YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- The Youngstown Phantoms' Clark Cup win Friday night at Youngstown's Covelli Centre marked the end of the season for the last remaining player in the Penguins' organization still playing.
The Phantoms defeated forward prospect Zam Plante and the Fargo Force in three games in the best-of-five first round.
Plante, who turns 19 years old this summer, was the Penguins' fifth-round pick in the 2022 draft.
This season was a whirlwind for Plante, from an injury to start the season, a mid-season trade, and a new role on the USHL's top regular-season team. I made the trip out to Youngstown on Friday to catch up with Plante about his year, a decision he's made regarding his future, and a strong connection he's made with a member of the Penguins' front office while in Fargo this season.
Plante was traded midseason from the Chicago Steel to the Fargo Force on the USHL's trade deadline day, and Fargo paid a hefty price for Plante -- a rostered defensemen plus third- and fourth-round picks in the U17 "futures" draft, a first- and third-round pick in the USHL's draft of all eligible players, and multiple conditional picks.
Fargo head coach Nick Oliver told me after Friday's morning skate in Youngstown that it was what Plante could bring to his team both on and off the ice that had them look to bring him in at the deadline.
"First and foremost, it was the type of person Zam is," Oliver said of his team's motivation behind targeting Plante. "Obviously, being from Minnesota, having some staff from the area, we had a really good track record and book on Zam, not only as a player, but the type of person, type of leader he is. We knew he'd fit into our locker room really, really well that way. Then when we were looking to be playing in a series like this, we wanted to have players like Zam that could come in and make a difference and make an impact, make our depth and our team upfront better."
Oliver was pretty impressed with what he saw in from Plante after the trade as well. Plante played in 18 games with Fargo to finish the regular season and scored four goals and six assists with a plus-3 rating.
"He's been good," Oliver said. "Obviously, the hockey sense and the creativity piece has really showed through for him. He's upgraded and done a nice job on our power play. That area for the most part of this year, we haven't been near where we want to be, but in the playoffs our power play has been a big strength of ours. He's been a big part of that. So I think he's continued to do better. I think he's continued to grow and added another kind of offensive punch for us up front."
Plante plays on Fargo's second power play unit on the left wall and is tasked with taking the faceoffs for that group.
Plante was a middle-six forward in Chicago, shifting between wing and center, something he's done throughout his career. He's comfortable with both positions and he prefers center, but also likes the emphasis on scoring and less of a focus on defensive play that comes with playing wing. Since being traded to Fargo, Plante has settled into a fourth-line wing role. Having those defensive responsibilities is still important in the bottom-six, but Plante's role isn't quite that of a traditional fourth-line player. Fargo's fourth line is a skilled line.
"We actually have a very skilled fourth line," Plante told me. "I like playing with the guys. Some nights we can be our best line. It's good."
The hot Force finished as the USHL's regular-season champions, posting a 40-14-4-4 record and setting new records for the most wins and points in team history. Acquiring Plante for Fargo's fourth line was a pretty significant piece to that puzzle down the stretch of the season.
"We like our depth a lot," Oliver said. "We feel really good about all four lines we have, and picking Zam up just increased that depth for us. I don't think there's really any one line that we have that we expect or want to play a different way than the others. I think we want all four lines to play with the same pace, the same puck possession and puck support type of game that we want to play. His line, especially last game, did a really good job with some of that."
Overall, Plante said that he'd just describe his season on a personal level as "alright." Some things he wanted to work on in his game were just getting faster and stronger, adding some size to his 5-foot-10 frame. He was listed at just 165 pounds at the time of last summer's draft, and added about seven pounds since then through some increased work in the weight room. He wasn't able to get quite as much work in as he would have liked after having to undergo shoulder surgery early last offseason, with the rehab process sidelining him until the first week of November. He said that the first part of the season in Chicago was just spent trying to get back to the form he was at before the surgery.
That missed time due to injury and Plante not being totally satisfied with his season on a personal level played a big part in a decision Plante made regarding his future: Instead of joining Minnesota-Duluth as a freshman next season, he's delaying the start of his college career by one more year to return to Fargo.
"I didn't have a terrible year, but I didn't have a great year," Plante said of that decision. "Just another year to develop and just to be the older guy, it should be another good year."
