When junior hockey players turn 20 years old, they become eligible to play in the AHL, and typically make the jump to professional hockey at that time.
Sometimes, prospects aren't deemed ready to make that jump, whether it be due to their ability or a logjam at that position on the AHL team, and the NHL club elects to leave that prospect in juniors for an extra year. These 20-year-olds are called "overagers" in junior hockey, and a team can only carry three at a time.
Overagers don't typically amount to much in their professional careers. Looking at a list of the OHL's Overage Player of the Year award winners, you see a list of underwhelming names, with a few exceptions.
21-year-old left wing prospect Sam Miletic is beginning his professional career with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton this season after being an overager in the OHL last season, and he believes that he has a path to success in the Penguins' organization.
Miletic, 6-foot and 196 pounds, joined the Penguins' organization last summer. Undrafted, he was invited to the Penguins' 2017 development camp and Prospects Challenge, where he drew the attention of Penguins brass with a goal and an assist in the first game of the tournament. He was invited back to Pittsburgh for training camp, and scored a preseason goal in a game against Columbus.
Following his second preseason game, Miletic was given the good news -- his efforts had earned him a three-year, entry-level contract.
"It was incredible, a dream come true to sign with a team that has the history and pedigree that the Penguins do," the Detroit native told me of that moment. "It was probably the best time of my life."
Miletic moved on to Wilkes-Barre's training camp after signing his contract, but was returned to the London Knights of the OHL at the start of the season as an overage player. Miletic went on a tear last season, amassing 16 goals and 38 assists in 35 games with London, and another 20 goals and 18 assists in 28 games for the Niagara Ice Dogs after a trade.
When you see numbers like that from an overage player, it's easy to be a little skeptical. After all, he was playing against teenagers, guys younger and smaller than him. Still, Miletic thought that the extra year in juniors was good for his development and confidence.
"The OHL is a good league," he said. "Any time you can go in and put up a good year, I think will help your confidence. I think that extra year in junior really helped me out."
After being one of the leaders in the locker room and the "veteran" of the pack in juniors, Miletic is back at the bottom of the ladder in the AHL, and one of the younger guys in the locker room. He made a good impression early in Wilkes-Barre's preseason, netting two goals in a win over Hershey on Sept. 29:
Miletic is still adjusting to the level of play in the professional game, after making his regular season AHL debut in Wilkes-Barre's opener on Oct. 6. The biggest difference, he says, is the speed of the game.
"With the guys being younger (in juniors) I had more experience over them, and now it's kind of the other way around. I'm at the lower-end of the age range. It's definitely a change playing against grown men," Miletic said. "It's faster, stronger, everyone's better. They see the game better. It's obviously faster, but I think the biggest difference is you have less time with the puck, so you have to make decisions quicker."
Miletic was scoreless and registered one assist in his debut, skating on the fourth line with Tobias Lindberg and Linus Ölund.
While Miletic obviously has a scoring touch, his 200-foot game was one of his strengths at the junior level. Still, he feels as if he needs to improve defensively to be successful in the AHL.
"Your defensive game is so huge at this level," he said. "It's kind of crazy how important it is. I think every day you have to work on your strengths and your weaknesses."
Through multiple development camps and training camps in Pittsburgh, and now starting his season in Wilkes-Barre, Miletic can't help but be struck by the way the Penguins' organization operates.
"Oh God, they're first class all around," he said. "They do everything the best of the best. They expect a lot out of the players, and it shows in the culture. Every single guy comes in and works their hardest every day, everyone wants to get better and push each other. It's just an incredible organization to be a part of."
In recent years, the Penguins have turned to undrafted free agents like Miletic to fill out their system. Conor Sheary went from an undrafted free agent to being a part of two Stanley Cup runs. Zach Aston-Reese made his NHL debut last season, and ended up playing in the playoffs until well ... you know.
Finding and developing prospects this way isn't the most common method, but it's the course the Penguins have had to take after trading away so many draft picks. An added benefit of this is that it makes the organization a more attractive destination for prospects like Miletic, who receive tryout invites from multiple teams as a free agent. Players see the paths other prospects have taken, and they see a path for themselves as well.
"They're really good at developing their young guys and using them," Miletic said. "They're not afraid to use their young guys in big situations, which is a good feeling — just knowing that if you put in the work you'll get an opportunity."
Miletic projects to spend the remainder of the 2018-19 season in Wilkes-Barre, but it wouldn't be surprising to see him get a late-season call up to Pittsburgh.
