The Penguins reduced their roster by seven more players on Sunday. Bill Zonnon, Harrison Brunicke and Joel Blomqvist have been assigned to the AHL.
Four players were placed on IR as they deal with injuries. Bryan Rust and Tristan Broz did not practice and is being evaluated from their injuries from last night.
Forwards (16): Tristan Broz, Egor Chinakhov, Sidney Crosby, Connor Dewar, David Gustafsson, Filip Hallander, Ville Koivunen, Andrei Kuzmenko, Hendrix Lapierre, Evgeni Malkin, Rutger McGroarty, Tommy Novak, Rickard Rakell, Nick Robertson, Bryan Rust, Elmer Soderblom
Defenseman (7): Declan Carlile, Sam Girard, Erik Kalrsson, Kaeden Korczak, Kris Letang, Ilya Solovyov, Trevor van Riemsdyk
Goalies (2): Sergei Murashov, Artus Silovs
IR: Justin Brazeau, Ryan Graves, Ben Kindel, Blake Lizotte
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The team will need to reduce the lineup by at least two players by the time opening night rosters are tomorrow afternoon. A third move might be necessary since Lizotte’s stay on the IR could also be a short one, being as he was back on the ice practicing on the fourth line. It doesn’t look like David Gustafsson is going on waivers today, which means he will make the opening night NHL roster courtesy of the center injuries suffered in training camp.
Any of Broz, Rust or Kuzmenko could be moved off the 23-player list, the first two towards IR if needed and Kuzmenko to the non-roster list while he is out of the country on personal leave. Broz and/or potentially Rutger McGroarty could also be sent to the AHL by tomorrow as another path to get to the 23 player limit.
This third line, if it stays intact, could be considered the ‘opportunity line’ being as that line was trending last week towards being three players (Kuzmenko, Kindel and Rust) who are now the shelf and opening up a golden chance for Filip Hallander, Hendrix Lapierre and Ville Koivunen to all potentially get the chance to play.
The Pens open the season on the road in Philadelphia. The Pens are scheduled to have an off-day tomorrow, by then we’ll see which two moves they make to get under the 23 player limit to get towards the final roster.
