Taking an optimistic spin on a summer weekend, who are some players that could step up next season and do a little more than what might be commonly expected for the Pens last season? We went about one for three last summer on this area - Blake Lizotte had some moments of looking better than the average fourth liner but Sam Poulin didn’t amount to much (seven NHL games, zero goals and one point) and Brayden Yager got traded away before he had the chance, even though he needed more seasoning in juniors.
Who could be some surprise players for the Pens this season? Could is a very hopeful word but let’s give it a go:
Who it won’t be
Let’s start with who won’t be making much of an NHL impact
Sergei Murashov - Murashov has a lot of talent but many on the internet are putting the cart before the horse when it comes to typical goalie development time. Murashov just turned 21 in April, you know how many U-22 goalies started a game in the NHL last season? One, Minnesota’s Jesper Wallstedt (who at 22-years old only started all of two NHL games). Two other youngsters in Seattle’s Nikke Kokko and Detroit’s Sebastian Cossa each played one NHL game, but did not start, and that was one singular game only. As of today, Pittsburgh still has Tristan Jarry, Joel Blomqvist and Arturs Silovs to block Murashov’s NHL path. Finding space to have a good AHL season in 2025-26 will keep Murashov on schedule, NHL action is still far off for a goalie still so young. Gotta slow the roll and tap the breaks on any fantastical thought about Murashov riding in on a white horse and making an NHL impact this season.
Any 2025 draft pick - Just don’t see any training camp surprises coming this year the way Harrison Brunicke made a serious run out of no where at an NHL roster spot at age-18 last fall. Then again, there’s something to be said about the nature of surprises in that one doesn’t see it coming...But this time around all the players the Pens drafted are very green and need more development time at lower levels, it would be absolutely stunning if any of them showed anything close to immediate NHL readiness.
Potential surprise players
Filip Hallander - Hallander is back in the organization after two years. He was compensated well (getting $775,000 regardless of playing the NHL or AHL) but figures to have a shot to make the NHL club. Given the excess forwards by signing players like Anthony Mantha and Justin Brazeau and not yet trading anyone like Noel Acciari or Kevin Hayes, it might be tough for Hallander to find a lineup spot out of camp. But Hallander was the SHL forward of the year and is known to be a strong two-way player. Then again, other recent SHL forwards of the year are NHL washouts or non-factors like: Oscar Lindberg, Antti Suomela and Max Veronneau so maybe too much stock shouldn’t be placed in that award. If the Pens get anything at all out of Hallander it will be a bonus and something more than could have been expected a few months ago.
Harrison Brunicke — would it be a complete shock if Brunicke makes a run at a roster spot? No, he’s on the radar to do that in a way that wasn’t expected last season. But any time a 19-year old second round pick is even in the running that should be worthy to point out as a bonus type of addition. The Pens can’t be counting on Brunicke to come in and make the team, but if he shows up and is one of their best six defenders, he’s going to make the club. Given the state of the Pens’ blueline, that doesn’t feel like a big stretch. How the team might handle so many of their defensemen being right handed (Karlsson, Letang, Dumba, Clifton, and maybe Brunicke) will be more interesting though. Usually teams don’t have enough right shot defenders, but the Pens are the exact opposite. For the moment, anyways.
Alexander Alexeyev - related to the above, someone is going to have to step up and be assigned a role on the Pittsburgh blueline. Alexeyev has his limitations but also a strong analytic profile in his small sample. He played pretty well at times in Washington but never could quite carve out a strong niche or role on that team. If he plays well in Pittsburgh, there should be a job to have. Don’t expect an All-Star but for a guy who rightfully could be considered on the very fringe of making the NHL club or not, maybe he ends up being a bigger part of the team than might be evident in the summer.
Arturs Silovs - The one thing with goalies is ya never know when one could heat up and provide a high level of play out of the blue. Silovs has had a pedestrian looking career in the NHL so far, but is coming off being named the AHL playoff MVP for his excellent run with Abbotsford to the Calder Cup, showing if nothing else a decent amount of talent tantalizingly close to the big league. Silovs has a low bar to clear from what Alex Nedeljkovic put up in two seasons (two goalies per 32 teams is 64, take the top-64 goalies via minutes played and Nedeljkovic ranked 55th in 5v5 save%). Joel Blomqvist doesn’t require waivers to be assigned to the AHL, so presumably the path is wide open for Silovs to at least get a crack at playing in the NHL to start the season. It probably won’t be as glorious as the days of Johan Hedberg as far as a minor league goalie coming out of no where to emerge as a quality NHL option — but at this point who can say Silovs won’t? The nice thing about summer is any and all possibilities are on the table until the puck drops.
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