Penguins A to Z: Vasily Ponomarev's once bright NHL future is now in doubt

With the Pittsburgh Penguins entering the offseason for a third consecutive year without a playoff appearance, TribLive will offer Penguins A to Z, a player-by-player look at all 57 individuals signed to an NHL contract — including those whose deals do not begin until future seasons — with the organization.

Starting with Noel Acciari and going on through to Philip Tomasino (regrettably, there is no Z on the payroll), every player will be profiled in alphabetical order.

This series is scheduled to be published Mondays through Saturdays leading up until June 24, four days before the start of the NHL Draft. In the event of a transaction, that schedule will be altered as necessary.

(Note: All contract information courtesy of Puckpedia.)

Vasily Ponomarev

Position: Center

Shoots: Left

Age: 23

Height: 5-foot-11

Weight: 180 pounds

2024-25 NHL statistics: Three games, zero points (zero goals, zero assists), 10:02 of average ice time per contest

2024-25 AHL regular season statistics: 55 games, 41 points (15 goals, 26 assists),

2024-25 AHL postseason statistics: Two games, zero points (zero goals, zero assists)

Contract: In the final year of a three-year entry-level contract with a salary cap hit of $795,000. Pending restricted free agent this upcoming offseason.

(Ponomarev is exempt from waivers for any assignment to a minor league affiliate.)

Acquired: Trade, March 7, 2024

This season: From the moment he was acquired as part of the blockbuster trade that sent All-Star forward Jake Guentzel to the Carolina Hurricanes, there was hope Vasily Ponomarev could make an immediate contribution to the Penguins.

That wasn’t just external optimism. President of hockey operations Kyle Dubas suggested Ponomarev could finish the 2023-24 season with the NHL club.

A high-ankle sprain Ponomarev suffered in March of 2024, halted those aspirations, however, and postponed his potential arrival with the NHL club to the 2024-25 campaign.

But another injury — a suspected left shoulder ailment that happened during a preseason contest on Oct. 1 — landed Ponomarev on injured reserve to open the regular season.

Sidelined until Oct. 31, Ponomarev was assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton to open November, Ponomarev generated only one assist in his first American Hockey League games of the season before being recalled to the NHL roster on Nov. 14 when injuries sidelined a handful of veteran forwards.

A center by trade, Ponomarev was deployed as a right winger in his first three games with the Pittsburgh Penguins before being returned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton by Nov. 23.

Moved to the left wing of the AHL squad’s third line, Ponomarev gained substantial traction in terms of production, posting nine points (four goals, five assists) over eight games, including a four-point effort (three goals, one assist) during a 6-2 road win against the Hartford Wolf Pack on Dec. 7.

WHAT A MISSILE FROM PONO FOR HIS SECOND OF THE NIGHT pic.twitter.com/AZOFz9TA5K

— Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (@WBSPenguins) December 8, 2024

Ponomarev returned to center by Jan. 3 and — aside from a one-day recall to the NHL club on Feb. 8 — remained there within Wilkes-Barre/Scranton for the bulk of the regular season. Deployed at his listed position and healthy, Ponomarev collected 29 points (10 goals, 19 assists) in his final 37 games of the regular season at the AHL level while working on both special teams units.

Pono rips it from the circle!

Harrison Brunicke also registers his first pro point with the primary assist! pic.twitter.com/meDHp386w0

— Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (@WBSPenguins) March 29, 2025

A third recall on April 10 allowed Ponomarev to complete the NHL season as the Penguins’ fourth-line center in the club’s final three games.

Returned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Ponomarev was held without a point in that team’s two-game run during the AHL postseason.

On Wednesday, Ponomarev returned to his native Russia by signing a three-year contract with Avangard Omsk of Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League.

The future: Just speaking from a procedural perspective, the Penguins can — and will likely — extend him a qualifying offer as a pending restricted free agent. That minor transaction will allow them to retain his NHL rights.

But from a more profound point of view, something went really catawampus here.

Ponomarev was a significant part of the future, or at least projected to be, as a bottom-six center. And he harbored legitimate aspirations of being an NHLer, dating back to his teenage years when he opted to jump to this continent to learn the North American game at the junior level with the Shawinigan Cataractes of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and continuing through his tenure in the Hurricanes’ system.

Injuries certainly derailed things from time to time, but he seemed to be in a good position to become a steady NHLer with a rebuilding Penguins squad.

Obviously, returning to his home country and making a lucrative salary with limited (or no) taxes has an obvious appeal. But it’s a considerable abandonment of NHL dreams for a player who seemed to genuinely enjoy life in North America.

But it doesn’t mean Ponomarev can’t or won’t return to the Penguins.

Assuming they qualify him, they could potentially re-sign him in a future offseason. Something similar happened with fellow forward prospect Filip Hallander who just re-signed with the Penguins after signing in his native Sweden during the 2023 offseason.

But that is strictly a hypothetical scenario at this point. Ponomarev’s once seemingly bright future with the Penguins is now in doubt.