Bylsma Tidbits: Staal, Orpik named assistant captains; Asham Update

Notes from Dan Bylsma Today

*Jordan Staal and Brooks Orpik have been named assistant captains, Dan Bylsma announced at the start of his media conference. The two will be sharing it at home and on the road. Evgeni Malkin will be a permanent assistant captain

* Bylsma would not officially rule out Arron Asham for the opener.

“We’re hoping Arron Asham can play, ” Bylsma said. “Arron really wants to play. He’s going to get further evaluated this afternoon and our 3:00 p.m. roster will depend on what and if Arron can play and be on our roster tomorrow. We’re hoping for Arron.”

If Asham is ruled out by team doctors, he will likely go on injured reserve to start the season.

*Bylsma said there are a few concerns for him heading into the season.

“Face-offs is an area that sometimes concerns me, ” Bylsma said. “We we’re 22 percent on faceoffs in the PK in playoffs. Our PK wasn’t very good in the playoffs. That was something that we addressed, try to work on and stressed in some of the drills that we’ve done and that’s an important thing that we have to get better at, Bylsma said. Face-offs is something we’ve tried to get better on as well.”

*Bylsma said that the primary factors in Simon Despres being sent back to juniors this afternoon is that he wasn’t going to be in the opening night lineup and the team had to do what’s best for his development.

A lack of minutes being the No. 6 defenseman was also the Penguins determining factor in Despres going back to juniors where the team expects him to go back and dominate.