Penguins forward prospect Tristan Broz will have a new home in college hockey next season.
Broz, the Penguins' 2021 second-round pick, entered the NCAA's transfer portal on Wednesday ahead of Sunday's deadline for fall and winter sport athletes.
Broz, 19, recently wrapped up his freshman year at the University of Minnesota, and the initial adjustment for Broz was a difficult one.
Through his first 17 games, Broz recorded just two assists. No goals. Broz had a turnaround in the second half of the season, and recorded six goals and three assists in his final 19 games.
In a conversation I had with Penguins director of player development Scott Young last month, Young said that the adjustment to college hockey for Broz was much harder than Broz had anticipated.
"It was trying to explain to him that college hockey is very difficult when you come in at your age," Young said. "You're playing against some guys that are six years older than you. You're coming on to a really good hockey team, that returned a lot of players from the year before, and they were good the year before. You don't want to hear that. He said, 'Well, I think I'm good enough to play on this ice with them.' Absolutely. But just understand that you don't just come in. I think it's a common thing with a lot of players when they're getting recruited hard by a team. They're getting shown so much love by a college team, and then they come in, and then it hits you pretty hard on how difficult it is to transition."
After that transition period, Young liked what he saw from Broz.
"He's now doing very well," Young said. "He's a really skilled kid, he competes. The normal development process is learning how hard you have to work and and he's learned that, and he's gained the coaches' trust and he's doing very well right now."
Broz, 6 foot and 180 pounds, is a left-shot forward capable of playing both wing and center, and was primarily a left wing in his freshman year, spending much of the season on the third line. Of the left wings who often played ahead of Broz, one has already turned pro (Blake McLaughlin), one already entered the transfer portal (Grant Cruikshank), and another (Matthew Knies) has already announced that he would return for his sophomore season. The Gophers have several incoming freshman forwards next season who are projected to be high draft picks this summer in Pittsburgh native Logan Cooley (projected to be selected No. 2 overall) and Jimmy Snuggerud (projected to be a late first-rounder).
By transferring, Broz is likely seeking a situation in which he's likely to see more top-six and top-power play playing time.
