When the Penguins acquired Alex Nylander last month in a trade with the Blackhawks, the reports on him seemed reminiscent of Daniel Sprong during his time with the Penguins.
Incredibly skilled offensively, but lackadaisical when it came to his defensive play and decision-making at times.
Mike Sullivan told me the day after the trade that his impression was that Nylander's game was still "immature," and that the 23-year-old former first-round pick would get an "opportunity to develop his overall game on both sides of the puck."
Now 22 games into Nylander's time with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, the first part of those scouting reports have proven to be true: There's no question that Nylander can score. After Saturday's 3-2 shootout win over Springfield in which Nylander scored the game's opening goal (as well as the shootout winner), Nylander now has 16 points (eight goals, eight assists) in 22 games as a Penguin.
And as far as his defensive game? No lackadaisical efforts here. Not since the trade.
Just six games into Nylander's tenure in Wilkes-Barre, head coach J.D. Forrest told me that he thought Nylander's "attention to the D zone was strong," noting that Nylander "doesn't necessarily have a reputation for that."
A month later, that commitment to playing a 200-foot game is still there.
"I feel like his work ethic is much better than maybe advertised," Forrest told me of Nylander on Saturday. "What he's been putting out, his effort on the ice every night has been solid. You can see that he's definitely paying attention to those different areas of the game that we really value that may not be on the offensive side."
Nylander, listed at 6-foot-1 and 192 pounds, did have a potentially game-saving backcheck early in overtime Saturday to break up an intended pass by the Thunderbirds and spring Wilkes-Barre on a 2-on-1:
"I thought tonight, especially, he did a nice job of that," Forrest said of Nylander's commitment to the smaller areas of his game. "We like his progress in those departments."
Nylander's not quite sure how he developed a reputation for having low effort or a lack of commitment to a 200-foot game.
"I always think that I have worked hard, I don't really know what that comes from," he told me of that reputation Saturday. "Obviously, I know if I'm not working hard, it's hard to play out there. You've got to keep moving your feet. Obviously, you can have some games where you maybe don't do as much .But you've got to still have the work ethic there or just bounce backs next game and keep consistent with that."
That consistency in the areas of Nylander's game away from the offensive side of things is just what the Penguins want to see from him before he makes it to the next level. He's playing the way he's supposed to, they just want to have it become second nature to him, and that comes with just a bigger sample size of playing this way.
"We just want to see that consistency with it," Forrest told me recently. "A couple of games is great. But when you can string it out over a few weeks, and then just have it be part of your DNA, then I think that's what's going to make it pop for him."
Nylander says he feels himself getting more confident, "more like myself" in this opportunity with Wilkes-Barre. He's been playing on the left wing of the Penguins' second line alongside Sam Poulin at center and a right wing that has rotated, but had most frequently been Anthony Angello. Nylander and Poulin have shown great chemistry together, and the decision to put the two together coincided with Poulin's season making a complete 180-degree turn for the better, though it can't be attributed entirely to their chemistry.
"We always have to start with with moving our feet and doing all the right stuff first," Nylander said of what has led to him meshing so well with Poulin. "I know he can play, I know I can play, and that kind of just goes in as the game goes on. If we are moving our feet, we're doing the right things, then the other stuff just comes into play."
Nylander's opening goal on Saturday began with Matt Bartkowski and Angello teaming up to force a turnover that led to a 2-on-1 opportunity in the opening minute of the middle frame:
"I had a guy on me and I just tried to beat him with my speed, and I noticed that I had a step on him," Nylander told me of the goal. "Then he fell there. So then I just saw that we had a 2-on-1, and I saw that there was an opening there. That's where I shot, and it went in."
Kasper Bjorkqvist said that he remembers playing for Finland in junior tournaments against Nylander's Swedish squad, and seeing much of the same offensive firepower then that he's seeing now as his teammate.
"I remember him being quite the player, an annoying player," Bjorkqvist said of Nylander with a smile. "A lot of time I was on the PK and trying to stop him from scoring, and I remember it being hard back then. You can see in the game right now he's pretty effective with the puck and scoring goals."
A goal from defenseman Mitch Reinke extended the Penguins' lead to 2-0 that period, then Springfield forced overtime with two third-period goals, including one from former Penguin James Neal. The game went into a shootout after a scoreless three-on-three overtime. Nylander's goal was the lone one in the shootout, and it was a beauty:
Nylander is now 2-for-4 in shootout attempts this season, going 1-for-2 with Rockford prior to the trade and 1-for-2 in Wilkes-Barre.
"That's my usual go-to move in the shootout," Nylander said. "I have a couple, that's one of them. That's the one I (scored on) earlier too, so I just stuck with it."
Nylander's contributions offensively have been an impressive, but expected part of his game. "We know what he can do with the puck and offensively," Forrest said after the trade.
It's a continued strong effort to playing a complete 200-foot game that's going to get Nylander back to the NHL.
