BLUE LINE
Behind The Net. Stone, Filewich Ready For Their Turn
By Bob Grove

It's been more than four years since the Penguins went to the 2003 NHL Entry Draft in Nashville and emerged with goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, but it's still too early to analyze the broader impact of that day on Pittsburgh's attempt to get back to the top of the National Hockey League.

Fleury, of course, has yet to put his personal stamp on a long playoff run. Third-round pick Daniel Carcillo and seventh-round pick Stephen Dixon were traded before ever playing a game for the Penguins, and seventh-round pick Andy Chiodo is gone from the organization after playing eight NHL games in 2003-04.

The final word on the Class of 2003 may very well mirror the ultimate accomplishments of Fleury, but it may be influenced by the performance of two players on the very cusp of reaching the NHL heading into training camp this month: second-round pick Ryan Stone and third-round pick Jonathan Filewich.

Stone, 22, is a 6-2, 200-pound center coming off a 41-game sophomore American Hockey League season made forgettable by a broken wrist and a bout with the flu that landed him in the hospital. The 6-2, 205-pound Filewich, a right winger who turns 23 next month, fired home a team-leading 30 goals for the Baby Penguins last winter - one shy of the team record - and won the fastest skater competition at the AHL All-Star Game.

So they're coming to camp from different directions, but Stone and Filewich are capable of complicating coach Michel Therrien's final roster decisions as they play out the final year of their entry-level contracts. It won't be easy, as both have four players with NHL experience and one-way contracts ahead of them on the depth chart.

Stone has the longer road. He's a scrappy player with good skills - he piled up 13 points in 11 games not long after returning from his wrist injury - and the Penguins want him to improve his quickness. "When he came back, there was a lot of tentativeness in his game because he plays a physical style," said Baby Penguins' coach Todd Richards. "Then he got sick. . . I don't think he ever really recovered. This is a big year for him. We're expecting big things from him."

Filewich has been a solid goal-scorer at both the junior and AHL levels, and his play last season may have influenced the decision not to re-sign Michel Ouellet. He's still working on consistency, as he had only 15 goals over the final 50 games, but Filewich brings more than just skill to the equation.

"The thing that impresses me most is he's a good pro," says Richards. "He comes prepared every day, and he's not a guy the coach has to consistently worry about. He'll be a guy pushing the envelope."

Filewich certainly expects it.

"I want to make the team off the bat. I want to make a difference right off the bat," he says. "That's what I think about pretty much every day in the summer - the opportunity to play for the Pittsburgh Penguins. I don't want to be anywhere else in the NHL, because they are that good. You've got to know they're going to win the Stanley Cup someday soon."