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Baltimore Orioles add Crestwood’s Wotherspoon to 40-man roster for call-up

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Around Town: A week spent making life a little more beautiful

<p>It will be some time before any of them contribute for Pittsburgh. Or, for that matter, for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.</p><p>But the Penguins seemed to have some specific traits in mind when they selected five prospects in this weekend&#8217;s NHL draft.</p><p>Pittsburgh general manager Jim Rutherford and amateur scouting director Patrik Allvin weren&#8217;t looking exclusively for size and scoring in picking the next generation of Penguins. But that&#8217;s the way it turned out, using their first three selections on heavier players over speed and fluid skating.</p><p>It began with Friday night&#8217;s first-round pick of Samuel Poulin at No. 21 overall and continued Saturday with two more wingers in Nathan Legare (third round, 74th overall) and Judd Caulfield (fifth round, 145th overall).</p><p>Pittsburgh also added two Finnish prospects in the seventh round in winger Valtteri Puustinen (203rd overall) and defenseman Santeri Airola (211th overall).</p><p>But the focus was on Poulin (6-foot-1, 212 pounds), Legare (6-foot, 206 pounds) and Caulfield (6-4, 205 pounds), all of whom come in with similar scouting reports of being physical players rather than finesse skaters.</p><p>&#8220;It just turned out to be that. Sometimes when you pick at those positions the other teams dictate what players well be available,&#8221; Allvin told the Penguins&#8217; team website. &#8220;They play the right way by going to the net and getting after it. That&#8217;s the intriguing part.</p><p>&#8220;They&#8217;re a little bit heavier and have to work on their quickness, but their low game and foot speed is good. They&#8217;re strong, powerful kids. There&#8217;s no concerns. In a couple years they&#8217;ll fit the style of the Penguins.&#8221;</p><p>Pittsburgh hadn&#8217;t made a pick in the first round since 2015, Rutherford&#8217;s first year in charge, and the selection, Kasperi Kapanen, was traded away the next summer in a deal for All-Star winger Phil Kessel.</p><p>Poulin racked up 76 points (29 goals, 47 assists) last season for Sherbrooke of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. Legare scored 87 (45 goals, 42 assists) for Baie-Comeau in the QMJHL, which is typically the highest scoring of the three top Canadian junior leagues.</p><p>The Penguins thought highly enough of Legare to trade up to snag him. They didn&#8217;t own a pick in the second or third rounds, so they moved picks in the fourth, fifth and seventh rounds to the Arizona Coyotes to move into the third round to grab him.</p><p>&#8220;When there was an opportunity to move up to get Nathan Legare, Jim was active,&#8221; Allvin said. &#8220;He&#8217;s a guy that we had higher on our list. We&#8217;re excited about that opportunity.&#8221;</p><p>Both players are 18, meaning they cannot be assigned to the AHL to play for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton for two more years because of an agreement the NHL has with the Canadian junior leagues.</p><p>After taking two Canadians, Pittsburgh snagged an American in Caulfield.</p><p>He was one of several players to be drafted out of the United States National Team Development program, where he played with multiple future stars, including this year&#8217;s No. 1 overall pick, Jack Hughes.</p><p>Caulfield is set to head to college to play at a historically strong North Dakota program, where he will likely remain for the forseeable future.</p><p>Puustinen was known to Penguins scouts because he was a teammate of Pittsburgh prospect Niclas Almari, a defenseman who could start this season in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton after signing his first NHL deal.</p><p>Their team, HPK, won the Finnish league championship recently. Pittsburgh traded a seventh-round pick in next year&#8217;s draft to the San Jose Sharks to take Puustinen.</p><p>Airola closed out the draft, coming out of SaiPa&#8217;s junior team in Finland.</p><p>&#8220;Puustinen played really well at World Junior this year,&#8221; Allvin said. &#8220;He&#8217;s a late-bloomer in Finland. He had a strong finish in the playoffs and won the championship in Finland.</p><p>&#8220;Airola was a guy that our European scouts were excited he was still available in the seventh round. He&#8217;s a late-bloomer. Skilled defenseman, a real good skater. That was a good flip to get him in the seventh.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Samuel Poulin was the first of five draft picks for Pittsburgh this weekend as the Penguins focused on adding power forwards to the organization. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/web1_AP19173100763909.jpg</photo0><caption0>Samuel Poulin was the first of five draft picks for Pittsburgh this weekend as the Penguins focused on adding power forwards to the organization. </caption0><photoCredit0>Jonathan Hayward | AP photo, The Canadian Press </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Derek Levarse</p><p>dlevarse@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div>

Penguins focus on forwards, add five prospects in NHL draft