Thank you for posting this. I was seriously just planning to log-on to these boards and post the "Official Dustin Jeffrey Appreciation Thread" (which I think you should rename this thread to, please)
I say this because I truly believe that this is a topic, and hence thread, that will be revisited throughout the season. I have been a big Jeffrey supporter since his last year or two in the AHL, and then his call-up in NHL as a rookie in which he performed admirably, and may very well have been the difference in what was a very small margin of error series against Tampa Bay, had he not been injured.
Last year was a write-off for Jeffrey because he didn't quite come back as quickly into full health as Geno, and not being Geno, he did not get the automatic re-introducton into our line-up. Now, after lots of time to heal, a productive time in Europe, and to see that he has not lost any of the speed that he has gained over the years of working on his skating, I think this guy has real serious potential. I posted a week or two ago about Jeffrey's versatility and how he has the ability to QB a PP from either the half-wall or from the point, like Ron Francis did for us, and then he showed us just that very touch, by being part of a beautiful play from the point the other night in the instra-squad game.
The fact remains: Jeffrey still has amongst the VERY best (I would say top-5) hockey sense among all Penguin players within the organization, and is extremely versatile as you suggest. And no: he is not going to supplant Brandon Sutter as the 3rd line C here in Pittsburgh, and it remains to be seen to what degree he can translate his game to LW and whether or not he will out-perform Tangradi in the role of LW on either Geno's line, or perhaps even Sid's line. But at the very least, I believe he should be our 4th line centre (and is more than capable of being double-shifted to create extra offense with Sid or Geno and has the skill & smarts to play with those guys), while being flanked by Glass on LW and Vitale on RW, with the latter taking draws on certain sides of the ice. And he is the only guy right now in our organization at the centre-ice position who has the legitimate ability to step up to a top-6 or top-9 role in the event of injury (Blueger may be there in 3 or 4 years, but isn't there now).
I think on a lot of other treams, Jeffrey could not only be a VERY good 3rd line centre, but may even prove worthy of being a quality top-2 line centre in the NHL someday. I am thrilled to have him locked up in our organiziation at a great cap hit, and if he gets the ice time and 2nd unit PP time he deserves, I think he could make a very good impact and be a really good player for us over the next few seasons -- and may ultimately bring us a VERY good return in a trade in a few years if our top guns are healthy and if Jeffrey proves to be capable of a higher role than he can attain in Pittsburgh. I do, indeed, hope this is a thread and a topic we revisit often throughout the course of this season, and hopefully a deep playoff run. He has the chance to be a real impact player for us, both in terms of offense, and in terms of the PK and other "little" things within the game. Fingers crossed.
