CRANBERRY TOWNSHIP, Pa. \u2014 I\u2019ve been repeating the topic in this space for a few months now.<\/p>\n
The Penguins want to go young.<\/p>\n
At first glance, this appears to be confusing, if not impossible. It\u2019s not just Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang and Erik Karlsson \u2014 plenty of other Penguins are on the wrong side of 30, including Bryan Rust, Rickard Rakell, Kevin Hayes and Danton Heinen.<\/p>\n
So, how do the Penguins get younger? And what would compel them to get even younger if this season is a wash?<\/p>\n
Well, I keep hearing the same theme from people who know: This roster is going to be younger than people think.<\/p>\n
When talented young forward Rutger McGroarty is healthy, he\u2019ll be on this team. Fellow forward Ville Koivunen is a lock to start the season in Pittsburgh, too. He\u2019s here to stay.<\/p>\n
What about the others?<\/p>\n
Team sources told me that, while the plan isn\u2019t for defenseman Harrison Brunicke to be ready this quickly \u2014 he doesn\u2019t turn 20 until next spring \u2014 the Penguins won\u2019t stand in his way if he is ready. And he was among their best players in the exhibition opener on Monday against Montreal.<\/p>\n
Could they give Brunicke a nine-game stint before sending him back to junior hockey? Sure. Could they keep him all season if they think he\u2019s ready? Indeed, and they won\u2019t put up any roadblocks if they deem that to be the case.<\/p>\n
I think goaltender Sergei Murashov (more on him later) is an extreme long shot to make the team, but that\u2019s no knock on him.<\/p>\n
Everyone I speak to within the Penguins organization insists that general manager\/president Kyle Dubas and coach Dan Muse want this team to be young and aren\u2019t afraid to hurt veterans\u2019 feelings when it comes to roster spots and playing time. This is something to keep in mind.<\/p>\n
Murashov\u2019s rise<\/p>\n
As I wrote last week, many of the Penguins are very impressed with Murashov.<\/p>\n
My opinion on that matter is that the players I spoke to, Rust and Rakell, weren\u2019t just being polite. I\u2019ve also talked with some other veterans about Murashov.<\/p>\n
No one wants to put too much pressure on a 21-year-old player. Still, plenty of people in the organization \u2014 players and front office people alike \u2014 feel Murashov has a real opportunity to be the Penguins\u2019 No. 1 goaltender within the next 12 to 18 months. They love his talent. They love his athleticism. And more than anything, they like how grounded and hard-working he is. In Murashov, they think they\u2019ve found someone special.<\/p>\n
The more people see him practice, and the more they see him in games, the more everyone seems cautiously optimistic that the Penguins\u2019 goaltending woes have a light at the end of the tunnel.<\/p>\n
Muse\u2019s reputation<\/p>\n
Early reports on Muse from around the organization are overwhelmingly positive.<\/p>\n
Now, you might be saying to yourself, \u201cIt\u2019s only been a few months. Of course, they\u2019re going to say good things about the new coach.\u201d<\/p>\n
OK, OK. However, I\u2019m old enough to have covered a guy named Mike Johnston. Mind you, Johnston was and is a delightful human being, and I have no doubt he\u2019s among the best junior coaches of his era. There is plenty of evidence of that. However, he was never fit to be an NHL coach, which was made extremely clear from the very beginning.<\/p>\n
Even during Johnston\u2019s first training camp in 2014, players and other members of the organization were already rolling their eyes when his name was brought up.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s not the case with Muse. Will he work in the long run? That\u2019s anybody\u2019s guess.<\/p>\n
However, I can tell you after conversations I\u2019ve had with Penguins veterans, young players and staff members, everyone likes this guy. More importantly, everyone respects him. I\u2019ve had three players independently use the word \u201cprepared\u201d when discussing Muse. The number of hours Muse spends around the rink is already becoming a regular topic of discussion.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s early, and this team probably isn\u2019t very good. However, in terms of how he\u2019s being perceived around the organization, Muse is off to a great start. Everyone seems to be quite impressed.<\/p>\n
Ownership update<\/p>\n
There is nothing new to report on the Penguins\u2019 ownership situation. The Hoffmann family remains heavily interested and is still in talks with Fenway Sports Group. I sense that FSG isn\u2019t desperate to move away from the Penguins, but there is still a legitimate chance that this deal will take place.<\/p>\n
A sale is not a given. In fact, this is typically the time when deals of this nature often fall through. We\u2019re talking close to $2 billion here, and a lot of influential businesspeople are involved. Nothing is a given, but FSG is very ready to move on if a deal is officially struck.<\/p>\n
On the hockey side, a potential sale hasn\u2019t influenced Dubas at this point. I\u2019m not under the impression he\u2019s been told that he can\u2019t make a move or that he must do anything that would divert from his plan. If I were a member of the Hoffmann family, for instance, I probably wouldn\u2019t be thrilled about the idea of Sidney Crosby\u2019s name being in trade rumors. You wouldn\u2019t want your most valuable player, even at his age, being traded before you were about to buy the team.<\/p>\n
Still, I don\u2019t think Dubas is under any orders to keep the status quo. I sense that Dubas is running the team as he sees fit, that the quiet summer was more about a lack of dance partners and that not much has changed since the end of last season.<\/p>\n
Rust, Rakell and Karlsson are available, but only for the right price. That price remains exceptionally high. Could it happen? Of course. Dubas all but admitted it during his annual preseason news conference last week. He\u2019s open for business, but only if he has extreme leverage. He\u2019s not in a rush.<\/p>\n
McGroarty\u2019s mysterious injury<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not sure about the severity of McGroarty\u2019s injury because the Penguins are being tight-lipped about it. The good news is that McGroarty has been a visible presence around training camp, doesn\u2019t appear to be wearing a cast or sling of any type and has been flashing his omnipresent smile at every opportunity.<\/p>\n
(Photo of Ville Koivunen: Bruce Bennett \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CRANBERRY TOWNSHIP, Pa. \u2014 I\u2019ve been repeating the topic in this space for a few months now. The…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":249722,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[293,1334,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-249721","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-nhl","9":"tag-pittsburgh-penguins","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115255314007539999","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=249721"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249721\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/249722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}