Penguins prospect Pierre-Olivier Joseph rebounds from mononucleosis
WILKES-BARRE — Summer is a time when many people want to shed a few inches on the waistline, slim down those love handles and have a trim beach body.
Penguins defensive prospect Pierre-Olivier Joseph went the opposite direction.
He tried to add pounds. Ten, to be precise.
Listed at 6-foot-2 and 161 pounds, Joseph has the build of a coat rack, provided that coat rack has a tapeworm.
So he hit the gym this summer. But he also hit the kitchen. A lot.
“Eating every three hours, eating as much as I can,” the 20-year-old Joseph said. “It was a pretty good deal.”
He gained that 10 pounds and entered his first professional season with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins seemingly prepared for any and all physical rigors.
Except for one.
Mononucleosis.
The illness, which causes extreme fatigue, forced Joseph to miss more than a month of from late October to late November.
“It was pretty frustrating after the big summer I had,” Joseph said. “I did get the 10 pounds this summer that I wanted. Now, to just come here and lose it, it is a bit of a shock.”
In the 11 games Joseph, who politely suggests using his nickname, “P.O.,” has played since returning from the illness, he has two points (one goal, one assist) and seemingly has pleased management beyond his base numbers.
“He’s been outstanding,” Wilkes-Barre/Scranton coach and general manager Mike Vellucci said. “I didn’t expect this much off the illness just because it takes so much out of you. He had put that 10 pounds on this summer. His game has been really, really good. Being away from the game made him feel how much he wants to be involved and play. Making a lot of first-year mistakes but getting better. Since he’s been back, he could arguably be one of our top defensemen any given night.”
The Penguins have high hopes for Joseph. That’s why they insisted he be included in the offseason trade that sent all-star forward Phil Kessel to the Arizona Coyotes. A first-round pick (No. 23 overall) by the Coyotes in 2017, Joseph is one of the top prospects in the Penguins system.
But there still are rough edges to buff.
“What he can work on is just playing a little bit faster,” Vellucci said. “Playing against men, you have to compete for every shift. You can’t take a breath, you can’t let up for a second or it’s in the back of your net. Make a better first pass. But he’s doing a lot of good things. He’s got a great stick. He’s learning to angle better as a defensemen and get his gap control. Rely on feet and his brain a little bit more. Little things like that of being a pro.
“But I don’t see any glaring holes whatsoever. I see a guy that has all the tools and is putting it together.”
Just getting acclimated to the professional lifestyle has been a challenge for Joseph.
“It’s all about preparation,” said Joseph, who has three points (one goal, two assists) in 17 games this season entering Wednesday.
“I’ve heard a lot in the locker room this year there’s a lot of games. It’s a long season. It’s a lot of taking care of your body and sleeping, eating, drinking (water) way more than I used to to stay in shape and to stay ready to play. Now, I feel like this is my job now, so I take it more seriously than I ever did. I’m happy to learn from a great locker room of guys. It’s just going to go forward from there.”
Joseph isn’t a neophyte to the professional experience. His older brother, Mathieu, 22, is in his second professional season with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
“I feel like it’s been 20 years that I’ve been looking (up) to him,” Joseph said. “We pretty much talk every day or Facetime every now and then. He’s a big part of my life. I’m happy to have him in my life and to show me the way.”
That way might be easier to navigate with an little extra muscle.
“To me, weight and strength are two different things,” Vellucci said. “Everybody goes, ‘Oh, he’s light.’ But you can be wiry strong. There’s lots of guys that are strong that aren’t really heavy. As long as he works on his strength, weight doesn’t bother me.”
Regardless of his dimensions, Joseph appears to enjoy the fit he has found with the Penguins organization after being surprised by his offseason trade.
“It was a little bit of a shock I would say,” Joseph said. “I didn’t expect it after a week there (with the Coyotes) in the development camp. The (practices) went great, and to hear the news on my way home, it was kind of a shock. I didn’t really believe it at first, then I just had time to swallow it and move forward from it.
“But I’m really happy to be here. The second I got traded, it was call after call and welcome after welcome from players in the NHL to coaches and stuff. So I was really happy. I’m more than happy right now to be in this organization.”
Seth Rorabaugh is a TribLive reporter covering the Pittsburgh Penguins. A North Huntingdon native, he joined the Trib in 2019 and has covered the Penguins since 2007. He can be reached at srorabaugh@triblive.com.
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