Dan Muse Confirms the Reason Why the Penguins Unexpectedly Sent Down Top Prospect Ville Koivunen

The Pittsburgh Penguins came into the NHL season trusting their young players keeping all of Ville Koivunen, Ben Kindel, and Harrison Brunicke as rookies on the roster.

However, this did not last long as with the return of top winger Bryan Rust the Penguins decided to demote Koivunen to the AHL in a move that shocked and frustrated many fans.

Many fans were hoping some of the underperforming veterans would be sent down on waivers similar to what happened with Ryan Graves in the preseason but instead the Penguins made the simple decision to send Koivunen back avoiding waivers.

Tonight, head coach Dan Muse spoke about the factors including and beyond waivers that went into sending Koivunen down.

During a recent interview, Muse explained that while waiver eligibility was a consideration Koivunen was likely going to be a scratch once Rust returned to the lineup.

As a result, the Penguins front office and staff felt it would be better for Koivunen's development to head to the AHL where he can play a lot and be dominant.

Part of it was also looking at if he was going to be out of the lineup which he was because we needed the roster spot and he was going to be the one coming out.

The thought process was he can play games. We'll see where it all goes he has a lot of upside.