The Penguins made two roster moves today involving a pair of prized rookies. Defenseman Harrison Brunicke was returned to his junior team, the Kamloops Blazers of the WHL. Forward Rutger McGroarty was placed on IR with a concussion.
The moves come just as Evgeni Malkin is about to return from IR. Geno’s been on the mend from a shoulder injury since December 4.
Not only is the big guy set to return, but it may be at a new position to boot. In practice today he was skating on left wing next to rookie center Ben Kindel and newcomer Yegor Chinakhov.
Which means, at least for now, the highly productive Justin Brazeau–Tommy Novak–Anthony Mantha trio remains intact.
As for Brunicke? I kind of feel for the kid. At the age of 19, he’s bounced from the Pens’ third-pairing, to the PPG Paints Arena press box, to the Baby Pens for a conditioning assignment, to Team Canada and, finally, back to his junior team. Playing a total of just 21 games in the process.
Hindsight’s always 20/20, but I wonder if he (and ultimately we) might have been better served returning him to an improved Blazers team following training camp. Certainly after his nine-game NHL trial.
Even though it’s not a true apples-to-apples comparison, the situation reminds me somewhat of Kevin Korchinski, an equally promising young defenseman in the Blackhawks’ organization. A seventh overall pick in 2022, Korchinski spent the entire ’23-24 season with a very poor Chicago team as a 19-year-old.
The kid wound up a minus-39 and has played only 16 games with the Hawks since. None this season. Safe to say his development was stalled by being rushed.
Hope the same thing doesn’t happen to Harry.
With two goals and an assist in 16 games, it’s been tough sledding for McGroarty as well since he was called up on December 1 following a hot start with the Baby Pens. This on the heels of an extended stint on IR dating back to last spring.
It just goes to reinforce that the development curve is anything but smooth, even for highly regarded prospects.
Hopefully Rutger makes a speedy recovery.
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Hey Rick,
1st: True Hindsight is always 20/20, but let me ask you, who was it that said return Brunicke to the Juniors back in October?
2nd: I really do not like to change things when a team is on a roll, so I get the thought behind keeping Mantha-Novak-Brazeau together. However, I really am not all that sure about the efficacy of moving Geno to LW for Kindel
A Quick Look a t Kindel's With-or-Without (WoW) numbers, the only two regular Forwards to at least break even on the +/- scale with the kid are Brazeau and Rakell while every other Penguin Forward is at least even on the +/- scale except Rust. So, Geno's +/- may just dip like everyone else.
On the other line, Brazeau has played better with Geno than Novak, but Mantha has faired equally well with Malkin and Novak.
Hopefully it does workout and the Black-and-Gold keeps putting more and more distance between them and the Blue-and-White.