In case you missed it on Tuesday night, the Pittsburgh Penguins made a flurry of roster moves.
Forwards Justin Brazeau and Noel Acciari, as well as goaltender Tristan Jarry have all been placed on injured reserve. Brazeau has missed the last few games and was considered day-to-day with an upper-body injury. Now, it looks as if that injury is more serious than initially thought.
Acciari, meanwhile, left the game early with an upper-body in Pittsburgh’s eventual collapse and 4-3 loss on Monday night in Toronto. Jarry, who finished the game for the Penguins and had a horrific third period, was also bit by the injury bug.
In addition, defenseman Owen Pickering was re-assigned to the American Hockey League. The 21-year-old was recalled last week and still showed some growing pains in his early NHL action this season.
Coming up as reinforcements to all of these absences are forward Danton Heinen, defenseman Ryan Graves, and goaltender Sergei Murashov.
Screw it, let’s get right to dessert first. The name fans will be most excited for is Murashov, the electrifying goaltending prospect the Penguins have.
Murashov split last season between the ECHL and AHL, breaking records with both teams he played for. With the Wheeling Nailers, Murashov had a .922 save percentage and 2.40 goals against average in 26 total games. While there, the Russian netminder set a new Nailers record for most consecutive wins, with that streak eventually ending at 13.
Midway through the season, he was promoted to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, where he had started the season before a depth chart shake-up saw him bumped down to Wheeling.
In WBS, Murashov had a similar superb rub, winning his first 11 straight games in the AHL and closing out the season with a 12-3 record. He set a new record for consecutive wins by a rookie with the WBS Penguins, and tied the team-record for consecutive wins.
This season, the 21-year-old had a 5-2 record with the WBS Penguins to open the year, putting up a .931 save percentage and 1.73 goals against average. Just hours before his call-up, he was named the AHL’s goaltender of the month.
Here’s just a glimpse of what this kid can do.
With all of these records and stats and a considerable amount of hype, it’s hard to remember sometimes that Murashov was just a fourth round pick by the Penguins back in 2022.
But over these last three years, he’s developed into one of the team’s highest ranking prospects. For a team that has had questions surrounding their goaltending department for years, the organization is hoping Murashov is the long-term answer to their problems. We’ll get a glimpse of those hopes soon enough.
But the other names accompanying him on his trip to Pittsburgh are interesting as well.
Heinen, who you might remember from either of his previous stints with the Penguins in the NHL, was a somewhat surprising roster cut at the end of the preseason.
The Penguins re-acquired him last season in January as part of the Marcus Pettersson trade, but he was less impressive in his second go-around with the club. In 28 games to close out the year with Pittsburgh, he scored three goals and added eight assists (11 points).
With the organization and head coach Dan Muse having a new set of eyes deciding this year’s opening night roster, Heinen found himself an odd man out. The winger and his $2.25 million cap hit went unclaimed on waivers, and Heinen started the season in the AHL, a league he had not suited up for since he was a 22-year-old in the Boston Bruins organization.
He took the demotion in stride, however. He started his AHL season on a tear, scoring five goals and adding nine assists (14 points) in ten games, leading the team in all scoring categories at the time of his promotion.
It will be interesting to see if a strong start in the AHL for Heinen can translate to any success at the NHL level.
The same question can be asked for defenseman Ryan Graves. Even on a poorly constructed defense corps, Graves found himself not on the opening night roster. Like Heinen, Graves was also waived before the season started, although the optics of his waiving were a little rougher.
Graves, one of the big free agent signings made by general manager Kyle Dubas during his first summer on the job, has not lived up to the price tag that Dubas signed him to. Now, in year three of six on a deal that accounts for $4.5 million against the cap, Graves started the year in the AHL. It made an ugly contract look all the more so.
But, he’s back. And not for nothing, he’s had a pretty decent season so far in the AHL. He chipped in a goal and six assists (seven points) to open the year, good for first among defenseman in scoring and tied for fourth among the entire roster. Plus, he led the team in +/- with a +9 rating.
Can he turn that into solid defensive work in Pittsburgh? His past Penguins résumé is hard to get past, but it’s a new head coach and a new season.
Fifth Avenue Sports 
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