One of the Newest Penguins Set to Make Impact Soon

The Penguins Big Trade Came With Some Potential Value For The Team

When news broke of the Guentzel trade, it seemed to come in waves via social media before confirmed by the Penguins Organization later that night.

Vasily Ponomarev was on the road playing for the Chicago Wolves when he was woken with the news by a teammate.

He told the Pittsburgh Post Gazette the details:



Once the trade was finalized Kyle Dubas informed Ponomarev that he would be going to Wilkes-Barre Scranton to play with the Penguins AHL organization. From there, he expects the forward to progress into an NHL level player.

What Are The Penguins Getting With Ponomarev

Vasily Ponomarev is not a big guy, at 5'11 180lbs, and his play dipped from last year's 24 team leading goals to just 8 in 39 games. He is a left shot and thinks of himself as a two-way player. He does have one way to describe his play.


He calls himself a creative player, who did have a short time in the NHL after the New Year. In that brief time he learned the importance of not just dumping the puck in.

New Penguins addition Vasily Ponomarev scoring his first goal in his NHL debut on January 5th pic.twitter.com/PZbahE2kMF— Jason Shetler (@Jason_Shetler) March 8, 2024

He is also suffering from a plus/minus rating of -23 over three seasons. He had a career worst -17 just this season with the Wolves.

He told the Post Gazette:


One thing Ponomarev was told when he finally did get to talk with Dubas was that if he is going to do the work, he will get a chance to play. We will wait and see what he does in the Penguins organization.

As Read On: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - Penguins Pipeline: Vasily Ponomarev expects to be a ‘playmaker' in Pittsburgh