Prospect Watch is a weekly feature checking in on the Penguins’ prospects playing in juniors, college, or Europe.
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The CIBC Canada-Russia series between the top junior players from each country kicked off this week.
The series is comprised of six games, with the Russian junior team playing two games each against the QMJHL, OHL, and WHL. The two games against the QMJHL were first, on Nov. 4 and Nov. 5.
The tournament functions as an early tryout for players looking to make Team Canada’s roster for the World Junior Championship. Dale Hunter, the coach of the Canadian junior national team, will serve as coach for Team QMJHL in the tournament.
Samuel Poulin and Nathan Legare played for Team QMJHL in its games this week.
The Russians prevailed in Game 1, defeating the top QMJHL players 4-3. Poulin had the lone assist on QMJHL's first goal of the game to even the score 1-1. He's wearing No. 13 in this clip, different from his usual No. 29:
Legare was scoreless in Game 1.
The QMJHL defeated the Russians in Game 2, 4-3 in overtime. The game was tied 1-1 after the first period, and Legare scored 1:52 into the second period to briefly give the QMJHL the lead:
Poulin was scoreless in Game 2.
The Russians will take on the OHL next, then head to western Canada to play the WHL on Nov. 13 and Nov. 14. Calen Addison will play for the WHL in those games.
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FORWARDS
Judd Caulfield
Position: Forward
Size: 6-3/207
Drafted: 2019, fifth round
Team: North Dakota (NCAA)
Season totals: 4 games, 1 assist
Caulfield did not play on North Dakota's only game this week.
Liam Gorman
Position: Center
Size: 6-3/196
Drafted: 2018, sixth round
Team: Princeton (NCAA)
Season totals: 2 games, 2 assists
Gorman played in his first two games of his collegiate career this week and picked up two assists. One assist came on this shorthanded goal:
Filip Hallander
Position: Center/Wing
Size: 6-1/190
Drafted: 2018, second round
Team: Lulea HF (SHL)
Season totals: 2 games, 1 assist
Hallander fractured his leg in his second game of the season and is expected to be out until at least Christmas.
Nathan Legare
Position: Right wing
Size: 6-0/205
Drafted: 2019, third round
Team: Baie-Comeau Drakkar (QMJHL)
Season totals: 16 games, 7 goals, 8 assists
Legare played in two games this week, picking up a goal and an assist. His goal was a power play tally in the third period that turned out to be the eventual game-winner:
Linus Olund
Position: Center
Size: 5-11/183
Drafted: 2017, fifth round
Team: Brynas IF (SHL)
Season totals: 13 games, 1 goal, 3 assists
Olund played in three games this week and earned one assist.
Nikita Pavlychev
Position: Center
Size: 6-8/225
Drafted: 2015, seventh round
Team: Penn State (NCAA)
Season totals: 5 games, 1 goal, 4 assists
Pavlychev recorded four assists in two games. In the first game this week, a 6-1 win over Wisconsin, he had the primary assist on the opening goal of the game, 47 seconds in. He also had the primary assist on a second-period power play goal. In the second game of the week, a 4-2 win over Wisconsin, he had the primary assist on a game-tying power play goal in the second period. He had yet another primary assist on a third-period goal that would stand to be the game-winner.
Samuel Poulin
Position: Wing
Size: 6-1/207
Drafted: 2019, first round
Team: Sherbrooke Phoenix (QMJHL)
Season totals: 16 games, 10 goals, 18 assists
Poulin scored one goal and two assists in two games this week. His goal was a power play goal in a 7-3 win over the Drummondville Voltigeurs. The Voltigeurs camera person managed to completely miss Poulin's shot from the point for the goal, so there's no highlight on this one.
Valtteri Puustinen
Position: Wing
Size: 5-9/183
Drafted: 2019, seventh round
Team: HPK (Liiga)
Season totals: 18 games, 7 goals, 7 assists
Puustinen was scoreless in one game this week. He was injured during a game on Oct. 31 and did not return. He hasn't played since.
"Last season has already given me a lot of confidence and it has been visible now in the early part," Puustinen said in an interview with Hameen Sanomat.
DEFENSEMEN
Calen Addison
Size: 5-10/180
Drafted: 2018, second round
Team: Lethbridge Hurricanes (WHL)
Season totals: 17 games, 4 goals, 10 assists
Addison recorded one goal and four assists in three games. His goal was Lethbridge's second in a 4-3 loss to the Winnipeg Ice on Oct. 30:
On Nov. 2, Addison passed Brent Seabrook to become second all-time in defenseman scoring in Lethbridge franchise history with 177 points.
Santeri Airola
Size: 5-11/165
Drafted: 2019, seventh round
Team: SaiPa (Liiga), Kettera (Mestis)
Season totals: 2 games with SaiPa, 1 game with Kettera
After playing primarily in Finnish juniors last season, Airola’s plan this season was to move to the second-tier professional Mestis league and play for Kettera.
At the beginning of the season, Airola was instead loaned to SaiPa of the top men’s league. After being injured since September, Airola was cleared to play last week and assigned to Kettera. He did not play this week.
Ryan Jones
Size: 6-2/186
Drafted: 2016, fourth round
Team: Nebraska-Omaha (NCAA)
Season totals: 6 games, 2 goals, 3 assists
Jones picked up one assist in two games this week. His assist came in Omaha's second game of the week, a 3-3 tie with Alaska-Anchorage. He had the secondary assist on Omaha's opening goal 52 seconds into the first period.
Antti Palojarvi
Size: 6-1/172
Drafted: 2017, sixth round
Team: Lukko (Liiga), Lukko U20 (Jr. A SM-liiga)
Season totals: 5 games with Lukko; 14 games, 3 assists Lukko U20
Palojarvi played one game this week for the U20 team and was scoreless.
Clayton Phillips
Size: 5-11/183
Drafted: 2017, third round
Team: Penn State (NCAA)
Season totals: 7 games, 3 assists
Phillips recorded one assist in two games. His assist came in the first game of the week, on a power play goal, the final tally in a 6-1 win over Wisconsin.
Onward State's Mikey Mandarino did a feature this week on Phillips' exceptional skating abilities.
“It’s amazing watching him move — just incredible,” head coach Guy Gadowsky said. “He is a very, very gifted skater. I’ve been really impressed with his defensive play because of that. When he’s moving his feet, he’s just impossible to get around.”
William Reilly
Size: 6-2/196
Drafted: 2017, seventh round
Team: Rensselaer Polytech (NCAA)
Season totals: 6 games, 3 goal, 3 assists
Reilly and RPI did not play this week.
Reilly's defense parter, Rangers prospect Simon Kjellberg, won the ECAC Men's Rookie of the Month for the month of October.
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