Penguins Prospect Watch: Jonathan Gruden gets first professional goal
A weekly look at how Penguins prospects and minor leaguers have fared over the past seven days:
• In the American Hockey League (AHL), forwards Jordy Bellerive and Jonathan Gruden each had a goal and an assist for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in a 6-3 road win against the Binghamton Devils on Saturday.
Bellerive:
Gruden:
An undrafted free agent signing in 2017, Bellerive, 21, is in the second year of a three-year entry-level contract.
Gruden’s goal was the first of his professional career. Acquired from the Ottawa Senators in an October trade, Gruden, 20, is in the first year of a three-year entry-level contract.
• In the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, forward Nathan Legare scored two goals while forward Sam Poulin added a goal and three assists to lead the Val-d’Or Foreurs to a 7-3 home win against the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada on March 1.
Legare:
Poulin:
Legare (third round, No. 74 overall) and Poulin (first round, No. 21 overall) — both 20 years old — were each drafted in 2019 by the Penguins and are each signed to three-year entry-level contracts that have yet to begin.
Elsewhere in the QMJHL, forward Raivis Ansons had a goal and an assist for the Baie-Comeau Drakkar in a 5-3 road loss to the Shawinigan Cataractes on Sunday.
Ansons, 19, was a fifth-round pick (No. 149 overall) in 2020 and has yet to sign with the Penguins.
• In the Western Hockey League (WHL), forward Lukas Svejkovsky scored his team-leading third goal of the season for the Medicine Hat Tigers in a 4-2 road loss to the Edmonton Oil Kings on Friday.
Svejkovsky, 19, was a fourth-round pick (No. 108 overall) in 2020 and has yet to sign with the Penguins.
• In Finland’s Liiga, forward Valtteri Puustinen scored his team-leading 16th goal of the season for HPK in a 4-3 overtime road win against Assat on Wednesday.
A seventh-round pick in 2019 (No. 203 overall), Puustinen, 21, has yet to sign with the Penguins.
• Elsewhere in the Liiga, forward Kasper Bjorkqvist returned to the lineup for KooKoo in a 3-2 road loss to Tappara on Wednesday. Bjorkqvist had not suited up for KooKoo since Feb. 6 after he joined the Finnish national team for a European tournament then, along with the entire team, was placed in quarantine after 12 unidentified members of the squad tested positive for covid-19.
The 23-year-old Bjorkqvist, a second-round pick (No. 61 overall) in 2016, is entering the second year of a two-year entry-level contract with the Penguins.
• Also in the Liiga, defenseman Niclas Almari recorded his first assist of the season for Pelicans in a 7-1 home win against JYP on Wednesday.
Almari, 22, was a fifth-round pick (No. 151 overall) in 2016 and is in the second year of a three-year entry-level contract with the Penguins.
• In Finland’s second-tier Mestis, goaltender Joel Blomqvist and Hermes played their first game in over three weeks as Blomqvist made 44 saves on 49 shots in a 5-4 home shootout loss to Kettera on Friday.
That team had been in quarantine for covid-19 concerns.
Blomqvist, 19, was a second-round draft pick (No. 52 overall) in 2020 and has yet to sign with the Penguins.
• In Sweden’s Hockey AllSvensken, goaltender Calle Clang made 37 saves on 38 shots for Kristianstads in a 7-1 road win against Vasby on Sunday.
Clang, 18, was a third-round pick (No. 77 overall) in 2020 and has yet to sign with the Penguins.
• In the NCAA, defenseman Clayton Phillips and Penn State played their first games in over a month, dropping a double header on the road against Notre Dame by scores of 5-2 and 7-1, on Friday. Phillips recorded two shots in each game.
Penn State had not played since Jan. 29 due to multiple postponements and cancellations related to the pandemic.
A third-round pick (No. 93 overall) in 2017, Phillips, 21, has yet to sign with the Penguins.
• In the ECHL, goaltender Alex D’Orio made 29 saves on 33 shots for the Wheeling Nailers in a 4-2 road loss to the Fort Wayne Komets on Friday.
An undrafted free agent signing in 2017, D’Orio, 21, is in the second year of a three-year entry-level contract.
Statistics
(Players currently on the NHL roster and taxi squad are excluded.)
Forwards and defensemen
Goaltenders
*-Current team
(All figures are through Sunday.)
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.
Remove the ads from your TribLIVE reading experience but still support the journalists who create the content with TribLIVE Ad-Free.