The Pittsburgh Penguins have sent forwards Tristan Broz and Oliver Okuliar to the American Hockey League affiliate in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, closing a brief and injury-interrupted stay on the NHL roster for both.
The club announced the reassignments after the two had been carried as injured and non-roster to open the 2026-27 season, the result of setbacks suffered in the preseason.
Broz is the more established name of the pair. The 23-year-old from River Falls, Wisconsin, was taken 58th overall in the 2021 draft and made his NHL debut last November, his only appearance with Pittsburgh so far.
Everything else in his professional career has come with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. A national champion at the University of Denver, he has developed into a useful secondary scorer in the AHL.
In his first pro season, he had 19 goals and 37 points in 59 games, then added a goal and three points in a short playoff run.
Last year, he posted 16 goals and 39 points in 47 games with a plus-18 rating, then contributed three goals and 11 points in 15 playoff games as the Baby Penguins went deeper.
Pittsburgh opened this season with enough injuries that Broz might have been in the mix for opening night had he stayed healthy.
A lower-body injury in the preseason finale took that possibility off the table. He also finished the exhibition schedule without a point in three games, so a roster spot was never assured even before the injury.
Okuliar’s path into the organization is newer.
The 26-year-old was acquired from the Florida Panthers over the summer in a deal that sent defenseman Emil Pieniniemi the other way, and Pittsburgh signed him to a one-year contract days later.
He spent last season overseas, but Florida still held his rights after signing him before the 2024-25 season.
In his only year with Skellefteå AIK of the Swedish Hockey League, the Trencin, Slovakia, native scored 15 goals and 29 points in 46 games with a plus-17 rating, then added six goals and 13 points in 15 playoff games.
At 26 he sits on the older edge of prospect status, and the AHL will be a stiffer test than the SHL. If he produces, though, Pittsburgh’s injury picture leaves room for a call-up as a replacement forward.
For now, both players return to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton to get healthy and play, with Broz continuing a development path that has already included one NHL game and Okuliar trying to turn a strong European season into a foothold in North America.
