Clayton Phillips Called up to NCAA

Clayton Phillips, the Penguins' 3rd round draft pick in last summer's NHL draft, has been called up from the USHL to the NCAA to play for the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers. The Gophers after a lot of preseason hype (partly due to recruiting Casey Mittlestadt, 8th overall pick for Buffalo) have been somewhat inconsistent and are slightly above .500 at 10-9-1 currently. A lot of people see the call up of Phillips as a potential boost to the power play and an attempt to improve the somewhat suspect blue line they currently have.

Phillips was expected to play in the USHL for the remainder of the year and play for the Gophers next year. It'll be interesting to see what his game looks like and how he fares in the NCAA after not getting a ton of time at the junior level. Some expect him to be more of a defensive defenseman but the UMN coaches specifically cited his dynamic play during the call up as you can see in the link above. It'll be interesting to see how he progresses moving forward and he could possibly see icetime with the Gophers as soon as December 29th vs Army.