Penguins Place Rutger McGroarty On IR, Assign Harrison Brunicke To Juniors
The Penguins have placed forward Rutger McGroarty on injured reserve, per a team announcement. McGroarty sustained a concussion after colliding with teammate Connor Clifton during Tuesday’s practice. As such, there is no timeline for his return, the team noted. Additionally, the Pens announced they’ve reassigned defenseman Harrison Brunicke to the Western Hockey League’s Kamloops Blazers after he suited up for Team Canada at this year’s World Juniors.
McGroarty entered the season as Pittsburgh’s top prospect but has had a rocky few months. After churning out 39 points in 60 AHL games as a rookie last season and making his NHL debut, he was expected to break camp with the Pens – potentially even in a top-six role – but sustained an upper-body injury that knocked him out of training camp. He was activated in November and spent his first couple of weeks in the minors on what was essentially a conditioning stint before getting added back to Pittsburgh’s roster on Dec. 1.
He’s been a staple in the lineup since returning, at least until his healthy scratch on Sunday against the Blue Jackets, but those designs of a top-six role have gone unfulfilled. McGroarty has instead spent most of his time on an all-rookie third line with Ville Koivunen and Benjamin Kindel, but the production hasn’t popped.
In 16 games, the 21-year-old has been limited to two goals and one assist with a -5 rating. Including last year’s late-season call-up, he’s only produced six points in 24 career outings. That line with Koivunen and Kindel has had great possession impacts, recording a team-high 59.8 xGF% at 5-on-5, but that hasn’t yet translated into results.
Any chance of those advanced numbers spiking a turnaround in McGroarty’s scoring will have to be put on hold. Recent trade pickup Yegor Chinakhov has slotted into McGroarty’s spot and, considering he’s got a goal and an assist in three games since his acquisition from Columbus, appears set to remain in a top-nine role for the foreseeable future.
Brunicke returning to juniors isn’t a surprise, especially with the more experienced Jack St. Ivany locking down a job as Pittsburgh’s third-pairing righty behind Erik Karlsson and Kris Letang since recovering from an early-season injury. Many still view the 19-year-old as the organization’s top defense prospect, but his initial NHL showing wasn’t much to write home about.
The 6’3″, 201-lb righty was in and out of the lineup for weeks before being loaned to the Canadian national junior team last month, only making nine appearances with one assist and a -4 rating. He averaged 15:43 of ice time per game and posted a -6 rating in his final three outings.
Since Brunicke didn’t hit the 10-game mark before being returned to Kamloops, his entry-level contract will not go into effect this season. He will still receive the $87.5K signing bonus he’s owed, though, further reducing his cap hit from its original $875K down to $816.7K when he is no longer slide eligible next year.
Penguins Activate Rickard Rakell, Loan Harrison Brunicke To Team Canada
As expected, the Pittsburgh Penguins have thinned out their defensive core in favor of their forward group. The Penguins announced that they’ve activated forward Rickard Rakell from the injured reserve and have loaned defenseman Harrison Brunicke to U20 Team Canada for the 2026 World Junior Championships.
Rakell returns after more than a month-long absence. The top-six winger broke his left hand in the Penguins’ October 25th matchup against the Columbus Blue Jackets and was given a six-to eight-week recovery timeline after undergoing surgery. That recovery timeline was accurate, as Rakell will return having missed seven weeks.
Before exiting the lineup, Rakell played a large role in the Penguins’ 6-2-1 start to the 2025-26 campaign. Typically playing on a line next to Sidney Crosby, Rakell scored three goals and eight points in those nine contests, averaging 17:44 of ice time per night.
While remaining competitive in a tightly wound Eastern Conference, Pittsburgh has clearly suffered without its top winger. There have been several additional injuries, but the Penguins have managed an 8-6-6 record in the 20 games without Rakell, falling to the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.
Fortunately for Rakell, his return game will be against an organization with which he has had plenty of success throughout his career. Largely due to his time with the Anaheim Ducks earlier in his career, Rakell has scored 16 goals and 33 points in 39 games against the Sharks since the 2012-13 campaign. Additionally, Rakell has scored 13 goals and 28 points in 35 games against the Edmonton Oilers, who Pittsburgh plays on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Brunicke will officially join Team Canada for the World Junior Championships after spending the last few weeks with the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins over the last few weeks. Brunicke, 19, tallied four assists in five games for the AHL Penguins with a +2 rating.
