{"id":77643,"date":"2026-01-04T15:37:06","date_gmt":"2026-01-04T15:37:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/77643\/"},"modified":"2026-01-04T15:37:06","modified_gmt":"2026-01-04T15:37:06","slug":"penguins-notebook-murashov-struggling-brunicke-update-chinakhov-returns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/77643\/","title":{"rendered":"Penguins Notebook: Murashov Struggling, Brunicke Update, & Chinakhov Returns"},"content":{"rendered":"

Adversity has found top Pittsburgh Penguins<\/a> goalie prospect Sergei Murashov<\/a>. <\/p>\n

For the second time in two games, Murashov was pulled after allowing five goals. Saturday, he allowed five on 11 shots in the first period against the Syracuse Crunch.<\/p>\n

The last two games are the first times Murashov has been pulled in his professional career. He had allowed more than two goals only twice in his previous 14 AHL appearances.<\/p>\n

Murashov\u2019s save percentage has fallen more than .10 points, though Penguins fans shouldn\u2019t be too concerned. It\u2019s only fallen to .921.<\/p>\n

The WBS Penguins were on the road Saturday, so there was no postgame media. <\/p>\n

Harrison Brunicke<\/p>\n

We\u2019re all sort of learning the ins and outs of the NHL collective bargaining agreement as it relates to 19-year-olds this season. <\/p>\n

The nine-game rule is well known. A team can essentially give their 18 or 19-year-old prospects a brief look in the NHL, up to nine games, before deciding to return them to junior hockey without burning a year of their entry-level contract. <\/p>\n

After nine games, the ELC can no longer slide and is in effect. <\/p>\n

A team could still return the player to junior hockey, even after nine games, but the season wouldn\u2019t count as a year of service. <\/p>\n

The lesser-known part of the rule is Game 40. Being on the active roster for 40 games means a player accrues a year of service time toward free agency. In the NHL, a player hits unrestricted free agency at age 27 or after seven accrued seasons. <\/p>\n

Saturday was the Penguins\u2019 40th game, but defenseman prospect Harrison Brunicke<\/a> still has not accrued 40 games. His 14-day conditioning assignment in Wilkes-Barre\/Scranton Penguins indeed counted as time served to the NHL club, but his time with Team Canada does not. <\/p>\n

The distinction would seem to leave the door ajar for a little while longer for the Penguins to return Brunicke to his WHL team, the Kamloops Blazers, if they choose. <\/p>\n

Brunicke has played only nine NHL games, so the first year of his entry-level contract has not yet been burned, either. <\/p>\n

Yegor Chinakhov Returns<\/p>\n

New Penguins winger Yegor Chinakhov scored on a beauty Saturday in the Penguins\u2019 thoroughly impressive 4-1 win over the Detroit Red Wings. Ben Kindle threaded a tight pass through defenders to spring Chinakhov for a breakaway goal. <\/p>\n

It was the 24-year-old Russian\u2019s first goal with the Penguins and first tally since Dec. 13 when he scored for the Columbus Blue Jackets against the Vegas Golden Knights<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Chinakhov played 29 games this season, scoring three goals in frustratingly limited ice time, and he played 204 career games for Columbus. <\/p>\n

The player was certainly ready for a change from the organization that made him a first-round pick (21st overall) in the 2020 NHL Draft. <\/p>\n

Less than a week after the trade, Chinakhov will make his homecoming to Columbus when the Penguins face the Blue Jackets Sunday. <\/p>\n

A man of few words, Chinakhov did concede in the postgame Saturday that the game against Columbus would be different. 0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s pretty emotional. But first of all, we need to win the game,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Chinakhov answers questions simply. He doesn\u2019t expound or fill space with words that don\u2019t need to be said. <\/p>\n

On the ice, Chinakhov\u2019s speed has been immediately evident, as well as his wristshot. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s as advertised, isn\u2019t it?\u201d coach Dan Muse said Saturday. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTags: harrison brunicke<\/a> Pittsburgh Penguins<\/a> sergei murashov<\/a> Yegor Chinakhov<\/a> <\/p>\n

Categorized: Penguins Notebook<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Adversity has found top Pittsburgh Penguins goalie prospect Sergei Murashov. For the second time in two games, Murashov…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":45953,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1065,73,75,74,1067,5160,38085],"class_list":{"0":"post-77643","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh","8":"tag-harrison-brunicke","9":"tag-pittsburgh","10":"tag-pittsburgh-headlines","11":"tag-pittsburgh-news","12":"tag-pittsburgh-penguins","13":"tag-sergei-murashov","14":"tag-yegor-chinakhov"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77643"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77643\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}