As Murashov noted, his three training sessions were different.
For the first time, Murashov was still somewhat unknown. He spent time with Wheeling of the ECHL in the first half of the 2024-25 season, posting a 13-game hitting streak that spanned November 6th through January 8th.
Murashov then posted a 12-3 record with the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, which included a 10-game hitting streak that set a team rookie record. After the season, Penguins assistant GM Jason Spezza said the sky was the limit for Murashov, but preached patience with his youth, passing game and overall depth at the position.
Management ultimately decided to release Murashov after the second training camp despite a stellar showing. Murashov admitted that at this time last year “I was leaving this building in an unpleasant state”, but he did not show it.
Penguins president of hockey operations and GM Kyle Dubas said Murashov didn’t sulk or complain, just attacked every day with his usual energy and was named the AHL’s October goaltender, helping Murashov earn his first call-up.
After debuting in Pittsburgh against Los Angeles and recording his first win against Swedish Nashville, Murashov returned to WBS. He was named an AHL All-Star for the second time in as many years and started all 15 WBS games in the Calder Cup playoffs. He posted a 2.11 goals-against average and a .931 save percentage.
“Sergei, obviously, has been incredible and I think he’s instilled a lot of confidence in the rest of the team to go out and do what they need to do and that he’s going to be there to support them,” said Penguins Director of Minor League Operations and WBS Assistant GM Amanda Kessel.
“He’s always been a pretty consistent guy and goalie in his approach. It’s incredible to watch. But what’s more, he doesn’t have too many weak goals, and it’s not often that he has back-to-back bad games.
That’s evident in how the cerebral Murashov, who is wise beyond his years, has described his approach to training this summer.
“After the season, I asked myself: well, in all areas, how can I become better in each area, what to do better,” Murashov said. “After the season, I had a lot of conversations with the coaches. We kind of go through what can we do better, what did we do well, what are my strengths and basically, yeah, really productive work.”
He spent most of July on the ice picking up fundamentals, saying with a laugh that “it’s so boring, but you have to do all this.’ Murashov has taken up yoga off the ice, calling it “a great thing for mind, body, balance, this connection.”
In August, Murashov continued to grind on the rink. He made many videos with goalkeeping coach Andy Chiodo. Murashov worked with Penguins consultant Dr. Kevin Wildenhouse in sports psychology. And he traveled to Minnesota to work on his hand-eye coordination with True Focus Vision’s Josh Tucker.
Murashov really did everything in his power to put himself in the best position for the 2026-27 season. Now in his third camp, Murashov has a decent opportunity to continue building on the potential he has shown.
“But at the end of the day it’s just one step and the question is, what’s my next step?” Murashov said. “And just keep moving forward, moving forward.”
