Penguins forward Bryan Rust resumes practicing

The start of the 2025-26 season is pretty similar to how Bryan Rust began the 2024-25 campaign.

Injured.

Rust missed the first two games of last season and all he managed to do was set career highs in goals (31) and points (65).

As the Pittsburgh Penguins forward recovers from an undisclosed injury he suffered in training camp last week, is he trying to simply follow a successful blueprint?

“No,” Rust smirked. “I’m not that superstitious.”

Simply being on the ice for practice Wednesday was a super development in his convalescence, however. Rust skated in a full-contact capacity while operating as a reserve forward in line rushes.

“It felt pretty good out there,” Rust said following Wednesday’s practice. “It’s good to be back out with the team today.”

Rust suffered an undisclosed injury during a practice session on Oct. 1. The next day, the team offered a timeline of a minimum of two weeks for him to return to the lineup. As such, Rust was officially placed on injured reserve on Monday, the first day of the NHL season. Per league rules, players must remain on injured reserve for a minimum of seven days.

That designation can be retroactive to the preseason, thus making Rust eligible to be activated from injured reserve as soon as Thursday, according to a team spokesperson, allowing him to potentially rejoin the lineup for the home opener against the New York Islanders that same day.

“Yeah, it (stinks),” Rust said of his ailment. “It’s been a long offseason, so I would’ve liked to just jump right in there. Stuff happens.”

What has happened in the absence of Rust (along with fellow injured forwards Kevin Hayes and Rutger McGroarty) is that opportunity was created for the likes of teenage defenseman Harrison Brunicke, 19, and forward Ben Kindel, 18.

Each player is eligible to rejoin their junior team but can play up to nine NHL games before the first year of each of their entry-level contracts is tolled.

With a few of the incumbents on the roster sidelined to open the regular season, the Penguins opted to give Brunicke and Kindel a look in NHL games of consequence while they can.

The rookies made their NHL debuts during Tuesday’s 3-0 road win against the Penguins.

“It’s a really exciting time for the team,” Rust said. “These are guys who come in here, and they’ve earned every inch that they’ve had so far. It’s great to see them having success. Both of those guys have looked great. They looked really good last night. I think they’re only just going to get better for us.”

Notes:

The Penguins’ lines and pairings during Wednesday’s practice:

41 Ville Koivunen – 87 Sidney Crosby – 67 Rickard Rakell

39 Anthony Mantha – 71 Evgeni Malkin – 16 Justin Brazeau

19 Tommy Novak – 81 Ben Kindel – 11 Filip Hallander

18 Connor Dewar – 46 Blake Lizotte – 55 Noel Acciari

28 Parker Wotherspoon – 65 Erik Karlsson

5 Ryan Shea – 58 Kris Letang

82 Caleb Jones – 45 Harrison Brunicke

75 Connor Clifton – 24 Matt Dumba

Rust and forward Philip Tomasino operated as reserves and mixed in with the lines.