Steven Ruggiero

Hometown:

Kings Park New York

Team:

Anaheim Ducks

Currently Playing In:

NCAA

Birthday:

1997-01-01
Position:

D

Eligible for draft:

2015
Shoots:

Right
Drafted:

2015
Height:

6-3
Acquired:

6th round (178th overall), 2015
Weight:

200 lbs.
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History

2012-13: Steven Ruggiero played 20 games in junior hockey with the Metro Fighting Moose in New York and played for the Long Island Gulls bantam team. He scored 2 goals with 7 assists and 16 penalty minutes playing in the Metropolitan Junior Hockey League for the Fighting Moose. Ruggiero was selected by Youngstown in the first round (9th overall) in the 2013 Futures Draft and chosen by the Ottawa 67s in the seventh round (121st overall) in the 2013 OHL Priority Draft.

2013-14: Ruggiero skated in 41 games for Youngstown in his first USHL season. He scored 1 goal with 4 assists and had an even plus/minus with 22 penalty minutes. The Phantoms had the league’s second-worst record, winning 17 of 60 games. Ruggiero skated in four games with the USA U17 team, scoring 1 goal with 2 penalty minutes. In January 2014 he committed to playing college hockey at Penn State in 2015-16.

2014-15: Ruggiero joined the USA Hockey National Team Development Program in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He skated for the NTDP U18 team and was part of the gold medal USA U18 squad at the 2015 World Juniors. In 66 games for the NTDP squad he scored 1 goal with 14 assists and 44 penalty minutes. He had 7 assists and was +16 with 16 penalty minutes in 25 games with the team in USHL play. Ruggiero was +4 with no points and 2 penalty minutes in seven games for the USA at the 2015 WJC. The United States defeated Finland, 2-1 in overtime, in the gold medal game. After de-committing from Penn State in November, Ruggiero announced he would play college hockey at Providence in 2015-16 in January. He played for Team Olczyk in the 2014 USA Hockey All-American Top Prospects Game but was not among the 210 North American skaters in the Central Scouting final rankings. Ruggiero was selected by Anaheim in the sixth round (178th overall) in the 2015 NHL Draft.

Talent Analysis

Ruggiero is a big and strong defensive defenseman who is fairly early in the development process. A product of the USA National Team Development Program, he skates well for a player his size and has decent stick handling and passing skills. He is in the process of putting his complete game into an effective package and should have time to do that during his NCAA career.

Future

Ruggiero is in his freshman season at Providence College in 2015-16. With several upperclassmen in the defense corps for the defending national champions he has struggled to crack the lineup. Ruggiero projects as a hard scrabble defenseman with puck moving ability at the pro level. He is considered a long-range project and is expected to use most of his NCAA eligibility to reach that point.

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