Penguins Notebook: Prospects Arrive; Under the Radar Name to Watch (+)

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. — There might have been 33 players on the ice at the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins practice Tuesday. Pittsburgh Penguins prospects arrived from near and far to join the AHL club as they begin a best-of-three Round One series against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, the Philadelphia Flyers’ top farm club.

For those who will make it to the NHL, it’s a good chance to build more hate for the Flyers organization. They’ll fit right in when they get to Pittsburgh.

Not only did 2022 first-round pick (22nd overall) Owen Pickering arrive Tuesday in time for practice, but Finnish prospects Emil Pieniniemi and Villie Koivunen are making their first North American appearances for the Penguins (Kouvinen played 12 games in the AHL last season in the Carolina Hurricanes system).

However, as the organization uses the elongated season to further its prospects’ maturation, it’s running into a problem not faced by the Penguins in some time.