Penguins assistant general manager and general manager of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Jason Spezza met with the media today during the third day of development camp. Here's a full transcript of his session.

Question: "You played with Will Horcoff's dad. What do you remember about seeing Will around the rink, and what are you getting as an organization in him now?"

Spezza: "I think that that one year in particular, we had Blake Fiddler and Will Horcoff, and they both just went through the draft cycle, so it was great to see them through the combine. With Will, he was a rink rat. He's always been a rink rat. I think that's one of the benefits of being the son of an NHL player, is you get to be around. So Will's very comfortable around the arena. I think his love for the game is something that stands out. And he's always working on his game. I still kept in touch with Shawn, so I know quite a bit about Will's path and how things have gone, and it's great to see him here, to see how important everything is, and how serious he is about everything. So it's nice to have the connection. But Will's a great player, and (knowing his father) didn't really factor into why we have him here."

Question: "Will could turn pro for you, I guess, this coming season. Any talk to sending him to Wilkes-Barre if he doesn't make the NHL club?"

Spezza: "No, Will will be going back to Michigan, for sure. He won't even be at training camp. He'll be going back to Michigan. They have a good development system there, he went there halfway through the year. He won't be at NHL camp, as with the other college guys."

Haase: "Mikhail Ilyin, what's the plan for him next season, and what are you getting in him?"

Spezza: "Well, it's great to have him over here. It's been a lot of work with visas and everything to get him here. He missed the first few days. He took a bit of a step last year, which is great. He's going to go back to the KHL again next year, but we have him under contract now, so we anticipate the year following that he'll come. I think with Mikhail, just to get him here, and for him to feel the environment is really important. So it's great that he's been able to make it, and he's playing pro over there, so I think he'll learn from what he has here, and then go over there and have another good year."

Question: "Cruz Lucius, I think he missed basically the first half of the year. How did he bounce back from that? And where is his development compared to when you guys first acquired him?"

Spezza: "It was probably not the best year for him in terms of trying to get up to speed after missing all that time. We're really looking forward to him having a full off season. You know, he's worked really hard. He stayed in Arizona, at school there, putting in the time. He's going to have more of a leadership role, a bigger role there. It's tough for any of these guys when they miss the start of the season and try to join the team halfway. And I think that he's really going to benefit from a good off season."

Question: "What did you make of Joona Vaisanen's season? Obviously a great end result in the national title."

Spezza: "Joona is a guy that we were really high on, a guy that we saw a lot of potential in. A great feel for the game, in a good spot at Western Michigan, where they teach the details really well. (Western Michigan head coach) Pat (Ferschweiler) does a good job teaching them how to defend. Joona defends really well, angling, skating forward. And I think that benefited him. He's got a quiet confidence to him, and I think that showed. And to be a part of a championship team and log the minutes he did, it was a great year for him. He's the guy that's looking to push and taking on a bigger role there with the club this year. A great season. We like when our players are part of winning teams."

Question: "You've got a few weeks with Harrison Brunicke In Wilkes last season. How close is he to the NHL? I guess you can get him in the AHL again."

Spezza: "No, he can't go to the AHL. He will tell us how close he is in training camp. I think Harrison knows the task at hand and that he had a great camp last year. In Wilkes, it was, I think, a great learning curve for him to come and have a little bit of the struggles early on there, the first few weekends, and then to see his game blossom. He was probably a guy that got hurt the most by us losing in the first round. His game was really coming on. He's a guy that I think is really looking to push and take a step and make some noise in camp. But he'll be the one that dictates how ready he is."

Haase: "Tanner Howe, though, does have the option of AHL or junior. Do you know what the plan for him is?"

Spezza: "Howe can play, yes, and he will be in Wilkes. He's coming back from injury, so he'll miss a good chunk of the season to start. We'll take things slow with him, with the injury that he had. It's important that he's 100% healthy. But, yeah, he'll be in Wilkes next year. When he'll be back from the injury is a little more up in the air based on how he's feeling, and we won't rush him either. A young kid, you want to make sure the rehab goes smooth and just put it behind him."

Question: "Chase Pietila made the jump this past spring. What did you see in the handful of games between Wilkes and Wheeling?"

Spezza: "He got a lot of experience at the end of the year. The benefit to them getting to play at the end of the year last year is they feel the level. So he should have a bit of a leg up in terms of understanding what things are about. It's not all going to be new for him. So it's great experience when they can come and play games and be part of things. He went down to Wheeling and played a lot of minutes and was really assertive in his game. So he's going to be a guy that comes in, we're going to have good competition in Wilkes, just like we will here in Pittsburgh. So it's great, and that's what you want as an organization. But he's a guy we have a lot of belief in."

Question: "Speaking of competition in Wilkes, already some depth signings made for the organization and free agency. As you continue to round out the organizational depth chart, what kind of players are you guys looking for to continue to add here?"

Spezza: "You want competitive players. I think when you deal with American League depth, it's a little bit different. You're trying to project out what the team may look like. You want to make sure that you have guys that will push, and culture is really important at that level. The lineup changes weekly, daily. So just bringing in guys that are going to have a lot of the core values that we want in players is important. We've gone with a mix of guys through free agency and college signings, and just try to build out your depth that way and find guys that you feel like have a chance."

Question: "This week, we spoke with Wes Clark and asked him about Gabriel D'Aigle. He said (director of goaltending) Jon Elkin was one who really pushed for him. Gabriel played on a team that wasn't very good, at least by record last year. When you see a goalie who is behind a team that struggles, what do you garner from that, in terms of how he manages a lot of lows in a situation like that?"

Spezza: "He had a ton of work. I think we rely on Jon for our goaltending evaluation. We're not all sitting around trying to be goaltending experts, that'd take a lot of time. And so you have the goaltending guys that handle that. But with Gabe, what I'd say is he got thrust into a situation where he played a ton, basically every night, on a bad team. He got faced with a lot of shots. And I think now that we have him, we're going to try to really help him with his technical game. The athleticism and size is there, and now it's just kind of building his game up with some structure. And I think the team will probably take a step next year, which will help him, and we'll just keep chipping away."

Question: "Have you set a plan for Wilkes goaltending or how it affects the NHL roster yet?"

Spezza: "No. We're too early. The players sort it out in camp. When it comes to competition like that, when you have guys that are on entry-level deals that can go up and down easily and don't need waivers, it creates a true competition, because there's no other factors. So no, we haven't."

Question: "(Max) Graham and (Luke) Devlin coming to camp injured. Do you expect them to be available by the start of their prospective seasons?"

Spezza: "Yeah. Max has been new to the organization at the deadline, and worked really hard, has been great with his communication coming back from a tough injury. So there'll be an adjustment, but he's probably close to being ready, just take it easy with a guy like that. No need to rush him into anything in the summer. And same with Luke. He's had a really rough year last year, injury-wise. So it's just more out of abundance of caution to make sure that they are up and running when the season starts."

Question: "Ditto with Zam Plante as well?"

Spezza: "Yeah, no. Zam needs time. He's coming off surgery. He's got a little longer in his recovery."