Wilkes Weekly: Dubas gives thoughts on possible impending call ups to the NHL

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Are we about to see Vasily Ponomarev in the NHL again?

Pittsburgh GM/President of Hockey Operations Kyle Dubas had a lot to say on his radio show on March 12th. All eyes are on the future for the Penguins, they have a crop of young talent in Wilkes-Barre performing well that they hope will be on the horizon to make the leap to the big league. Which pairs nicely to tie to our weekly update on the AHL Penguins.

GM Show co-host Josh Getzoff asked Dubas if the Pens would consider calling up some of the younger players to the NHL down the stretch or if the team would opt to let them keep building as they embark upon their successful AHL season.

"What we really want to do," Dubas said, "is we want those guys to form a bond so that they feel like they're winning together, they're building something together, they're growing together with Wilkes. They do come up with a wave together, they arrive together...They're arriving and staying."

The performance of the NHL club might alter plans too. Should the team continue to play well in Pittsburgh and provide the right competitive atmosphere, then the management team might be more inclined to use their four available recalls to bring young players up for a stretch of NHL games if it's deemed beneficial.

However, Dubas cautioned for folks to not get too excited or expect that there will be drastic personnel moves simply to get youngsters into the NHL level this season.

"I'm not so worried about breaking up the mojo [in Wilkes]...That's part of the [AHL] level, you're going to have a different team every night at this time of the year," was Dubas' thoughts about shuffling top AHL players up to the NHL for a late-season stint.

"I would say it's a very case by case basis, we'll evaluate it here each week and layout what we have ahead. I know people are clamoring for it, but we don't want to bring players up just to give them a test run or appease the fans or media. We have to do what's right for their development and we'll continue to do that over the coming weeks."

Regarding some of those cases, Dubas also pointed out that there are players approaching restricted free agency where it would make sense to give them a run in the NHL to see how it would inform the team about what next steps should be for them in the future.

Dubas didn't name any specific names during this portion of his comments, but a check of PuckPedia shows the only major prospect that fits into this category as an impending RFA is Vasily Ponomarev. Filip Kral and Mac Hollowell are approaching unrestricted free agency, but the majority of the top NHL prospects in the AHL are under contract for next season.

There's no 23-player maximum in the NHL any longer, just the salary cap to be adhered to (which Pittsburgh has plenty of space). So if the Pens want to call up Ponomarev to replace someone like Emil Bemstrom or Boko Imama in the NHL lineup, the path is wide open for it. Based on Dubas' comments that might be coming down the line soon, but no one should expect a mass exodus of AHL players flooding the NHL ranks in the final games either.

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The newest Penguin signee is a familiar face. Avery Hayes has been with the organization since the start of the 2023-24 season. He's parlayed an excellent 2024-25 campaign with Wilkes into an NHL contract that will start next season.

Hayes, 22, hasn't taken a dis-similar path that Conor Sheary did a decade ago as an undersized player that had to prove himself and fight his way up the ranks. We'll see how the story goes but it's been a nice one for the organization so far.

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As far as the team itself, the WBS Penguins have gone 3-2 since our last update. Here's Nick Hart with recaps of the first four games:

Tuesday, Mar. 4 – PENGUINS 1 vs. Belleville 4

Atley Calvert put Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on the board first, but Belleville took the lead before the first intermission. Senators goalie Leevi Meriläinen ultimately stonewalled the Pens with 35 saves.

Friday, Mar. 7 – PENGUINS 7 at Hartford 1

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton improved to 5-0-0-0 in its season series against Hartford by thumping the Wold Pack with seven different goal-scorers. Nikolai Knyzhov posted a career-high three points by gathering a trio of assists.

Saturday, Mar. 8 – PENGUINS 8 vs. Belleville 3

The offense kept rolling at home, as the Pens avenged their loss to the Sens from earlier in the week. Ville Koiuvnen snatched up three points (1G-2A), while Sam Poulin completed at natural hat trick in the third period.

Sunday, Mar. 9 – PENGUINS 1 vs. Syracuse 5

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton fell short of a perfect three-in-three weekend, surrendering five unanswered goals to the Crunch. Mathias Laferrière scored three minutes into the game.

