PITTSBURGH — The longer term is arriving just a little early.
Rutger McGroarty and Ville Koivunen, two of the extra hyped Pittsburgh Penguins prospects in fairly a while, have been recalled from AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. The Penguins introduced the strikes on Friday morning, about 12 hours after one other embarrassing loss, this one a 7-3 setback to the lowly Buffalo Sabres.
Virtually formally out of the playoff race, the Penguins have been outscored 13-4 of their previous two video games.
The Penguins consider McGroarty and Koivunen are able to enjoying an instrumental position within the group’s future.
Pittsburgh’s subsequent sport on Sunday at dwelling in opposition to the Ottawa Senators occurs to fall on McGroarty’s twenty first birthday. He was acquired from the Winnipeg Jets final summer season and instantly turned the Penguins’ finest prospect. He didn’t have a terrific coaching camp, because the velocity of the NHL sport was a difficulty for the ability ahead, and he additionally began the season slowly on the AHL degree following a quick, quiet NHL stint that noticed him play three video games with the Penguins.
Nonetheless, in latest months, McGroarty has come into his personal in Wilkes-Barre. He has scored 14 targets and produced 39 factors in 60 AHL video games.
Koivunen, one of many key return items of final season’s Jake Guentzel commerce, has been dominating the AHL. The 21-year-old speedster is fifth within the AHL this season with 55 factors in 62 video games. He’s racked up 21 targets.
Presuming he’s within the lineup on Sunday in opposition to Ottawa, he might be making his NHL debut.
The Penguins consider each of those gamers have the potential to be top-six NHL wingers. We’ll see how lengthy they continue to be with the Penguins, nevertheless it seems probably that they’ll stick with the NHL membership for the rest of the common season earlier than heading again to Wilkes-Barre, the place the Penguins are hopeful that their AHL affiliate is able to making a prolonged postseason run.
One other prospect, defenseman Harrison Brunicke, who was picked within the second spherical in final 12 months’s draft, was assigned to the AHL from his junior membership on Friday.
As at the moment constructed, the Penguins are very a lot a one-line group. The highest trio of Sidney Crosby, Rickard Rakell and Bryan Rust has been one of many NHL’s finest strains in the course of the second half of the season. With Evgeni Malkin and Tommy Novak out with accidents, the Penguins are hurting badly for offensive manufacturing from anybody not on the highest line.
Malkin is taken into account day after day and, if he’s capable of play in opposition to Ottawa on Sunday, there’s an affordable likelihood that at the very least certainly one of McGroarty and Koivunen — if not each — might be flanking him on the second line. The Penguins are coping with valuable few choices.
They’re additionally coping with the fact that their season is over. As lately as one week in the past, some members of the group had been holding out hope of a dramatic playoff run, very like the Penguins nearly pulled off late final season. A 5-1-1 surge following this 12 months’s commerce deadline stored the Penguins in a mindset that miracles sometimes occur. No matter optimism generated by that two-week run, nevertheless, was completely dismantled throughout their previous two losses in Tampa Bay and Buffalo, respectively.
The season may be very a lot over, and the Penguins realize it. They’re already eagerly seeking to the longer term, as evidenced by these promotions.
Koivunen is a plus skater whose offensive IQ and skill to attain and distribute has had the Penguins excited since they acquired him from the Carolina Hurricanes. His play in Wilkes-Barre has solely satisfied them extra that, at worst, Koivunen has an actual alternative to change into a superb middle-six winger on the NHL degree.
McGroarty arrived in Pittsburgh as a closely hyped participant whose solely difficulty was a scarcity of footspeed. That was evident in coaching camp, however the Penguins are satisfied that his hockey sense and bulk will make up for any skating points.
He started hitting his stride across the vacation season and hasn’t appeared again. He has eight targets and 18 factors in his previous 19 video games.
There was a way of resignation within the Penguins locker room and even from coach Mike Sullivan following Thursday’s loss in opposition to the Sabres.
Sullivan lately informed The Athletic, “We don’t need to be within the place that we’re in proper now, however the actuality is, that is the place we’re.”
From hockey operations president Kyle Dubas on down, the Penguins have constantly and really publicly said that they need to urgently return to competition. The group believes these two gamers will play a major position in that want.
On Sunday, Pittsburgh will get its first glimpse on the two of them collectively.
(Picture of Rutger McGroarty: Mike Mulholland / Getty Photographs)
