Latest Pens Roster Buzz on Morrow, Park, Vitale & MacIntyre

The Pittsburgh Penguins are expected to make around 10 cuts on Wednesday and sources say that as of this morning, the Penguins brass was still in the evaluation process with 1st round pick Joe Morrow.

Morrow has looked so NHL ready, that the Penguins are at least mulling the possibility of Morrow opening season with the team in the possible nine-game window.

Morrow is scheduled to play tonight and the talk inside the organization is that Morrow has made things interesting for them.

The Penguins have been surprised by how NHL ready he looks and the team see’s tonight as a great situation to evaulate where Morrow actually is with the Kings dressing an NHL type lineup.

Injuries have opened up the possibility of carrying Morrow on the roster to open the season. However, bank on the Penguins going the safe route with Brian Strait or Alexandre Picard, if Brooks Orpik is sidelined for start of the season.

Buzz in Penguins headquarters is that Joe Vitale and Richard Park are battling for one spot. Tonight both will be in the lineup and both are expected to stick around into the weekend.

Vitale has outplayed Park at the center position but the dileema for the Penguins is that he might not be a regular in the top-12 and they would rather have him playing top-9 minutes in Wilkes Barre, if that’s the case. Vitale though is eligible for waivers.

Park’s play at the center position has been mediocre in preseason play and tonight he gets a look at wing.

Whether to carry Enforcer Steve MacIntyre on the opening night roster is among the pressing decisions for Penguins GM Ray Shero. Shero in an interview with Joe Starkey of 93.7 The Fan said today that MacIntyre has to show he can play.

The Penguins believe it’s important to carry an enforcer but they also have Deryk Engelland who Shero called the perfect kind of enforcer in the interview, because he can play.

I’m told head coach Dan Bylsma will be a big decision maker in whether MacIntyre makes the team.