Avery Hayes, Tristan Broz and Sergei Murashov are three names in particular everyone's talking about that jumped, but they're not here as the Penguins regular season begins. So, take me through your impressions of them in camp, and maybe just the decision process in electing to have them start in Wilkes-Barre.
So, I’ll start with Sergei in net. Obviously, we came into camp, Joel Blomqvist got hurt during the first week, which was unfortunate. Sergei had performed well in Buffalo at the Prospects Challenge, and then came into camp and had a great camp. We also felt that Tristan and Arturs Silovs had good camps as well. So then, you're put into this spot where if you look historically and learn from that, what's been instructive, what's worked in the past, we feel like from what he's shown, he has a chance to develop into a very strong goaltender in the NHL and has some special qualities about him, both character and talent. So, when we took a deep look at it, we had said, you know, he's performed very well. Is it knowing that Joel's out down below, circumstances change. It's Filip Larsson will be there with him as more of a veteran guy, but really, it’s Sergei’s net to run with, and it's a full path for him to go down there, own it, and continue his strong play at that level, without I don’t know if you're going to be in and out and adjust to a new league. And if you look historically, you look throughout the league, the guys who comprise the top goaltenders every year, whether it's your Hellebuycks, Vasilevskiys, Shesterkins, Oettingers, so on and so forth – they have a very long stretch of dominant play at the American League level. So, the confluence of all of that, Silovs and Jarry performing well, Sergei really having an excellent camp all the way through, but then Joel being hurt really clears the path for him to own the net down there and provide him that opportunity, not unlike what Matt Murray or Tristan Jarry had here in Pittsburgh in the past, where they strung together a long stretch of dominant play down there and then forced their way up. So, I know it's a major topic. I know goaltending is a lot like quarterbacking, where everyone you know tends to... if you don't have the ironclad, surefire number one, and you got guys battling, the tie and the hearts and minds of the public and the media and even people internally tends to go to the younger up and comer, especially someone with the personality and the performance level that Sergei has had. We just think it's best for his development to get to his absolute top potential, that he go down there and follow that same path that so many others have. The fact that the other the other goaltenders perform well here as well, it didn't make it as clear cut for us. And so, we'll always defer to executing what's best in the long run for the player and for the team, and we feel he has that ability to do so by going to Wilkes.
With Tristan, I think we talked about him last year, at the end of the year. He had a really strong season as a rookie pro, and then had a really bad case of mono. Otherwise, he would have been in the mix for sure to come up around the time that Ville and Rutger came up at the end of the season. So, going into camp, starting in Buffalo, we wanted to put him in a good position... we felt he had earned that last year. We used him as the placeholder in the first two exhibition games with the wingers that had been practicing with Sid and Gino to see how he would do going into Montreal, into Columbus, playing against their top lines on the road. Felt he played well. Then felt he had a bit of a drop off in the middle of camp, and then came on strong at the end. We feel he's knocking right at the door. We also feel like by going to Wilkes with the situation at center there, him and Joona Koppanen, they are going to have to carry the mail. He’ll play a huge role in leading that group down there. And we feel like, could he have been here? Sure. But do we want him to really take the ball and run with it down there? Similar to what I said about Sergei Murashov, we do. But for us, the challenge to Tristan was, how fast can you force our hand and push us, because we want young players like him to come in here and earn those spots. But a dominant stretch down there – and I don't look at dominance for him as how many points do you have – it's, what's the impact he can make at both ends of the rink? And he's come such a long way. If you take his second half of his final year at Denver under David Carle, last year with Wilkes, he just continues to grow and develop. He's a very intelligent, studious type that will take everything in and improve. So very happy with where he's at, and a great opportunity for him down below to start.
And Avery Hayes, I think, more pronounced than Tristan Broz. I thought, you know, Avery was excellent in Buffalo at the Prospects Challenge. He had a strong start early, and then right around the middle of the camp here, both in practice and the games, just thought his effectiveness dropped. Then at the end, he pushed his way back again and finished very strong. He's someone that he's ultra-competitive. He's had to earn his way to everything. Wasn't a high pick in the Ontario Hockey League. Had to earn his way onto the team in Hamilton, helps them win a championship. Goes to Peterborough, helps them win a championship, produces at a high level, still no NHL contract. Comes here on an AHL deal, gets a bad injury his first year, broken sternum, responds and comes back from that, doesn't change the way he plays. Just someone that we feel embodies everything that we want to be about on the developmental side, someone that shows when you buy into the programming, what you can make of it. And he just continues to improve. And you want to see guys like that have success, who are that competitive. And he's not the biggest guy in the world, but he goes to the middle of the ice and will play in contact. He's another guy similar to the two we've already talked about, like, they're there. They're banging on the door. Can they go down, play huge minutes and continue to exert themselves, and much in the way that Ville did throughout the year last year, but particularly at the end, and Rutger the same way, and earn their way up. So, I know it would have been a great story for all of them to be on the team, but we have to make the decision we think is best for their long-range development, to get them to be the best players they can be at the NHL level at the very end. And that's what we did.
Why don't you feel like Owen Pickering was able to seize one of those spots on the left side?
