Players sent to Wheeling that made it in Pittsburgh?

[pekkasteele]

I remember during the season, that Philip Samuelsson was sent down to the Nailers, I was hoping he would eventually make it to the Pens team (I have never seen him play so don't know how good he is) but then I thought, have ANY player that have been sent to the Nailers made it? Except for administrative purposes, like we did with ... some player since it was closer to Pittsburgh or something.

Or, is it over for a player that gets sent down there?

[Ossa]

Tomas Vokoun started his career in Wheeling.

[IanMoran]

luca caputi was sent down there... although for discipline reasons

Biz-Nasty started there

But yea, its pretty rare

[IanMoran]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheeling_Nailers

There's a notable alumni list here

David Aebischer G - Colorado Avalanche, Montreal Canadiens, Phoenix Coyotes
Paul Bissonnette LW - Pittsburgh Penguins, Phoenix Coyotes
Francis Bouillon D - Montreal Canadiens, Nashville Predators
Martin Brochu G - Washington Capitals, Vancouver Canucks, Pittsburgh Penguins
Daniel Carcillo LW - Phoenix Coyotes, Philadelphia Flyers, Chicago Blackhawks
Andy Chiodo G - Pittsburgh Penguins
John Curry G - Pittsburgh Penguins
Jeff Daw C - Colorado Avalanche
Drew Fata D - New York Islanders
Craig Ferguson C - Montreal Canadiens, Calgary Flames, Florida Panthers
Scott Ferguson D - Edmonton Oilers, Anaheim Mighty Ducks, Minnesota Wild
Scott Fraser RW - Montreal Canadiens, Edmonton Oilers, New York Rangers
Joaquin Gage G - Edmonton Oilers
Jason Jaffray LW - Vancouver Canucks, Calgary Flames
Joe Jensen LW - Carolina Hurricanes
Nick Johnson LW - Pittsburgh Penguins, Minnesota Wild
David Koci LW - Chicago Blackhawks, Tampa Bay Lightning, St. Louis Blues, Colorado Avalanche
Zenon Konopka C - Anaheim Mighty Ducks, Columbus Blue Jackets, Tampa Bay Lightning, Ottawa Senators
Patrick Labrecque G -Montreal Canadiens
David Laliberte RW - Philadelphia Flyers
Peter Laviolette Head Coach - Boston Bruins, New York Islanders, Carolina Hurricanes, Philadelphia Flyers
Marc Lamothe G - Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings
Mark Letestu C - Pittsburgh Penguins, Columbus Blue Jackets
Darcy Martini D - Edmonton Oilers
Marquis Mathieu C - Boston Bruins
Kurtis McLean C - New York Islanders
Mike Minard G - Edmonton Oilers
Michel Ouellet RW - Pittsburgh Penguins, Tampa Bay Lightning, Vancouver Canucks
Cam Paddock C - St. Louis Blues
Marc Rodgers RW - Detroit Red Wings
Dany Sabourin G - Pittsburgh Penguins, Vancouver Canucks
Yves Sarault G - Montreal Canadiens, Colorado Avalanche, Ottawa Senators, Atlanta Thrashers, Nashville Predators
Daniel Taylor G - Los Angeles Kings
Darcy Verot LW -Washington Capitals
Terry Virtue D - Boston Bruins, New York Rangers
Mark Visheau D - Los Angeles Kings
Tomas Vokoun G - Nashville Predators, Florida Panthers, Washington Capitals
Tim Wallace RW - Pittsburgh Penguins[6]

[Rylan]

Wheeling is a goalie town apparently.

[IanMoran]

Wheeling is a goalie town apparently.

This is pure speculation to me, but it makes sense to me that more NHL'ers who were goalies would have played ECHL. To be down there as a skater you have to be behind soo many people in the franchise, its only a couple goalies until you are down in Wheeling

[pekkasteele]

Oh I had no idea that so many NHLers have been playing there, cool, than there are still hope for Samuelsson

[pensfan86]

Unfortunately Phillys own Peter Laviolette coached a year or two in Wheeling in the mid 90's. Zennon Konopka played in Wheeling, David Aebischer (*spelling) played for Wheeling then Colorado. Those are just a few I remember off the top of my head. I had season tickets in Wheeling from 92-2000. There were many more. I think Wheeling has produced the most NHL players out of all minor league organizations.

[pensfan86]

There was also a guy by the name of Vadim Slivchenko who didn't play in the NHL but played for his country in many Olympics. He was an awesome/amazing goal scorer when he played in Wheeling during the early 90's.

[emptyfriend]

Darcy Verot.....LOL....from Wheeling to almost killing a guy on the ice in the KHL.....

[pensfan86]

Unfortunately Emptyfriend, theres a lot of "garbage" players that come from Wheeling

[tfrizz]

Tomas Vokoun started his career in Wheeling.

Then he spent some time in the AHL here, in a surprisingly poor goaltending pair with Jose Theodore.

[steelhammer]

Ben Street looks like the best bet to come out of there.

[no name]

Never knew Mark Letestu went through there.

[emptyfriend]

Unfortunately Emptyfriend, theres a lot of "garbage" players that come from Wheeling

Garbage players are one thing.....but Verot was a criminal.....

[Nailers]

The Nailers do have the most players sent to the NHL from the ECHL. I would say that the 2 most successful players to ever come through here are Vokoun and Bouillion.

The ECHL is a league known for sending Goalies and tough guys to the NHL. Deryk Engelland spent 3 seasons in the ECHL with South Carolina, Reading, and Las Vegas before sticking into the NHL.

The main differance between the ECHL and the higher leagues (AHL or NHL) is inexperience, size, or speed. Most players have 1-2 of he traits, but not all 3.

[pensfan86]

Theres one guy that was forgotten on the list above....well he didn't start in Wheeling but ended up in Wheeling in 94. A goalie by the name of Daniel Berthiaume. Before coming to Wheeling he played with many NHL teams.

[Nizzy]

Street, currently in WBS and had a good season/playoffs (Stats wise). Maybe he could see some time next year if the Forward depth gets tested. Street was in Wheeling a few years ago IIRC.

[Nailers]

Ben Street was the 2010-2011 ECHL Rookie of the Year.

[JS©]

Never knew Mark Letestu went through there.

easy to overlook. Letestu was a Nailer for about 2 weeks.