The NHL preseason is always a whirlwind, the Penguins just started official practices 11 days ago, and we’re already at the last full week of training camp. Here’s the schedule for the Pens in the week ahead:
September 29
11:30 – Morning Skate
7:00 PM – GAME AT DETROIT
September 30
DAY OFF
October 1
11:30 AM – Morning Skate
7:00 PM – GAME AT BUFFALO
That’s officially the end of the training camp schedule, though presumably there will be a practice on October 2nd before playing in the home exhibition finale on Friday October 3rd against Buffalo. After the games wrap up on Friday, the Pens will have next weekend to practice before heading out a week from today on Monday October 6th to get to New York ahead of the regular season kick off for Tuesday October 8th. Just like that, another long regular season will begin.
What to watch for
Even though the preseason reached its emotional crescendo on Saturday with Marc-Andre Fleury’s perfect goodbye, there’s still a lot on the line moving forward. There are three exhibition games and this week could be the last time for young players like Sergei Murashov, Harrison Brunicke, Avery Hayes and Tristan Broz to play NHL games for a while. If some of them don’t outright push for spots on the opening night NHL roster.
Needless to say, the final week of training camp is an important one for Robby Fabbri on his tryout as well. Fabbri has had a good but not great camp, he’s shown enough to believe he could hold down a roster spot if the team wanted him, yet at the same time hasn’t been undeniable.
This is also THE week for roster movement since the Pens still have 58 players in camp. Through using IR for injured players, waivers and minor league assignments the team will have to cut away almost 60% of the players in the next week to make the 23 player limit.
Finally, keep an eye on the lines and which players get picked for Friday night’s game. Looking back to last year, the preseason finale ended up being an accurate reflection of the opening night lineup, with the same forward lines carrying over and 17 out of the 18 skaters from the preseason finale going in the first game lineup for the regular season. The sole difference was Erik Karlsson played in the regular season after being unavailable for all of last year’s preseason due to injury. There’s a new coaching staff and no guarantee that this year will mirror last year but the final preseason game typically is a good indicator of a dress rehearsal for how an NHL team will start the season. However, it’s not always a 1:1 transfer, as seen last year when Tristan Jarry did not dress for the last preseason game and ended up being the starting goalie on opening night.
