The 10 Penguins prospects with the greatest potential to contribute in the NHL someday, with comments from Penguins assistant to the general manager Tom Fitzgerald or assistant general manager Jason Botterill. Fitzgerald monitors the development of prospects in college and all levels of pro hockey; Botterill doubles as general manager of the Penguins' American Hockey League affiliate in Wilkes-Barre. The list does not include players such as goalie John Curry and defensemen Ben Lovejoy and Deryk Engelland, who already have played games in the NHL.

1. Simon Despres

Age: 18

How acquired: First round, 2009 entry draft

Position: Defense

Ht./Wt.: 6-4, 205

Team: Saint John (Quebec Major Junior Hockey League)

Stats: Five goals, 13 assists in 33 games

Tom Fitzgerald's assessment: "He's got great size and he really moves well. He has the ability to transition the puck, not only with a pass but with his legs, as well. I watched him play and boy, he can swing [around] the net and move up the ice, almost jumping ahead of the forwards. That's how well he can skate. That's his biggest asset, in my eyes, the way he moves. ... You get some raw kids like him who move so well, once you put them with a better team, you might see some downside in his own end, but that's what you can teach. What he has, you can't teach."

2. Eric Tangradi

Age: 20

How acquired: Trade with Anaheim

Position: Left wing

Ht./Wt.: 6-4, 225

Team: Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (American Hockey League).

Stats: Five goals, four assists in 22 games.

Jason Botterill's assessment: "He has the skating attributes to play with top-end players, but also has the smarts to complement a good center. What he has displayed to us is the willingness to go to the front of the net, the willingness to go into the corner and get that puck to a talented center. There's always an adjustment level when you turn pro, and I think he's going through that now. But we like the fact that this is a big guy who can skate and has the [hockey] sense to play with elite players. ... The biggest thing for him is to get bigger and stronger. He's going to be battling against the Chris Prongers of the world."

3. Luca Caputi

Age: 21

How acquired: Fourth round, 2007

Position: Left wing

Ht./Wt.: 6-3, 200

Team: Wilkes-Barre/Scranton

Stats: 12 goals, 12 assists in 30 games.

Tom Fitzgerald's assessment: "He's a kid who competes every shift. He's probably been our most consistent forward down in Wilkes-Barre. He gets all his goals from the dirty areas. He scored two [in a recent game] just by being in the paint, and that's what he needs to do. He, by far, is our best puck-protector in the corner down there. He does his best work when the puck is in deep. He goes in and gets it, protects it and he can get it to the front of the net. A lot of us have compared him to a John Tonelli-type player. His skating isn't great, but he gets to those areas to score goals. He's working on his skating, and it has improved. "

4. Philip Samuelsson

Age: 18

How acquired: Second round, 2009

Position: Defense

Ht./Wt.: 6-3, 198

Team: Boston College (Hockey East)

Stats: One goal, five assists in 15 games

Tom Fitzgerald's assessment: "He anticipates the play [to a degree] that his skating isn't a hindrance to him. And he has such a good stick, like his old man [former Penguin Ulf Samuelsson]. He hacks and whacks with the best of them, and he really defends well with that stick. He plays within the parameters of his foundation. He knows what he can do and what he can't do. He has great hockey sense, so he knows what his strengths are, and he plays to those strengths. He's a good penalty-killer. He moves the puck. He's a first-pass-out-of-his-own-end type of guy. He can move it, tape-to-tape, into the neutral zone."

5. Dustin Jeffrey

Age: 21

How acquired: Sixth round, 2007

Position: Center

Ht./Wt.: 6-1, 199

Team: Wilkes-Barre/Scranton

Stats: Eight goals, 22 assists in 28 games

Jason Botterill's assessment: "Dustin has great hockey sense, and anticipates the play very well. I think he's in the top 10 in the AHL in scoring, so from an offensive standpoint, he's raised his game. Last year, he was more of a checker. This year, with our personnel, we've asked him to increase his offensive [contribution], and he's done that. We know he's never going to be a player who has the big hit, like a Matt Cooke, but he has to be a player who goes into the corners and finds a way to win those battles. I don't think that [physical play] comes natural for him, but he's definitely shown it to us."

