Latest Pens Buzz: Puck Pursuit Ability major driving point on who will nab final forward spots

The Pittsburgh Penguins closed out the preseason with a 7-4 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Friday Night. And there was a lot to like……..

1. Pittsburgh came out of the game with no apparent injuries to their regulars which is the primary goal
2. The movement of the power play (2-for-3) was sparkling with Erik Karlsson running the point in a first glimpse of what this unit should be able to do this season.
3. Drew O’Connor’s strong camp continues to carry over to games with a 2-goal night and looked fantastic in a top line role.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

FINAL ROSTER BUZZ

— Not sound like a broken record but since an off-season game plan was put in place back in Mid-June, Pittsburgh’s new management team and the coaching staff led by Mike Sullivan have bought into the philosophy of building a bottom-6 that excels at a puck pursuit game and put together a bottom-6 that can eat up tough minutes defensively so the likes of Sidney Crosby can be freed up from constantly having to match up against the oppositions top line.

It’s certainly come into focus of who’s going to win the final two forward sports that had been up for grabs.

Even before camp started this was always going to be bad news for an Alex Nylander, Valtteri Puustinen getting serious consideration for one of the final two forward spots and as expected both were sent to Wilkes Barre this week. Best bets for Nylander and Puustinen is getting a fresh start somewhere else eventually. Sam Poulin who’s made some noise and made a significant jump on the organizational depth chart, fits the criteria in type of player Pittsburgh wants in their revamped bottom-6 but Poulin was always going to be destined for Wilkes Barre for at least the first half of the season.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Two Heavy Favorites?

There was no bigger disappointment in camp than Andreas Johnsson who was re-assigned to Wilkes Barre this week. As much as the front office liked Johnsson coming into the season that saw him start in camp on the second line, he played his way out of the competition after about a week. Looked nothing like an NHL player anymore in the preseason and most glaring was how poor he performed in practice sessions, team sources say.

TWO FAVORITES EMERGE

1. Jansen Harkins | A waiver pickup this past week, Harkins has immediately played himself onto the roster. The coaching staff, sources say, have been ecstatic about what Harkins has brought to the table, showing great speed in pursuing pucks and smarts as a forechecker in taking proper angles and forcing d-men retrieving pucks onto their backhands. One team source said the coaching staff see’s [hide] Brandon Tanev type comparisons to Harkins. “I thought he had another really strong game,” Mike Sullivan said Friday night of Harkins performance vs thew Sabres. “He’s made an impression on us in the short time he’s been here. He has good size, he can really skate.”
2. Radim Zohorna | Big Z put together an excellent camp to pass a few others in a bid for a roster spot. He has the size and versatility to be an ideal number 13th forward when this roster is fully healthy. Also helping his cause is Pittsburgh has concerns he would clear waivers. His spot isn’t as locked in as Harkins but Zohorna has moved ahead of others who were in front of him to start camp. [/hide]

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Coaching Staff/Front Office differ on Colin White?

— The waiver pickup of Jansen Harkins now puts Pittsburgh at 47/50 contracts. A major point of discussion in the organization is how many if any contracts do they want to use up towards the 50 limit when you easily have four to five forwards in Wilkes Barre already under contract that could handle any short-term call-up role. The team wants to leave some wiggle room for future deals. There was momentum moving in the direction of the team signing PTO Austin Wagner to a two-way contract but will the late movement of the coaching staff becoming very intrigued of Colin White’s defensive ability in the bottom-6 To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!