Joining the Penguins was an easy choice for prospect Jack St. Ivany

Penguins defensive prospect Jack. St. Ivany is a bit young to be truly considered part of the “Gretzky Generation.”

When Wayne Gretzky was traded to the Los Angeles Kings in 1988, countless kids in Southern California took up the sport.

But by the time St. Ivany was born in 1999, Gretzky was three years removed from abdicating the Kings.

It might be more accurate to label St. Ivany, a native of Manhattan Beach, Calif., as part of the “Jeff Carter Generation.”

Carter, now a popular power forward for the Penguins, helped lead the Kings to that franchise’s only Stanley Cup championships in 2012 and ’14 as a teenaged St. Ivany watched.

“I was definitely at those Kings Cup runs,” said St. Ivany, now 23. “Seeing Carter raise the Cup was pretty cool. It’s pretty surreal stepping in here and seeing him walk around, being part of the same organization.”

St. Ivany is participating in the Penguins’ ongoing rookie camp in Cranberry and is scheduled to participate in the ensuing training camp for the entire organization starting Wednesday.

He took something of an unusual route in joining the Penguins.

A fourth-round pick (No. 112 overall) by the Philadelphia Flyers in 2018, St. Ivany never signed with that organization, and once the Flyers’ rights to him expired in August, he signed a two-year, entry-level contract with the Penguins on Aug. 20.

St. Ivany is short on specifics as to why he declined to sign with the Flyers but makes it clear he didn’t see his future unfolding on the eastern side of Pennsylvania.

“It just wasn’t the right fit at the right time,” St. Ivany said. “They were super helpful throughout the years in my development in doing development camps there. But at the end of the day, it wasn’t the right spot for me. More than thankful that the Pittsburgh Penguins wanted me here.”

When he was drafted by the Flyers, current Penguins general manager Ron Hextall and assistant general manager Chris Pryor held nearly identical positions with the Flyers and ran that team’s drafts at the time. So their familiarity with St. Ivany led to a reunion.

“They called me and reached out,” St. Ivany said. “Obviously, I know Hextall from Philadelphia, Pryor from Philadelphia, a couple more of the development and scout guys. As soon as I found out they were interested in me, it was a no-brainer. It’s just such a good organization, and (they have) a winning hockey culture here. It’s hard to turn that down.”

A right-handed shot who is listed at 6-foot-3 and 201 pounds, St. Ivany is expected to take his first steps as a professional by spending most of the 2022-23 season with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League.

“He’s come in with an open mind,” Penguins director of player development Tom Kostopoulos said. “He’s a big guy with good reach and moves well. He might have been a bit nervous the first couple of days with a new organization, getting used to everyone and meeting everyone. But he’s working hard and I like the potential.”

After completing his senior season at Boston College in March, St. Ivany was patient throughout the spring and summer while waiting for his professional future to unfold.

“My season ended relatively early in March,” St. Ivany said. “It was a quick couple of weeks there just making decisions. By the end of March, I knew I was going to go to free agency in August. From then on, it was just focusing on training and getting bigger, stronger, faster and at the same time, finishing up my degree. It was a good spring. I finished up at Boston College, and then I was just at home training for the full summer waiting until August to see what teams were interested.

As it turned out, more than a few teams were interested in St. Ivany after he put up a career-best 24 points (four goals, 20 assists) in 31 NCAA games last season.

“I think just development-wise, I feel like I took another step last summer just getting bigger and stronger,” St. Ivany said. “Being one year older made a big difference in being able to make different plays. And I feel like my skating improved.

“I’m hoping for a repeat of that this summer.”