Penguins sign defenseman Harrison Brunicke to entry-level contract

The 44th overall pick in the 2024 NHL Entry Draft is signed through the 2026-27 season

On Thursday evening, the Pittsburgh Penguins announced the signing of Harrison Brunicke, their first pick of the 2024 NHL Entry Draft in Vegas, to a three-year entry-level contract. The deal runs through the 2026-27 season.

Brunicke, a native of Johannesburg, South Africa, played three seasons for the Western Hockey League's (WHL) Kamloops Blazers. He registered 10 goals and 21 points during the 2023-24 season, and he also put up a goal and four points for Team Canada at the 2024 World Under-18 Championship.

The 6-foot-3, 196-pound right defenseman profiles as a dynamic two-way defenseman with good stickhandling skills and a rangy defensive game. He is strong on the puck and has some skating prowess to go along with it.

If Brunicke makes it to the NHL level, he will be only the second South African-born player to do so. The other was goaltender Olie Kolzig, who was selected by the Washington Capitals in the 1989 draft and spent 17 seasons in the league, including a Vezina-winning campaign in 1999-2000. 

Known to fans as "Olie the Goalie," Kolzig spent nearly his entire career with the Capitals aside from his final season in 2008-09. He played eight games with the Tampa Bay Lightning before a biceps injury ended his season, and effectively, his career. 

And if Pens fans are lucky, maybe Brunicke - like Kolzig - will star in his own top-tier commercial one day as well.

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