Brunicke-mania is starting to reaching a fever pitch

Young defenseman is standing out and impressing in Penguins’ training camp

Harrison Brunicke is a defender who was selected 44th overall in June’s NHL Entry draft. He was only ranked 52nd among North American skaters by Central Scouting in their final rankings, making the selection a bit of a reach on the most conventional of wisdom. It hasn’t taken long for a bigger slice of the league and fans, players and coaches to see what the Penguins’ scouting staff and management saw in the prospect.

What started this summer as a trickle — even before the draft Brunicke was one of the best players on Canada’s U-18 team in May — has steadily grown to one of the most rapid turns of progression over just a few months that memory can recall.

Brunicke starred in development camp in July by standing out with his skating in drills and helping his camp team win the summer tournament, which has picked up steam into so much more. There was the Prospects Challenge in Buffalo, where Team Canada observers took note of a player to push into future plans. NHL training camp has been more of the same with Brunicke leaving all observers impressed by what they’ve seen, and wanting to see more.

The prospect was a key figure during and after the Pens’ 2-1 loss to Detroit last night.

The Q&A with the head coach went like this:

You said this morning you wanted to get an extended look at Harrison. Curious what you saw from him tonight in his performance: “I thought he was terrific. He’s making an impact. He’s so active in the rush. He’s active off the offensive blue line. He got a number of scoring chances. He was part of the goal. He’s defending hard. We’ve really liked his progress throughout the course of camp. I think his confidence is growing. I thought he had another terrific game for us.”

How challenging is that jump, if you’re going to go from the level Harrison’s at to potentially even getting a look at the NHL?: “It’s a big jump. It’s a big jump. Listen, we’re really excited about Harry right now and where he’s at, and the progress he’s made and his potential moving forward. We’re going to watch it throughout the course of camp and see where it goes. But for a young player and where he’s at, to go from where he is to the NHL is a major jump. So, that’s what makes this league the best league in the world. Playing that position, that’s arguably the most difficult position to play. So, like I said, we’re really excited about Harry’s progress and potentially the impact that he can make here. He’s certainly made an impression on all of us. Let’s just say that.”

The impression made is a complete one. Brunicke’s skating can carry him to play at the highest levels already. Beyond that, there’s a certain intangible quality in his decision making and some audacity in his game. Jesse explains it well here, as he’s wont to do, there’s a kind of confidence and control for a young player who is acting like the belongs and backing it up with quality performances.

That ringing endorsement has been matched by Marcus Pettersson. The same Pettersson who has been skating lately as a partner to Brunicke. The same Pettersson who just happens to be the team’s best defensive defenseman.

It was fun for everyone to see. Pettersson and Brunicke had a lot of success against Detroit.

It’s a small sample, but more and more evidence is starting to pour in that the Pens have found something special, and in an accelerated fashion. Not since John Marino or Olli Maatta has a training camp performance by a Pittsburgh defender captured the imagination and shown such promise for an off-the-radar surprise.

As Sullivan said, the prudent path is to “watch it throughout the course of camp and see where it goes”. A few more performances in the next few days like last night could make Brunicke-mania go so much further than almost anyone could have anticipated a few weeks or months ago.

Then again, it already has when an 18-year old, second round pick blueliner has acquitted himself well enough to simply be in the conversation for breaking camp with the NHL team. Maybe it will come to that this soon and maybe it’s just a little too soon; but the rocket ship attached to Brunicke’s back right now is undoubtedly one of the biggest stories in camp. It’s certainly the most welcome pleasant development the Pens have gotten from a young player in quite some time.