News Penguins Team Notes

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Penguins face next decision point on Harrison Brunicke’s season

Harrison Brunicke’s time with Team Canada for the World Junior Championship is now completed. The Canadians won the bronze medal game yesterday against Finland after getting upset by Czechia on Sunday night.

Brunicke played in all seven games, recording no goals and two assists. At times he was alright, but it was hardly a smashing success. In fact, he saw his role reduced as the tournament went on to the point of being the fifth most played defenseman for Canada in the critical game against the Czechs. The hope was Brunicke would shine as an older player and one with pro experience, instead he ended up just kinda being there. Corey Pronman from The Athletic said he “underwhelmed” for an NHL loan. Scott Wheeler from the same publication:

PP wasn’t a natural role for him at this level, even though they tried him there. Want to see him play a little harder in his man-to-man D coverage, too. I actually thought he played better once his minutes moved from 18-20 to 14-15, but the coaching staff had clearly decided he wasn’t a go-to guy, and they tried to spread out the minutes to find that person and never did. Not a confidence-building tournament for him, which is what you’d hope for when you get sent down from the NHL. Skating and potential remain.

In short, Brunicke showed the rust of a player who has only played five games since November 3rd, because, well his only game action since early November was appearing in five AHL games. The ‘developmental plan’ the Penguins have had Brunicke on had him not play in the NHL since he appeared in his ninth game in early November and go to the AHL on a conditioning loan for five games with Wilkes-Barre from November 26 – December 6. That wasn’t a huge runway to enter the tournament at the top of his game and the results showed as much.

There’s been enough time wasted on where Brunicke ‘should’ be playing or best-served playing while avoiding the fact that as a 19-year old he needs to be playing as perhaps the most important variable involved. Given what we’ve seen, that is nowhere close to the NHL level at this time. The AHL is not an option for him this season until his junior season is over, which whether fair, right, wrong or in the middle is the unavoidable way it is this season.

That only leaves one option: assigning Brunicke back to the WHL. The Penguins have been resistant to that to this point but enough data from his performance in the three venues (NHL, AHL, WJC) have come in to present a clear choice

The Canadian junior league is in the midst of rapid change now that several of the top players are opting for the collegiate route before they turn pro. However, several of Brunicke’s peers from Team Canada currently play in the CHL, and ones that are arguably even more advanced than him based on the performances at the recent tournament like Tij Iginla, Jett Luchanko, Cole Reschny, Caleb Desnoyers, Sam O’Reilly, Ben Danford and Kashawn Aitcheson. Most, if not all of these players will due their time in juniors and go onto having fruitful professional careers. Several of those players are ‘24 draft picks like Brunicke was, playing out one more season in juniors. Playing in the CHL for a couple months until Brunicke can rejoin the pro ranks in Wilkes-Barre may not be an ideal situation, but it’s not unprecedented in the current climate and also something that can’t be avoided for much longer either. After a rocky World Juniors, Brunicke could benefit from the regular playing time of a huge role on a team for a few months after playing a total of just 21 games in the last three months at various levels and usually in very limited roles while in the pro ranks.

By sending back Brunicke now before he plays in a 10th NHL game and spends 40 games on the roster, the Penguins will avoid seeing his entry level contract start and having him earn a year towards unrestricted free agency. (As an aside, funny how there was no drama and the question never really came up about Ben Kindel blowing past that 40-game mark since he wasn’t off the NHL roster to be assigned to Team Canada).

No harm, no foul on that front. It hasn’t been a notable past few months for Brunicke on the ice, which is a shame but also hardly unprecedented for a talented young defender to need some time to put everything together. Progress is not always a straight, linear arrow that steadily moves up without a few bumps along the way, doubly so for a defenseman.

The Pens haven’t announced just yet what they plan to do with Brunicke for the balance of the season, but from what they’ve seen there isn’t much way around the fact he has shown that he needs more developmental time in a lower league to build and grow before he can reach his potential in the next stages. Then, with any luck, it’ll be a few short months until they can get him back in Wilkes once his junior season ends to be a part of the AHL team for what everyone hopes will be a deep playoff run.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/pittsburg...t-decision-point-on-harrison-brunickes-season

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Jack Johnson retires, hired by Canucks as a professional scout

Longtime NHL defenseman Jack Johnson has retired from playing hockey and has joined the Vancouver Canucks organization as a professional scout.

Johnson, 38, played for 19 NHL seasons, including a two-year stint in Pittsburgh for the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons.

General Manager Patrik Allvin announced today that the #Canucks have hired Jack Johnson as a pro-scout.

— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) January 5, 2026

The Penguins signed Jack Johnson to a five-year, $16.25 million contract during the 2018 offseason, eventually placing the veteran defenseman on waivers and buying out the remaining three years of his deal in October 2020.

Johnson bounced around several NHL rosters post-buyout with stints in New York, Colorado, Chicago, and Columbus, where he spent a good chunk of his career before coming to Pittsburgh.

Over six years removed from his time in Pittsburgh, Johnson’s retirement and new gig in Vancouver is a reunion of sorts with Canucks President of Hockey Operations Jim Rutherford, who drafted Johnson in Carolina in 2005 and signed him in Pittsburgh when he was the Penguins’ general manager.

The Penguins are still paying a cap hit on Johnson’s 2020 buyout, which saw the remaining three years of the term of the deal spread across six years.

Former Penguins defenseman Jack Johnson retires and moves into a front office role with several former Penguins' executives.

As a result of a 2020 buyout, he still counts $916,667 against the Penguins' salary cap. This is the last season that cap hit will exist. https://t.co/St2VnE0t6z

— Seth Rorabaugh (@SethRorabaugh) January 5, 2026

The cap hit, which counts for $916,667, will go away after this current season.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/general/7...ires-hired-by-canucks-as-a-professional-scout

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Penguins waive Egor Zamula, open third roster spot

The Philip Tomasino trade could ultimately amount to a salary dump for the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The Penguins placed defenseman Egor Zamula on unconditional waivers Monday for purposes of contract termination, according to PuckPedia.

Pittsburgh will be left with 47 roster players and three open spots when Zamula clears waivers, per PuckPedia.

Expecting 25 y/o D Zamula to be on waivers today for purposes of contract termination.
After being acquired by #Letsgopens he did not report to AHL.

Sounds like there’s interest from multiple teams on a new deal and he’ll sign elsewhere.

He’s in the final year of a 1.7M cap…

— PuckPedia (@PuckPedia) January 5, 2026

If Zamula clears waivers, he’ll become a restricted free agent Tuesday. PuckPedia reports multiple other teams are interested in signing him to a new deal.

For Zamula, that could mean a more cap-friendly deal and potentially more playing time in the NHL.

For the Penguins, it will mean moving out some salary and opening a roster spot down the stretch.

Zamula was acquired by the Penguins in the trade with the Philadelphia Flyers for Tomasino back on Dec. 31. He was suspended by the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on Jan. 3 for not reporting to the team.

PuckPedia had reported prior to the trade that Zamula was “willing to terminate” his Flyers contract and sign with another team for less money, presumably in hope of getting more playing time in the NHL. The 25-year-old defenseman had spent most of the Flyers’ season as a healthy scratch before he was sent down to the AHL, seemingly for good, in early December.

Zamula was playing this season under a $1.7 million cap hit, while Tomasino had a cap hit of $1.75 million.

The Penguins have now effectively moved Tomasino’s salary off the books without a buyout while clearing out a roster spot.

That extra room could potentially give Kyle Dubas more move to maneuver down the stretch of the season, either with call-ups or trades.

Giving up multiple picks in order to acquire Yegor Chinakhov could be an indication the Pens are at least considering buying at the deadline, although that will likely depend on what the playoff picture looks like by the March 6 deadline.

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/general/71277/penguins-waive-egor-zamula-open-third-roster-spot

 

[JJ]

lmaooooo the pens are STILL paying jack johnson almost a million bucks against the cap this year?? that's absolutely hilarious. rutherford really did a number on this franchise with that signing. five year deal for a guy who was already washed when he signed it. at least it finally goes away after this season, small victories i guess

anyway gotta give credit where its due - five straight wins coming out of the break is exactly what this team needed. that crosby OT winner yesterday was vintage sid, the guy is still absolutely filthy at 38 years old. chinakhov making that aggressive play to set it up was smart too, none of that boring 3v3 keep-away garbage

the zamula situation is interesting though. dude straight up refused to report to WBS after the tomasino trade?? like i get wanting NHL time but that's a bold move. dubas basically turned tomasino's salary into nothing which gives them some flexibility i suppose. whether they actually use it to buy at the deadline remains to be seen

brunicke underwhelming at world juniors is a bummer but not surprising when the kid has barely played since november. send him back to the WHL and let him actually get some reps instead of sitting in the press box "developing" by watching. that whole situation has been mishandled imo

also lol at columbus beating the sabres then getting clapped by pittsburgh. classic NHL parity nonsense. at least my boys got the win over them before that happened

 

[Pittsburgh Penguins]

Predicting Penguin higher/lowers for the second half

The Penguins have reached the halfway point of the season, the top part of their leading scorers looks like this via hockeydb.

