where I made the big turnover and didn’t play the rest of the game, I was like, ‘I think I won’t play the next game.’ I was kind of fine with it because it was my fault. It was something that was in my control that I didn’t do well. When I got the news and the coach talked to me, I just used that as a wake-up call and a way to turn my season over, to be more dialed in every night. From this point on, my season started going much better.”

That is reflected in his scoring output. Before that scratch, Poulin appeared in 22 games and scored seven points (four goals, three assists), equating to 0.31 points per game. Post-scratch, Poulin has scored 21 points (seven goals, 14 assists) in 34 games, 0.61 points per game.

Part of stronger play in the second half of the season has come with him adjusting to center. Drafted as a right winger, Poulin played some center during his final junior season of 2020-21. After opening this season with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton primarily as a winger, he has been deployed as a center in recent months.

“At the beginning of the year, for the most part, he was winger until early January,” Forrest said. “Then we made the transition there, kind by necessity. He thrived there. He just seemed to play better there. He was playing with some more pace. For him, it is going to be important to be able to play both of those spots. It’s not easy to make that back-and-forth transition. You’ve got to kind of get comfortable with one at the pro level.

“For the most part, typically center is the tougher one to learn. There’s just more responsibility there. You’re up and down the ice. You’re covering more ground. You’re relied on a little bit more defensively. That’s a great way for him to figure out the game. In that role, he’s had some success with us. We will probably use him on the wing a little bit, as well. But right now, we like where he’s at playing in the middle.”

Poulin certainly appears to like where his game is at compared to the initial portions of his first professional season.

“My first half (of the season), I wasn’t myself,” Poulin said. “I didn’t play to my identity. Since the Christmas break, I think my game has stepped up a lot. I think I’m more consistent. Since I got scratched, things started going much better for me. I would say my first half and my second half are separate things.”

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