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It is prospect tournament time |
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It is mid-September and that means the Penguins prospects are due to hit the ice in one of the annual prospect tournaments. This year the Penguins will be sending their hopeful prospects to Buffalo at the Harbor Center. Joining the Penguins will be the host Sabres along with the New Jersey Devils, Boston Bruins, and Ottawa Senators.
Here are the rostered players for the Penguins with the following corrections: Brayden Yager is no longer with the team and Rutger McGroarty will be taking his place. Also Tanner Howe took a puck to the face and will not be available for this weekend.
Rutger McGroarty is at the top of my list for intriguing players this weekend. If he is going to make the NHL roster I have to assume he will look the part in the three games this weekend. While a mediocre showing wouldn’t completely close the door it would certainly be an underwhelming start when there was a lot of excitement when he was initially acquired. The excitement based on his NHL timeline being sooner than that of Brayden Yager, who also remains a good prospect.
Sergei Murashov is another player to watch for this weekend. This is his first year in North America and he was really good earlier in the summer at development camp. Given where the Penguins are with Tristan Jarry having Joel Blomqvist and/or Sergei Murashov step up and give the team solid goaltending would be a great development.
Tristan Broz helped the Denver Pioneers to yet another national championship this past season in college hockey. He is a former second round pick who is eligible for the AHL. While I don't like his chances out of camp to make the NHL tracking his professional progress will be of interest to me. This is a good chance to get off on the right foot and carry that into the upcoming Baby Penguins season. Or he can completely surprise people like myself and force his way into an NHL spot even if it is unlikely.
Vasily Ponomarev and Ville Koivunen are also worthy of focus. These two were the prospects involved in the Jake Guentzel trade. How we look back on the Guentzel trade hinges on these players providing the Penguins some value at the NHL level.
Here is the schedule
I tried to track down where it can be streamed and came up empty after checking both the Penguins and Bruins official websites, usually that is where these streams are found. Supposedly, the Penguins are going to stream it, but as of posting this the link was not present. Try refreshing the page around noon and it might be up there, then. The Sabres are streaming their 7PM game tonight against Columbus.
Thanks for reading!
Pittsburgh Penguins Blogger • 
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