Penguins’ 2026 organizational depth picture turns to the next tier of NHL call-up candidates

Pittsburgh’s offseason reset is not just about the players expected to skate for the NHL club. A central question for the Penguins heading into the 2026-27 season is how quickly the organization can replenish its lineup without constant roster upheaval, and what that means for the “depth” layer that sits between the NHL and the AHL. An organizational outlook published by Yahoo Sports frames the reset as a contracts-and-levels primer once the 2026 NHL draft is over, and it points readers to the young players and reserve-list prospects who, in the authors’ view, form the near-term bridge to the NHL. The piece focuses on where prospects sit in the Penguins pecking order, including which names could realistically see NHL games if circumstances align.

One published fan-driven organizational breakdown from PensBurgh identifies a top-tier group of young Penguins they believe are “right on the verge” of NHL time. That list includes Ville Koivunen, Rutger McGroarty, Joel Blomqvist, Owen Pickering, Sergei Murashov, Avery Hayes, Tristan Broz, and Harrison Brunicke. The same analysis emphasizes that NHL minutes might not arrive via a clean, predetermined slot, but rather through opportunity, with the outcome shaped by injury availability, roster numbers, and September roster decisions. Notably, the PensBurgh write-up describes wide internal range within that near-NHL tier. It suggests that Murashov could be positioned as an opening-night starting goalie option in some scenario, while Koivunen’s path might run through waiver risk in September. Between those endpoints, the remaining players are characterized as sitting in the middle ground where they could be squeezed back to the AHL due to the organization’s quantity of NHL-level bodies.

The same depth primer then separates a second tier that is expected to form much of the backbone for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton roster. PensBurgh lists Tanner Howe, Bill Zonnon, David Gustafsson, Oliver Okuliar, Melvin Fernstrom, Atley Calvert, Mikhail Ilyin, Jake Livanavage, Phil Kemp, Chase Pietila, Finn Harding, Daniel Laatsch, Gabriel D’Aigle, and others in that development-heavy group. In this framing, most of these players are described less as “guaranteed call-ups” and more as prospects or organizational depth who are still working their way through the NHL readiness process. Even within that AHL-heavy expectation, the outlet leaves room for exceptions, noting that some players could get limited NHL exposure if the numbers and matchups line up. The central theme is that the Penguins’ 2026-27 depth map is being built with an eye toward flexibility, not just immediate role assignment.

The depth story connects to the broader offseason context: Pittsburgh entered the post-draft period with an organizational shape that management and analysts have described as cautious in the short term, rather than anchored to sweeping roster disruption. In a separate PensBurgh preview leading into free agency, the publication described the 2026 draft weekend as “mostly uneventful” in terms of major near-term changes, while still highlighting that the Penguins acquired Hendrix Lapierre for draft picks and used future pick stock to add additional 2026 mid-round selections. That matters for depth planning because trades and draft strategy can shift the timeline for when the NHL club sees certain styles of players. Even when the NHL lineup does not change dramatically overnight, a new class and rebalanced prospect distribution can change the AHL development focus and, by extension, the ready pool that becomes available during the season.

There is also a larger evaluative layer behind these tiering exercises. Publications have previously discussed the Penguins’ prospect ranking footprint, including coverage that places Pittsburgh in the middle of the league in prospect pool evaluations. While those rankings do not dictate roster outcomes, they do help explain why this kind of “depth outlook” is so prominent: it reflects the organization’s need to translate potential into minutes at the NHL level.

What to watch next is not one single transaction, but the sequencing. If the near-NHL tier players begin the season close to the NHL roster, the Penguins’ depth plan becomes about sustained opportunity and role carving. If that near-NHL group starts primarily in the AHL, the emphasis shifts to development and readiness benchmarks that determine when, and how often, call-ups happen. Either way, the organizational depth picture described in these offseason primers sets up the key storyline for the first quarter of 2026-27.