The Penguins trimmed their NHL roster by six players yesterday. Defensemen Owen Pickering, Caleb Jones and Jake Livanavage were among players being sent away.
That leaves the roster looking like this. Opening day rosters are due tomorrow, which means players
must go on waivers today to clear in time to be re-assigned down. The Pens are at 32 players, so between further cuts or movement to injured reserve, they still must trim nine more players away from the following.
Forwards (20): Justin Brazeau*, Tristan Broz, Egor Chinakhov, Sidney Crosby, Connor Dewar, David Gustafsson, Filip Hallander, Ben Kindel*, Ville Koivunen, Andrei Kuzmenko**, Hendrix Lapierre, Blake Lizotte*, Evgeni Malkin, Rutger McGroarty, Tommy Novak, Rickard Rakell, Nick Robertson, Bryan Rust*, Elmer Soderblom, Bill Zonnon
Defenseman (9): Harrison Brunicke, Declan Carlile, Sam Girard, Ryan Graves*, Erik Kalrsson, Kaeden Korczak, Kris Letang, Ilya Solovyov, Trevor van Riemsdyk
Goalies (3): Joel Blomqvist, Sergei Murashov, Artus Silovs
‘* Injured, possibility to open season on injured reserve
‘** Currently away from team for personal reasons
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It seems likely, based on recent action, that McGroarty, Zonnon, Brunicke and Blomqvist can all be sent to the AHL without waivers. At this point, you would think that Lizotte and Kindel will move to the IR, with potentially some, many or all of Brazeau, Rust and Graves joining them. That’s nine names right there and could be all the acitivity needed.
Beyond that, the team could designate Kuzmenko to the ‘non-roster player’ area to remove him from the 23-player list while he is in Russia on bereavement due to the loss of his father. Kuzmenko would count against the salary cap (not a big concern for the Pens) but no longer be one of their 23-players until his return. The team could also opt to put Gustafsson on waivers today if one of the names from above does not need to go on the IR.
There’s still a few more decisions and area to figure out, especially when it comes to the health questions of some of the players that are banged up, but the Pens’ roster is starting to get to the point where it is coming into focus for how things will look for the start of the season. As of now, that looks like this:
Nick Robertson – Sidney Crosby – Rickard Rakell
Egor Chinakhov – Tommy Novak – Evgeni Malkin
Ville Koivunen – Hendrix Lapierre – Bryan Rust*
Filip Hallander – Connor Dewar – Elmer Soderblom
Declan Carlile / Erik Karlsson
Sam Girard / Kaeden Korczak
Trevor van Riemsdyk / Kris Letang
Goalies: Arturs Silovs and Sergei Murashov
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That assumes Rust is OK, but the opening night lines likely won’t last for that long. Kuzmenko won’t be gone forever, and the Pens can only hope that Lizotte and Kindel will be back soon. By the time they get back, who knows which other players might be injured in their place.
