What is Jaromir Jagr worth? Well, in terms of actual players, Jagr garnered
the Penguins three 20-year-old prospects with a grand total of four games of
NHL experience. Here's a quick look at the the three players Pittsburgh
acquired in Wednesday's blockbuster trade.
Kris Beech
At just 20 years old, Beech is the best of the three prospects. The 1999 No.
7 overall pick spent training camp and the early part of the season with the
Capitals before being sent back to his junior team in Calgary. In four games
with the Capitals last season, the 6-foot-2 center didn't register a point
and was a minus-2.
"Beech is the premier player (in the deal)," Penguins GM Craig Patrick said
on Wednesday. "Our staff feels he could be a Ronnie Francis-type of player.
He could be a No. 1 or 2 centerman."
Once returned to junior, Beech scored 22 goals and added 44 assists in 40
games. That was fourth-best on the team, but Beech played 30 fewer games than
leading scorer Jordan Krestanovich (40-60-100). Beech has excellent size --
he's about 190 pounds -- and sees the ice extremely well as is shown by his
average of more than one assist per game last season in junior hockey.
Michal Sivek
The 6-foot-3, 214-pound Sivek is bigger than Beech but doesn't possess the
same level of skill. Patrick projects Sivek as a third- or fourth-line
center. After the Capitals selected Sivek with the 29th overall pick in
1999, Sivek left junior hockey in the WHL and played in the top Czech league
for Sparta Praha. In 32 games, the 20-year-old scored six goals and added
seven assists. Before the Capitals selected Sivek, he scored 23 goals and
totaled 60 points in 53 games for Prince Albert in the Western Hockey
League.
Ross Lupaschuk
Lupaschuk possesses excellent offensive skills for a 6-foot-1, 215-pound
defenseman. While playing for Red Deer in the WHL, Lupaschuk scored 28 goals
in 65 games and tied for the second-most power-play goals on the team with
15.
Along with Pittsburgh's 2001 first-round pick Colby Armstrong, Lupaschuk
helped the Red Deer team win the Memorial Cup -- Canada's prestigious junior
hockey championship round-robin tournament.
Another positive for Pittsburgh is that Lupaschuk also plays a physical
game; in four junior seasons, Lupaschuk amassed 590 penalty minutes. When
handicapping the recently acquired prospects, Patrick projected Lupaschuk as
a solid NHL defenseman, although not someone in Pittsburgh's top four.
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