The boys are back! The Penguins take to the ice today for training camp, and as always it will move quickly with the first exhibition game already coming up on Monday night. Next week will build to an exciting crescendo that will see Marc-Andre Fleury return to practice on Friday ahead of his final game next Saturday night. Here’s some of the main storylines we will be watching.
How does the defense sort out?
To put it charitably, there’s a lot of question marks. To put it less diplomatically, this group is looking like an outright weakness at the NHL level based on talent level no matter how it sorts out. There are way too many right shot defenders and while there are plenty of warm left handed bodies, there are more questions than sure things.
Since it doesn’t look like an Erik Karlsson trade is coming, he’ll be a staple that can play 23+ minutes and carry the mail in a huge role. Who his partner will be is much less certain. Will Ryan Graves get a shot? Could it be Owen Pickering’s time? Do the Pens get crazy and move a right shot player like Kris Letang, Matt Dumba or Connor Clifton to their off-side? The possibilities are many, the quality options are few. If you can even say there’s any at all.
New look Penguins
For the first time in a decade, it won’t be Mike Sullivan manning the whistles and running the show when the Penguins open a training camp. Dan Muse gets his first crack at being an NHL head coach and will have his work cut out from him right out the gates. Muse inherits a lower-end team that lacks quality on the blueline and will have to find a way to cut down chances against. Whether the new system be able to facilitate that to some degree or prove to be too uphill of a battle remains to be seen, but the good news is that expectations will be low. If Muse can insert some freshness and help elevate play over a fairly low bar it will be seen as a win.
Young player watch in full effect
Harrison Brunicke went from no where to the final cut last training camp, but where he fits on a crowded right side will be a real question he could impress upon the decision makers with a great showing. Brunicke will have to kick the proverbial door in to earn a temporary nine game NHL cameo before being assigned back to juniors for the season, unless he really emerges as the rare fulltime teenaged NHL defenseman. It’s a lot to ask but so far the youngster has impressed at every turn.
There’s also Ville Koivunen and Rutger McGroarty, with the latter having a question to be answered about his health later today by Kyle Dubas after the announcement McGroarty
will not be participating to start camp. Both Koivunen and McGroarty finished the season in the NHL in featured 18-minute a night roles, but neither are sure things to receive such prime opportunities right off the bat, and the immediate future is especially . Both should be in the mix but it’s going to require good showings to solidify their places with the big club. That also goes for Pickering, who the team could really, really use as a defender with some upside to show himself to be of NHL quality.
Then you’ve got something of a forgotten player in Philip Tomasino, who could be a second line player or could be buried deeper in the lineup if he gets lost in the shuffle or doesn’t perform well.
Marc-Andre Fleury’s latest last goodbye
Has there ever been a preseason game so anticipated? Prices have popped and the mood should be celebratory for Fleury to
play a period and take a final bow in front of the Pittsburgh fans and alongside the players he has been so closely bonded to over the years. The good news is it looks like the game will be readily televised on NHL Network and available beyond for all to see, and it’s coming up in just nine days.
New faces slotting in
There’s a new winger named Anthony looking to revive his career on a one-year deal, Mantha replaces Beauvillier as the main add up front. Mantha’s addition is perhaps complicated by his return from ACL surgery last November. If healthy, Mantha should be on a scoring line (most likely with Evgeni Malkin) and have double-digit goals by the trade deadline and make for a potential flip to a contender.
Deeper in the lineup, 6’6” Justin Brazeau will find a place on a lower line and look to add size and some scoring touch as depth. Tommy Novak isn’t truly a “new” new player, but he only played two games in Pittsburgh due to injury after a mid-season trade and is another fresh face that will find a spot in the lineup. One player hoping to find a place in the lineup will be tryout Robby Fabbri who will come to Pittsburgh looking to land a job.
The defense is begging for a player like Parker Wotherspoon or even Alexander Alexeyev to step up and show they are capable of adding something to the lineup. Neither have been staples previously but necessity might demand a role from players like this. Ditto for Dumba and Clifton — both primarily picked up as salary cap dumps in exchange for draft picks but will look to serve in some capacity that remains to be seen depending on how capable either shows to be in training camp.
Questions in net
What will the Pens get out of Tristan Jarry? Is he going to be the guy who played his way off the team early last season? Or the capable starter? Somewhere in between? I don’t think anyone can have great confidence in exactly what they’re going to get out of Jarry. One thing is for sure, it hasn’t been a pretty picture to start in the last two seasons.
Jarry in October:
2023: 2-5-0, 2.84 GAA, 2 shutouts, .893 save%
2024: 1-1-0, 5.47 GAA, 0 shutouts, .836 save%
The Penguins will have a new backup after the trade of Alex Nedeljkovic, they spent a draft pick on waiver eligible Arturs Silovs, so he should be first in line for the job. Joel Blomqvist could conceivably push both the established goalies and have the Penguins go with three healthy netminders over parts of the season if his play dictates it, and/or if the team is looking for answers they’re not getting from the other goalies.
Silovs is intriguing coming off winning the Calder Cup and being named AHL playoff MVP, but it also can’t be ignored that he’s had his struggles and been inconsistent at the NHL level.
Something old, something new
You could easily build a Penguin opening night lineup and not include all of Kevin Hayes, Noel Acciari and Danton Heinen. All these players are in their 30’s and either slowing down mightily or not coming off great seasons, but all of them also make at least $2 million against the cap, and some like Hayes and Acciari are very respected by players and management alike for their off-ice attitudes, demeanors and intangibles. The story worth watching be how much of the old guard will be sticking around and if there are any trades or waivers to be had to send a veteran out of the plans out of the picture.
Any trade of a player like Rickard Rakell or Bryan Rust, or the always unfortunate training camp injury would open up a spot via the domino effect somewhere down the lineup. Will the Pens be bold enough to use waivers to clear veterans with NHL salaries? One would think they didn’t recently sign players in their 20’s like Tomasino, Brazeau and Connor Dewar to not play them, and those are the very spots that they Heinen/Hayes/Acciari tier of veterans would have been without the summer signings.
The Pens have plenty of cap space to keep 30 players if they could, but the roster limit of 23 healthy players is in effect. That speaks to the broader splits of roster construction means keeping eight defensemen might make sense, which only opens up room for 13 healthy forwards.
