The Pittsburgh Penguins and general manager Kyle Dubas decided to make a move for Harrison Brunicke that is really going to help him. Just a short time ago they loaned him to Wilkes-Barre Scranton of the AHL for two weeks on a conditioning loan.
And as of late, Dubas and staff decided to send him to the World Juniors to compete for Team Canada. Getting Brunicke those kinds of reps in a tournament like that, is really going to help out his present and his future.
Sending him to Team Canada will really help him get his legs back underneath him and face competition now that he is going to face in the NHL in the future. Another benefit sending him to Team Canada is the fact that is just gets him more experience playing continuous hockey.
Penguins fans remember when Brunicke was scratched night in and night out for a few games in a row earlier in the year. This was because Brunicke's play had dipped a bit and him being out there was a net negative more than it was a net positive.
For the first few games of his NHL career, it really seemed like Brunicke was going to be a mainstay in the lineup as he looked really good when on the ice. But a few games after that, he had a lot of defensive lapses and was making bad turnovers and was getting caught flat footed.
So as a result, Brunicke was sitting in the press box a lot watching his teammates play and trying to learn from them. He is super young so he was not expected to be this superstar right away. He was expected to play some and try to play a steady game and then sit some and learn.
Brunicke definitely had his ups-and-downs to start his young NHL career at just 19 years old. But after the World Juniors are over Dubas can decide to keep him in the NHL the rest of the year or send him back to his junior team.
It would be more beneficial if he is kept on the NHL roster as he has nothing left to learn on his junior team. Even if Brunicke sits more and watches the veterans play and learns from them the rest of the year, that is way more valuable than getting back into bad habits with his junior team.