Daily Faceoff Show: How rookies Trevor Zegras and Shane Pinto can have big impacts early on
The plethora of young talent around the league seems to be coming and coming faster than ever. More now than ever are those young players playing big roles on NHL clubs.
In many cases, those talents are forcing teams’ hands into giving them larger roles by edging out other aging players. But in some cases, like it is for Anaheim Ducks rookie Trevor Zegras and Ottawa Senators rookie Shane Pinto, those clubs are ready to see them step into big roles.
Daily Faceoff prospect expert Chris Peters joined Frank Seravalli on the Daily Faceoff Show Thursday morning where he talked about how those two talents could look this season.
On Zegras:
“First of all, I think it comes down to role. The Ducks need Trevor Zegras to be a contributor immediately. He played in the first game. He didn’t play quite as much in terms of ice time as I expected, but I do think that’s going to continue to grow. The other thing that really helps Zegras is he’s going to be on the first power play unit for the Ducks. That’s helps him put up pretty sizeable numbers. He’s going to get a lot of puck touches, he was running the power play from the half wall. That’s going to give him a lot of opportunities to produce. You look at role, and then you also look at the talent. I think the talent of Trevor Zegras is such that he’s elite. He’s a dynamic skill player who has incredible vision so I think he’s going to rack up a lot of assists this year. I think he’s going to help the Ducks be a little better than others expect.
On Pinto:
“I think that what Shane Pinto did last year at North Dakota was overshadowed a bit by what Cole Caufield did at the University of Wisoncins with his goal scoring exploits. Besides Caufield, I thought Pinto was one of the best players in college hockey last year. He did get a late season audtiion with the Senators, and did very well for himself with seven points in 12 games. Shane Pinto is a guy that is pro-ready in terms of his physical readiness. He’s really a guy who has driven his stock up these last two years. He was a really good USHL player and I thought it was a bit of a reach when the Sens took him so early in the second round, but he’s proven me wrong time and time again. Every single year he gets better. Similar to Zegras, it’s going to come down to role. Is he going to become the number two center for the Senators this year? It could happen that way. The way things have shaped up they don’t have a lot of center depth. They’re going to give him a lot of opportunity. He’s also excellent at the net front — he’s strong, he’s physical, he has quick hands. That’s going to allow him to produce.”
Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@oilersnation.com.