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When the Pittsburgh Penguins sent Derrick Pouliot to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton as one of the last cuts from training camp in early October, they wanted their top prospect to improve his defense.
Has he?
Six games into the season, Pouliot has been busy playing on the penalty kill, facing opponents’ top lines and has posted a plus-1 while earning an even or plus rating in all but one game.
More importantly, Pouliot has earned the praise of his coaches for his defensive play.
“For me, defensively, I don’t really see a whole lot of things that I would red flag,” said assistant coach Jay Leach, who was a defenseman during his 12-year pro career. “He’s been engaged the last few weeks and defensively he’s on pucks, he’s on guys and he’s had good stick positioning.”
Playing solid defense is nothing new for the 21-year-old Pouliot. During four seasons in juniors, Pouliot never finished a season with a negative plus-minus rating and in 2013-14 he was a plus-40 for the season.
But as a pro, adjusting to the defensive game has been a bit different for Pouliot, who struggled in his own end during several exhibition games with Pittsburgh this year.
And despite the lofty plus-minus totals in juniors, Pouliot knows if there’s any part of his game that could improve, it’s defense.
Even in juniors.
“That’s always been one of the parts of the game I needed to work on and it hasn’t really been stressed a whole lot (in juniors),” Pouliot said. “In juniors you can get away with some stuff and still come plus-1 at the end of the night. Here, you have to be solid all the time.”
Still, Pouliot is quick to point out that playing against top lines and on the penalty kill has helped to improve his defense, and he credits the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton coaches with taking some extra time in practice to teach the finer points of defending.
But defense isn’t the only part of Pouliot’s game. It’s his success on offense that led Pittsburgh to take Pouliot 8th overall in the 2012 NHL Draft, and finding that delicate balance between producing offensively while not neglecting the defensive side of things is perhaps the greatest challenge for Pouliot.
Leach refers to the early years of the career of Chicago Blackhawks star Blueliner Duncan Keith as a similar path that Pouliot is taking. When Keith was drafted in 2002 he was a prolific point-producer in college and juniors. When he turned pro, the points continued for Keith but his defensive play struggled a bit. It took two full seasons in the AHL for Keith to learn how to balance his offensive play with sound defense.
It’s all about knowing when to take chances offensively and when to stay back and play defense, Leach said, who added that defensemen in general take a little while to develop.
“Derrick and I talked about the comparison with Duncan Keith and hopefully he models himself after someone like that. Duncan Keith found that balance, and I’m sure he’s had times where he gambled a little bit offensively and lost,” Leach said. “It takes time to find that balance more often than not, and that’s what we’re looking for with Derrick.”
While he works on defense, Pouliot certainly hasn’t neglected the offensive side of his game. In 31 games last season with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Pouliot registered 24 points, and through the first six games this year he’s scoring at a point-per-game clip.
Pouliot admitted that finding the balance is the hardest part of his development because his instinct tells him to be up in the play helping to create offense and score goals, while his job title dictates that he doesn’t sacrifice defense as a result.
“I’m learning there’s a time and a place for the high-risk, high-reward play,” he said. “The coaches are helping me to learn how to pick and choose my spots.”
And that teaching presents another delicate balance for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton coaches who want Pouliot to become a sound defender without limiting his offensive ability.
“Sure there are times when Derrick is going to take chances, but the thing about that is you don’t want to take the stick out of his hands because then what is he?” Leach said. “That’s the last thing I’d want to take away from him because that’s what got him to where he is.”
Pouliot appreciates the offensive freedom he’s been granted and said while the coaching staff doesn’t want to hold a player back when it comes to creating offense, it’s up to him to know when to pick his spots.
“Sometimes when there’s no play you can’t force it. Maybe you have to back off and live to fight another day,” Pouliot said. “They give you some freedom, but you can’t let it get out of hand. It goes back to finding that balance.”