After a grueling training camp that included a successful 5-1-1 pre-season, the Pittsburgh Penguins’ roster appears to be set for the 2025-26 season.
And it will more than likely include two of their top prospects.
Defenseman Harrison Brunicke, 19, and center Ben Kindel, 18, remain on the 23-man roster as of Saturday. With final rosters due Monday at 5:00 p.m., it’s safe to say that both players have likely earned at least a nine-game trial at the NHL level.
Brunicke – selected 44th overall by the Penguins in 2024 – turned heads last pre-season with his smooth skating, high hockey-IQ, and great instincts. He stayed through the end of training camp as one of the final two prospects – the other being Rutger McGroarty – but the Penguins opted to keep McGroarty and elected for 14 forwards on their roster.
He managed to do the same in this pre-season, registering a goal and two points in four games and showcasing a more refined game.
The 6-foot-3, 202-pound defenseman will be just the second South African-born player to play in the NHL, with the other being former NHL goaltender Olaf Kolzig. In 51 games split between the Kamloops Blazers of the WHL and the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (WBS) Penguins of the AHL last season, Brunicke registered five goals and 32 points – and he also put up a goal and two points in the AHL playoffs.
Kindel, 18, was the surprise of training camp this season, as most didn’t expect the 11th overall pick in this year’s draft to make as much noise as he did. Kindel played in a team-high six pre-season games, recording a goal and three points – and he did not look out of place in the slightest.
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The 5-foot-11, 181-pound center proved he could keep up with – and, at times, outplay – NHL competition, and his hockey smarts were on full display at both ends of the ice. In 65 WHL games with the Calgary Hitmen last season, Kindel put up 35 goals and 99 points. He was the first of three first-round selections by the Penguins in the 2025 NHL Draft.
“It’s really cool,” Kindel said. “Really grateful to still be here and have this opportunity to continue being in this environment, so I’m just grateful for every day.”
Head coach Dan Muse was impressed with both youngsters throughout camp, and he thought they kept showing more and more as the pre-season went on.
“We didn’t go into this camp – by any means – having things etched in stone,” Muse said. “Or, even putting guys up on a board and saying, ‘This is what it’s going to look like’ on day one. There’s still things that we’re going to factor. We still have another practice, we still have time even before there’s rosters being submitted. But, there wasn’t any of that.
“As we went through this process, they had opportunities. We were looking for things, and they continued to check boxes that we were looking for. And they’ve continued based on their play and their actions in both practices and games to tell us, ‘You’re gonna need to put us in another game. And you’re gonna need to see us again. And you’re gonna need to continue to consider us.’ And they’ve done that on a consistent basis. So, we get to today, and this is where we’re at. They checked those boxes, and they moved on to be at this point.”
In addition to Kindel and Brunicke, Ville Koivunen and Filip Hallander appear to have secured NHL roster spots. Koivunen, 22, put up seven points in an eight-game sample at the end of the 2024-25 season, and he was a standout in camp. He has worked alongside Sidney Crosby and Rickard Rakell for the past several practices as well as in the Penguins’ 5-4 overtime win against the Buffalo Sabres in their final pre-season game on Friday.
Hallander, 25, got his second chance with the organization after a standout campaign in the SHL, where he recorded 26 goals and 53 points in 51 games with Timra HK last season. The 6-foot-1, 190-pound forward felt good about his camp and is glad he was able to refine his game in Sweden.
“It feels good,” Hallander said. “Obviously, when I went back to Sweden last time, it was always the goal to come back. And it worked out good going back there. I got what I wanted to, and I feel like a better player coming back and feel more mature off the ice, too. So, everything worked out good going back, and looking forward to the season starting here.”
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Beyond Brunicke and Kindel, however, there were some surprises as far as roster cuts and the waiver wire.
Forward prospects Tristan Broz and Avery Hayes – both of whom put together solid camps – were among the names of players being re-assigned to WBS’s AHL camp. Another name on that list was left defensive prospect Owen Pickering, who many assumed had a path to the NHL roster because of the Penguins’ dire situation on left defense.
But the biggest name omitted from the NHL roster was defenseman Ryan Graves, who was signed to a six-year, $27 million contract ahead of the 2023-24 season. The 30-year-old defenseman has had a hard time finding his footing in Pittsburgh, and he was in and out of the lineup during the 2024-25 season. In 61 games last season, Graves registered one goal and four points and posted a minus-15.
In addition to Graves and the others, forward Robby Fabbri was released from his paid tryout (PTO) contract.
Here is the full list of roster cuts and players placed on waivers Saturday:
Assigned to WBS’s training camp:
– F Tristan Broz
– F Avery Hayes
– D Owen Pickering
– G Sergei Murashov
Placed on waivers:
– F Rafael Harvey-Pinard
– F Boko Imama
– F Sam Poulin
– D Alexander Alexeyev
– D Ryan Graves
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Once those players either clear waivers or are claimed, the 23 players remaining on the Penguins’ roster will be:
Forwards (13)
Sidney Crosby
Ville Koivunen
Rickard Rakell
Justin Brazeau
Evgeni Malkin
Anthony Mantha
Tommy Novak
Ben Kindel
Philip Tomasino
Connor Dewar
Blake Lizotte
Noel Acciari
Filip Hallander
Defensemen (8)
Erik Karlsson
Kris Letang
Parker Wotherspoon
Matt Dumba
Connor Clifton
Harrison Brunicke
Caleb Jones
Ryan Shea
Goaltenders (2)
Tristan Jarry
Arturs Silovs
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The Toronto Maple Leafs and the six other teams that placed players on the waiver wire can now assign them to their AHL affiliates, as all 12 players have cleared waivers.
The Penguins will have a day off Sunday before practicing Monday ahead of the 5:00 p.m. NHL roster deadline. They open the season Oct. 7 against former head coach Mike Sullivan and the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden.
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