WILKES-BARRE, Pa. — With a decade of playing NHL-affiliated hockey under his belt, Taylor Fedun is well aware of the dynamic between the Penguins of Pittsburgh and those that reside in Wilkes-Barre.

A member of Pittsburgh’s organization since signing on as a free agent in July 2021, Fedun has served as captain of the American Hockey League’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins for the past year and a half. Like a number of other players on roster, Fedun has been asked to take part in the shuffle between the AHL and NHL franchises when the NHL team is in need of reinforcements.

But when players like Fedun, Jonathan Gruden, Mark Friedman and Drew O’Connor (to list a few) have been called up to the big club over the last two months, their departures have posed problems for the Baby Penguins, who are tied for fourth in the AHL’s Atlantic Division as of Monday afternoon.

“We’ve had some tough stretches and it’s tough in this league: you get hit with two teams’ worth of injuries,” Fedun said. “Any time somebody gets a tweak or an injury up top, we lose someone and then we’ve got our own things to deal with.”

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton has dealt with its lion’s share of other challenges this season, too; in early December, general manager Ron Hextall announced that prospect Sam Poulin would be taking a leave of absence for personal reasons. The former No. 21 overall pick who was third on the team with 37 points last season has not played since.

Fellow forward Filip Hallander has been sidelined for a good chunk of time. Hallander hasn’t donned a Wilkes-Barre/Scranton sweater since he was stretchered off the ice after he fell and hit his head during a game against the Charlotte Checkers in early January. Hallander was one of the team’s leading point-getters before the injury, which has caused him to be sidelined for over a dozen games.

Even without Poulin and Hallander in the locker room, the Penguins have persevered to the tune of a 20-16-5 record.

“We’ve been in every game and I’m incredibly proud of the resiliency of this group to stay in the fight,” Fedun said.

Staying competitive wasn’t quite so easy at times last season. Between Dec. 14, 2021 and Jan. 14, 2022, the Penguins couldn’t churn out a win, going 0-7-1 while losing by a combined margin of 36-16.

But since that halfway point of the 2021-22 campaign which ended in a playoff berth, third-year coach J.D. Forrest believes Wilkes-Barre/Scranton has made some progress.

“I think some of the momentum we had last year kind of carried over to this year,” Forrest said. “It’s some new guys in there and we’ve had a lot of change over this first part of the year. So we’ve had some young guys or second-year guys playing a lot of minutes, especially the last month with guys going up to Pittsburgh.”

While veteran players such as Fedun, Tyler Sikura and Jamie Devane (all 30 years of age or older) are sprinkled throughout the roster, there’s also those like Raivis Ansons, who can legally buy an alcoholic drink effective this past Sunday. The balanced roster is one that Forrest has enjoyed coaching.

“I think it’s a nice little cross-section of the age group in the American League,” Forrest said. “Everybody’s kind of helping each other one way or another, whether it’s young guys with enthusiasm, kind of that they’re so excited to be a part of this now, or the older guys that have been around and know how to handle everything. It’s a good combo.”

The headliners of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton squad are Alexander Nylander and Valtteri Puustinen, who are 24 and 23 years old, respectively, and are the team’s co-points leaders with 34. Both Nylander and Puustinen are well on their way to eclipsing the 42 points they each racked up last season.

Their respective developments have come in conjunction with expanded opportunities for players further down the depth chart. While O’Connor has spent the last month in Pittsburgh along with Friedman  — aside from a quick two-day demotion back to the AHL — their formerly occupied minutes of ice time have been divvied out to the rest of the team.

“From the individual standpoint, some of the guys are clearly making some steps,” Forrest said. “From a team standpoint, I think it’s helping our depth.”

Ten players have scored at least five goals this season and three goalies have manned the crease, all of whom have posted under 3 goals-against average marks. A squad that easily could’ve let its season spiral after losing key cogs like Poulin and Hallander has managed to stay the course, playing .500 hockey since the latter’s injury.

Whether Wilkes-Barre/Scranton can improve upon its first-round playoff exit of last season remains to be seen. But while much of what the team has endured is in stark contrast to the norms of a typical AHL squad’s season, the Penguins have succeeded thus far at avoiding previous plaguing pitfalls.

“It speaks to the leadership and how those guys can control the emotion of the locker room,” Forrest said. “And then, the young guys have been able to rise to the occasion when they’ve had the opportunity.

“I think our ability to bounce back and have guys in and out of the lineup and maybe count on one guy one night and then somebody else steps up another night, that’s been big for us.”