Penguins Postgame Grades: Brunicke Looks Special; Players on the Bubble

There’s a surprise brewing in the Pittsburgh Penguins training camp, and his name is Harrison Brunicke.

The first of the Penguins’ two second-round picks at the 2024 NHL Draft (44th overall), Brunicke was a quiet defenseman and possibly the first South African-born skater to someday play in the NHL.

Don’t look now, but someday for Brunicke might become next week when the Penguins begin their regular season schedule on Oct. 9 against the New York Rangers.

First, the irrelevant info: The Penguins’ NHL-heavy lineup lost to the Detroit Red Wings’ marginal lineup 2-1 at PPG Paints Arena on Tuesday. Red Wings center Nate Danielson scored a breakaway goal with under three minutes remaining—a bad Penguins line change?

Despite a late Penguins power play, that was the final score of the game, which was more about getting the Penguins veterans ready than winning.

Back to Brunicke.

“He was terrific. He’s making an impact,” coach Mike Sullivan said.

Read more: Penguins Young D-Men Withstand Pressure, Begin to Impress (+)

The 6-foot-3, 202-pound defenseman drafted from Kamloops of the WHL has been quiet, which is a good thing. However, in the last two games, he’s also beginning to break out of his shell and command the puck, certainly unlike most 18-year-olds playing against NHL competition.

“So coming in, he wants the puck. He wants the puck all the time,” defense partner Marcus Pettersson said. “It’s fun to see. He wants to make plays–It’s fun to play with.”

It doesn’t hurt that Brunicke is right-handed, which would neatly fill a spot potentially vacated by Erik Karlsson, who remains out day-to-day and only resumed skating on Tuesday.

Multiple times Tuesday against the Detroit Red Wings, Brunicke both jumped into the play and effortlessly glided back to defend the Detroit rush. His gaps are very good, and he is in the right spots in all three zones.

His signature moment on Tuesday was early in the second period. Brunicke activated into the offensive zone to keep the play alive and guided the puck to Evgeni Malkin behind the net before quickly circling toward the net for a Grade A scoring chance. Brunicke didn’t finish the chance, but Rickard Rakell tapped the rebound into the net.

It wasn’t Brunicke’s goal, but for all intents and purposes, it was.

After a flawless game Sunday against the Ottawa Senators NHL lineup, Brunicke was again very good against a lesser Detroit lineup.

The last time the Penguins kept a first-year draft pick on the roster for nine games was in 2015 when they auditioned Daniel Sprong for nine games over a couple of months.

Brunicke was the buzz of the press box, for sure.

Penguins Recap

It was otherwise a sloppy special teams festival, complete with some needless eye-rolling penalties and lazy stick fouls. Each team took a trio of minor penalties in the first 30 minutes before finally enjoying the comfort of the bench over the penalty box. Each team had five power plays overall, and was 0-for-5.

Rakell scored the tap-in goal at 1:34 of the first period, but the Penguins–as they have been known to do–allowed a goal in the following seconds. Amadeus Lombardi turned Penguins defenseman Matt Grzelcyk inside out in the right circle and whistled a shot past Penguins goalie Tristan Jarry.

After 44 minutes, the Penguins outshot Detroit 28-12, but the score was only 1-1. So many potential scoring chances simply bounced past a stick, or the pass was an inch off target. The Penguins outshot Detroit 44-19.

Danielson’s goal kept us from “enjoying” an overtime period.

Also, Penguins prospect winger Vasily Ponomarev was injured in the second period and left the game. According to Sullivan, he’s being evaluated for an upper-body injury.

Penguins Report Card

Harrison Brunicke: A+

The kid has it. See the 500 words above.

“He’s certainly making an impression on all of us, let’s just say that,” Sullivan also said.

Owen Pickering: B+

It’s a solid B+. Pickering was also solid but lacked that standout play or moment to get the A. Pickering is moving well, showing he can battle NHL forwards, and was again mistake-free.

Cody Glass: C

It’s hard to note what Glass has done in the preseason to secure a job. He hasn’t been bad, but he’s also not done anything out of the ordinary. Glass had three shots Tuesday but no hits, no takeaways, and no blocked shots.

With Jesse Puljujarvi playing hard to make the team and Rutger McGroarty’s talent so tantalizingly close, Glass’s spot is not a sure thing.

Power Play: A…then B

The first couple of opportunities were wonderful examples of crisp puck movement with intent. Again, the point has less power in David Quinn’s power play scheme; the pressure comes from the mid-wall to the net. The Penguins didn’t let the puck settle as they quickly zipped it to scoring spots, but they couldn’t finish.

“I thought it looked good tonight. We had a couple of moments where it was a struggle, but for the most part, I thought it was really good and had a lot of looks,” Sullivan said. “The puck is moving, and they’re changing the point of attack. They were attacking the low ice and they’re creating a lot of opportunities off of it. The speed of the entries is noticeable.”

The power play moved with dangerous intent.