Preseason star lands contract
After 2 goals Thursday, he gets 3-year contract
A few days ago, prospect Nathan Legare was getting ready for his first exhibition game in a Penguins sweater when he heard something in a familiar tongue.
“‘Tu joues ce soir?’” the voice said in French.
Translation: “You play tonight?”
Legare, a FrenchCanadian from Montreal, looked to see Sidney Crosby, who apparently is more than just one of the game’s brightest stars and the world’s best players. He’s also not too bad at speaking French.
“It’s been my hope since I was young just to be on the ice with him,” Legare said. “Just being around him is special.”
The conversation alone was a welcometo-professional-hockey moment for Legare. So was Friday, when the Penguins announced they signed the 18-yearold to a three-year, entry-level deal. During the Thursday night exhibition game at PPG Paints Arena, he added another one … well, actually two.
A third-round pick in this year’s NHL Draft, Legare scored two goals in a 23-second span to help push the Penguins past the Columbus Blue Jackets, 4-1.
Just over six minutes into the third period, the Penguins won a faceoff in the offensive zone. Legare collected a loose puck and snapped a hard wrist shot through the five hole of goalie Veini Vehvilainen.
Seconds later, Legare found a soft spot high between the two faceoff circles. He hammered a waist-high slap shot that beat Vehvilainen on the glove side.
How do you say “goal-scorer” in French?
“Nathan had a great game tonight,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said Thursday. “It’s really jumped out to all of us his ability to shoot the puck. He can finish. He can really shoot it. And he likes to shoot it. Tonight was a great example.”
Legare has a knack for finding the soft spots on the ice and settling into them to hunt for his shot. Last year, while playing for Baie-Comeau Drakkar of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, he scored 45 goals to go along with 42 assists in just 68 games. He also represented Team
Canada in the U18 World Junior Championship, scoring four goals in seven games.
Games such as Thursday are nothing new to him.
“I think it’s just a mentality when you go on the ice,” Legare said. “You shoot the puck and you go to the net. I was in the right place at the right moment.”
The Penguins know a thing or two about seeing an opportunity and pouncing on it.
Before the most recent draft, members of the front office and scouting department considered Legare a top-30 player. So, when the draft went on — through the first round, through the second round and into the third — with Legare still available, the team made a move.
They gave up a fourth-round pick, fifthround pick and seventh-round pick to move up and select Legare.
It’s obviously early. But so far, the feedback has been positive.
“He’s had a great camp so far,” Sullivan said. “We’re real excited about some of the young guys that we have.”
Legare has made the most of his time in Pittsburgh, on the ice and off of it. He attended the Steelers home opener Sunday, his first NFL game, where he watched another third-round pick, Mason Rudolph, do his thing.
He promised he’ll be back at Heinz Field.
When might that come? Well, it depends how long Legare sticks. While Sullivan said he’s “not ruling anything out,” the odds are Legare will spend the season in the QMJHL again as he continues to refine his game.
He pinpointed his skating, in particular, as an area where he needs to improve. He said that those first three steps are especially critical to add an explosive element to his game.
“For sure, it’s the speed,” Legare said. “It’s one of my weaknesses. I need to work on that. In an NHL game, for sure, there’s a lot of speed. It’s a thing I have to improve.”
Sullivan said that, in general, young players sometimes take time to understand the subtleties of the game, such as the play away from the puck, wall play, puck support and other “thankless jobs” that go along with being a complete player.
Being in this atmosphere and having some success, though, is beginning to lay the groundwork for the future.
“It’s a great opportunity for the young guys to be around our veteran players,” Sullivan said. “I think they have great role models here that they can just see how they carry themselves, both on the ice and off the ice. That right away is a great experience for a young player.”
Oui, oui!