With the clock ticking and the calendar pages turning, several Pittsburgh Penguins prospects are finally near the finish line of their minor league development. The false starts of NHL time and flat minor league playoff exits that limited organizational opportunity have created a snarling bunch of talented prospects now embarking on an AHL playoff run. Appropriately, several of those prospects will be loudly banging on the Penguins’ door for full-time employment next fall.
General manager Kyle Dubas has long touted AHL playoff runs as an important test of NHL readiness. After all, as their GM, Dubas built the Toronto Marlies into a Calder Cup winner with such prospects as Kasperi Kapanen, Justin Holl, and Mason Marchment. Now, after two straight early round exits under controversial and unique circumstances (a series winning goal by Lehigh Valley in 2024 on a high-stick so obvious that both teams stopped comes to mind), the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins are finally muscling past competition and creating what might be a special run.
Even Dubas’s hybrid rebuild, in which he is firmly avoiding years of losing, the rebuilding process requires prospects to take the final leap from development to NHL worthy.
After success in junior hockey or collegiate programs, and adjustments in the AHL, in an ideal world, players bring polished games and the same production to the highest level. Unfortunately for the Penguins, that ideal world does not exist, and statistically, a majority of prospects will not achieve sustainable success in the NHL. When laying out the grand possibility of a headline Penguins trade for an impact player this offseason, Dubas not only acquiesced to the possibility of trading away prospects but acknowledged the often overlooked struggle of developing prospects.
“I don’t think we have a mirage, that in our view, in the office, that next year, all of these young guys are going to magically all hit. They are prospects for reasons,” Dubas said Tuesday during his postseason press conference. “Some of them are going to reach their potential. Some of them are going to go beyond their potential, but you don’t know, some of them aren’t. And so we’ve amassed a good quantity there. I think we have to see which ones can develop in the truly quality guys.”
And the AHL playoffs are the first proving ground.
The Penguins have a handful of players who would very much like their career to settle in Pittsburgh next season and are using the WBS playoff run to show Dubas they are, indeed, ready for the leap.
McGroarty, Pickering, +5 Years
And in speaking with people around the team, Dubas’s answers, and PHN scouting trips, it seems a few of the prospects are finding their stride at the right time.
The two players from whom the most is expected because they carry that label of first rounds picks are Owen Pickering and Rutger McGroarty. Both are going to be five seasons from their 2022 draft day in 2026-27, which is the season generally considered the make-or-break year.
Especially for the left-handed defenseman Pickering, it has been an arduous journey as he has grown at least a couple of inches and had to gain about 30 pounds since his draft day. He had been growing by leaps and bounds since he entered the WHL at 16 years old, but was only 5-foot-6. He’s nearly a foot taller now.
Pickering, 22, had a solid run of NHL games in the 2024-25 season before tailing off amidst some heat from veterans over things like his jovial demeanor and, supposedly, his untamed wavy hair–which he now keeps tightly cropped. Following the bruising ordeal, Pickering has since battled confidence issues in addition to the typical struggles of finding his game.
WBS broadcaster Nick Hart appeared on the recent PHN podcast, No Pucks Given, and admitted Pickering’s bad game in his hometown of Winnipeg during his brief NHL stint this season may have dented his confidence for a spell, but it seems all agree that Pickering has taken perhaps the biggest step late in the season.
“Going back to his time at Swift Current (WHL), coordination, balance, all those things that are common when you have a six-foot-five, 180 then 190, 200-pound guy, it takes some time for that to come together. But we’ve been very happy with the way that Owen has come on here in the second half of the year,” Dubas said. “I don’t think you’d look at it and say it was anything truly dynamic, but it was just steady, solid, reliable hockey, and that’s what we’re looking for him to develop into.”
Pickering has covered a greater distance to improve his chances of sticking in the show next season than anyone. Dubas’s tone seemed to shift toward the positive following last year’s thinly veiled criticism.
And for the first time, Pickering may have an open spot to fight for next season. One of the Penguins’ few unfilled slots is on the left side of the third pairing, as Ryan Shea remains unsigned.
In the same press conference, Dubas didn’t guarantee McGroarty a spot in next season’s lineup, but is sounds like he is counting on it. McGroarty smiled through frustration at the NHL level this season as he had numerous offensive chances, or created those chances for others, but it the puck didn’t go across the line.
McGroarty, 22, had six points (3-3-6) in 24 games as his career jump seemed to be on the cusp.
