Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins appear in steady hands with 1st-year coach Kirk MacDonald
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The Pittsburgh Penguins have placed a considerable amount of trust in Kirk MacDonald.
MacDonald, 41, is in his first campaign leading the Penguins’ American Hockey League affiliate in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
This year marks MacDonald’s first at the AHL level, as he joined the Penguins organization after coaching the Dubuque Fighting Saints of the USHL for two seasons and, before that, six seasons with the Reading Royals of the ECHL.
Heading into this season, Penguins president of hockey operations Kyle Dubas and assistant general manager Jason Spezza believed MacDonald was the man to oversee the final stop before the NHL for the club’s prospects.
So far, MacDonald has demonstrated he’s the right person for the job.
“Kirk has made the transition from the USHL to the AHL well,” Spezza told TribLive. “He’s done a great job of communicating with our young players what the expectations are for them on a daily basis, as well as areas of improvement for them. He’s also done a good job of transferring skills and habits that the players establish in practices to games.”
MacDonald, in praising assistants Sheldon Brookbank and Nick Luukko, goaltending coach Kain Tisi, plus video coach Nick Biamonte, spread out the credit for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s strong season to date.
“The support from top-down, all the way from Kyle, through Jason, has been awesome,” MacDonald said. “(Spezza) and I talk a lot, to say the least. We’ve been on the same page just in the way we want things to be done and how we want the game to be played.
“It makes the adjustment easier when you know you’ve got support from everywhere. From an organizational standpoint, it’s been a really easy transition. Tons of help — the staff have been great. … It’s been a team effort since Day 1. Nothing’s ever easy, but it’s been fun.”
After Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s 5-1 win over Lehigh Valley on Sunday, the Penguins own a 22-10-4 record, good for fourth place in a competitive Atlantic Division.
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MacDonald arrived in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton as the Penguins’ AHL club underwent something of a roster transformation.
That came as a result of moves made by Dubas, which brought an influx of talent to the AHL Penguins’ roster, players MacDonald and his staff are being entrusted to develop into a state of NHL readiness.
Dubas and Spezza, the latter of whom directly oversees the Penguins’ AHL operation, have a particularly strong interest in the development of forwards Rutger McGroarty, Ville Koivunen and Vasily Ponomarev.
McGroarty was acquired last summer when Dubas swung a trade of first-round picks with the Winnipeg Jets, exchanging forward Brayden Yager for McGroarty. Koivunen and Ponomarev were part of the return package from Carolina in the Jake Guentzel trade last season.
Koivunen, 21, is Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s second-leading scorer, with 10 goals and 22 points through 36 games, and the 22-year-old Ponomarev has 21 points (seven goals, 14 assists) through 27 contests.
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“(Ponomarev) is really hard on pucks,” MacDonald said. “He never stops. He’s the hardest-working guy in practice every day, and he brings that same energy into the game. I really, really like his game.
“Ville is more of a puck possession, skilled guy, but he’s a guy who the power play runs through for us. He finds guys, he’s got great vision and really knows how to slow the game down. As he starts to get stronger, he’s going to really take off. You can see it.”
As for McGroarty, who cracked the NHL roster out of training camp and appeared in a handful of games before joining Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, MacDonald has been pleased with his progression.
Since Thanksgiving, points also have started to accrue with more regularity for the 20-year-old, who has six goals with 13 assists in 34 games, skating primarily on a line with Ponomarev at center and Avery Hayes as a fellow winger.
“He’s a guy that, late in games, he needs to be on the ice whether we’re winning or losing,” MacDonald said. “He’s earned that. I think people get caught up in where you get drafted and what happens, but it’s a process for every guy and it’s not an overnight thing.
“We’re trying to put him in a position to not just play in the NHL but play there for a long time. He’s putting in the work on his end to do that, and it’s great to see.”
Part of the challenge this year for MacDonald has been navigating through injuries, an unavoidable reality of pro hockey.
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From the first shift of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s first game, when defenseman Dan Renouf sprained an ankle, the injury bug has hit the Penguins hard, particularly on the blue line.
Jack St. Ivany, Sebastian Aho and Filip Kral all missed time with ailments, and forward Tristan Broz, per Inside AHL Hockey’s Tony Androckitis, is currently sidelined with mononucleosis.
MacDonald, however, refuses to worry about who’s unavailable.
“Somebody’s out? Who cares,” MacDonald said. “It’s somebody else’s opportunity to go in and play. Hopefully they can do a good job, have some success and build confidence of their own.”
Dealing with injuries this season was adversity MacDonald could have seen coming.
Having to help along struggling goaltender Tristan Jarry, whom the Penguins placed on waivers Jan. 15, probably wasn’t.
Jarry had already completed a stint with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in October and November, when he was sent down for conditioning purposes.
But now Jarry finds himself in the AHL indefinitely.
To his credit, Jarry has handled himself professionally in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
“Let’s not kid ourselves: This is not a situation he wants to be in or probably expected to happen,” MacDonald said. “But that being said, when we had him on the conditioning stint, he was awesome, not just performance-wise, but he was great in the room.
“ … He’s down a little bit right now. It’s our job to help him pick himself back up and hopefully get himself another chance where he should be in the NHL.”
So far, MacDonald’s knees haven’t buckled when the hockey gods have thrown him a curveball.
From Penguins management to the players he oversees, MacDonald has been received well.
As Wilkes-Barre/Scranton pushes for positioning in the Calder Cup Playoffs, the team appears to be in steady hands.
“He’s a great coach and even better person,” said defenseman Owen Pickering, who’s split this season between the NHL and AHL. “For us, he has a really good grasp on the room and how the guys are doing — that’s something I noticed. He kind of knows when to get on us and when to encourage us along a little bit, too.”