Pittsburgh Penguins Send Down Top Prospect After Activating Bryan Rust From Injured Reserve

Heading into the NHL season, the Pittsburgh Penguins were luckily mostly healthy beyond missing veteran forward Bryan Rust.

Earlier today, rumblings began to come out that Rust was close to a return after joining the Penguins for practice today and could be activated off of injured reserve any day now.

This evening, the move was made to activate Rust but came at the expense of sending down Ville Koivunen.

The Penguins made the official announcement confirming Rust's activation and in a corresponding move had to send down Ville Koivunen.

The move is disappointing for Koivunen but unfortunately expected as only Koivunen, Ben Kindel, or Harrison Brunicke could be sent down without going through waivers.

However, in the case of Kindel and Brunicke, both players would be unable to return to the NHL after being assigned back to the CHL.

All of these hurdles meant that once Rust was ready Koivunen was the likely candidate to be sent down.

Koivunen, 22, tallied 56 points in 63 games in the AHL last season for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and will likely head back down looking to dominate and prove he deserves another shot in the NHL with the main club.

If the Penguins decide to send Kindel back to the WHL after his 9-game NHL trial Koivunen could end up back with the team.

However, if Kindel sticks in the NHL it could be a much longer road back to an NHL opportunity for Koivunen going forward.