Dropping The Gloves
Pens Prospect Luca Caputi
By Alex Nseir

As a summer of free agency threatens to ravage the Penguins' lineup, the team may need to rely on promising prospects like Luca Caputi, a 6' 2", 184 pound left wing, chosen in the fourth round of the 2007 NHL Draft. The Pens signed the 19-year-old Toronto native to a three-year entry level contract this April before he played in 19 playoff games for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Baby Pens, recording four goals and four assists. Caputi scored 51 goals and 60 assists last season for the Niagara Icedogs in the OHL, nearly doubling his point total from the previous year. PSR's Alex Nseir sat down with Caputi during the Penguins' prospects conditioning camp.

PSR: It was only one year ago that you were a fourth-round draft pick, and you've already played in the AHL playoffs. Did you expect you would be at this point in your career so soon?

Caputi: If you asked me after the draft last year I think that was a goal of mine; whether or not I achieved it was really up to me… I didn't think that I was going to have the season I did, to tell you the truth, but I guess that's a testimony to how much I learned when I was here, how I took it back with me and played throughout the year.

PSR: How did your game change from the 2006-2007 season to this past season?

LC: I think it was just being more comfortable and more confident with my game and playing pretty much the same way every night. It's all about making the simple plays and doing the same things every night that makes you successful and I think I did that for the most part.

PSR: How do you feel about joining a young team that many people think is going to be competitive for a long time?

LC: I'm just happy to be in an organization that is on the rise and is going in the right direction. It's really thrilling and hopefully I can be a part of it.

PSR: What about the possibility of playing with guys like Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin?

LC: I can't even begin to tell you how excited I would be to even be in the same room as guys like that. Coming into camp I said I have a lot to prove and that this was a huge summer for me and I'm just going to try to work hard and make it as hard as possible for them to send me to Wilkes-Barre next year.

PSR: How will you train this summer?

LC: I feel I need to be bigger, stronger and faster in order to play at the next level and I'm going to really focus on that this summer. I want to get quicker, try and build some upper body strength so that I don't get pushed around and just overall get stronger.

PSR: What are your expectations for this year?

LC: I don't really want to focus on the regular season. I want to focus on camp right now. Coming back to camp I want to improve my test results from this week. I want to make it as hard as possible for them to send me to Wilkes-Barre and I want to just prove myself because I feel I still have a lot to prove.

PSR: Were you a Leafs fan growing up in Toronto?

LC: Oh yeah, diehard.

PSR: Who are your hockey idols?

LC: I used to always like Doug Gilmour growing up as a kid. He's probably my favorite player of all time. He was a guy that played hard every night, played for the crest on the front of the jersey and that's what I want to do.

PSR: Is there any player after whom you model your game?

LC: In the modern NHL I would probably want to play more like a Ryan Malone type of game - good along the walls, good in corners, make offensive plays and play sound defensively.