PHN Extra: ‘Next Steps’ are Big Ones for Zach Aston-Reese

“They love him,” said a source close to Pittsburgh Penguins winger Zach Aston-Reese said to Pittsburgh Hockey Now this week. The opinion was just a little biased but it did convey the potential which the Penguins undoubtedly see in the undrafted free agent they signed just a couple of years ago from Northeastern.

He’s fought his way up from the AHL, fought his way into a crowded Penguins lineup, and literally fought back to the injured list.

This summer, Aston-Reese has been invited to Toronto to train with the Penguins Director of Sports Science Andy O’Brien. The goal will be to get the player in tip-top shape and harness the natural strength

Pittsburgh Hockey Now has been speaking with sources close to players and the team for the past few weeks and there will be few summers as pivotal as Aston-Reese’s next few months. The Penguins versatile winger and restricted free agent has had terrible luck with injuries. It seems momentum and points have been a harbinger not of better things but of a coming injury.