In what could be the most polarizing, often criticized prospect in Minnesota Wild history (maybe aside from AJ Thelen), Benoit Pouliot has managed to make his presence felt after being called up for the second time this year. Pouliot is making his third cup of coffee count however; he has managed to draw high praise from Jacques Lemaire, who in turn given extended minutes to Pouliot, including shifts during final two minutes of the Vancouver game. He was on the ice for approximately 13 minutes; to give some perspective, James Sheppard, who has been in the lineup for all but two games this year, didn’t start seeing extended minutes til just a few weeks ago when Lemaire decided to roll with a three center rotation. We know the story though; Eric Belanger goes down (and came back early last night), up comes Steve Kelly, who then went down for the season in his second game for Minnesota, which opened up the door for Pouliot.

At first blush, his stats are terribly underwhelming, especially for a former 1st round pick (4th overall in the Sidney Crosby Sweepstakes) who scored 64 goals his last two years for Sudbury of the Ontario Hockey League. He initially made a strong impression in his first training camp, being of the last cuts before being returned to Sudbury. There he captured a gold with Team Canada at the World Junior Championships, and was dominant in Sudbury’s first round matchup of the OHL playoffs before he was injured. He later signed with Minnesota and saw limited time with Houston. His first season in Houston was up and down; he started hot, getting a call-up to Minnesota, then was sent back down and got injured, which ruined whatever confidence he had; he managed just 36 points, with 19 goals. He was openly criticized for his poor play, along with fellow prospects Roman Voloshenko and Clayton Stoner, by Doug Risebrough.

The possibility of a second consecutive 1st round bust (after Thelen in 2004) was very real; and for a team that basically thrives on its first rounders, that is a major hit.

Things changed though; Pouliot moved to center, and immediately began to catch Lemaire’s eye in training camp. The praise came, and soon hope spread as many people began to think that we may have the Number 1 center that Marian Gaborik has always needed; together with Pavol Demitra, the trio could form a very potent line. The numbers game played out again, and Pouliot was one of the last cuts again, back to Houston and to their new coach, noted disciplinarian Kevin Constantine. Again, more paltry numbers, disinterested play, and more disdain from Wild faithful.

The main argument is that Benoit Pouliot is better served to be at the NHL level, under the hands-on tutelage of Lemaire, however he hasn’t done anything to warrant getting called up to the Wild; 60 points in 113 games at the American League Level isn’t eye-popping. And sadly, the only thing that gained Pouliot notoriety was when he was attacked by Hartford’s Dane Byers shortly before he was called up. So many ask, why does he get a free pass when everyone else has to pay their dues? There is no denying the immense talent and ceiling Pouliot has; a beautiful skater with an NHL frame, a hard shot, and absolute puck handling wizardry. However, when he is essentially on an island because of the lack of talent around him (don’t get me wrong, Houston has some talent, but many of the forwards down there project to be checking line staples,) especially on the power play, the numbers aren’t going to come. Throw in that Constantine’s system is defensive oriented, the numbers do get skewed. ( a side note, both Lemaire and Pouliot have commented on the lack of talent to play with, causing the Aeros Beat Writer Andrew Ferraro to declare that Pouliot threw his teammates under the bus.)

Enough of what he hasn’t done though;  Since his call up, Benoit Pouliot has made a case for the fact that not only does he belong with the big club at the NHL level, but that maybe he belonged here since his first training camp in the fall of 2005. Looking back at that year, Pouliot should have never been sent back to Sudbury- of course no one knew that the Wild would struggle and miss the playoffs. He was one of the strongest performers in camp that fall, playing in nearly every game, even being a fixture in what was a nightly shoot-out exhibition after each game.  I felt that his return to Sudbury left him disengaged, being stuck at a level which he had dominated the year before, and that has just carried on since. Sure, it is a prima donna attitude, but sometimes when a prima donna is supremely skilled, you make exceptions. Hey, we traded for Pavol Demitra to get Marian Gaborik to resign here, didn’t we?

Here he is now, and I can’t see him ever going back; he’s reached the level he wants to be at, and now Lemaire can mold and teach him, which he had opined on wanting to do back in training camp (Lemaire wanted to be able to keep both James Sheppard and Benoit Pouliot so he could be hands on with them.)  Pouliot scored his first two career goals in Calgary, and was very visible last night (a good thing) in a bad loss to Edmonton. It may have taken a while, with some detours, but Benoit Pouliot has finally made it.