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Penguins Notebook: McGoarty Demoted, Breaking Records, and Murashov Goggles
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- Penguins Notebook: McGoarty Demoted, Breaking Records, and Murashov Goggles
IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
The Pittsburgh Penguins sent another prospect ready for the big show packing Sunday.
The team reassigned winger Rutger McGroarty back to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the AHL, reducing their roster to 22 players and opening a spot to recall Justin Brazeau , who was on a conditioning assignment with WBS.
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The Penguins officially recalled Brazeau, who has not yet played this season after suffering an injury in the preseason, Monday morning. Last season, Brazeau had a career-high 34 points, including a career-best 17 goals.
McGroarty played two games on his most recent recall, both well-played Penguins wins (4-0 over the Florida Panthers on Oct. 22, and a 3-2 overtime win over the Nashville Predators on Oct. 24). He didn't register a point, had three shots, and played over 15 minutes in the win over Florida.
Penguins Record Setters
Lost amidst the turmoil of horrendous mistakes and turnovers in their 5-4 loss to the Montreal Canadiens Saturday were the Penguins' record setters. Sidney Crosby continues to climb the all-time scorers list and stake a claim to be considered among the greatest ever, and Erik Karlsson is surpassing some of the best defensemen in history on the all-time scoring by defensemen list, too.
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But neither really cared about that Saturday night.
"I mean, it's not really something I think about," said Crosby before expounding that he's quite fortunate to play for so long.
First, Crosby set the record for most assists with one team (1112) before adding another helper. Then, with his late third-period goal, Crosby tied Marcel Dionne for sixth on the all-time points list with 1771. He's 27 points behind current Penguins senior advisor Ron Francis for fifth and 79 points behind Gordie Howe for fourth. With 69 games remaining this season, Crosby may not pass Howe until next season, but he's also just 116 points behind Mark Messier for third all-time.
Crosby has 10 points (4-6-10) in 14 games this season.
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On the same first-period power-play goal, Karlsson moved past Brent Burns for 10th all-time (950) and finished the game with 952 points. He is just six points shy of Montreal Canadiens legend Larry Robinson for ninth. However, after Robinson, there is a big jump to New York Rangers pillar Brian Leetch in eighth place at 1028 points.
Karlsson has 16 points (3-13-16) in 14 games, and if he continues this pace, he'll finish with 96 points and sneak past Leetch for eighth in April.
Murashov's Vision Quest
It has not been the start Penguins rookie goaltender Sergei Murashov wanted. Murashov is 0-4-1 and has spent more time out of the net than in it, as Artur Silovs has gotten more starts, but he remains detail-oriented.
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One point of emphasis is vision and tracking the puck.
"This is a really small part of your body — your eyes — but they give you most of the information from what's going on around (you)," Murashov said. "Subtle movements can change the game for you tremendously."
One of his tools is something NHL.com recently featured — Trac Optics goggles. When asked on Friday by PHN whether he had heard of them or tried them, Murashov reached into an equipment bag sitting in front of him and pulled out a case that contained a pair of the goggles.
The goggles act a little like racehorse blinders — the rubber edges block peripheral and downward-looking vision, making a goaltender rely more on turning his head to track pucks and the action straight-on rather than relying on eye movement and the peripheral field.
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"If there's a shot coming, you have to track it all the way," Murashov said. "It forces your head to turn all the way, so you can see a clear picture of the puck coming.
"It's important how you look at the puck. If your eyes are square to the puck, that's how you get the most information. If you look with your chin up, you kind of see from the bottom part of your eyes, and you limit your vision. These goggles force you to bend your head."
Murashov got introduced to them in 2024-25 by Wheeling Nailers goaltending coach Karel Popper, and over the summer Murashov spoke with Lyle Mast, something of a goaltender whisperer, about the device and about vision. He also worked with Josh Tucker of True Focus Vision in the offseason, and Tucker further explained the uses and theories of the goggles and gave him off-ice drills using them.
"Throughout the season, it's more (for) maintenance," Murashov said. "If I feel like my vision is a little bit off, I take them on the ice, but mostly it's in the summer."
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–Shelly Anderson.
CFO Hire
In one of those interesting cross-sports connections, the Penguins made a recent hire by dipping into the baseball world.
Ted Towne was named Penguins chief financial officer. He had been chief financial officer of baseball's Washington Nationals. One of his signature achievements with Washington was helping to negotiate a 20-year lease extension for Nationals Park.
Towne was credited during his time with the Nationals with helping to bring financial discipline to the club.
"His blend of finance, operations and revenue experience makes him the right leader to help invest in the Penguins' future and deliver for our fans and Pittsburgh," Geoff Hoffmann, team chairman and team governor, said in a statement.
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It's the second C-level hire by the Hoffmann Family of Companies since taking over ownership of the Penguins in June. Marcel Braithwaite was named president of business operations. He also came from a Major League Baseball franchise, the Houston Astros.
–Shelly Anderson.
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