Penguins Prospects Update: Which Kids Actually Have a Chance to Make the Team?

Recently, I’ve written about some of the changes to the Penguins’ roster that are likely to occur as we head into summer. I thought I’d delve a little deeper and define exactly what those changes are likely to be, and which of our kids have a legitimate shot to step up.

FORWARDS

I’ll begin my review of possible opportunities among the forwards with the assumption that our top line of Sidney Crosby, Rickard Rakell and Bryan Rust will remain intact, at least to open the season. (Of course, we all know the old adage about assuming.)

It’s pretty much a foregone conclusion that Kyle Dubas will lock down RFA sniper Egor Chinakhov to a new deal while allowing pending UFAs Noel Acciari and Anthony Mantha to depart. On the surface, that would seem to create two openings up front, one on the third line and another on the fourth.

But hold the phone.

Hulking trade deadline acquisition Elmer Söderblom appears to have the inside track on one of those slots, paring the number of openings to one.

Of course, nothing is done in a vacuum. It’s quite possible Dubas will seek to move one or more veteran forwards who are currently under contract this summer, with Justin Brazeau and Tommy Novak the leading candidates.

Brazeau’s spot was pretty much usurped by Söderblom by the time the playoffs rolled around. While Novak certainly did a creditable job centering the second line, especially when bookended by Chinakhov and Evgeni Malkin, the Pens have rookie sensation Ben Kindel waiting in the wings, not to mention big-game Tristan Broz and hot commodity Bill Zonnon revving their engines at Wilkes-Barre.

Whether or not Kindel can handle the No. 2 center slot remains to be seen. Ditto Broz and Zonnon being NHL-ready. However, at some point in time, you need to find out.

As previously opined, Baby Pens point-per-gamers Rutger McGroarty and/or Ville Koivunen will likely be given every opportunity to fill Mantha’s sizeable skates. Whether they’re actually able to? A whole other matter.

I’d pretty much penciled feisty Avery Hayes into Acciari’s vacated spot on the fourth line. However, if Brazeau remains a Pen, that opportunity shrinks, with Söderblom likely filling the void, at least in the short run.

Of course, we all know injuries happen. I would expect all of the aforementioned youngsters to spend at least some time in a Pens jersey. If Dubas moves some veterans, perhaps Filip Hållander and Mikhail Ilyin as well.

DEFENSE

Our blue line corps figures to be a bit more up in the air, especially if we don’t re-sign UFA Ryan Shea. While filling mostly second- and-third-pairing roles, Shea enjoyed a breakout season with 35 points to go with a plus-30.

If he signs elsewhere, it leaves a pretty sizeable hole on our already shaky left side. I say shaky, because Sam Girard was wildly erratic following his February acquisition, alternating good and bad stretches while trying to get acclimated to playing beside a declining Kris Letang.

Former first-round selection Owen Pickering would be the most obvious internal candidate to fill the void should Shea depart. However, I’ve never heard anyone in the organization come forward and declare outright that Owen’s ready for prime-time duty. To the contrary, everyone seems to tip-toe around the subject when describing the rangy rearguard.

While a lot can change over the course of a season, Pickering clearly wasn’t ready during a brief four-game cameo this season, although to be fair he skated primarily beside a shopworn Matt Dumba and mistake-prone Harrison Brunicke. Not exactly tandems made in hockey heaven.

Like my colleague, Other Rick, I think Dubas will make acquiring a viable portside defenseman a priority. A right-shot defenseman, too, especially if physical Connor Clifton departs via free agency, which seems likely.

However, thanks to the 19-year-old Brunicke’s apparent rapid maturation and emergence during the Calder Cup playoffs, that need seems a little less intense.

Perennial prospect Jack St. Ivany will likely serve as one of our depth defenders.

GOALTENDING

The writing on the wall suggests good-guy extraordinaire Stuart Skinner will stopping pucks elsewhere (sunny Florida perhaps?) next season.

To hear Dubas tell it, both kid goalies presently guarding the twine at Wilkes-Barre, Russian chudo-malchik (miracle boy) Sergei Murashov and Joel Blomqvist will have a crack at earning regular duty with the big boys this season. That would require him to re-up the latter, a pending RFA.

One wonders if Blomqvist, a former AHL All-Star who’s been forced to take a back seat to his more heralded tandem-mate, will opt to stick around, especially if Dubas re-signs incumbent 1A netminder Arturs Šilovs as anticipated.

No matter how the particulars shake out, it appears the Pens will be riding a young tandem between the pipes come the fall.

CONCLUSION

For now, I’d expect six kids to open the season with the Pens. Hayes, Koivunen and McGroarty up front, Brunicke and Pickering on defense, and Murashov in goal. More if Dubas sheds some veterans via trade.