Let’s look at which players can pick it up, and who will might taper off in the second half. For these purposes, we’re simply looking at the player had in the first half of the season and whether he will provide more or less than that over the second half.

Second half best bets

Rickard Rakell – this is borderline cheating, courtesy of the long injury absence in the first half. He easily could and should be scoring more than six goals and 15 points in the team’s next 41 games. Nice little warmup to take the slam dunk when it’s right there.

Ben Kindel – can Kindel keep going or will he hit a rookie wall? With the way he’s played lately (three points in the last two games, four in the last five, eight in the last 12), I think Kindel has the staying power to score 19+ points in the second half of the season. He has been piling up more points as the year has gone on, the Olympic break should help as a natural reset for a young player to get a breather.

Erik Karlsson goals — It’s a wonder Karlsson has only found the back of the net three times, striking the iron from a post or crossbar and staying out just as many times as good goals. Karlsson should end up with at least seven goals this season and end up scoring more in the second half than he did in the first.

Second half puzzlers

Justin Brazeau goals — What would you take on Brazeau scoring 13 goals over the team’s next 41 games? Considering he’s got 12 in 27, it doesn’t sound unreasonable. I’m not so sure the magic of shooting 25.0% keeps going that long, but why not? Whether he remains healthy or not could make or break the outcome for doubling his goals.

Tommy Novak — Novak has two career 40+ point seasons under his belt, he’s certainly not incapable of the 42 points that he’s on pace for with a good second half, he makes this portion because he’s tough to project. Is Novak a center or wing? He’s played with Crosby on the first line, played on the second line and at times been a bit out of the spotlight on a lower line, what’s the role moving forward? I wouldn’t be surprised if Novak keeps having a quiet but good season, but then again he had a slow start and was barely a focal point of the team early. Does he slip back to that now that a new piece like Chinakhov is around?

Ville Koivunen and Rutger McGroarty – One on hand, the output required is so low to hit in this exercise, Koivunen would only need six points over the rest of the season, four for McGroarty to pitch in more. On the other hand, both young players might not get the games and opportunities in the second half with Chinakhov on a forward group that is approaching health. Leaning to the unders for both, but those bars are so low to clear that it gives some pause since that’s basically only a couple of really good games for either to chip in more.

Evgeni Malkin – Malkin was the Pens best player in the first 10 or 20 games this season. Then he hurt his shoulder and missed a while. He put up 29 points before he got hurt, does he have another 29+ in him for the second half of the season? Missing a chunk of games is always a strong possibility for him too, so I’m torn on this one, it’s not difficult to imagine scenarios where he ends up on either side of second half performances.

I don’t want to say lower but probably lower

Sidney Crosby goals – I mean a 38-year old just can’t score 48+ goals in a season, right? That’s not humanly possible (first place all-time for a 38-year old is Brett Hull’s 37. Johnny Bucyk and Alex Ovechkin are tied for second with 31. As a 39-year old buoyed by the record chase, Ovechkin scored 44 goals last season). The head says to bet Crosby doesn’t have 24 more goals in him for the second half of the season, the head also knows by now not to actually believe in limiting what Crosby could be capable of, which could be having the best ‘old guy goal scoring season’ in NHL history if he keeps it up.

Take the under

Ryan Shea – now that Shea’s down to the third pair he’s not going to get the chance to play as many minutes with top-end forwards. He’ll still be good at stretch passes and in the offensive zone but probably not record 14+ assists in the second half of the season good.

Anthony Mantha – Mantha would need to demolish a career-high of 48 points to have as good of a second half of the season as he did in the first (on pace for 58 points). He’s also a guy that tends to miss some time with injuries over the course of a year and has perfect attendance so far. That spot on the top power play that he’s had for most of Malkin’s injury is going away too. He still is tracking to have a very good season even if it does tail off in the second half.

Kris Letang – maybe having Brett Kulak as a steady and defensively quality partner will help unlock Letang, and his game has been a lot better lately. But do we really think 38-year old Kris Letang is going to end up with 43+ points (last year he ended up with 30 points in 74 games)? That gives some pause, with the concern of injury also very viable to lower the amount of points he produced in the first half.

—

Anything else stand out for guys who will pitch in more for the Penguins in the second half of the season than they did in the first? Bonus points for going more challenging than Chinakhov. And who might see their first half contributions dwindle over the rest of the year?

Source: https://www.pensburgh.com/general/71340/predicting-penguin-higher-lowers-for-the-second-half