Gambling on Despres

Thursday, 17 January 2013 13:10

Written by Dave Molinari

The Penguins think enough of Simon Despres that they are willing to risk losing Brian Strait, a capable defensive defenseman, on waivers rather than have Despres open the NHL season in the American Hockey League.

And because a young defenseman must play a significant amount to develop, Despres might well log a lot of minutes alongside a partner like Kris Letang.

It will be interesting to see how Despres, who has shown that he can make things exciting at both ends of the rink, responds to that kind of opportunity/challenge.

His focus and intensity. have wavered enough that he was a healthy scratch recently in Wilkes-Barre, but there's no disputing his gifts for the game.

Sheer talent won't be enough to make him effective at this level, however.

Despres is going to have to take a mindset that matches his skills set into games against NHL competition if he's going to be effective.

And if he's going to avoid ending up back in Wilkes-Barre for more of a chance to develop into the force the Penguins are convinced he can be.