Tristan Broz’s path to the Penguins has been anything but straightforward, and the last two seasons have made that clear. Health issues kept interrupting what looked like a real opening, but he finally got his NHL debut during the 2025-26 campaign and now faces another fight for ice time in Pittsburgh.
Broz, a center who was ranked No. 16 in the 2025 ranking, is 23 years old and listed at 6-foot, 204 pounds. He had been on the verge of getting his first NHL look during the 2024-25 season when mononucleosis knocked him out for a month and a half. That delay pushed his debut back until Nov. 26, when he skated in a win over the Buffalo Sabres.
In that game, Broz logged 11 and a half minutes and put two shots on goal. He was back with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton a few days later, and injuries later in the season again blocked what could have been another call-up.
The timing was brutal. Broz had just caught fire, piling up 10 points - four goals and six assists - in a five-game stretch and earning a spot on the AHL All-Star roster before an injury ended his run at the end of January. He returned briefly, then got hit with another injury that kept him out for 15 games.
That second setback landed at the same time the Penguins were dealing with a wave of injuries of their own. Sidney Crosby, Blake Lizotte, Noel Acciari and Rickard Rakell were all sidelined around then, which opened the door for Broz.
“I could say, pretty definitively I think, that if he hadn’t gotten injured on Saturday in Cleveland, he would have been up and playing,” Kyle Dubas said about Broz at his trade deadline press conference March 6.
Broz never got another NHL game last season, but he did make it back in time to help Wilkes-Barre/Scranton during its conference finals run. He finished the AHL postseason with 11 points - three goals and eight assists - in 15 games, showing more production once the stakes rose.
Even so, Broz admitted in June that he hadn’t met his own standard. Speaking after the WBS Penguins were eliminated by the Toronto Marlies, he said, “I think I honestly fell way short of the expectations that I had for myself, for a myriad of different reasons,” and later added, “I think there’s obviously a lot more work to be done, and I think I got closer to taking it to the place that I want to go, but like I said, obviously wasn’t quite what we needed to have happen.”
His path forward is complicated by the Penguins’ center depth. Tommy Novak’s three-year deal runs through the 2029-30 season, and with Crosby, Novak, Ben Kindel and Blake Lizotte projected to fill those spots, Broz may have to wait for another injury opening to get back into the NHL mix.
For now, staying healthy is the priority. If another chance comes, the Penguins are likely to want Broz ready as a center option in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton alongside David Gustafsson, acquired in the trade for Jack St. Ivany, and 2025 first-round pick Bill Zonnon.
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