After weeks of speculation, the Pittsburgh Penguins finally exercised a beneficial loophole for one of their top prospects.
On Monday, the Penguins announced that 19-year-old defenseman Harrison Brunicke - who made the NHL club out of training camp but has not played an NHL game in three weeks - was loaned to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (WBS) Penguins of the AHL for conditioning. Defenseman Jack St. Ivany - who has been on injured reserve since training camp with a lower-body injury - was also sent to WBS on a conditioning loan.
The 6-foot-3, 203-pound Brunicke has played in nine NHL games this season, which means his entry-level contract - unlike rookie forward Ben Kindel's - has not yet been activated. After scoring his first NHL goal against the New York Islanders during the second game of the season, the teenage right defenseman, at times, struggled to adapt to reads at NHL speed.
Although 18- and 19-year-old CHL-eligible forwards cannot play in the AHL per the current CHL-NHL agreement, the proper conditions were met for this loophole to be exercised. Since Brunicke was a healthy scratch in five or more consecutive NHL games, he became eligible for an AHL conditioning stint that can extend up to either five games or 14 days - whichever happens first.
The WBS next play Wednesday when they face the Hershey Bears, and they will have a back-to-back slate this weekend against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms - the team that eliminated them in the first round of the playoffs last season - and again against Hershey. They have the same exact slate next weekend, which would mark the five-game (potentially) and 12-day mark for Brunicke.
'We Always Want Him To Know What The Plan Is': Dubas Provides Update On Brunicke SituationPittsburgh Penguins' general manager and president of hockey operations Kyle Dubas elaborates on the plan for 19-year-old defenseman Harrison Brunicke, who is now eligible for an AHL conditioning loan. Brunicke must be returned from his conditioning stint by Dec. 8, and that falls four days before Team Canada begins its World Junior Camp - which Brunicke is eligible to be loaned to.
St. Ivany, 26, has been up and down between the AHL and NHL over the last couple of seasons. He spent 19 games with Pittsburgh last season and registered one point to go along with a minus-3, while he put up a goal and 16 points in 37 games with WBS as well as a plus-9.
It's Time For Penguins To Pull Trigger On Youth TalentWith a <a href="https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/pittsburgh-penguins/latest-news/takeaways-penguins-lose-heartbreaker-to-seattle-kraken-fall-out-of-playoff-position">2-1 overtime loss to the Seattle Kraken</a> on Saturday, the <a href="https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/pittsburgh-penguins">Pittsburgh Penguins</a> officially fell out of a playoff position for the first time in the 2025-26 season.
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