PHILADELPHIA -- Alex Nylander won't be in a Penguins uniform just yet.
Nylander, the forward acquired by the Penguins in a trade that sent Sam Lafferty to the Blackhawks on Wednesday, reported to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton to begin his time in the Penguins' organization, participating in Wilkes-Barre's practice on Thursday.
He'll presumably make his debut in a Wilkes-Barre uniform on Friday, when Wilkes-Barre plays the Utica Comets on the road.
I asked Mike Sullivan prior to Thursday's game against the Flyers what he knows about Nylander and his game, and he admitted that he's not very familiar with Nylander's game much yet personally. But in conversations with Ron Hextall, Sullivan said that management is excited about the potential Nylander has.
"They're really excited about his skill level, his potential to play the type of game that we're trying to play here in Pittsburgh," Sullivan said. "You know, he was obviously a real high pick. He has a lot of skill, he has real good offensive instincts."
Nylander, 23, is a 6-foot-1, 192-pound right-handed shot who can play both wing and center. He was the No. 8 overall pick of the Sabres in 2016, and has 84 games of NHL experience under his belt with the Sabres and Blackhawks.
Sullivan said that he believes Nylander's game is still "immature," and that there's room for Nylander to grow defensively.
"He's going to get an opportunity to develop his overall game on both sides of the puck," Sullivan said. "I'm looking forward to getting more familiar firsthand with his game. But I know that our scouting department and Hexy in particular is very, very excited about the opportunity that we have with Alex to try to help him improve and get to the point where he can be an impact player at the NHL level."