Kral Hoping to Audition for Spot on Penguins’ Defense

CRANBERRY — Filip Kral and Ville Koivunen were playoff opponents in Finland last spring.

They were teammates with the Penguins’ farm team in Wilkes-Barre for most of this season.

Tuesday, they had adjacent stalls in the locker room at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex.

And later this week, they might appear together in an NHL game for the first time.

Koivunen, who has five points in seven games since being promoted from Wilkes-Barre, looks to be a lock to face Washington in the regular-season finale Thursday evening at PPG Paints Arena. He has established his credentials as a top-six forward and member of the No. 1 power-play unit.

The outlook is a bit more hazy for Kral, a defenseman summoned from the Baby Penguins Tuesday for his first stint with the parent club since signing with them as a free agent last May. Coach Mike Sullivan said after practice that it is not yet known what the lineup for the Capitals game will be.

Whether Kral qualifies as a prospect can be debated — after all, he is 25 years old and is in his fifth season of pro hockey — but with the possibility that the Penguins’ defense corps will undergo a significant overhaul during the offseason, a strong showing against the Capitals could help him to get into the mix for a job here in the fall.

Kral is listed at 6-foot-2, 192 pounds, and is not likely to add the physicality that the Penguins could use on their blue line. He has shown no signs of being a difference-maker, and projects as a third-pairing or depth defenseman at this level.

“He’s not the biggest guy,” Sullivan said. “He’s going to have to defend hard with his stick, his mobility, his quickness.”

Still, he has some offensive ability, as evidenced by the seven goals and 22 assists he has in 59 games with Wilkes-Barre this season.

“Kral obviously is a puck-moving guy,” Sullivan said. “His mobility, his ability to get to pucks. He has some offensive instincts. That’s, essentially, the game he’s going to play.”

Kral allowed that he was “surprised” to be called up so late in the season, although Sullivan said Kral had “been in the discussion” for a promotion earlier.

Having Koivunen next to him in the locker room probably helped with the transition to the NHL — Kral hasn’t played at this level since appearing in two games with Toronto in 2022-23 — as the pair shared a few laughs and lighthearted jabs while Kral was speaking with reporters.

They weren’t on such friendly terms during the semifinals of the SM-liiga playoffs in 2024, when Kral’s Lahti Pelicans squad knocked off Koivunen and his Karpat club.

“I slashed him between the legs, so we remember that,” Kral said.

Kral, a fifth-round draft choice by Toronto in 2018, when Penguins president of hockey operations/general manager Kyle Dubas was GM there, left the Maple Leafs in 2023 and spent the following season with Lahti in Finland’s top league.

“I just decided to take a step back, to move forward,” he said. “I didn’t want to go back to (his native Czechia), so I decided to go to Finland and try to get a good season there and come back (to North America), which happened.”

Kral said that the Penguins had expressed interest in signing him before he went to Finland and joked that he opted to sign with them because “I knew Ville was traded here, so I wanted to sign here to play against (sic) him.”

Kral wears No. 82, but said that’s not because countryman Martin Straka had it during his days with the Penguins.

“I just got it in Toronto, and I’m sticking to it,” he said. “I wore it last year in Finland and I’m probably going to wear it in the future.”

If Kral makes his Penguins debut Thursday, it will be an opportunity to begin proving to management that he deserves to wear it in the NHL next season.

Two absentees

A pair of veterans, defenseman Kris Letang and forward Kevin Hayes, did not participate in the Penguins’ workout.

Sullivan said Hayes was given a maintenance day, while Letang was excused because of a medical appointment.

Hayes is the Penguins’ nominee for the King Clancy Award, which goes to the NHL player who “best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and has made a noteworthy humanitarian contribution in his community.”