As one of several projected players with NHL experience, it’s nearly a given that Brunicke will remain with Team Canada after they cut their roster down. Cracking the Penguins’ roster out of training camp this season, Brunicke has scored one goal in nine games, averaging 15:43 of ice time per game. He’s two years removed from playing with Team Canada’s U18 team, scoring one goal and four points in seven tournament contests.
Photo courtesy of Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images.
Penguins Activate Justin Brazeau, Noel Acciari From Injured Reserve
The Penguins announced they’ve activated forwards Noel Acciari and Justin Brazeau from injured reserve. They’ll be available for this evening’s game against the Stars. They had one open roster spot after Joona Koppanen cleared waivers and was reassigned to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton yesterday, and they opened the other by reassigning winger Bokondji Imama to WBS in a corresponding move. The team also announced that defensemen Harrison Brunicke and Jack St. Ivany have been recalled from their conditioning loans to the Baby Pens. However, St. Ivany will remain on the injured non-roster list for the time being. Brunicke still counted against the active roster while in the minors, so there’s no other move required there.
Brazeau is a key reinforcement, particularly as the Pens said that Evgeni Malkin will be held out of the lineup tonight due to an upper-body injury and is day-to-day. The 27-year-old was an understandably overlooked free agent pickup, signing a two-year deal worth $1.5MM annually after notching 11 goals and 22 points in 76 games last season with the Bruins and Wild.
An injury to top prospect Rutger McGroarty, though, meant Brazeau got a look on Malkin’s wing to start the year with fellow UFA reclamation project Anthony Mantha on the left flank. The line immediately had some of the best offensive chemistry in the league. Brazeau opened the season with a two-goal performance against the Rangers, and by the time October drew to a close, he was still clicking at a point per game with a 6-6–12 scoring line.
In that final game in October against Brazeau’s former team in Minnesota, he sustained an upper-body injury. He was initially ruled day-to-day, but during the first week of November, the Pens said they were shutting him down for the next four weeks. Today is four-and-a-half weeks from that announcement, so his reinstatement doesn’t come too far behind schedule.
Although he won’t have Malkin to center him to start, Brazeau looks to help rejuvenate a Penguins offense that’s cooled off considerably since clicking at 3.67 goals per game in October. They’re only scoring 2.79 per game since – 20th in the league – but are on the upswing, scoring at least four goals in four of their last five outings.
Acciari is the much more established of the two names, with 531 games of NHL experience compared to Brazeau’s 107. He’s played lower in the lineup, averaging 12:56 of ice time per game, but the pending unrestricted free agent has quietly been solid down the middle on Pittsburgh’s fourth line. He had three assists and a +3 rating through 13 games before an upper-body injury he sustained against the Maple Leafs took him out of the lineup on Nov. 3.
Pre-injury, Acciari was winning 60.4% of his faceoffs while centering a line with Connor Dewar and Blake Lizotte. They weren’t generating much offensively but were limiting opponents to 2.30 expected goals per 60 minutes, the lowest figure among Pittsburgh’s four forward lines to see at least 50 minutes together at 5-on-5.
Imama was recalled along with McGroarty last Monday as the Pens did a bit of roster shuffling. Pittsburgh has only played twice since then, and the 29-year-old enforcer suited up on both occasions. He landed a fighting major against the Lightning’s Curtis Douglas in Thursday’s win and laid three hits while registering two shots on goal, averaging what would be a career-high 7:39 of ice time per game if he doesn’t land another recall this season.
If the 19-year-old Brunicke gets back into the lineup for the Pens anytime soon, it will be his first NHL appearance since Nov. 3. The 2024 second-round pick was a healthy scratch in seven consecutive contests before Pittsburgh sent him down for conditioning two weeks ago. He’s not eligible to be removed from the NHL roster without being returned to his junior team, the WHL’s Kamloops Blazers, hence the conditioning-stint workaround to get him some action in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. In five appearances, the 6’3″ righty managed three assists with a +2 rating.
