Pre-season prospecting – Luca Caputi

Pittsburgh Penguins pre-season games began Tuesday night when the 2009 Stanley Cup Champions skated onto Mellon Arena ice and defeated Columbus Blue Jackets 5-4 in overtime.  With one game under their belts, today will be the fifth full day of pre-season training camp.

Last post, I promised to analyze some of the players in camp who might fill the void left on the active roster by Maxime Talbot, who is recovering from off-season left shoulder surgery.  Talbot had been pencilled in as the right wing on the second line, skating with centre Evgeni Malkin and left wing Ruslan Fedotenko.  As reported on pittsburghpenguins.com, regular third line right wing Tyler Kennedy skated with Malkin and Fedotenko during Sunday morning’s practice.

On this championship squad, it could be argued that with essentially all the integral forwards returning from last season’s roster, any prospect in camp will have severely diminished chances of bumping an incumbent player off of a key line.  Kennedy certainly has the inside track, but injuries and surprises are a fact of pre-season life and young Penguins’ prospects still have a chance to impress head coach Dan Bylsma and general manager Ray Shero before rosters are set at the end of September.

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Six-foot two-inch, 184 lb. forward Luca Caputi, Pittsburgh’s fourth-round draft pick in 2007 is a player who should be scrutinized during the club’s pre-season training camp.  Caputi was called up from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, the team’s AHL affiliate, for five games, scoring his first career NHL goal on his first career NHL shift at Montreal on February 3, in a 4-2 loss to the Canadiens.  The majority of his year was spent with the W-BS Penguins where he scored 18 goals and 27 assists in 66 regular season games and 8 points in 12 Calder Cup playoff games.  His regular season shooting percentage of 14.5 was second-best on the team.

In 2006-07, during his third year at junior, Caputi registered solid totals of 27 goals, 38 assists in 68 games for the Mississauga IceDogs of the Ontario Hockey League.  The following season, after becoming Pittsburgh property, Caputi flourished, finishing fourth in OHL scoring with 111 points (51 goals, 60 assists), one spot behind 2009 first overall NHL draft pick John Tavares and one spot ahead of 2008 first overall NHL draft pick Steve Stamkos.  Of note, Caputi racked up 107 penalty minutes that season, giving him a reputation of a player who has an elite scorer’s touch while not afraid to show pugnacity on the ice.

If the Penguins’ braintrust decides to maintain faith in the ever-inscrutable intangible of “forward line chemistry”, then perhaps keeping Matt Cooke-Jordan Staal-Tyler Kennedy together, a trio that worked so well in the playoffs together, may mean a door is open for Caputi.  The scoring talent is clearly there and while his natural position is left wing, the potential to be the scrappy, battering ram for the second line presents an interesting possibility for the Penguins as they search for the perfect candidate to fill the right wing spot.  While it would be ridiculous hyperbole to suggest Caputi’s presence would instantly evoke memories of past star Penguins power forwards like Rick Tocchet or Kevin Stevens, a roster spot for Caputi would not be such a bad idea.

The only question revolving around Caputi is maturity.  Twice last season, he was disciplined by Wilkes/Barre-Scranton team management for undisclosed reasons.  In the first case, just prior to his call up to Pittsburgh, he was benched for one game, while in the second situation, he was demoted to the Penguins’ East Coast Hockey League affiliate, the Wheeling Nailers, for three games.

With so much to gain, one hopes Caputi demonstrates some self-discipline at pre-season camp to focus his considerable talent, and as a minimum, works hard and leaves a good impression on Penguins management and importantly, Penguins players.  If he does, Caputi, who turns 21 on October 1, won’t mind receiving his birthday gift a day earlier – if he is rewarded with a spot on the opening day NHL roster.

Statistical sources: pittsburghpenguins.com, theahl.com, ontariohockeyleague.com