As the season draws nearer and since there’s a little more competition involved for the Penguins in training camp than there has been in past years, let’s go back to how the current outlook is settling in for the roster. What has changed since this was done last month? We can start with a few […]
As the season draws nearer and since there’s a little more competition involved for the Penguins in training camp than there has been in past years, let’s go back to how the current outlook is settling in for the roster. What has changed since this was done last month?
We can start with a few injuries. It looks like Joel Blomqvist, Kevin Hayes and Rutger McGroarty will be on the injured reserve to start the season – answering a couple of questions there but raising a few more.
Training camp performances will be interesting for the coaches and decision makers to weigh. Young players like Tristan Broz, Avery Hayes, Ben Kindel, Harrison Brunicke and Sergei Murashov have all had very strong Septembers and offer varying degrees of optimism for the future. Is it enough to crack the roster? That’s a tough question to answer from the outside, but we’ll put what the picture should be.
Forwards
On the roster (11): Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Rickard Rakell, Bryan Rust, Anthony Mantha, Justin Brazeau, Blake Lizotte, Ville Koivunen, Tommy Novak, Philip Tomasino, Connor Dewar
The battle for 2-3 spots: Danton Heinen, Robby Fabbri, Tristan Broz, Avery Hayes, Ben Kindel, Filip Hallander
IR: Noel Acciari, Kevin Hayes, Rutger McGroarty
The big question here will be just how willing the Pens would be to move on from an NHL staple like Heinen (or even Fabbri) in order to incorporate the younger wave into the mix right from the start.
A complicating matter, as seen in the next area, is that Pittsburgh very well might keep eight defenders on their opening night roster – especially if Harrison Brunicke earns a spot. That would remove one forward from the mix down to 13 total, and 11 spots ought to be considered wrapped up. That makes for some late camp drama over whether the Pens will take the path of least resistance and maintain their depth by assigning some players back to the AHL to start the season like Broz and A. Hayes, or go the other way and have the younger forwards in the competition stick right off the bat.
At this point, Ben Kindel has deserved to put himself into the conversation due to his performance in the four preseason games that he’s played in. Kindel has taken tangible steps and shown growth and improvement at every viewing. There’s always the risk that due to his age, 18, and his overall game is not ready for the NHL regular season. If he makes the team, it likely would just be for up to nine games so that he could be sent back to juniors before appearing in a 10th game and triggering the start of his entry level contract. Sometimes it’s OK for a young player to get a long look and have a good preseason and leave it at that. But would it be the worst thing in the world to rotate players like Brazeau and Tomasino as the 13th forward for a couple of weeks to get a look at Kindel? Probably not for the Penguins. That still seems like a big leap to actually include Kindel with the team, it’s a credit to his excellent performance that this conversation can be had, we’ll see what comes from it.
If Kindel is reluctantly moved back, the Pens would likely have two spots to fill between the vets (Heinen, Fabbri) and the youngsters (Broz, Hayes). Heinen is an easy player to write off or forget, but he also brings that higher floor and experience to know what to expect. Perhaps the best compromise outcome is to split the difference and keep one of the vets and one of the young players, and then see where it goes from there.
Questions will have to be answered soon, Acciari is not expected to be out long-term, and even K. Hayes should be back from IR before the season gets too deep. Based on the impressive way the next wave of younger forwards are trending, it would appear that sooner or later the team is going to need to make difficult choices to move on from veterans. Seeing if that will come as soon as this week for a guy like Broz or A. Hayes to jump over someone like Heinen will be one of the most intriguing questions that the Pens will have to answer. Often times for depth, the team might lean to keeping the older players and assigning the youngsters to the AHL, so that they have something to fall back on. For all we know, there could be a situation like last year where Lars Eller was traded early in the season that could open up more room.
Defense
On the roster (7) : Erik Karlsson, Kris Letang, Parker Wotherspoon, Ryan Graves, Matt Dumba, Connor Clifton, Owen Pickering
The big question: Harrison Brunicke
What to do with Brunicke will be a big swing point for how the roster looks. As mentioned above, the team could use that roster spot to keep an extra forward if they return Brunicke to juniors. They also only keep three left handed defenders in this outlook, which means sending Brunicke back could also mean giving that spot to a fringe player like Ryan Shea, Caleb Jones or Alexander Alexeyev to provide another option for the left side. Based on the lack of strength on that left side, it would be a good idea to have additional choices there.
The Pens haven’t closed the door on using a right shot defender on their off-side, but they also haven’t looked to experiment in training camp by seeing someone like Dumba, Clifton or even Letang on the left and paired with a right shot.
In all, Brunicke’s play has been strong enough that he will be in serious consideration to get at least that nine game NHL stint. Teenaged defensemen are a rare and almost mythical being in the NHL, it would seem the most likely result that Brunicke won’t be in Pittsburgh all season — but the door is open for him to get a look and see how it goes.
Goalies
On the roster (2): Tristan Jarry and Arturs Silovs
IR: Joel Blomqvist
This might be the easiest area to project, after the injury to Blomqvist makes this fairly straight forward to start the season. As we saw last season, however, it may not stay that way for very long depending on how the performances go.
Murashov has had a great camp, but he’s 21-years old and only has 17 total AHL games under his belt. The list of 21-year old NHL goalies was limited to 20 minutes last season across the whole league, to say he’s still incredibly young for the position. In this situation, patience is best for Murashov to head to Wilkes-Barre and gain more experience for the future. If Jarry or Silovs faceplants and Murashov keeps excelling at the AHL level, maybe something during the season could be considered, for now this is a spot where the veterans will carry the roster spots out of camp.
Category: General Sports