The Pens were on fire with 15 total goals in blowout wins on Friday and Saturday, sandwiched around losses. WBS bounced back with a 5-4 shootout win over Hershey in the ninth (!!) matchup between the two PA rivals this season.

Some notable highlights and stats over these last five games:

• Rutger McGroarty: 3G+3A: McGroarty has been on a roll and seemed to figure out how to generate offense at the AHL level after a very slow start. McGroarty has 16 points (7G+9A) in his last 13 games since Feb. 13th and hit the scoresheet in 10/13 games. Considering AHL scoring rates lag behind the NHL level, this is very exciting stuff for him as of late. Based on Dubas' comments, it doesn't look like Pittsburgh is in a hurry to change up what has been working lately which could have the 20-year old finish out the year in Wilkes.
• Ville Koivunen: 3G+3A: Koivunen is up to third in the AHL scoring race with his 54 points in 56 games this season and is the league's highest scoring rookie by eight points. It's been all systems go for him since the start of the season. Similar to McGroarty, there might not be much use in bringing Koivunen up to the NHL at this point in the season but if circumstances align it's not completely out of the question either. He's played well enough to merit a call-up but is also in a great groove and spot where he is for the time being.
• Vasily Ponomarev: 2G+2A: Three of his points came in the same game last week. The comments from above hinted without directly saying that the Penguins plan to call Ponomarev up to the NHL soon. Dubas has touted Ponomarev as close to NHL ready from the time they traded for him 12 months ago, but he's only played four NHL games with Pittsburgh. Now 23 years old, it's getting close to go time to figure out what they have with him.
• Valtteri Puustinen: 1G+5A: Hey, remember him? Puustinen is under contract for next season but his status and place within the organization remains unknown after being waived. He's doing well lately and if nothing else provides Wilkes with an excellent depth piece.
• Sam Poulin: 3G+2A: All five of Poulin's points came in the same game. Similar to Puustinen as now something of an older prospect (24), Poulin is under contract next season but the team's plans for his future remain cloudy after giving him a quick look in the NHL and waiving him. Not a great place to be, but Poulin is capable of being one of the top players on the AHL rink from time to time.
• Tristan Broz: 1G+2A: Two of Broz's points this week came in the same game. He's not standing out or looking near-NHL ready but as a pro rookie that's not unexpected. Simply be an adequate piece of the AHL team this year has become his niche. A potential long playoff run this spring would be a great thing for many players and Broz has to be high on the list.
• Joel Blomqvist: no games. Blomqvist hasn't played in Wilkes since being returned to the AHL two weeks ago. He reportedly has been dealing with an injury that HC Kirk MacDonald says wasn't serious. Blomqvist was seen at the Pittsburgh practice rink yesterday, which isn't uncommon for injured AHL players to get some NHL medical attention. (As a side note, playing with or through an injury might also give context to the conclusion of Blomqvist's poor NHL performance).
• Sergei Murashov: Blomqvist's injury has been Murashov's gain to open the door for AHL playing time. Murashov has played and won two AHL games in March, though he did give up seven total goals in those two games. But earning a win against Hershey is meaningful just the same. At 20 and a first year North American pro, Murashov is still very, very green but all signs for his talent and development have been encouraging for the future- look no further than the 8-0 overall record he has in Wilkes this season. Ideally Murashov is on track to graduate to full-time AHL usage next season to continue his development. The Pens are aware they have something potentially special with his ability but the process won't be immediate.

Wilkes has lost a couple of players lately. Long-time forward Jonathan Gruden was moved in the Cody Glass trade that saw Chase Stillman enter the organization. Veteran defender Nikolai Knyzhov (on an AHL contract) was traded away to Grand Rapids.

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WBS has two games coming up on Friday and Sunday, both against Lehigh Valley. These will be important games in the playoff race, keeping in mind the top two seeds in the division earn a bye from the three-game opening round series of the Calder Cup playoffs. Anything can happen in such a short series, Wilkes staying above two teams hot on their heels (Charlotte and Providence) will be critical to set themselves up for the playoffs by working towards as high of a finish as they can muster in the regular season.