If he puts in the work, he'll get the opportunity.
MORE FROM WILKES-BARRE
• Oct. 6: vs. Springfield, 3-2 shootout win
• Garrett Wilson was named captain of Wilkes-Barre, and veteran defenseman Chris Summers was named alternate captain. The second alternate captain's "A" will be rotated throughout the season. In Saturday's game, Teddy Blueger was an alternate captain.
• Tristan Jarry was scratched for the opener, allowing the backup goaltending battle between Anthony Peters and John Muse to play out. Peters played the full 60 minutes plus overtime, and made 30 saves on 32 shots.
• The season didn't get off to the greatest start, with former Penguin Paul Thompson scoring for Springfield only 36 seconds into the game, assisted by another former Penguin in Harry Zolnierczyk. Springfield didn't lead for long, though -- defenseman Ethan Prow answered back 1:14 later for the Penguins' first goal of the season, assisted by right wing Anthony Angello.
Aston-Reese scored his first goal of the season 8:37 into the first period on a nice toe-drag move. Center Sam Lafferty and defenseman Zach Trotman picked up the assists.
Thompson scored again midway through the second period on a weird goal that bounced over Peters. The game remained tied at 2-2 through the remainder of regulation and overtime.
Aston-Reese scored the Penguins' lone goal in the shootout, with Thomas Di Pauli and Lafferty getting stopped. Peters stopped all three Springfield shooters in the shootout to secure the win.
• Wilkes-Barre kept the line of Di Pauli, Blueger, and Ryan Haggerty together for the first game of the season, easily the best line in their final preseason game together in Pittsburgh. In that game in Pittsburgh, Blueger and Haggerty each netted a goal, and the line as a whole registered a Corsi For percentage of 75. This means that when those three were on the ice together, the Penguins recorded an incredible 75 percent of all shot attempts.
The trio didn't record any points in Wilkes-Barre's opening game, but that shot production was still there. Di Pauli and Blueger each registered three shots on goal, while Haggerty amassed seven. You can't always control whether or not the puck ends up in the net, but players can control the process, and that shot production is a good sign of goals to come from this line.
• The Penguins' power play went 0-for-4. It's only one game, so I'm reserving judgement. Still, it's not a good sign given the fact that the power play plagued the Penguins last season, and they finished next-to-last in the 30-team league at a pitiful 13.8 percent. The Penguins need to figure it out early this time.
• If you want an idea of how light Adam Johnson (listed as 6-foot, 175 pounds) is, watch him bounce off of this official:
Obviously you can't put a ton of weight behind something like that (pun absolutely intended) but it does in part show how small Johnson is. His size allows him to get knocked off the puck easily, and he'll bounce right off of opposing players when he tries to get physical.
• There were two fights in Saturday's game. Trotman fought Paul Thompson in the first period, a very brief bout. Wilson had the first real fight of the season, dropping the gloves with Joel Lowry:
Wilson is a fun player to watch. He can clearly fight well, as seen above, but that isn't his only role. He's no goon. Wilson is a complete player, and he's skilled -- he spent last season on a line with Daniel Sprong. He obviously has been one of the leaders in the locker room over his three seasons with the team, and that's why he wears the extra letter on his sweater. He's waivers-eligible, but can play under 10 NHL games or spend under 30 games on Pittsburgh's active roster without requiring future waivers, making him a good candidate for a few games as a midseason call-up (perhaps for a Wilson-Wilson matchup?).
• If you're wondering about the jersey Miletic is wearing in the picture at the top of the story, that picture is from the preseason. That jersey was previously Wilkes-Barre's home uniform from 2007-13. For the past several seasons, it has returned as the Penguins' preseason uniforms.
• Saturday was the start of the Penguins' 20th season. The franchise now has a 10-10 record in season openers.
• The Penguins signed 25-year-old defenseman Matthew Abt and 19-year-old forward Renārs Krastenbergs to AHL contracts this week. Abt made his professional debut with the Nailers last season after four years at the Rochester Institute of Technology, and was signed to an ECHL contract with Wheeling over the summer. He attended Wheeling's camp and preseason on a tryout, and turned that into a full contract.
Krastenbergs attended Pittsburgh's development camp and was also on Pittsburgh's roster for the Prospects Challenge tournament in Buffalo. He spent the last two seasons with the Oshawa Generals, and amassed 30 goals and 32 assists in 124 career OHL games. He's also represented his native Latvia in various international tournaments. After signing Krastenbergs, he was reassigned to Wheeling.