St. Ivany’s last two weeks in the AHL marked his first action of the 2025-26 season. The steady depth D-man sustained a lower-body injury late in the preseason that kept him from making the Pens’ opening night roster. While his conditioning stint had to end today as it hit its two-week limit, they don’t have a roster spot for him so he has to remain on the non-roster list for now. They can make a corresponding move to activate him tomorrow or place him on waivers. In the latter scenario, they can give him a non-roster designation until his waiver period ends.
The 26-year-old looked ready to go in his AHL stint, though. He notched a 1-4–5 scoring line with a +3 rating in five outings and, at that rate, will make a legitimate push to unseat the far more expensive Connor Clifton as the righty on the Pens’ third pairing.
Pittsburgh Penguins Make Several Roster Moves
The Pittsburgh Penguins announced they’ve recalled forward Tristan Broz from the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and reassigned forward Philip Tomasino in a corresponding roster move. Additionally, the Penguins have assigned defensemen Harrison Brunicke and Jack St. Ivany to the AHL on conditioning loans.
Broz, 23, will have the opportunity to make his NHL debut. Pittsburgh selected the Bloomington, MN native with the 58th overall pick of the 2021 NHL Draft, and he’s been playing with the AHL Penguins for the last two years.
He was relatively successful in his first full year with WBS, scoring 19 goals and 37 points in 59 games with a -7 rating. It wasn’t enough to land Broz on the AHL’s All-Rookie Team last year, but he finished eighth on the team in scoring.
This season, Broz is off to a terrific start, scoring eight goals and 13 points in 18 games with a +5 rating. Being that he was third on the team, the top four scorers for the AHL Penguins this season are now all rostered in the NHL.
Meanwhile, Tomasino is guaranteed to play in his first AHL contest since the 2023-24 campaign, assuming he reports. The former first-round pick of the Nashville Predators has struggled this season, registering one assist in nine games, averaging 12:10 of ice time per game. He cleared waivers five days ago, but had remained on the NHL roster until today.
Lastly, Brunicke and St. Ivany will head to the AHL for a short time. Brunicke has been on the roster for the entire 2025-26 campaign up to this point, though he hasn’t appeared in a contest since early November. In the games he has played, he’s scored one goal while averaging 15:43 of ice time. On his conditioning loan, he’ll have access to far more ice time.
St. Ivany, on the other hand, hasn’t appeared in a contest for the Penguins this season. The two-year veteran began the year on Pittsburgh’s season-opening injured reserve due to a lower-body injury. Today’s news confirms that St. Ivany has been activated from that list, nearly two weeks after his projected return date.
Latest On Harrison Brunicke
Generally speaking, having a key young player sitting as a healthy scratch for an extended period of time is far from ideal from a development perspective. But that has been the case for Penguins defenseman Harrison Brunicke, a rookie blueliner who has only played twice this month and not since November 3rd.
However, it appears that his time in the press box will continue for at least a little while longer. GM Kyle Dubas recently mentioned in an interview on the Penguins Radio Network (audio link) that the 19-year-old will remain with the big club through the weekend but will continue to be a healthy scratch.
Brunicke has now been scratched for more than five games. While that normally doesn’t mean a lot, it does allow Pittsburgh to give him a two-week assignment to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. That’s doable even though he’s not eligible to play there full-time due to the NHL-CHL agreement that dictates that junior players can’t play full-time in the AHL until they’re in their age-20 season.
That strategy is likely by design, even though sitting him for what will be more than three weeks was required to get to that point. Brunicke has played in nine NHL games this season, meaning that the next one he plays this year officially will activate the first season of his entry-level contract. He has held his own in those outings while averaging a respectable 15:43 per game of playing time.
Clearly, Dubas isn’t ready to make that call yet so this pending stint will be the next determinant in their decision. When assigned, he can go down for a maximum of two weeks and they’ll likely time it to give him as many games in that stretch as possible. He will continue to count against the 23-player limit while in the minors.
