The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins made a pair of roster moves Wednesday, bringing defenseman David Breazeale back from the ECHL’s Florida Everblades while sending defensemen Maleek McGowan and Ryan Mast to Florida.
Breazeale is no stranger to the organization’s recent postseason picture. Last season, the Grandville, Michigan native played nine regular-season games as a rookie for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and added two more appearances in the Calder Cup Playoffs. In 11 career regular-season games with the Penguins, he has four points, with one goal and three assists, along with 10 penalty minutes.
He also spent the full run of the Wheeling Nailers’ 2026 Kelly Cup Playoff push, which ended with a loss to the Everblades in the Eastern Conference Final. Breazeale picked up two assists in 17 postseason games.
McGowan’s season has been brief so far. The 21-year-old appeared in one game for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, making his pro debut at forward in the Penguins’ Oct. 4 matchup against the Hartford Wolf Pack. He finished that game without a point and with one shot on goal.
The Penguins signed McGowan to an AHL contract in April after he wrapped up his junior career in the Ontario Hockey League. His final season with the Kingston Frontenacs featured 14 goals and 22 assists for 36 points, good for fifth on the team.
He led the club’s defensemen in goals and also tied for the team lead with two shorthanded goals. In 208 career OHL games, the Toronto native totaled 86 points on 24 goals and 62 assists.
Mast arrived in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton this past offseason on an AHL deal after a year with the Rockford IceHogs. The 23-year-old right-shot defenseman put up 14 assists in 46 games last season.
Drafted by Boston in the sixth round, 181st overall, in 2021, Mast has 19 career AHL points, all assists, across 90 games with Rockford and Providence. He has also recorded 16 points, including five goals and 11 assists, in 47 ECHL games with the Maine Mariners.
The Penguins are back at home Friday, Oct. 23, when they host the Belleville Senators at Mohegan Arena at Casey Plaza. It will be the first 28/22 News Fan Control Friday of the season, with select draft beers priced at $2 from 6:00-7:30 p.m. courtesy of Coors Light. The night also includes postgame player autographs presented by Northeast Music Center and a Kids Free Friday promotion, with children 12 and under admitted free with the purchase of an adult ticket.
Puck drop is set for 7:05 p.m.
Season-ticket plans for 2026-27 are already available, including Full-Season, 22-game, 12-game, Flexbook and Premium Seating options. Fans can reach the team at (570) 208-7367 for details, while individual-game tickets can be purchased through wbspenguins.com, the Mohegan Arena at Casey Plaza Box Office or by calling the Penguins’ front office at the same number. Every Penguins game can also be streamed through AHLTV on FloHockey, which carries all 32 AHL teams’ regular-season and Calder Cup Playoff games, plus more than 21,000 hockey games from other professional and junior leagues and other live events on FloSports.
In Other News...
Blue Jackets Fans Should Watch This Penguins Trade Twist Closely
The Penguins appear to be edging toward a roster reset, and Rickard Rakell has emerged as one of the names worth watching as that shift takes shape. He is coming off an uneven season and is viewed around the league as a player whose fit may be more about the present than the future, especially with Pittsburgh looking to get younger while sorting out its next phase.
Rakell also carries a contract situation that makes any move more complicated than it might seem at first glance. He has one year left on his deal at $5 million per season, and his eight-team no-trade list gives him some control over where this might go, even as previous conversations about moving him never got off the ground. For a club trying to find value in a thin market, the challenge is whether Pittsburgh can turn a low trade value into something useful without waiting too long. [Read more 🡒]
Penguins Suddenly Face A Concerning Ben Kindel Situation
The Penguins were dealing with far more than a routine travel day after forward Ben Kindel suffered a medical episode shortly after the team plane took off from Salt Lake City, triggering an emergency landing and a trip to University of Utah Hospital. Kindel was reported to be in stable condition, conscious and alert, a relief for a team that had to absorb the kind of alarming news nobody wants to hear in the middle of a road trip.
Pittsburgh responded by making its scheduled practice optional, and there were no roster moves announced in the immediate aftermath. General manager Kyle Dubas is expected to address the media Thursday with an update on Kindels status, leaving the Penguins and their fans waiting for a clearer picture of what comes next. [Read more 🡒]
Penguins Road Trip Exposed A Problem Fans Cant Ignore
The last road swing was supposed to be a measuring stick, and instead it put the Penguins face to face with the same problems that have been piling up over the past stretch. Against quality competition, the pace was hard to sustain, the defensive structure wobbled and puck possession slipped away too often, leaving Pittsburgh to chase games instead of controlling them.
One of the few encouraging signs has come in goal, where Arturs Silovs has looked more settled and more controlled than he did last season after putting in offseason work. But even with that progress, the bigger issue remains front and center for the Penguins: the margins are getting thinner, the losses are stacking up and the road trip only made it harder to ignore where the team is struggling most. [Read more 🡒]