CRANBERRY, Pa. -- The Penguins' development staff and coaches like to stress that the annual development camp isn't an evaluation camp. It's for development -- exactly what it sounds like.
But man, if there weren't some standouts in the four-on-four tournament to close out the week. And there was one clear standout above the rest.
Team 1 won the Michel Briere Cup, the trophy named for the late Penguins forward who died after rookie season and is awarded annually to the winning development camp team here at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex. The winning team was captained by Owen Pickering, and included draft picks Zam Plante, Harrison Brunicke, Daniel Laatsch and Finn Harding, and Sergei Murashov in net.
Without a doubt, Murashov was the MVP here.
"Murashov, off the top of my head, is the one that stood out," director of player development Tom Kostopoulos said. "It was such a nice surprise for the development staff to find out he was coming and then see him out here."
Murashov posted a shutout in his team's 2-0 victory over Team 2 to open the tournament, with free agent invite forward Will Gerrior scoring both of his team's goals. He recorded another shutout in the next game against Team 3, with free agent forward Christopher Brown and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton forward Atley Calvert scoring the only goals.
It wasn't until the championship game that someone finally solved Murashov -- Brayden Yager, who put his Team 3 up 1-0 early. But Murashov was perfect the rest of the way, getting goals from a pair of free agent forwards in Matt DiMarsico and Justin Cloutier to earn the win.
"Big win," Pickering said of his team's championship. "It's been a good run. Couldn't have done it with a better group of guys. (Avery) Hayes, Atley (Calvert), everybody in this room. Everybody deserved it. We got it done, that was the plan all along. Shoutout to Sergei too, the guy was disgusting."
Pickering said that they pulled up Murashov's Elite Prospects page at the start of camp and just marveled over some of the numbers they saw he was putting up in Russia. They saw much of the same here for camp.
"The guy was a rock back there," Pickering said.
Brunicke said that he didn't know who Murashov was before this camp, but quickly learned that "he's a stud in net."
Murashov is currently unsigned. His KHL contract with Lokomotiv is expired, and he's currently weighing his options. He could return to the Lokomotiv, go to another KHL club ... or move to North America. It's a big decision, and one he doesn't have long to think about. KHL training camps start mid-July.
Whether it's next season or the year after that, Murashov will be here at some point. His signing rights with the Penguins don't expire, so there's no rush to get him over. But the Penguins would prefer it happens sooner than later. They really like him.
"I think all of our staff think he's a fantastic kid," Kostopoulos said. "He's great, his English is really good. Just spending time with him on and off the ice, everyone's really enjoyed that. Just watching him compete in drills, he's relentless on the puck, which is a great asset for goalies. Then just watching him in the games, it was impressive. We're all really excited that he's here."
Between Murashov, Joel Blomqvist, Taylor Gauthier and Filip Larsson, the future is bright for the Penguins in net. Murashov might just be the one to rise above the rest.
MORE FROM THE TOURNAMENT
• Kostopoulos has been around for quite awhile. He was hired under Jim Rutherford. He's now worked under Rutherford, Ron Hextall and Kyle Dubas. He also played under a number of general managers, having played in the organization from 1999-04 and 2012-18. And he thinks the development program is as good as it's ever been.
"It's been interesting for me with different GMs to see how each one looks at and uses the development department," Kostopoulos said. "I think Kyle and Jason Spezza and Fenway have invested hugely in the development department in terms of time, money, staff, and it'll only benefit the players. It's a massive investment in development. It's great, we have different skills coaches, skating coaches, strength coaches, video analysts all under our wings now, which we can use to help the players, which I think they love. The feedback has been fantastic from them. It's just more of everything for the players. It's been great for development in the Pittsburgh Penguins, I think we have to be near the top of the league, I would say, in what our organization has to offer."
• Yeah, it's just a four-on-four scrimmage tournament in July. But this was competitive, guys wanted to win. And the guys that didn't -- in particular that Team 2 that got eliminated first -- were heated.
"I want to win, even when it's July," said a visibly annoyed Tristan Broz, who captained Team 2. "I'm pissed off that we lost right now. I'm here to win."
• That was perhaps made most evident in the final seconds of the championship game. Team 1 was clinging to a one-goal lead when Team 3's Yager got the puck in the slot and lined up for a shot ... only for Pickering to drop and block it like the Stanley Cup was on the line.
"I feel perfectly fine, Yager took the shot so I didn't feel it," Pickering deadpanned, side-eyeing Yager across the room to see if Yager heard his chirps. "No, actually it hurt a lot. He has a rip. It hit me on the inside of the knee, so there will be a bruise for a bit."
• Yager had a good tournament, albeit a little quiet. Being the only guy to beat Murashov isn't a small feat, and he had some other good chances. Did well in faceoffs, too, which has been a focus of his lately.
"Everybody here is here for a reason, and everybody wants to make a good impression," Yager said of the games. "It was a competitive game out there."
• This got pretty physical as the tournament went on -- in particular from defense prospects Brunicke and Chase Pietila, and free agent forward invite Dalton Andrew. The Calvert goal in the second game was made possible by Brunicke laying out Emil Pieniniemi with a hit to force a turnover.
• Very cool to see Pickering and Brunicke on a pairing together in this setting. Not much to report in terms of offense, but they sure made Murashov's job a little easier behind them. Pickering is the Penguins' top left-handed defense prospect, and Brunicke is the top right-handed defense prospect. That could be a real future pairing in the pros.
"He's a great player," Pickering said. "He makes it really easy, he's easy to play with. He's a really good skater, he's big, he's a smart player too. He's good at getting out of things. It makes it easy to play with him."
"I think we're a good pairing," Brunicke said. "Maybe down the road, you never know. He's a great player, a great person as well. He makes it easy for me."
• I thought Plante's playmaking stood out more than anyone else's here. He had a couple of feeds to teammates for goals or close chances.
• The only two players on the roster who weren't able to participate in any of the on-ice activities this week were Cruz Lucius, the winger acquired in the Jake Guentzel trade who was sick and wasn't able to attend, and 2022 sixth-round pick Luke Devlin who was rehabbing a lower-body injury but still here and able to participate in off-ice activities.
• Devlin, who was a freshman at Cornell last season, is big at 6 foot 3. He was listed at 187 pounds when he was drafted. He came into last year's development camp looking significantly bigger, and Cornell listed him at 196 pounds at the start of the season. He looked even bigger this summer, and he told me he's up to 210 pounds. He's a physical center who plays with a real edge, and a good net-front presence on the power play. Pretty interesting prospect.
• That's a wrap on development camp, but far from a wrap on development camp coverage. I've got a lot of interviews banked and will have more features in the coming weeks: Brunicke, Yager, Broz, Pieniniemi, Plante, Calvert, Ville Koivunen, Donovan McCoy, Daniel Laatsch, Chase Yoder, Finn Harding, Joona Vaisanen, Bennett MacArthur, Emil Jarventie, Kalle Kangas, Ryan St. Louis and Lucas St. Louis.
• In case you missed any, I have features done on Pickering, Mac Swanson, Chase Pietila and Murashov.
• A good amount of these guys will be back in town in less than two months. Quick rookie camp, then off to Buffalo for the Prospects Challenge. The players here from junior or who are already playing pro will be in that -- but no college players or the ones heading back to Europe.
