Penguins/NHL
Pittsburgh on Friday dressed a roster of:
Line 1: Ville Koivunen-Sidney Crosby-Rickard Rakell | Line 2: Anthony Mantha-Evgeni Malkin-Justin Brazeau | Line 3: Tommy Novak-Ben Kindel-Philip Tomasino | Line 4: Connor Dewar-Noel Acciari-Filip Hallander
Scratches: Blake Lizotte, Avery Hayes
With where both are in their development, Pittsburgh is more comfortable with Hallander floating as that 12th-14th forward than they would be Avery Hayes. Indications are not to read a ton into Blake Lizotte being scratched.
With the Bryan Rust injury, the prominent decision is coming down to whether to give Ben Kindel a nine-game run and there’s arguments for and against. Just the experience of being around Sidney Crosby for a couple more weeks could lean this in one particular direction. If you’re going to keep Kindel, To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!
— Best player throughout Camp: Erik Karlsson and that’s not a misprint
— Philip Tomasino with a strong finish to the week bought himself sometime but he is among the bubble players who won’t have a long leash in the lineup. Bryan Rust, Rutger McGroarty are not that far away from returning in the coming weeks.
— One of the biggest head scratchers with this new coaching staff is a couple things and this is coming from evalutors on the outside; The belief Justin Brazeau can play a top-6 role even in a short-term role has led to classic talk of thinking you’re smarter than others and Pittsburgh’s staff thinking Caleb Jones can play a No. 2 pairing role, let alone being a regular in the lineup is mindboggling to some. Expectations around the league hasn’t changed that Pittsburgh’s defensive group is going to get trounced more often than not.
— Pittsburgh internally has planned to start Tristan Jarry in the season opener Tuesday night. Did Friday night’s performance and a so-so camp overall in practice sessions To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!
— Is Owen Pickering going to be that typical ‘previous regime first-round pick’ who gets undervalued by the new regime? There seems to be a little too much nitpicking with the Penguins wanting Pickering to improve his reads that they feel is To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!
— The coaching staff is heavily involved in the final decision on To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!
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