With the Pittsburgh Penguins out of game action until Friday, it is a good time to check in on some of the Penguins on the mend and others looking for ice time.
Down on the farm
While the Penguins were in Sweden, there were some interesting developments down in Wilkes-Barre Scranton. Both Rutger McGroarty and Joel Blomqvist have returned to game action after missing the start of the season. For McGroart,y it has been his first action of the year as he missed the entirety of training camp.
The entire point of the Rutger McGroarty trade was to push the timeline forward on how long the Penguins would have to wait to get NHL games from a prospect. They felt like McGroarty would be further along than Brayden Yager. Kyle Dubas wasn’t wrong, just unlucky to this point.
McGroarty has seen NHL action, while Yager has started this season in the AHL, putting up eight points in 15 games. McGroarty may not be a bonafide top six winger. He will be depended on to be a solid NHL winger in at least a third-line role. Those are reasonable expectations.
In his first game of the year he flashed some quickness and finishing as he scored a goal.
Given the Penguins injuries I wouldn’t expect McGroarty to spend a lot of time in the AHL, just enough to get his conditioning back. He is going to get a clear opportunity to get regular NHL minutes when that happens.
Joel Blomqvist also had a very successful season debut. He stopped 23 out of the 24 shots he faced for a .958 save percentage. The goaltending landscape isn’t as favorable for Blomqvist anymore with Murashov getting NHL time and Arturs Silovs being among one of the better goalies in the NHL in the young season. The only response Blomqvist can have is to keep playing great. His first start was that.
Brunicke to the AHL?
Yes, you read that header correctly. Harrison Brunicke is going to get some AHL action. No, the league didn’t get rid of the dumb CHL transfer agreement. There is a loophole the Penguins are going to take advantage of as they milk Brunicke’s time as a professional.
As of Sunday’s win against the Nashville Predators, Brunicke was a healthy scratch for a fifth consecutive game at the NHL level, meaning he is now eligible to be sent to the AHL on a conditioning loan.
Normally – per the current NHL-CHL agreement – teenagers are not eligible to play in the AHL. However, with this loophole, Pittsburgh can loan Brunicke to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (WBS) Penguins for a maximum of either 14 days or five games. They can only do this once, and WBS is scheduled to play exactly five games within the next 14 days.
This is a clever way to keep Brunicke up at the professional level as long as possible. I don’t think junior hockey has anything left to offer him. This is a way to extend the time he has with other professionals. Obviously, the ideal situation would have been for Brunicke to continue playing NHL minutes without the healthy scratches, but he is a 19 year old learning his way without a clear path to the AHL.
This conditioning assignment will give Brunicke another two weeks of professional game time at the AHL level which I think will be very beneficial for him. The AHL is probably exactly where he should be this season so it will be a nice chance for him to find some success after a tough stretch of games in the NHL.
Additionally, this maneuver should buy enough time where the team can keep him after the conditioning assignment practicing with the NHL team. Then they can loan him to Canada for the World Juniors tournament, which Brunicke is still eligible to play in. Brunicke keeps learning the professional ropes, gets a professional paycheck, and gets to play some minutes in lower levels without the official declaration of sending him back to junior hockey.
I like the way the Penguins are playing this out. They’ve put some thought into it and are delaying the decision that nobody wants to see, back to the WHL.
Yet another injury
The Penguins placed another forward on the IR today. This time it is Ville Koivunen. Taking his place will be Sam Poulin
I pegged Ville Koivunen to have a very successful first full season in the NHL. To this point, it has not been the case. He’s off to a slow start at the NHL level. He hasn’t produced much offense, he was sent back to the AHL, and now he is injured. I still think there is potential with Koivunen, it is just going to take longer than I originally assessed.
As far as Sam Poulin goes, in a bubble this is a deserved call up. He’s had a nice start to his AHL season. He has seven goals and 15 points in 16 games played. However, I don’t view him as part of the bigger picture moving forward, just a player who can help spot an injury from time to time. Ultimately, I think it would benefit the player and team to give him a fresh start with another organization and perhaps that is eventually how it will play out. For now, he’s next man up for a team stockpiling forward injuries.
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Tagged: Harrison Brunicke, Joel Blomqvist, penguins, Rutger McGroarty, Sam Poulin, Ville Koivunen