Wednesday, June 27, 2007
The Pens’ top draft pick believes his NHL days
aren’t far away.
PITTSBURGH (AP) — The Pittsburgh Penguins supposedly couldn’t get a possible impact player, not in this draft. Not drafting No. 20, a pick so low it usually yields a prospect who requires years of development.
So why was first-rounder Angelo Esposito talking Tuesday of possibly playing this season with these Penguins, who already have some of the NHL’s best young scoring talent in Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Jordan Staal?
The Penguins, bad enough for so many years to get a run of early and exceptional draft picks, perhaps got a little bit lucky this time when Esposito fell to them.
Esposito, who led the Quebec Remparts junior team to the Memorial Cup championship at age 17 in 2006, was the top-rated North American prospect by the NHL’s scouting bureau as late as February. Going into the draft, he was No. 8.
Draft-day tumble
But as the draft unfolded Friday night, Esposito became one of those players who keeps falling and falling, for no apparent reason — much like Brady Quinn in this year’s NFL draft. Finally, he tumbled to the one team that seemed to least need youthful skills like his.
“Falling in the draft was a little bit disappointing, but now that I’m here it’s better than going somewhere else,” Esposito said Tuesday. “I’m happy to be here and, at the same time, maybe prove a few people wrong.”
Including his own beloved Montreal Canadiens, who passed on him at No. 12 to take American defenseman Ryan McDonagh. The Canadiens and 18 other teams apparently felt Esposito was a little too self-centered, didn’t progress as much as anticipated and didn’t always play with passion last season.
“We lost a lot of good players, and maybe when the season started I was thinking too much about the draft and too much about myself,” Esposito said. “But I learned throughout the season how to play on a team.”
A team like this one, perhaps?
Plenty of centers
The Penguins already have three potential top-line natural centers in Crosby, the NHL player of the year; Malkin, the rookie of the year and Staal, an all-rookie forward at age 18.
But Esposito was too fast, too skilled, too tempting for Pittsburgh to pass up, even if coach Michel Therrien must be creative in figuring out how to play them all together. Not that general manager Ray Shero seems overly worried.
“Good players like to play with good players,” he said.
Esposito, who turned 18 in February, was used on a wing at times by his junior coach, Patrick Roy. Being so heavily scouted made him feel as if everyone in the arena was watching only him, and it was a bit disconcerting at times.
“What I’ve learned is it’s opinions, and whether the opinions are good or bad doesn’t matter because it’s what you do on the ice,” Esposito said. “Something I’ve considered is that, now that I know what team I’m going to be on, I can just go out and play my game and not worry about the 2,000 eyes on you.”