After a season of firsts, and an early round playoff exit in April, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins soon will take the ice as they kickoff their 2025-26 campaign in the American Hockey League (AHL).
Kirk MacDonald, in his second season with the Pens led the team to a 40 win season, the first since WBS did it back in 2017-18. MacDonald looks to continue to develop Pittsburgh’s next core of players as a number already look to make an impact in the NHL.
Led by a number of top performers, the Penguins look poised and set to kickoff the new campaign.
A number of returners such as forwards Avery Hayes, Tristan Broz, Sam Poulin, Joona Koppanen will join a new offensive core for the Penguins. Fan favorite Boko Imama also returns, adding grit in the lineup.
However, the Baby Pens will be without Ville Koivunen, Rutger McGroarty, Vasily Ponomarev, Emil Bemstrom and more.
Koivunen made the Pittsburgh roster after impressing in training camp and through preseason play. Most likely slotting on the right side with Sidney Crosby, Koivunen will look to put together a solid rookie campaign.
McGroarty suffered an upper-body injury and is out indefinitely. He would have stayed in Pittsburgh alongside Koivunen if not for the injury. Chances are though, once he comes back from injury, McGroarty will spend some time in the AHL, as he did not have much of a chance to skate during training camp.
Ponomarev and Bemstrom signed contracts overseas during the off-season, with each returning home to Russia and Sweden, respectively.
Last season, Hayes broke out in a big way, tallying 42 points in 60 games, including 23 goals. His season-long hot run of form earned him an entry-level contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins, and he impressed in NHL training camp earlier this fall.
However, Pittsburgh decided to let Hayes get more reps with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, and he’s expected to be a top contributor once again.
Broz at one point looked to be on a fast track to being called up to Pittsburgh, but a bout with Mono saw the 2022 draft pick remain in Wilkes-Barre for the entire season, scoring 37 points in 59 games.
Poulin, a mainstay in the Penguins roster for a few years now continued his solid form in the AHL, grabbing 43 points in 57 games. Koppanen notched 23 points in 56 games, earning a contract extension during the offseason.
For the newcomers, the Penguins will be joined by Rafael Harvey-Pinard, Aidan McDonough and Danton Heinen. Heinen, maybe the wild card of the bunch, brings NHL experience as he spent parts of nine seasons with Boston, Anaheim, Pittsburgh and Vancouver.
Heinen was placed on waivers, and after clearing, was sent down to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Heinen last played in the AHL in the 2017-28 season, when he spent four games with the Providence Bruins.
On the defensive side, Owen Pickering returns among a large set of new faces. Recently, Pittsburgh assigned Ryan Graves to the AHL club after clearing waivers. The 30-year-old left-handed defenseman is owed $4.5 million/year for the next four seasons, and will look to make it back to Pittsburgh after what turned out to be a very rough season in 2024-25.
Over the summer break, the Pittsburgh inked deals with Alex Alexeyev, Caleb Jones, extended Sebastian Aho and nabbed Parker Wotherspoon. Alexeyev and Aho were assigned to WBS and are set to be in the opening night lineup alongside Pickering and Graves. Phil Kemp was also signed to a two-way contract, and was assigned to WBS. Wotherspoon will most likely spend the whole season with Pittsburgh, barring any changes.
Goaltending-wise, the next elite goalie in the NHL may just begin the road to greatness in Wilkes-Barre. Sergei Murashov returns to the Penguins after impressing in NHL preseason. He was assigned to the AHL club and will most likely be the opening night starter against Hartford.
Filip Larsson will back up the 22-year-old Russian as Joel Blomqvist is out injured. Maxim Pavlenko and Taylor Gauthier will also make appearances sometime during the season.
For the rest of the roster, the final spots and names will be later this week. Cuts have already been made however, with a number of players sent back down to ECHL Wheeling, and some released from their professional tryouts (PTOs).
During preseason, WBS went a perfect two-for-two, as they defeated Hershey in a shootout in front of a packed house at Mohegan Arena for STEM Kids Day on Oct. 3, and nabbed a 3-1 win over Lehigh Valley down in Allentown the day after.
As for the regular season, the Hartford Wolf Pack come to town on Oct. 11 as the home opener kicks off the 2025-26 campaign. Puck drop is set for 6:05 p.m. in Wilkes-Barre Township.
After that, the Penguins play eight more games in October–five away from home and four in front of the Mohegan faithful.
We’ll have the coverage for the WBS Penguins all season long, as they look to take a shot at the Calder Cup.
