Penguins Training Camp Roster

The Penguins announced their training camp roster today. Fifty-eight players have been invited to camp, including five players on PTOs.

Personally, I’m most interested in how the battle for bottom-six forward slots will shake out. At first blush, it would appear holdovers Drew O’Connor and Jeff Carter and newcomers Lars Eller, Noel Acciari, Matt Nieto and perhaps PTO invitee Colin White have the inside track.

However, former first-round pick Sam Poulin (pictured) sounds very much like a player on the verge, and he’d provide a much-needed power element. Valtteri Puustinen is coming off back-to-back productive seasons at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, as is former sixth overall pick Alex Nylander. Versatile and speedy, sparkplug Vinnie Hinostroza could thrive in an energy role.

I’m also curious to see who’ll man the third defense pairing. Will hopefuls Ty Smith and Mark Pysyk wrestle spots away from incumbents Pierre-Olivier Joseph and Chad Ruhwedel?

Without further ado, here’s the roster.

Centers (10)

Peter Abbandonato*, Noel Acciari, Sidney Crosby, Lars Eller, Jonathan Gruden, Joona Koppanen, Evgeni Malkin, Sam Poulin, Colin White*, Brayden Yager

Left Wings (13)

Matt Filipe, Dilon Hamaliuk, Sam Houde, Andreas Johnsson, Jagger Joshua, Matt Nieto, Drew O’Connor, Rem Pitlick, Austin Rueschhoff, Reilly Smith, Evan Vierling, Austin Wagner*, Radim Zohorna

Right Wings (10)

Corey Andonovski, Jeff Carter, Avery Hayes, Vinnie Hinostroza, Marc Johnstone, Alex Nylander, Valtteri Puustinen, Rickard Rakell, Bryan Rust, Matthew Soto

Left Defense (11)

Andre Anania, Isaac Belliveau, Ryan Graves, Libor Hajek*, P.O Joseph, Justin Lee, Xavier Ouellet, Marcus Pettersson, Dmitri Samorukov, Ryan Shea, Ty Smith

Right Defense (7)

Taylor Fedun, Mark Friedman, Erik Karlsson, Kris Letang, Mark Pysyk*, Chad Ruhwedel, Jack St. Ivany

Goaltenders (7)

Joel Blomqvist, Taylor Gauthier, Magnus Hellberg, Tristan Jarry, Alex Nedeljkovic, Michael Simpson, Garret Sparks

Injured (5)

Raivis Ansons (rw), Will Butcher (ld), Nolan Collins (rd), Jake Guentzel (lw), Owen Pickering (ld)

* Indicates a professional tryout

Casey to the Canucks

On the eve of training camp, former black-and-gold goalie Casey DeSmith was dealt by Montreal to Vancouver for another ex-Pen, forward Tanner Pearson, and a third-round pick in the 2025 Entry Draft.

The 32-year-old netminder will be reunited with several old friends in the Pacific Northwest, including Teddy Blueger, Ian Cole, coach Rick Tocchet, GM Patrik Allvin and president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford.

He’ll likely serve as backup to Thatcher Demko.

Pearson, a 31-year-old left wing, missed all but 14 games last season with a hand injury that required several corrective surgeries. He played in 44 games for the Pens in 2018-19.