Penguins/NHL
The Penguins closed out the preseason Friday Night with a 7-3 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets and whether the ceiling of this club is any higher isn’t the play here, but it was an extremely optimistic camp of how the younger talented suited themselves well and the organization possibly becoming higher on a few than they initially were. And at the NHL level, you had a great camp from a couple must-happen bounce back candidates like a Rickard Rakell.
And as stated for at the start of the camp, the Penguins are much deeper with forward depth where the leash can be much shorter with the bottom-tier level of the NHL forward group. There’s some youth banging on the door for an opportunity.
Prospects Buzz: Diving through some non-roster players, Ville Koivunen, Vasily Ponomarev each represented themselves well. Ponomarev showed coaches he is on the tipping point of playing an NHL bottom-6 role, can be trusted in all situations, but roster space is a problem, while Koivunen did nothing to lower expectations in the organization. The organization remains To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!
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Then there’s Owen Pickering. The vibe around the league is Pickering’s been that classic selected from a previous GM who’s now undervalued by the new GM. The buzz is that might have changed. Multiple sources say To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!
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Roster Buzz
On Friday Emil Bemstrom, Jon Gruden, Jonathan Ludvig and Sam Poulin were placed on waivers. Poulin was so bad in his short callup last spring there was a feeling around him he had no chance to recover and that played out. He needs a change of scenery for the next step in his career. If he doesn’t clear waivers, it’s likely the Penguins try to move him for that reason………
Bemstrom entered camp with a preconceived notion of being slightly ahead of Jesse Puljujarvi on the organizational depth chart. This was a who would likely clear waivers over the other and the key development that Puljujarvi just had one of the most dominant camps in a while for a Penguin. At $800,000, the Penguins are not sneaking him through waivers and there was some trade interest prior to camp. Most impressive with Puljujarvi has been the 1-on-1 individual offense.
Gruden had a solid camp, like many others was never making the team because of a #’s game.
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Injuries cloud lineup for start of season
The Penguins entered training camp pretty locked in on their top-12 forward group; Beauvillier-Crosby-Rust; Bunting-Malkin-Rakell; O’Connor, Hayes, Eller, Glass, Lizotte, Acciari. A concussion for Blake Lizotte, Puljujarvi’s dominant camp, Rust nursing a minor injury has clouded Wednesday’s opening lineup and the active 13 forwards the team carries. The two big question marks now center around Valtteri Puustinen and Rutger McGroarty. McGroarty came on much stronger over the last week of the preseason but there’s certainly been strong indications the coaches believe McGroarty’s development is best suited for the AHL, while the front office feels differently, so we will see how that plays out. Meanwhile, the sense on Puustinnen is he’s involved in a #’s game and has been behind the eight-ball since camp opened.
