The Penguins’ leadership group — the Big Three, if you will — has always appreciated a youth movement. Spring of 2016 is the finest example.
That season, Bryan Rust, Matt Murray, Tom Kühnhackl, Conor Sheary and Scott Wilson helped transform the Penguins into champions. Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang took to them. Crosby regularly would take the group out to dinner after games. Letang ditched his occasionally standoffish persona and started to become a father figure to the organization’s young players.
Nearly a decade later, the Big Three could be surrounded by another wave of young players soon. And they’re clearly not becoming bitter, old men.
Ask Owen Pickering or the other young defensemen in the Penguins system, and they’ll tell you how important Letang’s presence has been.
Then there are the forwards. Drew O’Connor recently went on a 32-game streak that saw him fail to score a goal. In a handful of the postgame locker room settings following those games, Crosby calmly engaged in conversation with O’Connor, helping him feel better about himself.
Don’t be surprised if more young players are on the way.
Kyle Dubas isn’t going to go on a shopping spree at the trade deadline to try to help these Penguins qualify for the postseason. It’s just the way it is. Dubas’ eyes are on the future. He’s been acquiring draft picks, prospects and young NHL players for the better part of the past year. That’s the mindset and it’s not changing.
However, the Penguins have young players in the AHL who are perhaps capable of helping them right now. Don’t be surprised if some of those players get the call to Pittsburgh sooner rather than later. There are roster and salary cap implications, of course, but the Penguins are pleased with a number of young players in Wilkes-Barre. I sense that some promotions aren’t far away.
Tristan Broz has 12 goals in 27 games at the NHL level. Ville Koivunen and Vasily Ponomarev, two key pieces in last season’s Jake Guentzel trade, are putting up close to a point per game at the AHL level. Emil Bemstrom, who was fairly effective last season with the Penguins, has 15 goals in 30 games at the AHL level. Rutger McGroarty, following a slow start to the season, is also coming to life and has 17 points in 30 games.
Penguins brass is pleased with how the crop of forwards is developing in Wilkes-Barre. If the Penguins stay within range of a playoff spot, don’t be surprised to see at least one, and possibly more, of these players promoted to Pittsburgh.
The Big Three would surely welcome it.
• The Penguins’ organization is facing an interesting and almost unprecedented situation.
Are all of the organization’s best goaltenders in the minor leagues? That’s not a joke question.
Tristan Jarry looks lost. Alex Nedeljkovic was good last season but has struggled during most of this campaign. You could argue the Penguins have the NHL’s worst goaltending this season.
There are intriguing options available — and they’re all in the organization.
• Filip Larsson, 26, is lighting it up in Wilkes-Barre. A former Red Wings draft pick, Larsson played briefly in the minor leagues before playing for almost four years in Europe after the Covid shutdown in 2020.
Now, he’s back in an NHL organization and he’s thriving. In 13 games, Larsson has produced a 2.44 GAA and a .927 save percentage. He’s opening a lot of eyes.
• Joel Blomqvist enjoyed a fabulous stint in the NHL earlier this season, clearly outplaying Jarry and Nedeljkovic before returning to Wilkes-Barre. He’s been solid in the NHL, showcasing a .912 save percentage and a 2.93 GAA.
• Sergei Murashov, perhaps the most talented of the bunch, put up a 2.50 GAA and a .919 save percentage in two starts with Wilkes-Barre. In the ECHL with the Wheeling Nailers, Murashov is 15-2-1 with a 2.32 GAA and a .923 save percentage.
Of the three minor-league goaltenders, Blomqvist would be the most likely to be recalled to Pittsburgh because of what he did at the NHL level earlier this season, along with his overall polish and pedigree. Murashov isn’t experienced enough, though it’s pretty clear he’s too good for the ECHL. Larsson is a pretty intriguing wild card.
The organization is excited about all three goaltenders. Of course, “three” is the problem. The Penguins have made it clear that, for reasons mostly related to the salary cap and logistics, having three goaltenders on the NHL roster isn’t ideal. It isn’t, of course. But what if one of the goalies in the minor leagues gives the Penguins a better chance to win?
I sense that Dubas would move one of the goaltenders on the NHL roster before carrying three.
• Make no mistake, trades are coming.
The Penguins have played at a 100-point pace since Thanksgiving and have put themselves in playoff contention (Dom Luszczyszyn’s model gives them a 16 percent chance as of Tuesday afternoon).
The improved results have not changed Dubas’ mindset. He’s going to sell.
League sources expect the Penguins to make multiple deals. Marcus Pettersson is as good as gone, but don’t be shocked if other veterans are included. A league source said “no one is safe” on the Penguins, except players with full no-trade clauses, such as Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.
The Penguins are likely to retain Rickard Rakell for the rest of this season. They feel no rush to move him. Then again, everyone has a price. From what I’ve been told, we should expect an aggressive approach from Dubas.
• Even though Ryan Graves has been a healthy scratch in recent games, the Penguins are encouraged by the improvements they’ve seen in his game and appreciative of his positive attitude.
Graves is considered a good teammate and has continued to put in the work whether he’s in the lineup or not. That does not go unnoticed.
Given how well P.O Joseph has played since returning to Pittsburgh from St. Louis last month — and Pickering’s strong performance since joining the lineup in November — it’s simply been difficult to find a spot for Graves. The coaching staff, however, is fairly pleased with how his game has developed this season.
The same can be said for all of the Penguins defensemen, really. It’s no secret their blue line struggled in the season’s first six weeks, but, to a man, the entire unit is functioning at a much higher level now.
• Dubas was hardly eager to push Joseph out of the organization last summer. Far from it. Dubas likes Joseph’s game, and the coaching staff saw him improve last April.
It was simply a numbers game for the Penguins, nothing more. This is pretty obvious now that Dubas traded for Joseph as soon as the Blues made him available. The organization was excited to see Joseph return to Pittsburgh and, right on cue, he’s picked up where he left off. Joseph is never going to be a star but he’s playing the best hockey of his career.
One of the reasons Dubas acquired Joseph was that he will need an additional left-handed defenseman if/when he trades Pettersson on or before the March 7 deadline.
The truth is that the Penguins probably would have acquired Joseph regardless of the Pettersson situation.
• The Penguins’ prospect pool is in a much, much healthier place now than it was a year or two ago. In particular, prospects on the blue line are looking up.
Harrison Brunicke, whom we saw in training camp, has the look of someone who is going to blossom into an impactful NHL player.
And don’t forget about Emil Pieniniemi. The Penguins’ third-round pick in 2023 is having a strong season in the Ontario Hockey League for the Kingston Frontenacs, putting up 37 points in 34 games while logging heavy minutes. He was a standout for Finland in the World Junior Championship earlier this month, scoring twice in six games.
He’s likely a couple of years away from being NHL-ready, but the Penguins have high hopes for him. His stock within the organization has risen pretty dramatically this season. The Penguins liked him last year. They love him now.
In Pininiemi, Brunicke and Pickering, the Penguins appear to have some legitimately good blue-line building blocks.
(Photo of Vasily Ponomarev: Charles LeClaire / Imagn Images)
