Pittsburgh Penguins Prospect Update October 2023

It has been several years since I have down this, so I have to find my old bookmarks to other league pages and brush up on my Finnish and Swedish so I can remember what the categories I am clicking on mean, but it is that time again where we take a look at the Pittsburgh Penguins prospects playing in Europe, the juniors, and the NCAA. Not counting the four defected players whose rights they still hold, the Pens have one goalie, five D, and nine forwards coming up through their development system.

Filip Lindberg, Joseph Masonius, Filip Hållander, and Kasper Björkqvist are all defected players whom the Pens retain their player rights while Thimo Nickl is a Pens prospect who is currently signed to an AHL deal with WBS. There is no reason to cover them though as they don’t fall into the same category as the ones below who are young prospects that have not yet turned pro.

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Goaltenders

Sergei Murashov – 2022 4th round

Murashov is a 19 year old, 6’1″, 170lbs G playing for his local Lokomotiv Yaroslavl of the Kontinental’naya Khokkeynaya Liga in Russia. He is currently playing on their junior team in the Molodezhnaya Hokkeinaya Liga, his third year as starter for Loko. So far he has gone 4-2-0 with a 2.34 GAA and 91.2 Sv% with two of his games ending in a shutout. He had a rough start, losing his first two games and then missing a week after his first bounce back shutout, but he is currently on a hot streak having won the past three games. His backup has better numbers than him though, minus the shutouts, so he will need to keep playing hard in order to maintain his spot at the top of the depth chart. He is on the final year of his contract and so far has only played a single KHL game during the two years he was signed with the big club, but his career numbers are very good. He is the lone netminder prospect in the system but the Pens have two other young goalies in the minors already so it is uncertain where he fits in the future.

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Pittsburgh Penguins HOAGIE Charts – Forwards

I have been meaning to write this one up for the past week or so but I got distracted by all the hectic happening in training camp. I had previously looked at the goaltenders and the defensemen, but we are moving on today. There were 22 Pittsburgh Penguins forwards who have played in the NHL over the prior two seasons 2021-22 and 2022-23. I skipped Radim Zohorna, Alex Nylander, Austin Wagner, Joona Koppanen, Sam Poulin, Jonathan Gruden, and Valterri Puustinen because they all played significantly less than 500 minutes during our 2 years of data. So we will just be looking at the 15 who skated over 500 ES minutes.

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Data

2023 Preseason Game 4 – Pittsburgh Penguins vs Buffalo Sabres

The Pittsburgh Penguins are playing a star-studded NHL lineup in their home game versus the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday September 28. Their initial two games against the Columbus Blue Jackets and their road trip at the Detroit Red Wings were both played with a roster of mostly AHL players and juniors. This will be their first opportunity to try out their new lines and D pairings as well as their new look power play unit. Everybody in this game was on the Team 1 practice roster, suggesting these are the main guys competing for a spot on the NHL roster. From here through the end of training camp they will be playing with their core lines and several players who are still vying for a spot in the opening night lineup, whatever changes get made will likely just be for other players to get a shot playing on different lines.

We will take a look at the roster for the 4th preseason game as well as the lines, D pairs, power play, and penalty kill units they used during their Wednesday practice. I will update the post throughout the day with lines from the morning skate and then use it as a game log when it starts in the evening. The game will be streamed on the Pens website as well as airing on KDKA+ (formerly UPN/The CW).

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Game 4 vs Sabres 7:00pm

2023 Preseason Game 3 – Pittsburgh Penguins at Detroit Red Wings

The Pittsburgh Penguins are heading back on the road and giving their top stars another night off as they dress a lineup of most AHL players. These are mostly guys who aren’t even on the bubble and are just getting some playing time in before heading back down to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. They may be planning to keep these guys on the roster up through the home game vs the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday, but expect a number of them to be sent packing by the weekend. Just like I did on Sunday for their home-and-home split squad series against the Columbus I plan to post a breakdown of the rosters and then come back to update throughout the day using it as an open game log.

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Game 3 at Red Wings 7:00pm

2023 Preseason Games 1 and 2 – Pittsburgh Penguins vs Columbus Blue Jackets

The Pittsburgh Penguins 2023 training camp has already wrapped up their team scrimmages and are now gearing up to play their first preseason games. They are split off into two separate squads to have a home-and-home against the Columbus Blue Jackets. The first squad, coached by Mike Vellucci with assistants J.D. Forrest, Kevin Porter, and Kori Cheverie, will face off at home at 1:00pm. The second squad, coached by Todd Reirden, will head off on the road to play at 7:00pm.

I will continue to update the post throughout the day to post the lines that are used, occasional notes during the games such as the power play and penalty kill combinations or who gets to serve as captains, as well as the final score and relevant stats. But for now I wanted to get started with a breakdown of the rosters each team will use and see if we can try to guess at lines and D pairs based on what they have been using throughout the scrimmages.

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