May 24 03:25PM Jeffrey, Tangradi prove WB/S develops

Pittsburgh Penguins who have developed as WB/S Penguins:

1. Marc-Andre Fleury, Brooks Orpik, Kris Letang, Alex Goligoski, Max Talbot, and Tyler Kennedy.

2. Mark Letestu, Deryk Engelland, Chris Conner and Ben Lovejoy.

 

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton is the best team available in the American League, but not only do they win games -

they develop prospects the right way so that they can one day play in the NHL, in Pittsburgh.

The second list of players above were all regular and important members of last season's WB/S club.

There is another new wave coming.

 

This season, chances are if you've read the blog once this year you probably would have seen me pumping up Dustin Jeffrey somewhere in Wilkes-Blog.

I've went as far as calling Jeffrey, "the best player in the AHL".

DJ has gotten his fair share of call-ups already this season, but with Mark Letestu now out for 4-6 weeks, it is his chance to shine.

The other night in Madison Square Garden, quite possibly the grandest NHL stage of them all, Jeffrey put one upstairs on goaltender Henrik Lundqvist.

Finally, when the game went to a shootout, Jeffrey came down in the 7th round, dangled Lundqvist to win the game.

 

 

The other night at the CONSOL Energy Center, Tangradi received a lot of praise for his strong game against the New York Islanders.

Tangradi plays a much different style than Jeffrey, adding more grit and physical board play along with his offensive output.

He's power forward city. He has the heart, grit and team-first attitude of a Ryan Malone. Combine that with the leadership and net-front presence of a Mike Knuble.

That's the Big Dog.

 

 

With Malkin out for what could be the season now, it's time for both of these blossoming forwards to step up and show they can play at the highest level there is.