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Rick Tocchet: Despres Only Going To Get Better

PITTSBURGH (KDKA 93-7 The Fan)- Penguins Assistant Coach Rick Tocchet joined Bob Pompeani Saturday morning. Tocchet talked about the depth of quality young defensemen on the roster, including Simon Despres.

"Simon's done a real nice job. He's a big kid; I didn't know he was that big. He's physical, his puck skills are getting better every day. There's not too many physical young defensemen that can move the puck and he's got those tools. He's only going to get better," Tocchet said.

The Penguins are clicking at 39.5 percent on the power play through the first nine games, and Tocchet said that the club has spent a lot of time working on it.

"We've worked on our power play from basically day one. We practice it a lot. We know what we want to become. We like our setups and then we go from creativity from there," Tocchet said. "If you can have a really good power play in this league, teams can't get as aggressive. They can't be as aggressive on hits, they can't be as aggressive in front of the net because they don't want to take four or five penalties."

Pompeani asked if the team keeping its composure is still a work in progress.

"Obvioulsy we're not at the point that we want to be," Tocchet said. But he added, "It's something that I think we've gotten better at. I've seen really good signs the last couple of games. Mike Johnston's done a great job of preaching that to the players."

Rick Tocchet: Despres Only Going To Get Better

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