Had a global pandemic not hit and changed life as we know it and created a lot of uncertainty surrounding college sports in the coming season, defenseman Josh Maniscalco would be gearing up for his junior season at Arizona State.
Instead, the 21-year-old decided to hit free agency and turn pro earlier than anticipated.
"With the college season up in the air, I think that this is the best decision for me and my development, to get those games rather than just a shortened college season or something like that," Maniscalco told me via a phone interview on Friday. "To play a pro season is overall best for me and my development."
That decision led him to sign a three-year entry-level contract with the Penguins on Friday morning.
"It's surreal," Maniscalco said of finally getting the contract signed. "Everyone here at Arizona State is super excited for me. Everyone in my family is super, super excited. My phone has been blowing up, I'm getting text messages, Instagram messages from fans, everything. I'm so excited, I'm blown away. It's just a surreal moment.
"You work your whole life for something like this, and now it's finally here and happening. I just couldn't be happier, I couldn't be more excited to get things rolling."
The Penguins were far from the only team interested in Maniscalco, and for good reason.
A two-way defenseman with great puck-moving abilities, the 6-2, 205-pound blueliner finished No. 4 in team scoring and No. 2 among defensemen with 11 goals and 21 assists in 36 games. Of the Sun Devils’ 94 goals scored this season, Maniscalco was on the ice for 46, nearly half, and seven more than any other teammate. He names offensive defenseman like John Carlson, Kris Letang, John Klingberg, and Seth Jones as players he likes to watch and try to emulate on the ice.
"I like to skate the puck a lot," he said of his game. "I like to jump up in the rush, try to beat their forwards up ice. I definitely enjoy the offensive side of the game, just being out and having the puck on my stick."
“He’s a stud,” Sun Devils head coach Greg Powers said of Maniscalco this season. “We knew what we were getting when we got him. He had a great freshman year, and he has just continued to evolve to the point where now, I think he’s one of the top defenseman in college hockey just as a sophomore.”
Jim Rutherford told Dave Molinari on Monday that the defenseman they were looking to sign was someone that they've "followed for the last couple of years." Maniscalco told me that the Penguins first formally expressed interest in him last October, and that he's been in contact with the organization since then.
The Penguins were an appealing home for Maniscalco from the beginning. Despite growing up on the eastern side of the state in Perkiomenville, Pa., he grew up a huge Penguins fan, much to the ire of his Flyers-loving family.
"Everyone in my family gave me a hard time for it," he laughed. "But now I can look at them and say, hey, you guys are all Penguins fans now."
Maniscalco also noted that he was aware that there weren't many right-handed defensemen like himself in the Penguins' prospect pool (there are only two -- Will Reilly and Santeri Airola) and that, combined with the history of the organization made this seem like the right move for him.
"The world class program that they are, the standard to which they hold their players, the continued success, they've had a lot of success in the recent past," he said. "What really caught my eye was the goals to have success in the near future. I want to win, and I love to win."
Still, different members of the Penguins organization made their pitches to Maniscalco over the last few months after he decided to hit free agency. Director of player development Scott Young pointed to the success of John Marino with the Penguins straight out of college.
"Right away, Scott Young, the first thing he said to me was 'Just look at John Marino,'" Maniscalco said. "I think just the fact that they've had success with college free agents making an impact right away, that makes me bat an eye and look further into what's going on."
Maniscalco's teammate at Arizona State, Mario Lemieux's son Austin, made a case for the Penguins.
"We were teammates the past two years," said Maniscalco. "He reached out to me. He's an awesome guy, awesome family that he comes from. He was like, 'Hey, we'd love to have you in Pittsburgh, but you've got to do what's best for you,' that kind of stuff. He's like, 'If you decide Pittsburgh, we'll get together and play a couple of rounds of golf here and there.' Austin's an awesome guy."
Finally, "Mr. Lemieux" himself, who saw Maniscalco play in person a fair amount over the season while making trips to watch Austin, reached out.
"I had a conversation with Mr. Lemieux," he said. "Coming from a guy like that, the owner of the team, with the playing career that he had, it was surreal to hear the words coming from him and repeated by the organization. That was awesome."
As Maniscalco turns to a new chapter in his career, he remains grateful for what the young Arizona State hockey program did to get him to this point, turning him from an undrafted player to a highly-coveted free agent in just two years.
"I have to give all the credit in the world to Arizona State and my (USHL) junior team Dubuque," he said. "From the get go, Arizona State and my coaches Greg Powers and Alex Hicks, they really just preached how there is opportunity here. ... There's great leaders ahead of us, great seniors and juniors and sophomores that helped shape the tradition that's going on here at Arizona State. I was thankful to be able to step in and have an opportunity right away. The overall team chemistry and what coach Powers is building down here is paramount for the success that we had as a team."
Maniscalco said that he hasn't had a chance to think too far ahead of what it might be like to finally make that pro debut, still savoring the "surreal" moment of signing with the Penguins. But he's given a little bit of thought to his goals for next season.
"When you turn pro, your goal is to play in the NHL," he said. "That would be the most amazing thing in the world if I was given that opportunity, but I'm well aware that that's going to be earned. The hard work starts now. It's hard to get to pro, but it's even harder to stay. I'm aware of that, and I'm ready to put the work in."
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