Penguins Camp Final Thoughts; Holding Players Back

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Penguins Camp Final Thoughts; Holding Players Back

Penguins Camp Final Thoughts; Holding Players Back

Dan Kingerski · Pittsburgh Hockey Now

Sun, Sep 20, 2026 ·

6 min read

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The Pittsburgh Penguins might have created a problem for themselves.

The Penguins have one open spot among a half dozen or more forwards who could capably fill it. They also need a left defenseman and are sorting through a conglomeration of depth D-men, none of whom have held down a consistent NHL regular spot.

They also have a handful of prospects who are showing they are worthy of the next step.

The prospects who have matriculated for a season or two with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins as part of the organization's youth movement are no longer waiting patiently to claim those jobs, but they are not available to them.

Odd that a team in transition, or, as defenseman Erik Karlsson termed it, "a weird spot," has essentially hung a sign on the door that reads "Prospects Need Not Apply Yet."

It has been a rush through the first three days of the Penguins' training camp, and, in reality, camp is now over. The team begins preseason games Monday, with a few games next week, and they don't practice again until Friday. And on that day, the team is pared down to a single practice group.

It was an interesting camp full of storylines, though no satisfying payoffs.

The players least likely to get open spots are the young ones, specifically those who are waiver-exempt, such as Rutger McGroarty , Owen Pickering , and Harrison Brunicke .

Not specific to the Penguins' situation, PHN reached out to several NHL executives to gain insight into the rebuilding process. We asked a simple question: When is it time to bring up a prospect, and can it hurt a player's development if they spend an extra season in the AHL?

One exec put it simply:

"I mean once he's accomplished everything he can there, then you definitely have to graduate him. Then he's not developing any more. He has to get new challenges."

And therein lies the Penguins' problem that was both highlighted and exacerbated by the short camp. How much more can McGroarty, Avery Hayes , Tristan Broz, and Owen Pickering do at the lower level? It would seem they need the challenge of the NHL, the highs, lows, and the grind.

They're not going to improve much more in WBS. And that seemed obvious, as much of the crew frowned and scrapped through three days of work, showing their best but knowing they're on the outside. To his credit, McGroarty put a positive spin on it.

"Yeah, I mean, it's nice (to have a shortened preseason) because then you don't get as many chances, and if you do well at the chances you get, and then it makes their decision tougher," McGroarty told PHN.

That's definitely looking on the bright side of life.

So, camp is over, kind of. Penguins assistant general manager Jason Spezza , who has held the last two press conferences for the Penguins front office, essentially indicated Thursday that the opening night roster would not be the final roster this season. Spezza swung the door wide open for those young players to come up throughout the season.

"We know we want to inject youth into the lineup. We know we have to," said Spezza. "We have to make sure we do it when the guys are ready and when they're going to help the team, so I think it'll be — we're all interested, just as you are, to kind of watch and see where everybody's at with young players."

Given the solid play over three days by Pickering, McGroarty's stout camp, and standout Saturday work, competing with some underwhelming veteran options, the possible and the probable seem to be in conflict for the organization.

The persistent question through the offseason was: how exactly does a youth movement and transition begin when, in fact, the team doesn't promote its youth?

For this iteration of the Penguins, it would be entirely possible to insert at least a couple of the WBS Penguins crew members into the opening-night lineup. Pickering, McGroarty, and Harrison Brunicke would be easy choices.

And we are getting the answer. It would indeed seem that the Penguins have overloaded their coffers to their own detriment; they may win more games in the immediate with veteran players who don't go through the pangs of development, but the team is now risking turning some of the ripened fruit of the rebuild rotten with too much time in the barrel.

More Camp Thoughts

Oliver Okuliar , 26, was injured Saturday, and it looked more serious than a simple day-to-day bump. Overall, he looked like he belonged. His Day 1 pounding of defenseman Declan Carlile was eye-opening and set the tone. In a different camp, he could have been a very real contender for the fourth-line role.

Despite the lauding of the young players who could or should make the team, one name we omitted was Ville Koivunen . He still looks timid among NHL players and has not yet asserted himself. The preseason games will be huge for him. And the organization.

Kaedan Korczak will need to assert himself in preseason. The same goes for Carlile. Neither new defenseman stood out in the camp practices. They will need to elevate in the preseason games or become JAGs (just another guy) and a step down from Parker Wotherspoon and Ryan Shea .

What exactly was the benefit of trading Wotherspoon and letting Shea walk, only to give $8 million to Trevor van Riemsdyk ?

Ben Kindel took another, very obvious step forward. He's bigger, stronger, and playing with swagger. PHN has never seen a player with such rapid progression over the course of a year. Kindel has grown, physically matured, and improved his skating immensely since July 2025.

The top nine could be quite intriguing if Nick Robertson can jell with Sidney Crosby .

Rickard Rakell-Sidney Crosby-Nick Robertson

Andrei Kuzmenko- Ben Kindel -Bryan Rust

Egor Chinakhov-Tommy Novak-Evgeni Malkin

It would appear from the early going that the Penguins will get the best version of Karlsson, just as he was in the second half of last season. Great players just stand out in these camps. You don't need to know hockey to see that a few of the players are just … better.

There's no clear leader in the goalie battle, yet. Sergei Murashov has a slight edge over Joel Blomqvist , but declaring a winner now would be like calling an election with 3% of the precincts reporting.

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