Prospect Watch is our new weekly feature covering the Penguins’ prospects in college, juniors, and Europe. This feature is an expansion of the “Beyond the AHL” and “Top Pick Tracker” sections from our original Wilkes-Barre Watch format.
Wilkes-Barre Watch will focus exclusively on Wilkes-Barre and run every Monday. Wheeling Watch will focus exclusively on Wheeling and run every Tuesday. Prospect Watch will focus on prospects in the system who are not playing in Wilkes-Barre or Wheeling, and will run every Wednesday.
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When the Penguins drafted center Nikita Pavlychev in 2015, he was seen as more of a long-term project. After all, he was drafted in the seventh round. He drew attention for his 6-foot-7 frame, but not too much else.
Three years later, he has grown into a solid potential future bottom-six center.
Pavlychev has always played a strong 200-foot game. He's reliable defensively. And he has improved in that regard, now in the midst of his junior year at Penn State.
“I honestly believe that if he had the choice between scoring a goal and shutting a guy down, he'd choose the latter,” Penn State coach Guy Gadowsky told BlueWhiteIllustrated.com. “It's his mentality. He loves it. He's exceptional at it.
Pavlychev's physicality is a big part of why he's so reliable defensively. When he was drafted, he was especially lanky at only 200 pounds. Since then, he has put on additional 25 pounds of “good weight,” as he previously called it. He apparently has also added an extra inch of height, now listed at 6-foot-8. Filling out his tall frame has allowed him to further take advantage of his exceptional size and improve his physicality.
Pavlychev, 21, has tightened up his game over the years and is taking fewer unnecessary penalties. In his final year in the USHL, he amassed 161 penalty minutes in 58 games. As a freshman at Penn State, he recorded 46 penalty minutes in 36 games. As a sophomore, 36 minutes in 35 games. This season, he has totaled five infractions for 10 minutes in nine games.
With his physical style of play, he's going to be taking penalties. That's expected. But as he told DKPittsburghSports.com previously, his size also makes him hard for officials to miss.
“The refs always see the big guy,” Pavlychev said. “They’re going to be paying attention to me, and it’s easy to pick up on, so I've got to adjust to that and I got to learn how to control my stick.”
Another area in which Pavlychev has been strong this season is his work at the faceoff dot. He has won 62.1 perfect of all faceoffs this season, an improvement over last season's mark of 49 percent and his rookie total of 52.4 percent.
Players of Pavlychev's size aren't the strongest of skaters, and Pavlychev was no exception when he was drafted. He said at the Penguins' prospect development camp that improving his coordination and skating has been a big focus of his, and he has improved in that regard.
The biggest change for Pavlychev this year is his offensive production. He never was much of a goal scorer, even dating back to juniors. While at Penn State, he registered six goals and seven assists in 36 games his freshman season and nine goals and five assists in 35 games his sophomore season. This season, he has seven goals and nine assists in only nine games. His 16 points rank second in the NCAA.
Pavlychev is coming off of his most productive week of the year, one that earned him NCAA Hockey No. 1 Star of the Week honors. Penn State had a home-and-home series sweep of Robert Morris with Pavlychev leading the way. He scored two goals and two assists in a 7-2 win on Friday and added two goals and an assist in an 11-6 win on Saturday.
For Gadowsky, it was nice to see Pavlychev rewarded on the scoresheet for his efforts.
"I think it's nice to see players who are so committed to the defensive side of the game get rewarded with points, as well," Gadowsky said. "Everybody in this room knows how valuable he is, specifically because he's extremely tough to play against. When you get guys who are that committed to that side of the puck, to see them score is always great for the team."
As successful as Pavlychev is this season, Gadowsky doesn't think he has reached his true potential.
“Believe it or not, he's still growing into his body,” Gadowsky told reporters Friday. “And he's getting better everyday.”
Pavlychev is only a junior. It isn't uncommon for successful college prospects to leave after their junior season and sign their NHL deals. Forward Anthony Angello made the jump to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton this season after only three years at Cornell, for example. For other players, such as Zach Aston-Reese, that final year of college eligibility can be crucial for their development and better prepare them for the jump to professional hockey.
Pavlychev has given no indication that he plans to leave Penn State early, and he likely will remain in college for one more year before making the jump to professional hockey. Regardless of when he does turn pro, the Penguins have to be pleased with how he is panning out.
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FORWARDS
Justin Almeida
Position: Center/Wing
Size: 5-9/158
Drafted: 2018, fifth round
Team: Moose Jaw Warriors (WHL)
Season totals: 15 games, 3 goals, 20 assists
Almeida sustained an upper-body injury while playing for Team WHL in the CIBC Canada-Russia series last week and did not play this week.