“What I’ve seen over the years, his skating continues to improve. He’s putting in a lot of work. I think it’s evident when watching the games, for me anyway, that especially without the puck on the forecheck, he’s able to generate much more speed and pressure the opponents. I think that’s the type of game he’s going to have to play,” said Dubas. “I think with him, the beginning of this year–unfortunately he was injured throughout camp, didn’t come back until deep into the fall, (started) in Wilkes Barre and came up with us in December for the first time. We recalled him when he earned it.
“We sent him back down when guys came back from injury, or what have you. I think Rutger has proven to be an excellent penalty killer and excellent net front power play guy with Wilkes Barre. The skating has always been the thing with him, and he’s put in the work and improved on it. So we expect next year that he’ll have every opportunity to earn a spot here. How high in the lineup that is will be up to him.”
Blocked Again?
Tristan Broz is also technically in his +5 year right now, but bad luck and the world have added more obstacles. He essentially lost seasons that detoured his development, one due to NCAA transfer rules (transferring from Minnesota to Denver), and he was one of thousands of players who had another stolen year due to the little bug known as COVID-19.
He’s also battled Mono and incredibly poorly timed injuries that denied him at least a couple of call-ups. He is the top center in WBS and at 23, he displays a tenacious and skillful game with zippy skating and a penchant for clutch performances. His determined demeanor might lead former coach Mike Sullivan to refer to him as a whiskey drinker, and certainly not a milk drinker.
However, Broz’s path next season remains cloudy. Not only do the Penguins have the four center positions still filled, 2025 first-round pick Bill Zonnon might surpass him on the organization’s depth chart. Zonnon is that good.
Broz might have the most to gain from a solid playoff performance.
Ville Koivunen is also a prospect who has outgrown the benefits of the AHL. Koivunen had an extended run in the NHL this season, playing 39 games, but posted just seven points. While some might believe such a performance would be a reason to move on, Dubas sounded encouraged.
Dubas strongly defended Koivunen from some general criticisms.
“Ville, to me, he had a great opportunity at the beginning of the year, and I think he would be the first to say that didn’t make the most of it. And so he went down to the minors, found himself, and came back up. I thought in the latter part of the year, both here and in the American League, we felt, objectively, his speed had improved, his power had improved, his strength had improved, and he had improved,” Dubas said. “He was creating more. And then it just got into one of those funks where then it wasn’t falling for him … I thought he got a lot better at (with strength) as it went on.
“And then I really thought in the series against Hershey, they were obviously keying on him, trying to get after him, be physical against him. And I thought, especially in the clinching game, Game 4, he was at his best. So it’s a player that we think has a very bright future, and for us, behind the scenes, he really responded well during the year to being challenged, to push and become his best.”
The forwards and defenseman aren’t the only prospects who hope to flip the tassel across their hat.
Goalies
It may not be Sergei Murashov in net for the Pittsburgh Penguins next season. According to Dubas, one of the Penguins’ prospect goalies will make the show next year to team with Arturs Silovs, but there will be a competition.
Goaltender Joel Blomqvist, 24, has been a forgotten man in the shadow of Murashov’s ascension, but the competitive relationship at the Penguins’ minor league level will continue at least through the fall.
“I think we’ll continue to watch the playoffs and see how Sergei plays. Joel has been an organization for a long time. Obviously, Sergei has run with the ball here in the playoffs. So we’ll see how that continues to progress and use that as a measurement, but my full expectation is that the two of them, Sergei and Joel, will be competing for a roster spot here (next) year,” said Dubas. “We’ll make the decision on the other (goalie between Silovs and Stuart Skinner), but I think they both have earned, over the years now, the chance to compete for that.”
And for the record, Dubas expects to bring back Taylor Gauthier, but the Wheeling Nailers’ all-time winningest goalie, who is only 25, will probably have to find a new place to live as Dubas implied he will be in Wilkes-Barre next season.
“We have a lot of confidence in Taylor. He’s earned that as well,” Dubas said.
Blomqvist had a 16-5-4 record with WBS and a .913 save percentage. Until Murashov’s arrival this season, Blomqvist was to be in the Penguins’ net by now, but his struggles in January and February 2025 not only forced the organization to recall Tristan Jarry from WBS, but somewhat dimmed Blomqvist’s hopes.
One of the goalies will get a big chance next October. It has been six years since the Penguins drafted Blomqvist 52nd overall in the 2020 NHL Draft. Perhaps, like the others, his time will be now-or-never, too.
Tags: Owen Pickering rutger mcgroarty Ville Koivunen
Categorized:Penguins Prospects