Dubas also acknowledged that there is a possibility that Brunicke will be loaned to play for Canada at the World Juniors; that tournament begins in a little less than five weeks from now. Their training camp is around three weeks away and Dubas noted that they don’t want to put Brunicke in a spot where he’s going to be not playing for an extended stretch again. That could factor into when the assignment is made.
At this point, it feels like Pittsburgh is going to drag out the decision process as long as possible. By loaning him to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and then to the World Juniors soon after, they can kick the can on making a final call until early January. From there, they could either bring him back to the Penguins and officially start his contract or assign him back to WHL Kamloops to play what would amount to basically half of a junior season.
Either way, playing time will soon be on the way for Brunicke but it will be a while yet before his fate for this season ultimately gets decided.
Evening Notes: Brunicke, Crozier, Hurricanes
The Penguins announced tonight that young defenseman Harrison Brunicke will not play tonight versus Anaheim. Brunicke has looked the part in his first three NHL games, notching a goal, but at just 19-years-old, the Penguins are taking it easy with their key prospect. Although fans may be disappointed, the silver lining is that Kris Letang could return. New Head Coach Dan Muse emphasized the need to put Brunicke along with fellow youngster Ben Kindel in positions to succeed, and given his strong pedigree coaching across junior, collegiate, and professional hockey, it seems the Penguins have the right eyes on their young prospects, as they face a fascinating crossroads which will play out this season.
Elsewhere across the league:
- The Lightning have announced mid-game that defenseman Max Crozier will not return due to injury. The 25-year-old more unassuming player, who has spent most of his professional career in the AHL after being drafted 120th overall in 2019, has been off to a great start for Tampa Bay this season with three assists in as many games. Further details on the severity of the injury are unknown at this time.
- On today’s episode of Bleacher Report’s Insider Notebook, Insider Frank Seravalli said that the Carolina Hurricanes are watching the waiver wire closely for goalies, and that it would be no surprise if the team made some sort of move for one. Thankfully for the team, Frederik Andersen has won both games so far, but given his injury history, along with Pyotr Kochetkov’s inconsistency and current injury, the Canes could be looking for more stability. Carolina claimed Brandon Bussi on waivers earlier this month, but as a 27-year-old yet to debut in the NHL, and with AHL numbers which don’t necessarily jump off the page, GM Eric Tulsky could have another trick up his sleeve soon; especially if the team wants to reach new heights come spring.
Harrison Brunicke, Ben Kindel To Make Penguins’ Opening Night Roster
For the first time in a while, the Pittsburgh Penguins will have a pair of teenagers on their opening night roster. Earlier today, head coach Dan Muse confirmed to play-by-play commentator Josh Getzoff that defenseman Harrison Brunicke and forward Benjamin Kindel will make their NHL debuts tomorrow night.
Neither player making the roster is overly surprising, given that the Penguins have been actively looking to get younger under General Manager Kyle Dubas‘ stewardship. Still in the early stages of their rebuild, Pittsburgh was the oldest team in the NHL last season with an average age of 30.9.
Although he wasn’t a first-round selection, Brunicke has risen quickly up the Penguins’ organizational depth chart. He was drafted with the 44th pick of the 2024 NHL Draft after scoring 10 goals and 21 points in 49 games for the WHL’s Kamloops Blazers.
After having a solid training camp last season, the Blazers appointed Brunicke one of the team’s assistant captains for the 2024-25 campaign. He had a mildly better season in terms of offensive production, scoring five goals and 30 points in 41 games. Moving to the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins for the final stretch of their regular season, Brunicke tallied two assists in 10 games in his first few professional contests.
The only issue out of the gate for Brunicke is that the Penguins are already saturated on the right side of their blue line. Outside of him taking a step back in his development, Pittsburgh has nothing to lose by playing Brunicke over some of their options, and the team has already committed to limiting veteran Kris Letang‘s ice time this season. Still, even outside of those two, the Penguins need to find ice time for Erik Karlsson, Matt Dumba, and Connor Clifton.
