WILKES-BARRE, Pa. – The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins’ season opener is one month away, but hockey season starts this weekend.
Once again, the Pittsburgh Penguins are visiting Buffalo, New York to participate in the 2025 Prospects Challenge. The annual event allows prospects for several NHL clubs to go head-to-head in full, competitive games as both a tune-up for training camp and an extra evaluation point for management. For these reasons, this weekend in Buffalo signals the starting gun for a new year of hockey.
Below is all the information you need prior to the 2025 Prospects Challenge, including roster, scrimmage, and storylines to monitor…
ROSTER
The Penguins’ roster for the 2025 Prospects Challenge is comprised of 25 players (14 forwards, nine defensemen and two goalies.) The full roster can be found here.
Among the 23 skaters are nine who suited up for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton last season, including rookie stars Tristan Broz, Ville Koivunen, Owen Pickering and Harrison Brunicke. Sergei Murashov will man the crease alongside 2025 draft pick Gabriel D’Aigle.
SCHEDULE
Friday, Sept. 12 – Pittsburgh vs. Boston, 3:30 p.m.
Sunday, Sept. 14 – Columbus vs. Pittsburgh, 3:30 p.m.
Monday, Sept. 15 – Pittsburgh vs. Buffalo, 12:00 p.m.
CAN I WATCH?
According to the Buffalo Sabres, hosts of the event, every game of the 2025 Prospects Challenge will be streamed online via each NHL club’s website. Therefore, penguins.nhl.com will be your digital igloo for Penguins games.
WHAT TO WATCH FOR
FIRST-YEAR FIRST IMPRESSIONS
It will be fun to see how the likes of last year’s stars – Broz, Koivunen, Murashov, etc. – fare, but one must remember to keenly observe the play of incoming first-year pros. There are a handful of players on the blue line in particular for fans to watch closely, those being rookies Emil Pieniniemi, Finn Harding, Chase Pietila and Daniel Laatsch.
Pieniniemi played professionally in Finland (as a teammate of Koivunen, nonetheless,) but made the jump to North America last year. Skating for the Kingston Frontenacs of the OHL, Pieniniemi led the team’s defenders in just about every offensive category imaginable. He tied for the fifth-highest assist total in the league for blueliners (50) and ranked sixth among OHL defenders in points (60). The player he tied with was Harding, who happened to set the Brampton Steelheads franchise record for single-season assists by a defenseman (50).
Pietila and Laatsch lean much more towards the…
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