A lone cut on Monday
The Penguins are in day two of a stretch of playing five preseason games in six days, so they probably don’t figure to make too many cuts off their NHL roster in the immediate future. But they made one today, sending rookie goalie Sergei Murashov down to the AHL.
The Penguins have assigned goaltender Sergei Murashov to the @WBSPenguins (AHL).
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) September 30, 2024
Murashov did not appear in any NHL preseason games this camp, which at age 20 is not that surprising — the age of goalies that actually play games tends to be a little older.
Murashov was great for the Penguins in the pre-camp Prospects Challenge in Buffalo, but quickly sank to the background once NHL camp began, perhaps best illustrated by a rocky performance in a camp scrimmage a couple Fridays ago.
PensBurgh ranked Murashov as the fourth top player under 25 in the organization in this summer’s rankings.
Murashov said in a summer interview that the organization’s plans for him were to start the season in Wilkes-Barre. It could be a crowded crease, with AHL goalie rookie of the year Joel Blomqvist and Filip Larsson previously tabbed to be the AHL goalies prior to the somewhat surprising development when the Pens were able to sign Murashov to a contract over the summer.
The future is bright, but it is not the present. The Pens didn’t see Murashov as benefiting from any NHL preseason games, so it will likely take a bit of minor league time and gaining experience before he will be applying his talent at the NHL level.