Preseason games do not carry the type of weight fans may think they do. The majority of NHL teams put a much more significant weight in the evaluation process on practice sessions than watered down preseason games. Tonight, though, was going be an exception for a few. Buzz on Ville Koivunen heading into Tuesday Night’s 7-4 loss to the Detroit Red Wings is that he was behind the eight-ball among others pushing for final roster spots and an upper body injury keeping him out that game has only heightened that. Koivunen is day-to-day, joining Blake Lizotte (week-to-week), Ben Kindel (day-to-day) and Justin Brazeau (day-to-day) on the injury list, with Ben Kindel obviously the most important player to watch with that group.

~Whispers in the organization…………..

Among the bottom group, multiple team sources have raved about several others through the first five-to-six days of camp. In the bottom-6, the biggest praise has been towards To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”! Soderblom has been one of the highest performing practice players throughout camp, sources say, and it carried over to Monday’s 4-1 win over a ‘C’ Buffalo Sabres group. It is very hard to see a scenario where Soderblom isn’t on the roster, let alone not among the top group of 12 forwards. A coaching staff that loves size and wall play, Soderblom has been a beast in the cycle game, per sources, and his skating ability is just head and shoulders above what a Justin Brazeau, who despite a 16 goal season, can bring to the table. Brazeau is a key player from last year’s roster who fell out of the top-12 come playoff time and is fighting for his life for a clear roster spot, though, injuries could abide him some more time.

As for Fillip Hallander, the Penguins have been thrilled with his progress from a blood clot. He’s been aggressive and fast on pucks and is viewed as the perfect 13th type forward for this roster that can come in and out of the lineup. And you can add Avery Hayes to this mix where he just continues to standout as a revolving top callup candidate type player in bouncing in and out of the lineup. Hallander in particular has been head and shoulders above a Rutger McGroarty, for example, who is having another camp where the Penguins are not seeing enough consistency and a next level ability.

On the blueline, there’s been no bigger standout than Owen Pickering. Among the top consistent performers since start of camp, rave reviews are mounting for Pickering who let’s call it like it is, he’s not a favorite of the front office staff, which often happens for previous regime picks. Despite the Penguins not dealing with a 19 year old rookie here, the Penguins are locked in on their top-6 on the blueline pending injuries and when Pickering is on the NHL roster, they want it to be a situation where he’s not overlooking his shoulder. There is also a desire among the front office to give Ilya Solovyov a more extended run on the roster.

MORE BUZZ

It will be just a matter of time during the regular season before Rickard Rakell – Sidney Crosby – Bryan Rust are working together as Pittsburgh’s Top line. However, there is a legit desire among the coaching staff to give a run at spacing the top three lines out.

Team sources say Crosby in particular studied Nick Robertson’s game To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

— Penguins players privately have marveled about Egor Chinakhov and there is a lot of 35-40 goal talk coming out of the Penguins room. If Pittsburgh is to keep up with the improving Eastern Conference, Chinakhov hitting that level has to happen………Any fantasy folks out there, Penguins coaches believe Rickard Rakell is going to have a monster year, that’s a major common theme coming out of the organization this week……..Yes, it’s training camp and ‘everybody is in the best shape of their life’ and it’s puff piece month, sources say coaches have also raved at how good To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

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