On Sunday, the Pittsburgh Penguins re-assigned their youngest goaltending prospect to his junior team, trimming the roster by one.
Just as they did last season, the Pittsburgh Penguins are easing into their roster cuts.
And, on Sunday, they made their first one.
Pittsburgh re-assigned goaltender Matvei Nikonovich to his OHL club, the Barrie Colts, making him the first cut of 2026 training camp. Nikonovich, 18, was selected in the fifth round (160th overall) by the Penguins in this year's draft after they traded into the draft to select him.
The 6-foot-2, 215-pound Belarusian netminder put together a nice season in the MHL - Russia's junior league - in 2025-26, posting a 1.96 goals-against average and a .939 save percentage in 38 appearances. He was selected by the Colts in the 2026 CHL Import Draft on Jun. 30, and this came after his MHL team, Ladia Togliatti, disbanded.
After sending back Nikonovich, the Penguins are down to 68 players in camp. They are set to play four pre-season games in five days this week, starting with the Buffalo Sabres at home on Monday. They will play the second part of a back-to-back on Tuesday against the Detroit Red Wings in Pittsburgh before a day off Wednesday.
Nothing has been confirmed by the team, but a larger wave of roster cuts should be expected Wednesday, before the Penguins hit the road for their final two pre-season games against the Columbus Blue Jackets and Sabres.
The roster for Monday's game was announced earlier on Sunday.
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