Development camp: Calvert brings net-front presence

CRANBERRY, Pa. -- In the time leading up to drafting Brayden Yager in the first round in 2023 and the time since, the Penguins watched a lot of the WHL's Moose Jaw Warriors. 

Yager, of course, isn't in the system anymore, having been traded to the Jets last month in the Rutger McGroarty deal. But all that scouting of Warriors games hasn't been for nothing -- one of Moose Jaw's undrafted prospects caught their eye too.

Yager's Moose Jaw center Atley Calvert first attended the Penguins' development camp and played for the team in the Buffalo Prospects Challenge last year. He was preparing for his 20-year-old season, which would have made him eligible to play in the minors had he signed and turned pro, but he also had the option to go back to the WHL and play one more overage season. The Penguins didn't ultimately sign Calvert last summer, and so he went back to Moose Jaw for that overage year. 

Calvert had a dominant final season in junior, won the WHL's championship, and his efforts earned him a two-year AHL contract with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton that kicks in this season.

"It's something you work for your whole career," Calvert told me of that signing at the Penguins' development camp last month at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex. "So I'm excited for the next step here."

Calvert, himself a native of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, spent his entire junior career with his hometown team. Before this season, the Warriors had never made it out of the second round in Calvert's time there. It would be the last year in Moose Jaw for Calvert and a number of the Warriors' other top players, and they wanted to make sure they went out on a high note. 

Calvert set career highs in the regular season with 47 goals and 48 assists in 65 games -- his 95 points tying him for second overall with Yager for team scoring, and having sole possession of second overall in goals on Moose Jaw. He went on to be one of Moose Jaw's top performers in the playoffs, finishing fifth in scoring with eight goals and 12 assists in 20 games on the way to helping Moose Jaw capture its first-ever championship.

"My whole junior career, we had the same group," Calvert said of the run. "We fell short a bunch, and I think that's the recipe for eventually pulling it all out at the end. And I mean, we had a good group of guys. It starts in the locker room. So anytime you can have a group like that, you're going to do something special."

JOE ZAK / PENGUINS

Atley Calvert at the Penguins' development camp this summer in Cranberry, Pa.

Calvert, a right-handed shot who is listed at 6 feet and 194 pounds, describes himself as "hard-working" first and foremost, and said that he "likes to be around the net and likes to do the little things right and try and get into scoring areas." Because of that habit of going to the net-front, he likes trying to model his game after those of Zach Hyman and Joe Pavelski. That presence paid off on the scoresheet for Calvert last season, including in the postseason:

Over this last season, since Calvert was last at a Penguins development camp, he thinks he matured on and off the ice, and made strides in improving his overall game. And moving forward, he wants to keep improving his skating more than anything, especially as he makes the move to pro hockey.

"My skating has been something that I've had to work on my whole life," he said. "And I think just taking the next step to pro, it's faster game now, so I want to improve on that, and obviously work on everything else too. But skating is my main focus."

The Penguins are deep at forward throughout the system coming into this season, with somewhere around 14 forwards in competition for the seven or so roster spots outside the top six at the NHL level. The trickle-down effect is going to be that Wilkes-Barre's going to end up pretty deep itself this year, and it's not going to be an easy roster to crack either, especially for a first-year pro. Calvert will have the opportunity to make his case at this week's Prospects Challenge in Buffalo, N.Y., and then likely at the main training camp as well.

Multi-year deals aren't too common for AHL contracts. So, even though the Penguins didn't use one of their 50 contract slots on him and only signed him to an AHL deal, committing to a two-year deal is an indication of their interest in him as a prospect. The Penguins have made a lot of progress in the last year or so toward improving their prospect pool, but there's still a ways to go before it could be considered a strong, deep pool. If undrafted finds like Calvert could pan out, that'd go a long way toward the strength of the pool as a whole.

JOE ZAK / PENGUINS

Atley Calvert at the Penguins' development camp this summer in Cranberry, Pa.