• Defensemen Dane Birks and Kevin Spinozzi and center Cam Brown were reassigned to Wheeling on Sunday. Birks is in his first professional season. Spinozzi split last season between Wheeling and Wilkes-Barre, while Brown spent most of last season in Wheeling.
• Lines and defense pairings from Saturday:
Garrett Wilson - Adam Johnson - Jimmy Hayes
Zach Aston-Reese - Sam Lafferty - Anthony Angello
Thomas Di Pauli - Teddy Blueger - Ryan Haggerty
Tobias Lindberg - Linus Ölund - Sam Miletic
Chris Summers - Stefan Elliott
Will O'Neill - Zach Trotman
Matthew Abt - Ethan Prow
• After this week, the Penguins have a record of 1-0. The power play is operating at zero percent, and the penalty kill is at 66.7 percent.
• The Penguins will make their first road trip of the season for a two-game series in Cleveland, with games on Oct. 11 and Oct. 13. Tickets can be purchased here. Cleveland is the closest AHL team to Pittsburgh, so this is your chance to see some prospects.
GOALS OF THE WEEK
Prow opened the scoring:
Aston-Reese had a sweet move for his first goal of the season:
Aston-Reese had the Penguins' lone goal in the shootout:
SAVES OF THE WEEK
Peters looked solid in his first start of the season, but one of the more impressive saves was this stop halfway through the overtime frame:
Peters came up perfect in the shootout, stopping all three shooters:
He's not the goaltender, but Ölund may have had the save of the game. He swept the puck off the goal line to keep the game tied 2-2 in the second period:
BEYOND THE AHL
Jordy Bellerive didn't miss a step after he was injured in a fire over the summer.
Bellerive, 19, is in his final season of junior hockey with the Lethbridge Hurricanes of the Western Hockey League. Through six games, Bellerive has amassed three goals and five assists. He's tied for second in team scoring.
A stat more impressive than Bellerive's scoring? His shot total. Through six games he leads Lethbridge with a whopping 31 shots; averaging just over five a game. Not all elements of a players' game will easily translate from the junior game to the professional game, but shot production is something that typically will.
TOP PICK TRACKER
• Left wing Kasper Bjorkqvist (second round, 2016) starts the season on Providence College's top line, with freshman (and Flyers prospect) Jay O'Brien and undrafted junior Josh Wilkins. Bjorkqvist registered two shots and was scoreless in Providence's opening game, a 3-1 win over American International College.
• Defenseman Zachary Lauzon (second round, 2017) is still rehabbing from his neck injury. He has resumed training, but is expected to be out of Rouyn-Noranda's lineup for two months.
• Defenseman Calen Addison (second round, 2018) is picking up right where he left off last season offensively. The 18-year-old has put up one goal and five assists in Lethbridge's first six games of the season.
Addison is a minus-9 on the season, the lowest on the team. All six of his points have come on the power play, and he's played some big minutes on the top defense pairing, so that partially explains that minus-9. Still, his defensive game is ... lacking:
Calen Addison (PIT 2nd/2018) wants no part of this zone entry. None. At least make believe you want to defend against a shot. pic.twitter.com/FUywAoP7TD
— Steve Kournianos (@TheDraftAnalyst) October 6, 2018
• Forward Filip Hallander (second round, 2018) is making his SHL debut this season with Timrå IK. Through six games, he's recorded two goals and two assists. His first SHL goal on Sept. 20 was a game-winner:
GWG from Filip Hållander against Växjö. #SHL #TimråIK #LetsGoPens pic.twitter.com/rkrSltxNga
— SHL Prospect GIFS (@SHLProspectGIFS) September 20, 2018
WHEELING WATCH
Full Wheeling Watch features will resume next week, since the Nailers' season doesn't begin until Oct. 13. As with last season, they'll run every Tuesday.
The Nailers wrapped up their preseason this week, a home-and-home set of games against Cincinnati. Nick Saracino scored the Nailers' lone goal in the first game, a 2-1 loss at home. Josh Couturier and tryout player Mark Petaccio scored in the second game, and tryout goaltender Matt O'Connor stopped four of five stops in a shootout to earn a 3-2 win.
PROSPECT FUN THING
Prow got married over the summer. He shared this picture on his Instagram:
View this post on Instagram
The new Mrs. Prow!! Thanks to everyone who made yesterday so memorable #prowerplay