Meanwhile, Kindel had much more hype coming out of the draft, given that he was selected with the 11th overall pick of the 2025 NHL Draft. He’s coming off an impressive campaign with the WHL’s Calgary Hitmen, seeing Kindel score 35 goals and 99 points in 65 games with a +39 rating. In the postseason, Kindel maintained a high level of performance, scoring eight goals and 15 points in 11 games, with a +6 rating.
Despite being one of the younger players at the Penguins’ training camp, Kindel tied for fifth in preseason scoring, putting up one goal and three points in six games. Even though he was typically used as a right winger throughout his tenure in juniors, Pittsburgh had been using him as a center this September, and he could start the year down the middle of the third line. Regardless, if he doesn’t find success to start the year, the Penguins have plenty of flexibility to move him to the wing.
Metro Notes: Chinakhov, Capitals, Brunicke, Kindel
Yegor Chinakhov was vocal in his disapproval of head coach Dean Evason’s deployment of him earlier this preseason, and now it appears Chinakhov’s disapproval has extended to the player’s off-ice situation. According to The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline, Chinakhov has fired his longtime agent, Shumi Babaev and hired Rick Komarow of Maverick Sports Management. Portzline noted that Komarow is the agent of Chinakhov’s teammate and fellow Russian Dmitry Voronkov, and also represents four other Russians on NHL contracts: Pavel Dorofeyev, Danila Yurov, Sergei Murashov, and Nikita Novikov.
Whether this change in representation will include a retraction of Chinakhov’s offseason trade request is unclear, though the core reasoning behind the trade request (Chinakhov’s lack of ice time under coach Evason) has not changed. Per Portzline, Chinakhov spent most of the last week of practice “skating as the extra forward” and therefore appears to be unlikely to have a lineup spot for the team’s season-opening game against the Nashville Predators. The 2020 first-round pick scored a career-high 16 goals and 29 points in 53 games under former coach Pascal Vincent in 2023-24, but saw his ice time decline under Evason. It’s worth noting that the Blue Jackets’ fortunes as a team have improved markedly since Evason’s hire, meaning there is unlikely to be much organizational pressure for Evason’s apparent stance on the player to change, making an eventual trade appear to be, at this point, potentially the most suitable outcome for all parties involved. It remains to be seen whether Chinakhov’s swap in representation changes things.
More notes from the Metropolitan Division:
- The Washington Capitals defensemen Matt Roy and Dylan McIlrath suffered injuries, head coach Spencer Carbery said yesterday. (via NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti) According to Carbery, the pair of blueliners is not believed to have suffered “super significant” or long-term injuries, though their ailments (upper-body for Roy, lower-body for McIlrath) could keep them out for a week or two. The two players are still being evaluated, but should they end up missing a week or two of the season, Washington would need to find a player to fill Roy’s second-pairing slot in the meantime – 25-year-old Declan Chisholm, who has some experience playing the right side, appears the likeliest candidate.
- The Athletic’s Josh Yohe wrote yesterday that the Pittsburgh Penguins’ bevy of roster moves indicates that teenagers Benjamin Kindel and Harrison Brunicke are set to make the team’s season-opening NHL roster. While a potential waiver claim could change things, it does appear as things stand that the pair of top Penguins prospects will make their NHL debuts on Tuesday night in Madison Square Garden against the New York Rangers. As Brunicke’s brilliance this preseason has been covered extensively, the bigger surprise is Kindel, the team’s top pick from the 2025 draft. It now appears as though the Penguins will get the chance to see how Kindel’s game holds up against the physicality of NHL regular-season competition, though it remains unlikely he’ll remain on the team’s roster for the full season. A handful of games before being reassigned to the WHL’s Calgary Hitmen remains the likeliest outcome here, which would still, of course, be a valuable and positive step in Kindel’s development.
Metro Notes: Brunicke, Murashov, Ginning
One of the emerging storylines coming out of Pittsburgh Penguins training camp has been the exceptional preseason performance of young defenseman Harrison Brunicke. The 19-year-old defenseman has drawn rave reviews for his play both in training camp and in preseason games, and that praise has come both from the media as well as people within the Penguins organization. The Athletic’s Josh Yohe reported today that “there is an appetite around the organization” for the Penguins to keep Brunicke on their season-opening NHL roster. Yohe also commented that “some people in the organization” are telling Yohe that Brunicke is “already the Penguins’ best defenseman.”