6. Robert Bortuzzo

Age: 20

How acquired: Third round, 2007

Position: Defense

Ht./Wt.: 6-4, 212

Team: Wilkes-Barre/Scranton

Stats: One goal, three assists in 29 games

Jason Botterill's assessment: "He's a big guy who can skate. Those are attributes our coaches love working with. He's a guy who maybe doesn't wow you with any one attribute. He's not going to run the power play at the National Hockey League level, and maybe he's not going to be this hard-nosed, shutdown guy. But he does everything pretty well. He's a guy who can play the second power play, he's a guy who gets up on the rush and can support the rush. Down low, he has size, he has reach, he's strong. And this year, he's shown a real willingness that we didn't know he had, to fight and play a physical game."

7. Brian Strait

Age: 21

How acquired: Third round, 2006

Position: Defense

Ht./Wt.: 6-1, 200

Team: Wilkes-Barre/Scranton

Stats: One goal, six assists in 30 games

Jason Botterill's assessment: "What I've really liked about Brian's game is that he's come in and looked a lot faster. I always thought skating could be a question mark for him, but he's so smart, positionally. He's not going to give you much offensively, but in college, he always played against other team's top lines. He won a championship, so he understands what it takes to win. ... When he's playing well, he's on his toes, and he's shown an ability to defend against top AHL players. He's not going to do a lot of offense, but he can make a good first pass, and we're happy with his development."

8. Brad Thiessen

Age: 23

How acquired: Free agent, 2009

Position: Goal

Ht./Wt.: 6-0, 180

Team: Wheeling (ECHL)

Stats: 4-3, 3.18 goals-against average, .911 save percentage in eight games

Jason Botterill's assessment: "He's played games at the American Hockey League level and given our coaches confidence that, moving forward, he can be a go-to guy at the AHL level. We're fortunate that we have John Curry who, if anything happened to the goalies up here, could step in right away. Thiessen easily could be a backup in the AHL right now, but we want him to be playing games. He's going to get an opportunity in the second half to get more games at the American Hockey League level. ... He's shown good quickness, especially his glove hand. He handles the puck unbelievably. That is, by far, his strength."

9. Ben Hanowski

Age: 19

How acquired: Third round, 2009

Position: Right wing

Ht./Wt.: 6-2, 198

Team: St. Cloud State (Western Collegiate Hockey Association)

Stats: Four goals, two assists in 18 games.

Tom Fitzgerald's assessment: "He doesn't have Grade A speed and he's not the quickest guy out there, but when they dropped the puck to scrimmage at a development camp, I saw a kid with high hockey sense, a high hockey IQ. That puck seemed to follow him around. He always was around it. ... One of the guys I, maybe prematurely, compared him to was a younger Mark Recchi. Mark wasn't blowing anyone away with his speed, but the puck was always around him. I'm not saying this kid is going to score 500 goals. ... He has very quick hands. He gets the puck, it's on his stick, off his stick."

10. Alex Velischek

Age: 19

How acquired: Fifth round, 2009

Position: Defense

Ht./Wt.: 5-11, 200

Team: Providence (Hockey East)

Stats: One goal, six assists in 17 games

Tom Fitzgerald's assessment: "He's a compact defenseman. He's got big legs, a big behind. Just solid. A fire hydrant-type looking kid. He's got very good agility. He moves side to side very well. He plays with his eyes up. You can see the hockey sense that he has. He knows when to jump up, when not to. He defends very well. He knows when to engage. Positioning is probably his biggest asset, defensively. He probably plays 25 minutes a night for Providence as an 18 year old. He's coming out of New Jersey high school hockey and jumping right into Hockey East. You have to be a special player to do that."

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