I think with Pick, this was his best camp of the three that he's had in in my time here. So, he continues to show progress and develop. In Owen's case, what I would say is that he's going to have the opportunity to go down there and play huge minutes again. And last year, he didn't have as strong of a camp, but then he played really well in Wilkes. And by necessity, we had to call someone up, and he earned that recall. So, he got that experience at this level. And I just think that, in his case, going down and being on the top pair and playing in a massive, significant role in Wilkes is going to serve him so well. You've alluded to the fact that the left side of our D, there's nobody there that is guaranteed themselves anything forever. Some of the guys have taken advantage of the opportunity, whether it's Parker Wotherspoon or Ryan Shea or Caleb Jones. And then there's five right shots. So, we want all those guys there to push, but Pick in particular. He’s got a chance to be an NHL defenseman for a very long time, and we're just trying to carve him the path and continue to push him to build that fire in his game and take that competitiveness to the next level. He continues to make major strides, and excited to see him in Wilkes and in a massive role there, and hopefully make our decision making much harder by forcing his way up here. We don't want any of those guys to stay down there longer than they need to be. We want them to force our hand, and then we can have the next group come in behind them and start anew.
With Ben Kindel and Harrison Brunicke, was there an expectation for both of them coming into camp that they would be on the Pittsburgh Penguins? Or has this exceeded it, where they’re at?
I think we wanted both to push as far as they could and earn whatever they could, as much as that may be. They both have some special traits, which is emblematic of where they were drafted respectively, in back-to-back years. I think everyone saw that with Harrison last year in training camp as an 18-year-old, and then certainly evident when he went to Wilkes at the end of the season once Kamloops was eliminated. As everyone who follows the team daily know, they weren't put in a massive situation to just walk in and walk onto the team. They got lots of chances to play, between the Prospects Challenge in Buffalo, which is hugely important, and then in exhibition. Some young guys fall off as it goes, and others just continue to play extraordinarily well every opportunity they get. I think in both of their cases, they had a lot of great moments. But the thing that was, I think, most important for us was that when they had tough moments or mistakes, they didn't let it derail them. They redeemed themselves. They got better. So, we don't have anything preset in our mind about how it will go. They both have earned their way to be here today, and the lineup and such will be up to Dan, and we'll continue to also hold their long-range development in mind as well.
So, not to put you on the spot, but the nine-game leash is not a definite for either of those guys?
No, I think we will re-evaluate it at different intervals, right? And I think that the nine-game situation gets a lot of play because you burn a year off the entry level. And so, that'll be one checkpoint you got. There's a bunch of them. There's the nine-game checkpoint. There's the there's the World Juniors. Are they going to go, are they going to not play for Canada, are they on the Canadian team or not? And if so, will we release them to go? Then there's the 40-game checkpoint for season towards unrestricted free agency. There's return dates for major Junior. So, with both of them, I think management and the coaching staff, we're committed to continuing to give them opportunity in practice. Dan will determine whether that is into games. And also know that if they're not going to be here, they're going to be back in Kamloops and Calgary, respectively, for Harrison and Ben. But we will not be reactive after one practice or one game. We'll continue to give them opportunity and see how they perform.
Both Ryan Graves and Danton Heinen go on waivers and clear. What was that process like, from what you can share, the conversations that maybe you had with the players?
It's one of the tougher parts of this job, because those are massive decisions that have a deep impact on longtime NHL veteran players. When you start to wave players at that age, they have different family impacts. Sometimes, they're massive impacts. You try to handle everything as well as you possibly can and respectfully as you can, but you have to make the decisions that are right for the team, regardless of contract, and for the players, regardless of their contract, regardless of what the commitment is. You're trying to pull every lever you can to get the most out of the team in the short and long run, and that is essentially getting the most out of every player in the short and long run. And for both Danton and Ryan, it was to attempt to put them in a spot now in Wilkes-Barre – can they go down there and work with our developmental staff, just because they're both 30 years old, we're going to put as much into them as we put into everybody, and they all get out of it what they put in in return. The door is not closed on anybody forever. If you go down and take to the developmental programming on and off the ice in both their cases, we'll obviously be counting on them to provide leadership, but also to produce in their respective positions. Obviously, very different players. So, Danton, we’ll be expecting on him to produce and lead offensively, Ryan on the defensive side. We'll be watching every practice and every game and trying to get them back to the potential I think everyone knows that they have, regardless of how it may have gone. Both have been very good players in the league prior, but we have to make the decisions that we feel are best for the short and long run of the Penguins.
How do you look at your goaltending situation? Do you feel a guy has asserted himself as the one going into regular season?
I think it'll be up to Dan and the coaching staff to sort out how they want to roll through it. I think that both guys have played well, and we've already talked at length about Sergei. So for us, it's a competition that will just continue on. Both guys will have opportunity. That will be their chance to stake their claim. I think as you've seen around the league a lot of late, there's a big push towards even teams who had tremendous success last year, where they have two guys essentially playing 40 to 45 games each, or 35 to 40 games each. Then you're always going to have the other 10 to sort out. And so, for us, both of the guys and Sergei in the American League will have their chance to continue to play and play well and show us who is best to be in the net on a given night. And we're not going to erratic with night in, night out. We'll continue to give those guys their opportunity that they earn, and I'm excited to see the way that they handle it. But I think the three healthy goaltenders who were kind of in the mix in training camp in Jarry, Silovs and Murashov are all in great positions right now to continue to perform and play well. So, it's going to be up to them to do that, and we'll watch, and they'll tell us.
