There's a good chance that Ryan Haggerty isn't on your radar yet.
But, he should be.
The 24-year-old right winger, with 16 goals and 13 assists on the season, has quietly passed Daniel Sprong for the team lead in scoring in the same frame of 29 games. Unlike Sprong, Haggerty's two-way play is commended by Wilkes-Barre's coaching staff, and his shot has long been NHL-caliber. He has speed, and at 6 feet tall, and 200 pounds, he has the size.
He's having the best season of his career, surpassing his career totals in goals and points in only a fraction of the time. Back in the fall, though, it didn't look like Haggerty's season was going to be this way. Entering his second season with the team and signed to only an AHL-level contract, Haggerty was a healthy scratch for most of October.
Sitting in the stands for the start of the season only fueled Haggerty, and he continued to work to improve his game. He broke onto the ice with back-to-back two-goal games, and has been a regular in the lineup since.
"It wasn't the start of the season I wanted," he was telling me this week. "Not being a draft pick or anything like that, just keeping my head down, working hard, being a teammate for the first bit of the season. When I got the chance to make an impact on the lineup, I really wanted to make the most of it. I felt like I did for the most part."
"I just continue to play hard and things continue to go well," he said. "Good coaches kept giving me more and more responsibility. It's only been an uphill climb, and it's been very rewarding for myself to be able to put up numbers and help this team win."
Haggerty has spent most of the season on the team's top line with Zach Aston-Reese and Jean-Sebastien Dea. He thinks that the line's high speed is something that has led to their success in being able to create offensive opportunities for each other, and that their chemistry has allowed them to click from early in the season.
"I think Reese and I are very similar players," he said. "We have our differences, but we really find each other and trust each other out there as wingers, and it makes a big difference in this league, where we play off each other instead of waiting for stuff to happen together."
Haggerty was one of the players whom head coach Clark Donatelli raved about when I spoke one-on-one with him last week.
"Haggerty has been playing extremely well," Donatelli said. "He plays hard, he's going to the net, he's got a great NHL shot ... He's playing well, he's off to a great start, and he's playing the right way. Not just the scoring. He's getting in on the forecheck, he's playing physical, he's blocking shots, his wall play's good."
That NHL shot was especially evident on Jan. 12, when Haggerty scored his first career hat trick, something he called even more exciting because it came on the team's Fathers Trip:
"I think I've always had it," Haggerty said of his shot. "When I came out of college it continued to always be one of my strengths. My game is my shot. But you're always going to work on it, and over the last couple of years, I think it's only gotten better. I think this year, playing with two great linemates with Reese and Dea there, and be able to find a niche with them, it's been really able to stand out even more."
Other than playing with Aston-Reese and Dea, Haggerty credits much of this season's success to just taking advantage of the many opportunities given to him, knowing the system and being trusted by the coaching staff.
With the way Haggerty is playing, is a two-way NHL contract something he can expect in the near future?
"If he continues to do what he's doing and consistently keeps playing, for sure," Donatelli told me last week.
Earning a deal with Pittsburgh isn't something Haggerty is thinking about right now, though. His focus is on this season.
"It's a business, you can't really think about it," he said. "You gotta go out and work hard, you gotta worry about the rest of this season and helping this team win now. If the team needs me or something like that then great, but right now it's about Wilkes-Barre, making the playoffs and making that run to the Calder Cup and helping this team win."
Donatelli wanted to stress that even though Haggerty's contract status isn't the same as the likes of Aston-Reese or Dea, the organization views them all the same.
"In the broader view, everybody that's in our lineup we consider them a prospect, no matter what their contract status is," Donatelli said. "If they're in our lineup, they're a prospect of the Pittsburgh Penguins. It's just part of the process."
Haggerty told me that the coaching staff is still pushing him to take that next step and earn that contract. Still, his focus for the season remains on Wilkes-Barre and a run at the Calder Cup.
"At the end of the day, Pittsburgh wants to win, Wilkes-Barre wants to win. Every team wants winners. If you can play, you can play ... There's a long ways to go, and a lot more games to win. Just gotta continue to do the little things to help this team succeed."
MORE FROM WILKES-BARRE
• Jan. 17: vs Lehigh Valley, 4-1 win
• Jan. 19: at Providence, 1-0 loss
• Jan. 21: at Hartford, 1-0 overtime loss
• This week, Andrey Pedan was named AHL Player of the Week for the period ending Jan. 14 after scoring three goals and two assists in two games.
• Defenseman Jeff Taylor and forwards Freddie Tiffels and Cody Wydo were reassigned to Wheeling on Friday. The team also released goaltender Adam Morrison from his tryout contract, sending him back to Wheeling. Goaltender Charles Williams was signed to a tryout contract from the Manchester Monarchs in the ECHL. Williams recorded a 13-6-3 record, .918 save percentage and 2.54 goals against average with Manchester this season.
• This week's win over Lehigh Valley extended the team's winning streak to eight games, a season high. Zach Aston-Reese had a three-point night, recording two assists and scoring an empty net goal to seal the win.
• The Penguins' winning streak came to an end on Friday with a shutout loss to Providence, followed by an overtime shutout loss in Hartford. This was the first time that Wilkes-Barre was shut out in back-to-back games since December 2014.
• Despite a 1-1-1 record this week, goaltender Anthony Peters came up huge for the Penguins. Allowing only one goal in each game, he made a total of 85 saves on 88 shots over the three games.
• Lines and defense pairings from Sunday:
Zach Aston-Reese - Gage Quinney - Ryan Haggerty
Garrett Wilson - Greg McKegg - Christian Thomas
Adam Johnson - Jarrett Burton - Colin Smith
Thomas Di Pauli - Teddy Blueger
Andrey Pedan - Kevin Czuczman
Jarred Tinordi - Zach Trotman
Chris Summers - Frank Corrado
Ethan Prow
• After this week, the Penguins' record of 24-11-3-1 leads the Atlantic Division, and sits third in the Eastern Conference.
• The Penguins have three games this week to close out the month of January. They'll face the division rival Hershey Bears (17-18-3-4) and Lehigh Valley Phantoms (24-13-2-3) on the road Wednesday and Friday, and host the Binghamton Devils (12-22-5-2) on Saturday.
GOALS OF THE WEEK
With two shutouts this week, there aren't many goals to choose from. This was a great goal from Gage Quinney, centering the top line after Dea's recall to Pittsburgh. That's Haggerty with the primary assist:
TOP PICK TRACKER
• Defenseman Zachary Lauzon (second round, 2017) is still dealing with a neck injury. He has not played for Rouyn-Noranda since Nov. 26. Coach Gilles Bouchard said that Lauzon needs to continue to strengthen his neck muscles, and that a return will not happen in January, but "possibly" in February.
• Forward Kasper Bjorkqvist (second round, 2016) had one assist in two games this week. He now has 10 goals and five assists in 26 games.
• Goaltender Filip Gustavsson (second round, 2016) started two games for Luleå this week, making a total of 51 saves on 55 shots. He has a 2.64 goals against average and .899 save percentage through 13 games this season.
• Defenseman Connor Hall (third round, 2016) had two assists in three games this week, bringing his season total to 10. He was an overall plus-3 in a week that included three wins for the Kitchener Rangers, two coming as shutouts.
WHEELING WATCH
Tomorrow’s Wheeling Watch will focus on last season's leading scorer, defenseman Kevin Schulze.
PROSPECT FUN THING
Jordy Bellerive, a free agent signing after the Penguins' development camp last summer, posted this great shot with his grandparents. With 29 goals and 34 assists in 45 games this season with the Lethbridge Hurricanes, those jerseys must be a hot commodity:
