Rosters cut down to two teams, both Team 1 and Team 2 practiced power plays today
Week 2 of Pittsburgh Penguins' training camp is officially underway, and it looks like we're starting to see some formative plans for the Penguins.
The roster was trimmed down to just two teams, and a very early look at new assistant coach David Quinn's power play was on display.
The line combinations for Team 1 were as follows:
Forwards
Anthony Beauvillier-Sidney Crosby-Bryan Rust
Drew O'Connor/Tanner Howe-Blake Lizotte-Noel Acciari
Rutger McGroarty-Vasily Ponomarev-Jesse Puljujarvi
Jonathan Gruden-Tristan Broz-Emil Bemstrom/Bokondji Imama
Defensemen
Matt Grzelcyk-Kris Letang
Owen Pickering-Scooter Brickey
Harrison Brunicke-Dan Renouf
Ryan Shea-John Ludvig
Goaltenders
Joel Blomqvist, Sergei Murashov
The line combinations for Team 2 were as follows:
Forwards
Michael Bunting-Evgeni Malkin-Rickard Rakell
Kevin Hayes-Lars Eller-Cody Glass
Avery Hayes-Joona Koppinen-Valtteri Puustinen
Corey Andonovski/Ville Koivunen-Jimmy Huntington-Sam Poulin
Defensemen
Marcus Pettersson-Sebastian Aho
Ryan Graves-Jack St. Ivany
Isaac Belliveau-Filip Kral-Nathan Clurman (rotating)
Goaltenders
Alex Nedeljkovic, Filip Larsson
Goaltender Tristan Jarry had a scheduled doctor's appointment and missed practice, and defenseman Erik Karlsson is still day-to-day with an upper body injury. He skated this morning along with forwards Jagger Joshua (upper-body) and Matt Nieto (MCL surgery).
Forward Beau Jelsma (upper-body) and goaltender Taylor Gauthier (lower-body) did not skate.
Here are a few notes from Day 4:
- As mentioned before, the Penguins worked on their power play today. It was the first time folks got to see the unit since Quinn took over this past summer.
At first glance, there doesn't appear to be much new structure-wise. However, in the earlygoing, there seemed to be a lot more puck movement and rotation, which can only be a good thing for a unit that has arguably cost this team the playoffs in the last two seasons.
The first unit consisted of Crosby, Malkin, Rust, Rakell, and Letang, and the second unit featured Eller, K. Hayes, Bunting, Beauvillier, and Grzelcyk.
It's important to keep in mind that Karlsson is still on the shelf, so he'll figure to slot in once he returns.
- As head coach Mike Sullivan has reiterated over and over, there's not much to read into as far as line combinations. But I do find it interesting that there is one line consisting of McGroarty, Ponomarev, and Puljujarvi.
Again, maybe not too much to read into here. But this feels like a line that very much may be in competition with one another for, presumably, the final one or two roster spots. The same could maybe be said about the Andonovski/Koivunen, Huntington, and Poulin line.
But I'm curious to see if this line stays together for most of the week. It's mildly intriguing.
- I spoke with Graves this morning, and I'll have a separate piece to come later today. But he mentioned that he feels a lot more comfortable having a year in the Penguins' system under his belt, and he also said that it's vastly different from New Jersey's system.
He and St. Ivany have been paired together for all of camp so far. Akin to the last point, it's foolish at this juncture to read much into anything. But Graves said that he and St. Ivany feel comfortable together.
It's still early, but we may be looking at the Penguins' third pairing to start the season.
- Sullivan continues to emphasize that there are more opportunities for players to crack the lineup than there have been in quite some time.
When you look up and down this training camp roster, it's reasonable to assume who is nearly a lock to make the final 23-man roster and who is, perhaps, on the fringe. When "mathing the math" that way, there are likely 2-3 open forward spots (1 lineup spot, 2 extra spots) and 2 open defensive spots (1 lineup, 1 extra).
It's been a minute since 4-5 spots were up for grabs on the Penguins' roster. There are genuinely so many guys in the mix right now, so it's hard to say how that's all going to shake out. Waivers will probably play a part.
But it will be interesting to see some of the roster cuts over the next week. There's a decent chance Penguins' fans may actually see a younger prospect or two crack the final roster.