Second round: Penguins dip into WHL with Howe, Brunicke picks

LAS VEGAS -- Some of the Penguins' top prospects have come out of the Western Hockey League. In 2022, they dipped into the WHL with their first-round pick, selecting defenseman Owen Pickering from the Swift Current Broncos. They went back to the WHL last year too, picking the Moose Jaw Warriors' Brayden Yager in the opening round of the draft.

The Penguins kept that streak going this year in Las Vegas. The Penguins didn't have a first-round pick, but they had a pair of second-rounders -- 44th and 46th overall. They used both picks on WHL talent, selecting defenseman Harrison Brunicke with pick No. 44 and forward Tanner Howe with pick No. 46.

Brunicke is an 18-year-old right-handed defenseman listed at 6 foot 3 and 196 pounds. He played for the Kamloops Blazers, who ranked dead-last in the WHL standings last season, and ranked No. 2 among his team's defensemen in scoring last season with 10 goals and 11 assists in 49 games.

"I'm a two-way defenseman," Brunicke said of his game. "I like to be used in all situations, whether it's playing against top pairings or top lines, getting hemmed in your zone and playing defensive shifts, or trying to play up top and hemming teams in their zone and hemming them in offensively."

Brunicke said he really looks up to a defenseman like Miro Heiskanen, admiring his 200-foot game and overall smarts.

Penguins director of amateur scouting Nick Pryor said Brunicke is a "mobile, long, rangy defenseman."

"He moves well, he's got a puck game," Pryor added. "He's physical as well. He's got a lot of attributes that made him really attractive to us. Anytime you can find a defenseman that moves like that at that size and can move the puck as well, is really attractive."

I asked Brunicke what parts of his game he's focusing on improving the most moving forward.

"It's more physicality," he said. "Just kind of getting involved with that side of the game, whether it's getting a couple more hits, winning more 50-50 battles."

Brunicke moved to Calgary when he was two years old, but he's actually from Johannesburg, South Africa. If he makes the NHL he'd become the first South African-born skater to make the NHL. The only South African-born player to play in the NHL so far has been goaltender Olaf Kolzig, who was born in Johannesburg to German parents. It'd be pretty meaningful to Brunicke to make history as the first skater from his country to play at the highest level.

"It's amazing," Brunicke said of the idea. "You know, my family back home can't be with me here now, but I know they're watching. I'm really proud to be from South Africa, to come from there. It's obviously a big culture shift for us. But I'm really, really happy."

Howe, 18, is 5 foot 10 and 184 pounds, a left-handed shot who can play both center and either wing, and plays on both the power play and penalty-kill. He played for the second-worst WHL team last season, the rebuilding Regina Pats, and racked up 28 goals and 49 assists in 68 games.

"I think I'm a strong 200-foot center or winger, I think I can play all positions really well," Howe said. "I think I add depth to the lineup and I have a scoring touch, and can bury my chances. And I think I play a lot bigger than I am."

I spoke with Howe at the NHL Scouting Combine earlier this month, and he told me then that he likes "rat-style hockey" -- guys like Brad Marchand, Matthew Tkachuk, and Brendan Gallagher. On this day he curried some favor with his new team when naming he player he looks up to most.

"For me, it's Sidney Crosby," Howe said. "Just growing up, you watch him and see what he's done, and it's crazy. To be drafted to the same team, it's pretty cool. It's just how he carries himself off the ice, the career he's had so far, it's pretty crazy. Yeah, he's definitely someone I look up to."

Pryor called Howe "highly competitive first and foremost."

"He's undersized in stature, but he's a strong kid for being undersized," Pryor continued. "He's a high-compete, high-motor player that has skill and offense to his game as well. We were really excited to get Tanner and feel really good about the spot we got him in."

Howe said both here and at the combine that his biggest focus moving forward is improving his skating.

"I'm working on that explosion, the first three strides," he said here. "I think to play at that next level, you've got to be an elite skater, and it's definitely something I've been taking seriously for the past three years, and hopefully will get better at."

A huge benefit that comes with Howe is that he has three years of WHL experience, whereas most players his age in junior only have two. Players from major junior can't play in the AHL until they're 20 or have four years of junior experience. So, while a lot of these guys will need to spend the next two years in junior, Howe will only have to go one. He could be in Wilkes-Barre in 2025-26 if the Penguins want him to be.

Brunicke and Howe know each other fairly well, from being opponents in the WHL (albeit in different conferences) and hanging out together at the combine. Both also played against Yager and Pickering, and Howe is actually good friends with Yager.

"I grew up with Brayden Yager in Prince Albert (Saskatchewan)," Howe said. "He's one of my best buddies. He was texting me before the draft, 'I hope Pittsburgh takes you!' You know, it's really cool."

It's been customary now for a few years for Crosby to give a call to the Penguins' top pick in each draft and welcome them to the team. He had the opportunity to speak with Brunicke and Howe after the picks, and the pair seemed ecstatic hearing from him.

PENGUINS

The Penguins are hoping their high-end prospects are ready to push for NHL time sooner rather than later. They need these guys to ease the transition from the current core to the next era. It's not out of the question that guys like Brunicke and Howe could end up teammates with Crosby during that transition period.

Between Pickering, Yager, Brunicke and Howe, the Penguins have the potential to have a pretty WHL-heavy skater core in the coming years if everyone pans out. I asked Pryor what is it about these Western League kids that keep drawing the Penguins to them. He thinks they just keep happening to be the best available when the Penguins are on the clock.

"It's just the way the board fell," Pryor said. "We were real excited with each guy that we got."