Plante's coach Oliver, of course, is pretty happy about getting to keep Plante on his team for another season. But he also thinks that one more year in junior can benefit Plante, too. Oliver isn't too far removed from the college game, having been an assistant coach at St. Cloud State from 2018-22, and he thinks there are still areas of Plante's game that could be improved in order to find success at the next level.
"I think the biggest thing that can hold certain players back is just trying to rush their process and try to get to the next step too soon," Oliver said. "I think Zam's had a really good impact this year, and he's had a good season. But I think there's more boxes he wants to check with his game and his development. You can never be over-ready for the next level, just as I'm sure he's going to be patient at Duluth before he decides to make his jump to pro. I think another two summers of training before he plays college hockey and another full season in this league is only going to help him physically in a lot of the areas that he can continue to improve."
Oliver said the one "box" that sticks out that Plante still needs to check is just getting stronger, also noting that Plante's shoulder surgery recovery limited his ability to do that entering this season. After getting those two full summers in the weight room, he thinks Plante will be able to step into Minnesota-Duluth's team "ready, and step in more of a man physically" in 2024-25.
MARISSA WELTIN / FARGO FORCE
Zam Plante in the USHL Final
Minnesota-Duluth is definitely still in Plante's plans, for the record, even though he doesn't have quite the same connection with the coaching staff there anymore. When Plante committed to Minnesota-Dultuh, his father Derek -- who had an eight-year NHL career himself with Buffalo, Dallas, Chicago and Philadelphia -- was the associate head coach behind Minnesota-Duluth's bench. In August, though, the Blackhawks hired Derek as an assistant coach.
Plante's sights remains set on Minnesota-Duluth regardless of his dad being there or not.
"My hometown is Hermantown, it's like 20 minutes from Duluth," Plante explained. "That's where both of my parents went, it's all I've ever known. (Derek) thinks it'd be a good thing to go back (to the USHL) another year, too. College is a hard level, he says you want to be really good at the level you're at before the next level."
Wherever Plante is, the Penguins' development staff keeps a pretty good eye on him. He speaks with director of player development Tom Kostopoulos about once every three weeks, and members of the staff go over video with Plante and go over what he can do to improve.
As far as in-person, hands-on work between a member of the Penguins' staff and Plante, there's quite possibly no better place for Plante to be than Fargo.
Matt Cullen, who is on the Penguins' player development staff, became part-owner of the Force in September and functions as a skills coach for the team as well. Cullen and his wife Bridget also hosted the entire team for a dinner at his home prior to the start of the playoffs.
"I see him every day," Plante said of Cullen with a big grin. "I go over to his house once a week and eat and play knee-hockey with his kids, it's pretty fun. Then when we practice at home, he's normally out there ... if he's not chasing his kids around."
Cullen taking Plante under his wing sounds awfully similar to what he did for Jake Guentzel during Guentzel' early years as a pro, which is only fitting. Plante tries to model his game after that of Guentzel, and looks up to him as another former Minnesota high school player. And just like a young Guentzel once did, Plante had much to say about what Cullen's impact has been on him personally.
"He knows so much," Plante raved. "Just having him around, helping out the team, it's such a big help. There's not many guys that know more about the game than he does."
Having won a cup with the Hurricanes in 2006 and back-to-back Cups with the Penguins in 2016 and 2017, Cullen knows a lot about winning, too.
"He never talks about himself, right? But he talks about how their culture helped them win," Plante said of Cullen. "Everybody was pulling ahead, coach Mike Sullivan was really hard on guys and really good at holding guys accountable and getting the best out of them. So (Cullen) talks about that and how it's more on the guys bringing it out of themselves. Especially talking about the Cup, that's his big thing -- how those guys helped each other out, why they were so good."
Oliver credited Cullen with a big role in shaping Fargo's culture.
"He's been phenomenal," Oliver said of Cullen. "You know, a lot of the success we've had as a group this year, I think really stems from his vision, and what he's instilled in our organization, which has been people first, work ethic first, and developing first. I think through that vision of how we wanted to approach just our structure, our days and our weeks, I think he's had a huge impact in overseeing that and making an environment where our players have a lot of fun. They have a really good experience. They get held accountable, and they get better. That's the most fun part about what we have going on right now, is we feel it's a great spot for guys developing and get better."
Plante is still a few years off from even turning pro, let alone reaching the NHL. In the meantime, he's in a pretty good spot that will allow him to develop as a player and remain close with the Penguins' development staff.
MARISSA WELTIN / FARGO FORCE
Zam Plante in the USHL Final
