The three of them inking those deals today is also incredibly rewarding for Sexton and his staff, especially considering they were all marathon prospects. When it comes to picking in the later rounds, the Penguins’ approach is that every player selected there needs to have at least one dimension that can get them to the league. But there are other areas they need to improve in, and usually, that takes time.
“Every player develops at his own rate, no matter how much development work is put in,” Sexton said. “As great as (Mark Recchi) and Billy Guerin are, they can’t help a kid grow two inches taller. They can help him get stronger, but that’s a process. Our coaches can help him refine his skills, but it’s like driving a golf ball straight. You don’t just pick up the club, take three swings and all of a sudden you’re hitting it 250 straight down the fairlane. It takes time.”
That was the situation with Wilson, taken in the seventh round back in 2011.
“In Scott Wilson’s case, when we drafted him, he was maybe 5-9 or 5-10 and maybe 170,” Sexton said. “But he reminds me a lot of Chris Kunitz. He’s got that impact strength. He hits players much bigger than him and implodes them at times. He creates time and space for his center and for himself because of his style of play. But Willy needed time to get stronger, he needed time to further refine his skills and that’s why he was a late-round pick.”
For Rust, drafted in the third round in 2010, it was those wheels. For Kuhnhackl, drafted in the fourth round that same year, it was his potential to be an all-around player.
“The attraction to Rust really was his speed,” Sexton said. “At the U.S. National Development Program he was an offensive player, but we knew he was going to Notre Dame where Jeff Jackson preaches defense-first. And you look at Tommy Kuhnhackl, he’s so different. He was a 40-plus goal scorer in the OHL, but he recognized the only way to the NHL was to become more reliable defensively. So he changed his game.”
