Judd Caulfield got off to a slow start this season when it came to producing offensively.
Caulfield, the Penguins' fifth-round pick in 2019, set career highs in goals (11) and points (20) in his junior year last season in 39 games with the University of North Dakota. That production didn't quite carry over into the start of his senior season, and he was held scoreless for the first eight games of the season.
That's not to say he wasn't contributing. Caulfield, one of the bigger prospects in the Penguins' system at 6 feet 4, 212 pounds, is a power forward. He's physical, he's one of North Dakota's better penalty-killers, and he's a net-front presence that contributes to his team's offense by taking away the sight lines of goaltenders, even if he isn't always rewarded for his efforts on the scoresheet.
Caulfield, 21, has played throughout North Dakota's lineup this season but has settled in as the team's third-line right wing as of late, taking on a more defensive role.
Lately Caulfield has found his way back onto the scoresheet and is on the hottest offensive streak of his collegiate career.
Caulfield has scored seven goals and two assists in his last 10 games, a point shy of a point-per-game pace in that span. All but two of those points came at five-on-five. The two power play points were both goals scored in back-to-back games this weekend against Western Michigan:
Both goals came as redirects when Caulfield was parked in front of the opponent's goaltender, which is exactly what Caulfield told me he hoped to improve upon when I spoke to him during this past summer's development camp.
"I just want to work on having soft hands in front of the net because there's a lot of goals scored right in front of the net, whether it's tips, rebounds, a bunch of things like that," he said. "That's definitely a spot where I want to continue working on because it's the part of the game where I think I can thrive if I can get those skills."
There aren't too many forward prospects like Caulfield -- huge, power forwards who can play in all situations and chip in offensively -- in the Penguins' system. The Penguins have until this summer to make a decision on whether or not to sign Caulfield to an entry-level contract. Caulfield turning his game around offensively bodes well for his odds of getting that deal.
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Here's how the Penguins' other prospects in junior, college, and Europe did this week:
FORWARDS
Tristan Broz
Position: Center/wing
Size: 6-0/178
Shoots: Left
Drafted: 2021, second round
Age: 20
Team: Denver (NCAA)
Season totals: 18 games, 3 goals, 4 assists
Broz played two games this week and recorded a goal and an assist. His goal was an overtime-winner over Minnesota-Duluth:
He spoke on the team's social accounts about the goal:
Postgame reaction from Tristan Broz after his overtime-winning goal.#GoPios pic.twitter.com/pxda0PWXHy
— Denver Hockey (@DU_Hockey) December 10, 2022
Judd Caulfield
Position: Right wing
Size: 6-4/212
Shoots: Right
Drafted: 2019, fifth round
Age: 21
Team: North Dakota (NCAA)
Season totals: 19 games, 7 goals, 2 assists
Caulfield scored two goals in as many games this week.
Luke Devlin
Position: Center
Size: 6-2/185
Shoots: Left
Drafted: 2022, sixth round
Age: 18
Team: West Kelowna Warriors (BCHL)
Season totals: 24 games, 4 goals, 12 assists
Devlin played in four games this week and scored a goal and four assists. The goal was this nice move to just power his way to the net:
Zam Plante
Position: Center
Size: 5-9/161
Shoots: Left
Drafted: 2022, fifth round
Age: 18
Team: Chicago Steel (USHL)
Season totals: 10 games, 1 goal, 5 assists
Plante added an assist in his two games this week.
Kirill Tankov
Position: Center
Size: 6-1/185
Shoots: Left
Drafted: 2021, seventh round
Age: 20
Team: SKA-Neva (VHL)
Season totals: 1 game
Tankov suffered a season-ending neck injury in the opening game of the season and required surgery to repair a fractured vertebrae. He is expected to be able to play next season and is no longer wearing a neck brace.
Chase Yoder
Position: Center
Size: 5-10/176
Shoots: Left
Drafted: 2020, sixth round
Age: 20
Team: Providence (NCAA)
Season totals: 18 games, 5 goals, 6 assists
Yoder was scoreless in one game this week.
DEFENSEMEN
Santeri Airola
Size: 5-11, 163
Shoots: Right
Drafted: 2019, seventh round
Age: 22
Team: Ilves (Liiga), KOOVEE (Mestis)
Season totals: 5 games (Liiga), 16 games, 2 goals, 5 assists (Mestis)
Airola played two games in the second Finnish league and recorded two assists.
Isaac Belliveau
Size: 6-2/185
Shoots: Left
Drafted: 2021, fifth round
Age: 19
Team: Gatineau Olympiques (QMJHL)
Season totals: 19 games, 3 goals, 16 assists
Belliveau returned after being sidelined for 11 games with an undisclosed injury. He slotted right back in on Gatineau's top defense pairing and picked up two assists in three games.
Nolan Collins
Size: 6-3/194
Shoots: Right
Drafted: 2022, sixth round
Age: 18
Team: Sudbury Wolves (OHL)
Season totals: 21 games, 3 goals, 5 assists
Collins recorded an assist in five games this week.
Collins was ejected on Dec. 4 for slew-footing, something that would typically carry an automatic two-game suspension in the OHL. He didn't receive any supplementary discipline at all, an indication that the OHL disagreed with the call by the officials in that game.
Daniel Laatsch
Size: 6-5/183
Shoots: Left
Drafted: 2021, seventh round
Age: 20
Team: Wisconsin (NCAA)
Season totals: 18 games, 3 assists
Laatsch was scoreless in two games this week.
Ryan McCleary
Size: 6-2/180
Shoots: Right
Drafted: 2021, seventh round
Age: 19
Team: Portland Winterhawks (WHL)
Season totals: 26 games, 5 goals, 8 assists
McCleary was scoreless in three games this week.
Owen Pickering
Size: 6-4/180
Shoots: Left
Drafted: 2022, first round
Age: 18
Team: Swift Current Broncos (WHL)
Season totals: 22 games, 4 goals, 12 assists
Pickering played in three games this week and had one assist.
GOALTENDERS
Joel Blomqvist
Size: 6-2/183
Catches: Left
Drafted: 2020, second round
Age: 20
Team: Karpat (Liiga)
Season totals: 19 games, 2.34 GAA, .904 SV%
Blomqvist played in two games this week. He stopped 30 of 33 shots faced in his first game, then 20 of 21 shots two nights later.
Sergei Murashov
Size: 6-0/167
Catches: Right
Drafted: 2022, fourth round
Age: 18
Team: Loko Yaroslavl (MHL)
Season totals: 24 games, 1.52 GAA, .952 SV%, 6 shutouts
Murashov played in one game this week, stopping 27 of 29 shots faced in a 3-1 loss.
In the System, by Taylor Haase, appears Tuesdays on DK Pittsburgh Sports. Find previous editions.