The Penguins Monday night contest in Toronto could not be bigger for multiple reasons. Yes, the Penguins want to close out their current road trip with a win, but they also want to see a big performance from young defenseman Harrison Brunicke.
Brunicke is set to play in his 9th game so far this year and after tonight's game, the Penguins and general manager Kyle Dubas and head coach Dan Muse have a big decision to make. Do they want to send Brunicke back to his junior team where he has nothing left to learn? Or do they want to keep him in the NHL the whole year and let him learn and develop his game?
At the start of the year, it looked like an easy choice to burn that first-year of his entry-level contract and keep him the whole year as his play was impressive. But lately, the two games he has been in, have not been good on the defensive side of the puck so the decision is going to be harder.
But if Brunicke wants to make the decision easy for the Penguins coaching staff, he is going to want to play well and be stout in his own zone in Toronto. He does not want to have bad stick positioning or take bad penalties or just be a pylon in his own zone.
He is going to want to be careful and pay attention to the details and just be good defensively. Having Owen Pickering by his side should help him, but Toronto is a tough team to play against. Most Penguins fans are hoping that Brunicke stays the whole entire year, but the decision at the moment could go either way.
Look for Brunicke to hopefully be on his A game and be stable in his own zone. He has to prove to the coaching staff that he deserves to stay and be in the NHL more than go back to his junior team and develop bad habits again.