Jordy Bellerive
Position: Center
Size: 5-10/195
Drafted: Undrafted
Team: Lethbridge Hurricanes (WHL)
Season totals: 18 games, 9 goals, 14 assists
In two games this week, Bellerive scored one goal and three assists.
Kasper Bjorkqvist
Position: Wing
Size: 6-1/198
Drafted: 2016, second round
Team: Providence College (NCAA)
Season totals: 9 games, 3 goals, 2 assists
Bjorkqvist scored one goal in two games this week. His goal against UMass came from his usual spot in front of the net:
Jan Drozg
Position: Wing
Size: 6-0/174
Drafted: 2017, fifth round
Team: Shawinigan Cataractes (QMJHL)
Season totals: 19 games, 7 goals, 15 assists
Drozg recorded one assist in two games this week.
Liam Gorman
Position: Center
Size: 6-2/188
Drafted: 2018, sixth round
Team: St. Sebastian’s School (USHS-Prep)
Season totals: None
Gorman remains in high school after previously repeating a grade; this is his fourth year at St. Sebastian’s School. His season begins Nov. 17. He is committed to play at Boston University in 2019-20.
Filip Hallander
Position: Center/Wing
Size: 6-1/190
Drafted: 2018, second round
Team: Timrå IK (SHL)
Season totals: 12 games, 2 goals, 5 assists
Hallander represented Sweden in the Four Nations tournament from Nov. 9-11 in the Czech Republic, and he was scoreless in three games. In three games with Timrå, he recorded one assist.
Nikita Pavlychev
Position: Center
Size: 6-8/225
Drafted: 2015, seventh round
Team: Penn State (NCAA)
Season totals: 9 games, 7 goals, 9 assists
Pavlychev scored four goals and three assists in two games this week
DEFENSEMEN
Calen Addison
Size: 5-10/180
Drafted: 2018, second round
Team: Lethbridge Hurricanes (WHL)
Season totals: 18 games, 4 goals, 16 assists
Addison played two games this week, scoring one goal and one assist.
Niclas Almari
Size: 6-1/167
Drafted: 2016, fifth round
Team: HPK (Liiga), HPK U20 (Jr. A SM-liiga)
Season totals: 5 games, 1 assist with HPK; 2 games, 1 assist with HPK U20
Almari hasn’t played since Oct. 5 due to an undisclosed injury.
Ryan Jones
Size: 6-2/186
Drafted: 2016, fourth round
Team: Nebraska-Omaha (NCAA)
Season totals: 10 games, 4 assists
Jones recorded one assist in two games this week.
Zachary Lauzon
Size: 6-1/187
Drafted: 2017, second round
Team: Rouyn-Noranda Huskies (QMJHL)
Season totals: None
Lauzon is still rehabbing from the neck injury he sustained last season. He has resumed training on his own and is expected to return to practice late November and return to game action in December.
Antti Palojarvi
Size: 6-1/176
Drafted: 2017, sixth round
Team: Lukko (Liiga), Lukko U20 (Jr. A SM-liiga)
Season totals: 4 games, 1 assist with Lukko; 14 games, 3 goals, 5 assists with Lukko U20
Palojarvi did not play this week. He was recalled from Lukko U20 to Lukko's main team, but he was out of the lineup as the team's seventh defenseman.
Clayton Phillips
Size: 5-11/182
Drafted: 2017, third round
Team: Minnesota (NCAA)
Season totals: 7 games, 5 assists
Phillips played two scoreless games this week.
William Reilly
Size: 6-2/197
Drafted: 2017, seventh round
Team: Rensselaer Polytech (NCAA)
Season totals: 6 games, 1 goal, 2 assists
Reilly did not play in either of RPI's games this week.
GOALTENDERS
Alex D’Orio
Size: 6-2/209
Drafted: Undrafted
Team: Saint John Sea Dogs (QMJHL)
Season totals: 17 games, 4.87 goals against average, .876 save percentage
D’Orio played in two games this week, both losses. He made 22 saves on 28 shots on Wednesday, and 32 saves on 37 shots on Friday.
The translation of this update from Friday's game says it all. When Sherbrooke went up 2-0, they were outshooting D'Orio's Sea Dogs 15-1. "Alex D'Orio, as usual, keeps his team in the game."
Fin de la première période. Le Phoenix en avance 2-0. Alex d’Orio,comme à son habitude, garde son équipe dans le match présentement. 15-1 en faveur du Phoenix au chapitre des tirs.
— Marc-André Fortin (@MF_100Junior) November 10, 2018
