– The buzz is building around rookie Neal Pionk. On Monday Gordie Clark gushed about Pionk’s offensive abilities and said he thought Pionk might “shine” when given the chance to play with legit NHLers at camp. And last week prospect guru Corey Pronman chose Pionk as his young player to watch at camp for the Blueshirts in a piece for The Athletic:
There is always a bit of hesitance on my part projecting old college free agents to the NHL, and in Pionk’s case I don’t get overly excited over a 22-year-old defenseman without a history of high-level performance.