Pittsburgh Penguins’ Crowded Roster Is Squeezing Tristan Broz at the Worst Time – The Hockey Writers – Pittsburgh Penguins

Twice, forward Tristan Broz appeared to be next in line to join the Pittsburgh Penguins. Twice, his body betrayed the timing. The first opportunity disappeared because of mononucleosis. Last season, injuries struck just as openings developed in Pittsburgh, leaving Broz with only one NHL game despite producing 16 goals and 39 points in 47 games for the organization’s American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, Wilkes Barre/Scranton Penguins.

The latest evaluation of Broz’s development makes the unfortunate timing even harder to ignore because he is no longer a prospect Pittsburgh can comfortably evaluate at its own pace. He is 23 and entering the final season of his entry-level contract. The team has more NHL-capable forwards than available jobs, several established centers ahead of him and an improving prospect pool creating competition from behind.

The Penguins have spent years waiting to see what Broz can become. They are approaching the point where they need to find out.

Broz Was Finally Knocking on the NHL Door

The frustration surrounding Broz’s situation begins with how close he came to receiving a legitimate opportunity last season. Pittsburgh recalled him in November after a strong training camp and an impressive start in Wilkes Barre/Scranton.

Broz made his NHL debut against the Buffalo Sabres on Nov. 26, skating 11:30 and recording two shots during a 4-2 Penguins victory. His first NHL opportunity lasted only one game before he returned to the AHL.

He did not sulk after the demotion. He eventually caught fire, producing four goals and 10 points across a five-game stretch while earning an AHL All-Star selection. Then came another injury, followed by a brief return and another injury that cost him 15 more games. The second absence arrived at the worst possible moment. Injuries to Sidney Crosby, Blake Lizotte, Rickard Rakell and others had created room for reinforcements, and general manager Kyle Dubas later acknowledged that Broz would likely have received that opportunity.

“I could say, pretty definitively I think, that if he hadn’t gotten injured on Saturday in Cleveland, he would have been up and playing,” Dubas said at his trade deadline press conference. Broz was not being held back because Pittsburgh believed he was unprepared. He simply could not stay available when the opening arrived.

AHL Production Has Moved the Evaluation Forward

Another complete AHL season would not be meaningless for Broz, but the returns are beginning to diminish. His 39 points in 47 games represented a 0.83-point-per-game pace last season. After recovering from injury, Broz added three goals and eight assists in 15 Calder Cup Playoff games as Wilkes Barre/Scranton advanced to the Eastern Conference Final.

Those results strengthen the argument already made in THW’s 2026 to 2027 Penguins prospect rankings, which placed Broz eighth in the system and identified him as a player capable of pushing toward a permanent NHL role. His offensive game has improved while the responsible two-way elements that originally attracted Pittsburgh remain part of his profile.

There is still plenty Broz can improve in Wilkes-Barre. That is different from needing the AHL to determine whether he is a legitimate prospect.

The next unknown exists one level higher. Pittsburgh needs to know whether Broz can create offense against NHL defenders, whether his pace translates and whether his defensive reliability can keep him in a lineup even when he is not scoring. One NHL game cannot answer any of those questions.

Pittsburgh’s Center Depth Leaves Almost No Opening

Broz’s biggest problem may have nothing to do with Broz. The middle of the Penguins’ lineup is crowded. Crosby remains the first-line center, Tommy Novak has established himself as another option through the middle, Ben Kindel already produced 17 goals and 35 points as a rookie, and Lizotte gives the team a proven defensive center for the bottom six. Their current depth chart lists Crosby, Novak, Kindel and Lizotte among its center options entering camp.

There is no obvious chair waiting for Broz when the music stops. The organization faced the same positional question when he received his first call-up last November. Pittsburgh’s roster moves involving Broz show that he primarily played center professionally but might have needed to move to the wing simply to find NHL minutes.

That possibility has become more important, not less. If he remains strictly a center, his NHL path could depend on an injury. That is exactly how Pittsburgh reached this uncomfortable point in the first place.

Moving Broz to the Wing May Be Necessary

The Penguins should use training camp to test Broz away from the middle. Moving a natural center to the wing is not ideal for development, particularly when much of his value comes from playing a responsible game through the center of the ice. The alternative, however, could be returning him to Wilkes-Barre and hoping a center suddenly becomes unavailable at exactly the right moment.

Pittsburgh has too much invested in the evaluation to leave it entirely to circumstance. Broz does not need to abandon playing center permanently. He needs enough positional flexibility to create another route into head coach Dan Muse’s lineup, particularly because Pittsburgh’s forward congestion extends beyond the four centers ahead of him.

Ville Koivunen, Rutger McGroarty, Hendrix Lapierre, Justin Brazeau, Elmer Söderblom and others are competing for opportunities throughout the lineup. THW’s recent roster projection already identified Broz as part of the young group capable of making Pittsburgh’s final decisions difficult. Versatility will not guarantee him a job, but it could prevent him from being eliminated before performance does.

Broz’s Contract Adds a Clock to the Decision

There was little urgency when Broz turned pro in 2024. Pittsburgh could send him to Wilkes-Barre, let him play major minutes and wait for his game to mature. That runway is almost gone.

Broz’s entry-level contract expires after this season, when he will become a restricted free agent. He carries a cap hit below $1 million, making this the cheapest and simplest season for Pittsburgh to test whether he can provide NHL value.

A productive NHL sample could establish Broz as an inexpensive bottom six forward with enough offense to move higher when necessary. Another year spent almost exclusively in the AHL would leave Dubas negotiating a second contract with a 24-year-old whose NHL résumé may consist of little more than a single November game. That would be an uncomfortable outcome for both sides.

Pittsburgh Needs to Create Its Own Answer

Broz has not earned a guaranteed NHL position. His own assessment after Wilkes-Barre’s playoff elimination makes that clear, as he said he had fallen “way short” of the expectations he set for himself last season despite his respectable production.

Training camp matters. If Koivunen, McGroarty, Lapierre or another forward clearly outplays him, the team should not manufacture an NHL role simply because he is entering a contract year. What the Penguins cannot afford is another season in which they learn almost nothing.

Broz has already shown he can score in the AHL. He has shown enough defensively to remain one of the organization’s s more NHL-ready prospects, and Dubas has already admitted that an NHL opportunity was coming before an injury removed it.

Now the circumstances have changed. He is older, his contract is running out, and the roster around him has become even more crowded. For years, the Penguins could tell Broz to keep developing and wait for his chance. This season, they may need to help create one before time makes that decision for them.