The Penguins announced the players that they’re taking to Detroit for tonight’s preseason game against the Red Wings.
From the team:
Below is the Penguins’ lineup for Monday night’s preseason game against the Detroit Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena. Puck drop is set for 7:00 PM ET and fans can watch a live stream of the game on www.nhl.com/penguins or tune in to
the game on the Penguins’ official flagship radio station, 105.9 ‘The X’.
FORWARDS
11 – Filip Hallander
12 – Robby Fabbri
14 – Boko Imama
15 – Joona Koppanen
18 – Tommy Novak
22 – Sam Poulin
41 – Ville Koivunen
43 – Danton Heinen
48 – Valtteri Puustinen
49 – Rafael Harvey-Pinard
53 – Philip Tomasino
81 – Ben Kindel
85 – Avery HayesDEFENSE
3 – Jack St. Ivany
5 – Ryan Shea
24 – Matt Dumba
27 – Ryan Graves
44 – Chase Pietila
52 – Philip Kemp
56 – Alexander AlexeyevGOALIES
31 – Filip Larsson
35 – Tristan Jarry
This is a classic preseason road game roster, with none of the key players being made to travel and compete again, after that group already played a couple of nights ago. That doesn’t mean the lineup will be without intrigue though, almost all of the players have something on the line to present a good showing that could advance their cases and place against each other within the organization’s depth chart.
That can be the odd part, all of these players are on the same team but there might be only a few lineup places for Tomasino, Heinen, Fabbri, Hayes, Hallander, Poulin, Imama, and Harvey-Pinard to be competing for, or on the blueline between Shea, Graves, Dumba, St. Ivany and Alexeyev. Educated guesses can be made as to which players might be ahead or behind in those battles but a game like tonight with all the competitors on the same ice against the same opponent will be a good data point for the team to consider based on the performance of each individual when they go to make roster decisions later in the week. How much weight one single night will carry in those decisions remains to be seen, but tonight would be a great night to have a good night for players in that range who still have something to prove or show in order to secure a spot.
And while Ben Kindel (probably) isn’t in the mix to play regular season games, it has been a very good September for the Pens’ top pick in the draft that he has turned into an extended look to get more opportunities to compete and grow at the NHL level to show his stuff. Kindel only has a few more of those chances as this preseason draws to an end, but his continued participation deeper into the preseason is a good sign for the path and hopefully progression as he gears up for his draft+1 season.