That’s high praise considering the Penguins blueline currently features three-time Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson and veteran Kris Letang, who was among the NHL’s top blueliners for more than a decade. Brunicke is a 6’3, 202-pound defenseman who was a second-round pick in 2024 out of the WHL’s Kamloops Blazers. Widely praised for his poise and mature, pro-ready game, Brunicke is not eligible to be loaned to the Penguins’ AHL affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins, and therefore the organization will need to decide whether the player is best served spending 2025-26 back in the WHL or in the NHL. It’s not an easy decision – and some clubs have in the past taken the more complicated route of using AHL conditioning stints to buy time until the player can be sent to the World Junior Championships – but based on Yohe’s reporting it appears the Penguins are likely to give the young defender a chance to start his NHL career.
Other notes from the Metropolitan Division:
- If Brunicke is the young Penguins player who has attracted the most buzz this preseason, netminder Sergei Murashov isn’t far behind him in second place. The 21-year-old 2022 fourth-round pick has been excellent in his preseason minutes and is coming off of a stellar debut season in the North American pro circuit. Yohe reports that the Penguins’ plan for Murashov is to give him “the bulk of the work in the AHL this season,” and noted that while the Penguins believe he could be a future number-one goalie, “they don’t want to impact his development” by bringing him to the NHL too fast. The Penguins have Tristan Jarry and Arturs Silovs set to form their tandem in net this season, so there is not an immediate need for Murashov at the NHL level. But based on everything he’s shown since arriving from Russia to the Penguins organization, he could become a legitimate factor in the team’s NHL plans as soon as next season.
- The Philadelphia Flyers have had a few positive storylines in preseason – namely the emerging chemistry between star sophomore Matvei Michkov and prized offseason addition Trevor Zegras – the competition for down-the-lineup defensive roles has not generated such positive buzz. Per The Athletic’s Kevin Kurz, Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet “hasn’t been overly encouraged” by the performances of the team’s depth blueliners – namely Helge Grans, Adam Ginning, and Noah Juulsen. Grans was placed on waivers yesterday and is not expected to factor into the team’s opening-night roster. While Ginning and Juulsen have left Tocchet wanting more this preseason, Kurz notes that the two could currently have a leg up in the battle for limited roster spots. According to Kurz, Emil Andrae “may simply be too small for the coaching staff’s liking” to dress in their opening-night lineup, while Egor Zamula “struggled mightily” in Monday’s preseason game and could be losing his grip on a lineup spot. As a result, a big opportunity could lie ahead for Ginning, who got into just one NHL game last season but played in a top-four role in the AHL.
Metro Notes: Sullivan, Brunicke, Royals
If the New York Rangers had it their way, they’d have their new head coach signed in the next couple of days. According to Elliotte Friedman from Sportsnet, the Rangers are expected to pursue Mike Sullivan‘s services aggressively.
Before he was brought into the Penguins organization to be the head coach of their AHL affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in 2015-16, and before he served as the Canucks assistant coach and Blackhawks development coach, Sullivan served as the Rangers assistant coach from 2009-2013.
During that time, John Tortorella was the Rangers’ head coach, while Chris Drury and Ryan Callahan were the team’s captains. Unfortunately, Sullivan had already left the organization by the time New York returned to their first Stanley Cup Final in 20 years in 2014.
Other notes from the Metro Division:
- In his offseason series regarding Pittsburgh Penguins’ players, Seth Rorabaugh of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review took a look at prospect Harrison Brunicke‘s developmental status. As one of the team’s higher-end prospects, Brunicke competed for a spot on the Penguins opening night lineup before the 2024-25 campaign started. Unfortunately, due to a wrist injury that limited him to 10 games for the AHL Penguins, Rorabaugh believes Brunicke is likely another year away from becoming a full-timer in Pittsburgh.
- According to a team announcement, the Philadelphia Flyers have extended their affiliate agreement with the ECHL’s Reading Royals. The extension will run through the 2026-27 ECHL season, and will serve as the 12th consecutive season the two organizations have held a partnership.