"I know the kind of style they want to play up there," Nylander said, referring to Pittsburgh. "You've got to work hard, do the right things, make the right plays at the right time. In the D zone you've got to be aware of everything that's going on. It's playing fast when you get the puck and knowing what to do. I think that's been getting better and better."
MORE FROM THE GAME
• Goaltender Tommy Nappier, in the second year of a three-year AHL contract with Wilkes-Barre was great in net with 30 saves, including some key saves early on in the game.
Nappier stopped all three shooters in the shootout, including Neal:
Kasper Bjorkqvist called Nappier's play "Crucial -- probably the most important piece of the victory today."
"It was probably pretty evident that you can see from the TV that we were super excited for him," Bjorkqvist said of Nappier. You know, he's always a super positive guy. So it was exciting to see him play such a great game today."
• Reinke's goal was his second of the year:
• Neal's game with Springfield was his third in the AHL this season. He now has three goals and an assist in those three games since being sent down:
• Sam Anas, Neal, and Hugh McGing were the unsuccessful shooters in the shootout for Springfield. Angello and Valtteri Puustinen were stopped on their attempts for Wilkes-Barre.
• The Penguins went 0-for-2 on the power play and 2-for-3 on the penalty kill.
• When Poulin was first moved to center just over a month ago, Forrest said that he wasn't sure yet if it would be a permanent spot for him moving forward. Poulin's been at center ever since, and Forrest likes what he's seen.
"I think he's been doing a tremendous job at center," Forrest said. 'It's not an easy position to play. There's a lot of work involved. You're covering all parts of the ice, and you've got the puck a lot, you have to make a lot of decisions. That was part of our thought process with him, to help him with that decision-making by giving him more touches. And he's been able to handle it. He's really strong, down low in those zones. So I think he's actually helped us there defensively, even as a young guy, just being hard on hard on pucks and hard on players, able to separate them and get us possession. Then on the other end of the ice, keeping possession. I think he had a couple of shifts tonight that were just fantastic, coming through the neutral zone and making a smart play, and then he ends up making plays in the offensive zone. That's what we're looking for from him."
Forrest again said that he's not sure if that will be a permanent spot for Poulin, but added that for now, Poulin being a center benefits both the team and Poulin.
• Felix Robert, first-line center, has gone on a rare cold streak with no points in his last eight games. When I asked Forrest about Robert's scoring drought, Forrest told me that Robert has "had a couple little dings and bruises and some things that may be hindering his play a little bit."
Still, the Penguins are pleased with what they get from Robert in other areas of the game.
"We always can depend on his motor and his energy," Forrest said. "And you know what, when he's not putting up points, he's doing a lot of other things out there. So yeah, the short answer is you can usually be happy with what Felix is doing even if he's not showing up on the scoresheet."
• Bonus Finnish geography lesson from Bjorkqvist on the city of Kuopio, hometown of both Puustinen and Kasperi Kapanen: "It's kind of known as an area of people being pretty loose about their life in terms of enjoying life and always being positive."
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Scoreboard
• Standings
• Statistics
THE THREE STARS
As selected at Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza:
1. Alex Nylander, Penguins
2. Tommy Nappier, Penguins
3. Mitch Reinke, Penguins
THE HIGHLIGHTS
THE INJURIES
• Goaltender Filip Lindberg is out "longer-term" with an ankle injury sustained during the game on Nov. 12. Lindberg was practicing with the team before the holiday break, but hasn't skated since then. Forrest said that Lindberg didn't suffer a setback, but rather the team learned more information about his injury.
• Forward Jamie Devane is out "week-to-week" after suffering an upper-body injury in a fight on Jan. 21. There were no specifics given regarding the nature of the injury, but he was reaching for his jaw after the fight.
• Defenseman Chris Bigras is out "week-to-week" with an undisclosed upper-body injury.
THE LINEUPS
Forrest's lines and pairings:
Filip Hallander - Felix Robert - Valtteri Puustinen
Alex Nylander - Sam Poulin - Anthony Angllo
Kasper Bjorkqvist - Michael Chaput - Nathan Legare
Jordy Bellerive - Jonathan Gruden - Kyle Olson
P.O Joseph - Mitch Reinke
Matt Bartkowski - Taylor Fedun
Juuso Riikola - Will Reilly
And for Drew Bannister's Thunderbirds:
James Neal - Matthew Peca - Sam Anas
Mackenzie MacEachern - Hugh McGing - Alexey Toropchenko
Nathan Walker - Nikita Alexandrov - Will Bitten
Keean Washkurak - Drew Callin - Mathias Laferriere
Tommy Cross - Scott Perunovich
Tyler Tucker - Steven Santini
Griffin Luce - Josh Wesley
THE SCHEDULE
The Penguins play the Bears on the road on Tuesday then host the Phantoms on Wednesday. They'll have another back-to-back over the weekend with a game in Bridgeport on Saturday and a game at home against the Crunch on Sunday.
THE CONTENT
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